Regency 03 - Deception (5 page)

Poor bloke, indeed.
“I think I see your
mother gesturing to you,” Levi said then. He wasn’t lying. Lady
Greenwood gestured in the general direction of her daughter. He was
fairly certain, though, that the woman did not want Lady Regina to
abandon the field to someone else.

It was a conundrum to Levi that he should be so
sought after as a prospective husband. It wasn’t exactly a secret
that he was punting the River Tick. He was the Earl of Greville,
however, and as such owned what the ladies liked to call the most
romantic of medieval castles in England. He didn’t reside at the
castle but at an estate whose grounds were some of the most
picturesque in the country. He also had various estates scattered
around the whole of Europe—all entailed, all only making enough
money to keep the estates afloat, all containing several indigent
relatives, and all the most boring places on earth. But the castle
alone would have been enough to tempt any young lady into matrimony
with him.

How very lowering,
the earl thought as he
progressed ever closer to his marital dream,
to be courted and
fêted only for your title and properties.
He was an inveterate
gambler, a wastrel, and something of a womanizer—according to
rumor. Nothing any properly reared lady of the
ton
could not
change, the mothers would reason.

Bah! Everyone had nothing but air in their
cocklofts.

It never occurred to him that in searching for an
heiress to solve his money troubles, he was exactly the same.

~~~~~~

She knew he was coming before he was even halfway
across the room.

He’d been waylaid by three different ladies. All
three seemed to have some claim on the man. Even Lady Regina gazed
after him longingly.

And who wouldn’t? Aurora couldn’t stop herself from
looking for him, watching him, and desiring him and she knew where
it all would invariably lead. No, thank you.

Having such fantasies about a man she’d met only
that night made her wonder, for a moment, just what ailed her.

With a determination and strength of will that
seemed at odds with her small stature, Miss Glendenning turned her
attention back to little Miss Davis. They’d just been introduced
and Aurora found she quite liked the painfully shy young woman. The
girl was only seventeen, the daughter of a cit just recently risen
to the ranks of the
beau monde
, and afraid of her own
shadow. It was a mystery how the young woman’s father had managed
an invite to the opening event of the Season. Perhaps the shy but
pretty daughter and unassuming father were palatable enough to more
or less be considered acceptable.

Aurora found it a novel thing to socialize with
someone shorter. The girl was barely over five feet tall. Her hair
was black, her eyes hazel, her very tiny body delicate, and her
face was nothing short of pixie-like. She was adorable.

And very difficult to draw out.

Perhaps the earl would have better luck, she thought
in resignation when he finally reached them.

“
Ladies.” He bowed. “Miss Davis,
you are enchanting tonight. How is Sir Henry?”

The girl curtsied awkwardly. “He is w-well, my
l-lord,” she replied just above the softest of whispers. “Thank
y-you.” And she curtsied again.

He looked at Aurora with a blank expression. “And
your father?”

Aurora grinned. She couldn’t help it. “Dead, my
lord, very dead.”

Miss Davis squeaked and fell into quite the most
graceful swoon that either of her companions had ever seen. Lord
Greville caught her before she fell and set her carefully on a
nearby chair, partially hidden by some greenery.

“
Oh, dear,” Aurora murmured.
“Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that.” She covered her face with one
small hand.

“
Here now, Miss Glendenning, it’s
nothing to cry about, I’m sure. She’ll be right as a trivet in no
time. And this will guarantee the success of Lady Jersey’s rout,
you know.”

Aurora’s hand fell and a tinkling laugh escaped.
Levi grinned. Miss Felicity Davis moaned. The earl sat on one side
of the girl supporting her. Aurora collapsed in a chair on her
other side and giggled as she patted the girl’s hand.

Sir Henry Davis hurried forward and took charge of
his daughter. It was a relief. The girl was sweet and very
biddable, it was true, but she was so very small, and so very shy
that holding a conversation with her could be physically
painful.

Something more than a giggle escaped Aurora,
effectively drawing the earl’s attention back to her.

“
Miss Glendenning,” he said
repressively, “you are making a scene.”

Aurora sobered. She sat up straight and folded her
hands in her lap, eyes downcast. Then she frowned and shook her
head as if she was displeased about something. Flicking open her
fan in one deft movement, she glared haughtily over the top at
anyone daring enough to stare at her.

“
Sprite, you enchant me,” her
companion said, eyes and tone confirming the sincerity of his
words.

She turned her haughty glare on him, a mischievous
twinkle lighting her green-blue eyes.

“
Lord Greville, that was
inappropriate,” she admonished, her tone gentle.

“
Was it?”

“
Yes.” She folded her fan and
dropped it back into her lap. “Why do you stare at me so?” she
asked in exasperation. “Do I have a smut on my nose?”

The earl grinned. “No, I have just never seen a real
sea sprite before.”

“
Indeed? How…interesting. Where is
Ellie? She should have been back long before now.” She made a great
show of searching the ballroom with her eyes.

Levi chuckled. “Think you to escape me so easily, my
sprite?”

Her little nose went up a notch. “I am not your
anything, sir, and certainly not your sprite. Please refrain from
such familiarity.”

He assumed a somber expression. “I do beg your
pardon, Miss Glendenning,” he said in a credible imitation of Lord
Acton’s pompous tones. “I am afraid the champagne has made me more
free with my speech than is my wont. Do say you forgive me?”

Miss Glendenning snorted indelicately. “Gammon! I
might consider it if I thought you were in earnest, but it is
apparent to the greenest girl that you are nothing more than a
flirt. Blaming it on the champagne is a cowardly excuse. And I do
believe you are being more constrained in your speech than is your
wont, sir.”

She turned her head just a bit to gauge his
reaction. Lips curved into a devastating grin, Lord Levi knew full
well what he did to her, vexing man. Her heart rate increased.

“
You know me better than I do
myself.” Levi took her hand and placed a kiss on the inside of her
wrist. Her breath caught in her throat. “We are soul mates. Let us
run away together, princess, and live happily ever
after.”

Tugging her hand away from his grasp, she retorted,
“What fustian you do speak, my lord. Soul mates, indeed.”

Levi’s smile disappeared to be replaced with a blank
look. He stared at her so intently that she began to squirm. It was
like he was trying to discover her innermost secrets, thoughts, and
desires.

If he only knew.

“
I do think I owe you an apology,”
he finally said. With troubled dark eyes and a slight furrow
between his brows, he appeared a different man from the jovial one
she’d been flirting with moments ago.

“
For what, my lord?” Aurora asked,
unsure how to react to such seriousness.

“
About your father. I did not
know. I am sorry.”

She waved her hand dismissively, relieved it was
something so trivial that concerned him. “Don’t be. How could you
know? We have only just met this night.”

“
True, but I am still sorry. For
your loss.”

Aurora smiled thinly. “Don’t be,” she repeated. “I
am not.” Inside, she cringed at her honest, albeit impolite,
comment. Her face remained impassive and relief flowed through her
when she saw Ellie approach.

“
Here you are, Rory.” Miss Ellison
bustled up to the couple and smiled at the earl. “Hello, again, my
lord.”

They exchanged a few inane comments on the
weather and the state of the government and then the earl excused
himself to speak with some friends. Aurora watched him go, half
relieved and half depressed.

*

“
Are you certain?”

“
Yes, I’m certain and stop that
infernal pacing. You will wear a hole in my new carpet,” Bri
commanded.

Lord Greville stopped as ordered and stared at his
cousin. “She has no money? Not a shilling? A farthing? A groat?
Nothing?”

Lady Prestwich sighed. “Not a penny, Levi. Rory told
Doll that her father lost it all right before his death.” He
started pacing again. “Oh, Vi, isn’t there another way? Find
another way to get the money you need and marry the girl if you
want her.”

“
If she has no money, then how did
she manage an invitation to Lady Jersey’s?” he asked with a pointed
look as he paced by her.

“
According to rumor,” Bri replied
as she sat gracefully on a chair that was far enough from her
cousin to ensure her safety, “her father was a great…friend of
Sally’s mother-in-law. And I believe Miss Glendenning has been
granted vouchers for Almack’s, as well.”

That’s just what he needed, the earl thought
furiously. Money or not, the girl was beautiful. Many gentlemen
would be more than willing to offer her
carte blanche
. The
mere thought made Levi see red. Some might even be willing to marry
her despite her penury. And Levi would cheerfully thrash every last
one of them, too. The winsome sprite was his.

But he couldn’t have her. She was poor. He was poor.
How would they live? Where would they live?

Well, that at least was not an issue. He had so many
bloody properties that they could live practically anywhere in the
world.

He stopped in front of the window overlooking the
square. It had been two days since Lady Jersey’s rout. Two days
since he had met the enchanting Miss Glendenning. Two days since he
had decided he would marry her.

And two minutes since he had found out she was
poorer than a church mouse.

“
Bloody hell!”

He slammed his fist into his thigh. The dull pain
that shot through his lower limb gave him an idea. He knew just
what he could do to take his mind off his troubles.

“
Levi, where—” But the countess
found herself talking to a slammed door.

~~~~~~

Levi exited Gentleman Jackson’s Boxing Salon later
that morning with a smile on his face. The bout with the man
himself had gone far in relieving his frustration. Then Northwicke
had shown up in a worse mood than at Brooks’s several days ago and
Levi had found the man a challenge indeed. Northwicke was smaller,
quicker, and angrier than Levi had been and the earl had the
bruised ribs to prove it. He smiled through his annoyance at his
own personal failure.

The pain in his ribs, the sore knuckles, and the
bruised jaw were not enough to take his mind off of a certain
golden-haired sea sprite.

She wouldn’t leave his mind. He was afraid only
unconsciousness would do that. He decided a gallop in the park
before anyone else was about would do him good. Perhaps, if he were
lucky, the jarring motion of the horse would knock him out.

It didn’t. He suspected that even if it had, he
would dream of her.

Maybe, he thought with sudden inspiration, Raven
could take his mind off Miss Glendenning. So, instead of returning
to Lockwood, Adam’s house in Park Lane, the earl headed for
Haymarket.

He never made it.

~~~~~~

It had become a daily habit for Aurora to take her
three-year-old sister, Rhiannon, to Hyde Park every morning so the
little girl could play. That day proved to be no exception. As Levi
left the park, Aurora arrived.

Lost in thought, she paid little attention to her
surroundings. Lord Greville and their odd conversation dominated
her ruminations.

And the even stranger—and very
disappointing—discussion she’d had with Ellie the day immediately
following Lady Jersey’s rout.

Her faithful companion and loving friend had thought
to warn her about the Earl of Greville. The rumor mill declared the
man to be a wastrel, a ne’er-do-well, a here-and-therein, a
gambler, a womanizer, and poor to top it all off. Several of his
entailed estates struggled to support themselves. All he really
possessed was a title. What kind of protection would his title be
without the money to support the power?

Contrary to popular opinion, Aurora Glendenning had
money. A lot of money. More money than many men could spend in a
lifetime. But did she want to hand it over to an irresponsible
nodcock just so he could lavish it on his mistress, his drink, and
his cards?

His mistress. A man like that had to have a mistress
if not more than one. He probably had twenty.

Unfortunately for Levi, it was the thought of his
imagined harem that was in Miss Glendenning’s mind when they
happened to meet near the park gates.

“
Hello, Sprite.”

Aurora stopped and turned the full force of her
glare upon him. “I asked you not to call me that, Lord Greville.”
She was annoyed to hear how petulant she sounded.

He must have heard it too, the cad. He grinned and
appeared to want to laugh outright.

“
Who’s him?” asked a miniature
version of Aurora Glendenning.

“
No one of importance, my dear,”
Aurora replied as she stuck her little nose in the air.