Damn.
Unfortunate, that he’d frightened the woman. He had to catch her or she’d disappear in the darkness and foil his plan. He cut around a side path and sprinted to where the two ways merged. As she approached, he melted out of the forest and took her arm.
She opened her mouth to scream.
“No,” he said, clapping a hand over her lips. If she screamed now, everyone would come running before he’d had adequate time to debauch her. His other arm snaked around her waist, pulling her close. She didn’t have the manners to fall into a swoon, but fought him instead, pushing at his chest.
“Don’t scream,” he said. “Have I given you any reason to panic?”
She squirmed against him, her breath hissing behind his palm. Her body was every bit as delectable as he’d hoped, firm yet soft, and pleasantly curvy and plump. “Stop, my dearest.” His voice held a note of warning as his cock stiffened against her front, aroused by her struggling and straining. “Promise not to scream and I’ll let you go.”
She stared at him, her eyes wide and frightened. Her fingers curled into fists against his chest.
“Will you be a good girl if I lift my hand away and release you? I mean you no harm, of course.”
As soon as he edged the first finger from her lips, she drew a great gust of breath into her lungs and let out a piercing shriek. In his rush to muffle her, he got tangled in her skirts and they went down together in an awkward heap. If Arlington brought the crowds necessary to discover them, he’d be accused of assault, not seduction.
“Shh, please,” he begged. “I’m not going to hurt you. I only wanted to speak with you. You look so lovely in your...” He looked down again in the dark to double check. “Your pale blue gown. It is blue, isn’t it?”
“Let me go,” she said against his hand. She trembled beneath him, in anger, not fear. No, this one wasn’t a dormouse, which pleased him. She twisted and nearly caught him with a swift knee between the legs. She managed to rise from beneath him, but he blocked her way to the house.
“I wouldn’t storm back and make a fuss. No one will believe I dragged you all the way out here against your will.” His gaze swept down the front of her. “And you look as if you’ve already had a merry roll in the grass.”
She grimaced, brushing at her front. Her gown was rumpled and dirty, scattered with bits of leaves. She plucked at her skirts and touched the sapphires at her neckline. Mussed curls fell against her face.
“Come here,” he said, picking a leaf from the honey-colored mane. How soft her hair was. He put a hand on her shoulder, wishing to soothe her even as he was in the process of ruining her. She looked up at him in entreaty.
“I didn’t come out here to tryst with you. I came out here to escape you.” Tears gathered in her eyes. “Please, I don’t want this. I never wanted this. Please let me go.”
“My lady.” He feigned devastation, clutching his heart. He had to soften her, at least enough to secure a kiss when his friends brought the gawking crowds. “Escape me? Why?”
“It’s Lord Warren I love. I am deeply, deeply in love with him.”
“Are you?” Hunter frowned in irritation.
It’s too bad he doesn’t know your name.
“Why Lord Warren? Do you find nothing to admire in me?”
She ducked her head at his injured tone. “Lord Warren is so cheerful and handsome and dashing. It’s nothing to do with you. It’s only that he’s so perfectly wonderful.”
Perfectly dastardly
, he thought to himself.
If only you knew...
“So you see,” she said, “I am very, very sorry that I have no feelings at all for you.”
“Is that right?” A bit of the gentleman leached from his tone as he pulled her closer. “I’m sorry to hear it, because I have a great many feelings for you.”
“But you don’t even know me.”
“I know that you’re out here, alone, and you should not be. It’s as if you were trying to lure me here to have my way with you.”
“I wasn’t!”
“As if you were trying to tempt me to this private glade for a kiss.”
He could see that he terrified her. It wasn’t the best footing to begin a marriage, but she was pretty and trembling, and her magnificent bosom heaved against his chest in a very exciting way. He stared down into those alluring pillows. “How beautiful you are.”
“Please let me go.” It was little more than a whisper. A whimper. “Lord Warren is the one I want. I love him. I adore him.”
“But he cares nothing for you, I assure you. So why don’t we make the best of things?” He twined fingers into those soft, springy curls, still marveling at the texture. Her hair was the color of autumn maple leaves, or light, burnished gold.
“Please.” Perhaps now she would swoon. Her trembling had progressed to shudders. Hunter heard voices on the walk, his mother calling out.
“I’m sorry to force this on you,” he said. “But I’m a desperate man, and you could do worse, my pretty dove. I’m the Marquess of Townsend. One day I’ll be a duke and you’ll be a duchess. I’m not as handsome or dashing as Warren, but I’m still quite a catch.”
He tilted her face to his. She looked concerned. Confused.
“Kiss me, would you?” he said. “Let’s make it convincing.” He drew her close, right against his body. How luscious and feminine she was. His hand rested on the curve of her waist, the other pressed to her back. He could feel her heart galloping against his chest. He touched his lips to hers and her mouth tightened as if she’d never been kissed before. He found the thought arousing.
“I say, there they are.” Good old Arlington. His voice was deep and ducal, and appropriately concerned.
Yes, there’s the scoundrel and the poor miss in his clutches.
Hunter had just enough time to turn from his lady in blue and look guilty as the crowd drew along the moonlight path. His mother pushed through, the massive emerald on her turban blinking in the dim night.
“Thank goodness,” she said, letting out a breath. “Townsend has found her. She’s here.”
His mother, that regal society maven, made her way to them. She took in his exultant expression and the way he still grasped his young victim’s waist. The poor thing shied away from him before all these people, but he grabbed at her elbow, pulling her back. “You’ve caught us,” he said loudly enough for everyone to hear. “We were swept away by passion. I shall make things right.”
Amused chuckles rippled through the assembly. Arlington grinned. Warren choked back a laugh.
His mother shook her head, clearly exasperated. “Make things right, indeed. We might have announced the engagement at the ball, with a toast and speeches as is proper, but you will do things your own way. Bring Lady Aurelia back to the hall so we can fete this joyous occasion with everyone in attendance. Really, Townsend,” she chided in a softer voice. “Mauling her in the dark to begin the official engagement? Her father looks furious.”
Hunter stared at his mother. Over her shoulder, he saw Lansing’s scowling visage fixed on him and the woman in his arms...Lady Aurelia. Her cheeks had flushed flame red.
Now
, he thought.
Now she will faint.
But she didn’t. She backed away from him, picked up her skirts and trudged over to her father. The Duke of Lansing took her arm none too gently and guided her back toward the house.
As for Hunter, he glowered at his friends, now red-faced with barely restrained laughter. He communicated without words all the vulgar, hateful, abominable curses he wanted to heap upon their traitorous heads.
*** *** ***
Aurelia wished the servants had not lit so many candles in the library. She wanted to creep behind the high-backed sofa in the corner and hide. She wanted to kneel before her father and mother and beg for forgiveness, but instead she kept her seat across from the fuming Marquess of Townsend.
He hated her. His words, his glances made that perfectly clear. He lounged back, enduring her father’s wrath.
“You shamed my daughter, drawing her off and pawing her in that manner. What did you mean by it? What has she ever done to you?”
“Nothing,” Lord Townsend replied tightly. “I don’t know her at all.” He fixed her with a baleful gaze. “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?”
“I thought you knew who I was. I knew who you were.”
“Did you know this was to be our betrothal ball?”
“We sent letters to Somerton,” his father interjected. “They went unanswered.”
“I was busy at Somerton,” Lord Townsend said through his teeth.
“Yes, everyone knows you were
busy
,” said her father in a scathing tone. “And then you returned here to treat my daughter in the same uncouth and lecherous manner with which you conduct your...your personal life.” He turned to the Duke of Lockridge, the marquess’s father. “I don’t know if I can do it, by God, Neville. I don’t know if I can entrust my only daughter to this...this...”
He didn’t finish the statement. Aurelia wondered what he was going to say.
“I swear to you, henceforth my son will conduct himself with honor.” As Lockridge said it, he smacked Lord Townsend upon the ear with his cane. The son didn’t make a sound, only seethed with even greater intensity.
As for Aurelia, she stared down at her lap, hot, ashamed, remembering things she didn’t want to. The warmth of his lips, the unfamiliar hardness of his body pressing against hers. She’d been so afraid when he lowered his face to hers. She’d thought Lord Townsend’s kiss would feel horrible, damaging, and dangerous because of his poor reputation, but it hadn’t felt horrible at all.
Not that she knew what kisses were supposed to feel like. She was a lady, a scion of propriety, always faultless in behavior. While she’d understood for many years that she was supposed to marry the profligate son of her father’s friend, she’d imagined when it came down to it, everyone would realize he was too much of a rogue.
She’d assumed the betrothal would be broken, allowing her to marry the man she knew in her heart was her perfect companion—the smiling, polite Earl of Warren. Oh, she’d heard gossip about him also, but it was vile, ridiculous stuff, too outrageous to be believed. When she looked at Lord Warren, she could see he was a kindhearted soul, the type of man she could respect and feel secure with. A man like her father. Her father’s admirers called him Laudable Lansing because of his exceptional godliness and rectitude. Some types called him Laughable Lansing, but that was because they lacked moral fiber.
Aurelia’s shoulders slumped. She lacked moral fiber because she hadn’t been able to resign herself to marrying the man her father had chosen for her. She’d fallen in love with another man. She’d tried to run away from her betrothal ball, for all the good it had done her.
Her father paced back and forth in front of Lord Townsend while his parents frowned from across the room. “You shall wed my daughter as soon as it can be managed,” he said, “and then you’ll settle down into a model husband. More than a model husband. The most solicitous, respectable pinnacle of a husband that any fellow ever met.”
“I’ll try my best,” Lord Townsend replied in an acerbic tone.
Her father’s gaze hardened, his mouth thinned in a line. “Indeed you will, or I may see fit to interfere. My daughter has been very sheltered. Very gently bred. You cannot continue to act as if you have no responsibilities.”
“I manage my responsibilities,” said the marquess. “I have increased the profitability of my holdings by seventy percent in the last five years, maintained two residences, and contributed to social programs and charities. I manage all the responsibilities that I find important. Forgive me if marriage isn’t one of them.”
“You will not be so mannerless, Townsend,” his father hissed. “You’ll not show such disrespect to Lady Aurelia.”
She stared between the three angry men. In her agitated state, she was finding it difficult to follow the conversation.
“I’m sorry,” she asked, “but are we still going to marry?”
“I might have reconsidered,” her father said, “but after this evening’s display, there’s no other option. Your fiancé has made free with you in front of half the
ton
.”
Some part of her understood that she was ruined, the Lord Townsend had caused their marriage to become a necessary thing, but some part of her couldn’t grasp the finality of it. “Can I not...” Her voice caught in the tangle of her emotions. “Can I not marry for love?”
Her father’s brows rose nearly to his hairline. “Are you in love?”
Her eyes flicked to Lord Townsend’s. His eyes darkened with something like pity, or disgust. “Lord Warren?” he said, tracing a finger over the arm of the chair. “Unfortunately, he is not up to snuff. Ducal dynasties are at stake, and he’s a mere earl.”
Aurelia didn’t care if Lord Warren was only an earl. He was still titled, still an aristocrat. She turned pleading eyes on her father but he pretended not to see. He frightened her terribly, he always had. She didn’t want to disappoint him. She’d always been her parents’ perfect, obedient child, though she’d languished, always, in her older brother’s shadow. He was the heir, the next duke. She was the daughter, only good for building alliances.
“Perhaps I don’t have to marry. Perhaps...” Her voice thinned to a desperate squeak. “If only I had been a son, like Severin. Then there wouldn’t be this business of...of marrying me off.”
At that, her mother made a soft, mournful sound and hurried from the room. Aurelia’s vision blurred. Through her tears, she saw the marquess watching, his features taut, his hair a blur of black waves over his fathomless dark eyes. To her horror, tears overflowed and coursed down her cheeks. She covered her face, so her fine silk gloves had darker spots where she wiped away the wetness.
“Have done with this unpleasant business,” said Lord Townsend’s mother, fluttering closer to Aurelia and offering her handkerchief. “The poor child is beside herself. She ought to be home in bed.”
“She’s not a child anymore.” Lord Townsend’s eyes raked her, from her plunging bodice to her slippered toes. His voice was rough, hinting of licentious things. It made Aurelia cry harder.
The duchess rapped her son on the shoulder with her fan. “Comfort her, would you? Apologize to her. This is all your fault.”