His return to London would change everything, starting with allowing his uncle to go over estate affairs with him so he was better prepared to receive what was coming to him. He found it easier to accept that maybe he wanted it after all; not just for the sake of his impending marriage, but also for himself, for the little boy who had been told he would receive nothing because he’d been born nothing.
The house began coming alive for the day, and Thorpe came to see to his toilette. He took pains with his appearance, finding for the first time that he actually cared about the impression he would make. It wasn’t enough for Calliope to accept and want him. He wanted her father to be confident in the man she would marry, and that meant putting his best foot forward.
“You seem distracted this morning, if you don’t mind me saying, sir,” Thorpe remarked as he deftly tied Nick’s cravat.
He grinned, and Thorpe seemed startled by his sudden laughter.
“I have good news, Thorpe. I’m getting married.”
Thorpe froze, hands still buried in the white linen, eyebrows slowly creeping toward his hairline. “Pardon me, sir, but surely you jest.”
Nick chuckled, slapping Thorpe’s shoulder. “I am completely serious. This afternoon, I intend to meet with the viscount and inform him of my engagement to his daughter. Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
Thorpe offered him a rare smile. “Congratulations, sir.”
“Thank you. Oh, there is a letter on my writing box. I need it posted immediately.”
“Right away.”
Nick took his leave then, hurrying so he would not be late for breakfast. As he bounded down the steps, eyes sharp for any sign of Calliope, he tamped down the urgency making it difficult to retain his composure. He ought to be starving after his eventful night, but realized he’d gladly skip breakfast if it meant getting on with things.
It would seem his wish was to be granted, as the moment he started toward the dining room, a door opened to reveal Viscount Barrington. A neat, sparsely decorated study loomed behind him, and Martin Lewes appeared on the threshold, his expression smug.
He froze in his tracks, ignoring Lewes’s venomous glare as the viscount gave him a polite smile.
“Mr. Burke. What a coincidence. I was just about to send for you. I know you are probably wanting your breakfast, but I had wished a word with you. I will not delay you for long.”
It was Nick’s turn to feel smug, unable to help ensuring Lewes knew he intended to push him out of contention for Calliope’s hand. The man looked as if he might burst, the vein in his forehead protruding as he glowered at Nick.
“Of course, my lord,” Nick said, approaching the study and raising an eyebrow at Lewes as they passed one another.
He took great pleasure in closing the door in the other man’s face.
The viscount strode to his desk and sat, hands braced on the surface as he met Nick’s gaze. “Please, sit.”
Once Nick had settled, the man leaned back and studied him with a shrewd eye.
“I am certain you know why I wished to meet with you, so I will cut right to the chase. Since the arrival of my guests, I have watched my daughter interact with her two suitors. I have also noticed a marked difference in your behavior opposed to that of Lewes.”
Nick’s mind raced as he wondered when the man might have caught him and Calliope acting without discretion. He thought he’d been so careful, but perhaps his absorption with her had made him act foolishly.
“I don’t understand,” he hedged.
“One of you has spent the past several days trying to earn my good favor, while the other has yet to approach me outside the usual pleasantries. I must say, I find it interesting.”
“While I would be glad to have your approval, it is important to me that she understands it is her I want.”
“I respect your position. Calliope is of an age where I can trust her to decide what is best. Have you anything you wish to ask of me?”
“Only for you to consider that I love your daughter and would do anything to make her happy. I don’t come with a title or a sterling reputation, but during our engagement I intend to secure our future. She will want for nothing.”
The viscount pursed his lips. “You don’t wish to inquire about the amount of her inheritance?”
“That detail is irrelevant. I’d want her if she came with nothing.”
The other man studied him in silence, his blue gaze intent and unwavering. After a moment, he nodded.
“I am heartened by your words, Mr. Burke and do believe you are sincere. Your reputation does not worry me much, for I wasn’t exactly a saint in my youth. I know all too well how it feels to find a woman unlike any other and have your life changed in what feels like the blink of an eye.”
He accepted the viscount’s extended hand.
“I have given Lewes my blessing, but I am giving it to you as well. It is not for me to decide who she should wed, and I can find no fault with either of you. If you happen to be her choice, I will be content simply knowing she is happy and loved.”
“She will be.”
He left the study then, anxious to get to Calliope and tell her of his conversation with the viscount. He hadn’t wanted the man to know she’d already made her decision, as they had already agreed to tell him together. As well, he supposed he ought to give her the chance to let Lewes down gently, cutting all ties to him before they could move forward.
As his stomach finally announced its hunger, he was annoyed when yet another door opened and he was waylaid. He bit back a groan at the sight of Lady Thrush, leaning against the frame of the music room door. He narrowed his eyes at her, suspicion raising the hairs on the back of his neck. The woman had no business in that room alone. Had she been lying in wait for him?
“Hello, mon amour,” she purred, raking him with a lascivious gaze. “Had you urgent business with the viscount this morning?”
“I do not have time for this,” he snapped, starting past her with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“Oh, but I think you do. I think you will make time, unless you want me to tell everyone what I witnessed early this morning.”
Nick halted, dread filling him as he turned back to face her. She gave him a coy smile and motioned at him with a crooked finger.
“What do you want?” he growled, annoyed that he had no choice but to acquiesce to her demand. He had to protect Calliope from public ruination.
She took hold of his sleeve and pulled him toward her as she backed into the room. “Why so dour, mon amour? Surely you wouldn’t begrudge me a simple conversation.”
He yanked his arm free of her grasp. “Don’t touch me.”
She pouted, hands braced on her hips. “Oh, yes, I’ve forgotten … you cannot be touched without a price, can you? I assure you, I am prepared to pay whatever you require.”
He scowled, a bitter taste filling his mouth. Being a courtesan had never felt more sordid than it did just now.
“In case I haven’t made myself clear, I am not interested—in you, or anyone else thinking to purchase me.”
Her teasing pout turned into a harsh scowl. “I suppose you think the Barrington chit will have you. Is she really so special? I thought her an innocent, but who knows what sort of heathen wiles she conceals with those pretty smiles.”
“I will warn you only once,” he seethed, hands shaking with the urge to throttle her. “You will not speak that way about Miss Barrington. My association with her is none of your business. I am no longer beholden to you.”
She approached him, slowly, like a viper holding prey in its thrall. “Oh, but you are. You see, I had a difficult time sleeping and finally roused myself from bed around dawn. I heard a scuffling noise outside my guest chamber and was startled. Of course, I cracked my door to see who might be skulking about in the corridor. Would you like to guess what I found?”
Nick felt as if all the air had been knocked from him, and he couldn’t speak, couldn’t think of anything to s
ay to put Carlotta off the scent. There were only two unmarried ladies attending this party—Carlotta and Calliope. The Countess of Hastings was the only other woman of an age with him, the others being quite long in the tooth. She’d never believe that he’d been in anyone else’s bed.
“Oh, yes,” she crooned when he didn’t reply, reaching out to smooth her hands up his chest. “I know what you got up to last night, mon amour. You were always such a naughty boy, but I’d never taken you as one with a taste for virgins.”
Nick’s fury swelled and he took hold of her wrists, prying her hands off his chest. “What do you want?”
She licked her lips, looking up at him with ominous intent in her eyes. “You cannot possibly be satisfied with her. I was willing to pay whatever you asked, but now I think I prefer this way. Consider my silence on the matter your payment.”
He stared at her in disbelief, unable to believe he’d ever found this woman alluring. “You are vile, and your petty jealousy does you no credit. Calliope is everything you could never hope to be, and I am ashamed of ever having anything to do with you.”
Shock and rage twisted her features into something hard and ugly. “My God, you’re already beholden to her aren’t you? I would hardly have believed it.”
She laughed, the sound grating and shrill as she wrenched her wrists out of his hold. Her eyes began to water as she cackled, pointing an accusing finger at him.
“You’re her little whore, aren’t you? Oh, that is too good!”
“Shut your mouth,” Nick hissed, advancing on her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His momentum carried her straight into him as she lunged, reaching up to grasp his hair while her other hand went between his legs. She cupped his disinterested cock and angled her head as if seeking a kiss.
“Remember all the filthy things I let you do to me? You could have that again. I would let you have everything, whatever you wanted.”
“Damn it, get off me … Carlotta, stop!”
He wrestled with her, forced to tread the line between escape and doing bodily harm to a woman—something he’d never done in his life. He might have been a whore, but he was still a gentleman. She was relentless, pawing at him as he backed away, heedless to his grasping hands as he fought to get her under control.
Something hard came against his back—the pianoforte—and she dropped to her knees before him, busy hands ripping at his fall. He had just made up his mind that a foot to the chest wouldn’t injure her too badly, when the sound of a dull thud rang out through the room.
Carlotta froze, her head whipping in the direction of the door. Calliope stood on the threshold, a music stand and scattered sheet music littering the floor at her feet. She looked horrified, one hand clapped over her gaping mouth, eyes accusing as she took in the damning scene.
Momentarily swiveling his gaze down to Carlotta, he glowered. “Take your hands off me. Right now.”
The woman finally responded to the threat in his tone, though she lost none of her bravado, crossing her arms and giving Calliope a knowing look.
“Oh, Miss Barrington. You’ve arrived just in time! Dominick is reluctant to break the rules of your arrangement, but I’m sure if we pool our funds, we can convince him to take us both on at once. What say you?”
With a strangled sound of outrage, Calliope whirled and fled. Dominick nearly doubled over from the force of the terror and panic that slammed into him. But, Calliope was gone, drawing farther away from him with each passing second, and there was no time to waste. He had to explain, to find some way to make her understand that he’d wanted none of what Carlotta had offered him.
He didn’t spare a thought for Carlotta, who stood staring after him as he rushed from the room. Calliope was running, tearing down the corridor in a flurry of pink skirts. Desperation pounding a rapid cadence in his chest, Nick gave chase.
Calliope stormed through the doors leading outside, uncertain where she was going but needing to escape. Her entire body trembled, and a hollow ache spread through her middle. She felt as if she would be violently sick, the threat of tears stinging her eyes.
While she might be confused and shocked by what she had witnessed, the greater concern was what had been revealed by Lady Thrush. For years, she had been so careful. She had guarded her reputation, using it as a shield against a world that would only accept her so long as she was above reproach. That had all been destroyed, and the fault was her own.
“Calliope!”
Dominick’s voice rang out behind her. Her heart leaped into her throat, and she increased her speed—even knowing she had no chance of outrunning him.
“Callie, wait!”
She lowered her head against the bright gleam of the morning sun and pushed on. Calliope didn’t know what to say or do; she only knew she needed to be away from him, away from the painful truth she had tried to avoid but must now confront.
“Anni!”
She halted in her tracks at the sound of her true name, tangled up with the distress in Dominick’s voice. Whirling on him, she came up against his chest. She reared away from his grasping hands, her own raised to ward him off.
“Don’t!” she bellowed, her voice shaky with sorrow. “Leave me be, Dominick.”
“No. I will not leave you until you listen to me. What you saw … it isn’t what you think. Do you honestly think I would leave your bed this morning and go to her?”
“Of course not! I’m not an idiot. It was plainly obvious that her advances were unwanted and you were trying to extricate yourself from the situation.”
He furrowed his brow and shook his head. “Then why are you angry with me?”
“I am angry with myself, for being so foolish. I let you … I should never have … Oh, God!”
She pressed a hand to her belly, trying to keep her breakfast down and fearing she might fail. Dominick reached for her again, but at her warning glare he backed away, dejection marring his face.
“Whatever has you so upset … I can mend it. Let me make it right.”
“There is no making this right. Can’t you see? She knows. She knows I hired you, there is no telling who else knows or may find out.”
“She doesn’t know the truth.”
“She knows enough! And I’ve behaved so abominably this week it is a wonder the entire party isn’t aware by now.”
“What does it matter? We are getting married. Perhaps we’ll have to do so sooner than we’d planned, but that will make all of this go away. I’ve just sent a letter to Benedict informing him that I’m done with the Gentleman Courtesans. Lady Thrush will have no leverage once we are wed and I have—”
“Of course you think marriage will be enough to erase this. You aren’t the one people will call a whore if word of this gets out. You aren’t the one people will turn their noses up at and gossip about, even after marriage has made me respectable. I am!”
He threaded both hands into his hair and released an exasperated breath, closing his eyes as if pained. “No one has to know. I’ll do whatever I must to ensure Lady Thrush’s silence. You have to trust me to protect you.”
“And when another of your former clients decides she wants a repeat performance from her favorite courtesan? What then? Am I to spend the rest of my life afraid to leave you alone for fear that any woman of the ton could throw herself at you at any given moment? I don’t even know how many women you’ve serviced, which of them I rub elbows with or know personally! Should I expect more of them to offer to buy your favors for a night?”
Dominick raised his chin, jaw hardening and eyes narrowing. “I refuse to spend the rest of my life apologizing for my past. You accepted me last night knowing what I was, what I’ve done. I’ve told you I’m done with them, and I meant it. What more do you want from me?”
“I cannot believe I let you overwhelm me so utterly that I forgot … I didn’t take into account that I would be forced to look every woman I meet in the eye and wonder how many of them have had you,
how many will whisper to their friends that perhaps before our marriage I purchased you, too. I dare not forget about The London Gossip. The moment she figures out who the Gentleman Courtesans are, anyone associated with you will be ruined!”
“That deranged harpy has been shooting in the dark. She knows nothing.”
She scoffed, throwing her hands up. “And there you have it. Your typical arrogance blinds you to how easily you could be found out, with no thought to how it might affect the people you care about. You have no idea what it’s like to know you could become a pariah with nothing more than a single smudge to your good name—not when you have all the privilege in the world to hide behind. Some of us have no such privileges!”
His expression softened by degrees, understanding and compassion radiating from his eyes. When he took her hand, she didn’t fight him. Despite her best efforts, she was still so weak for him, unable to shun him even as she knew she must walk away.
“You are afraid,” he murmured, pulling her closer and lacing his fingers through hers. “I understand that. But we cannot let fear guide our decisions or change our path. I don’t know what will happen or how, but I do know I want to face whatever comes with you. Nothing else matters. I chose to put aside my past and my own reservations because I love you. And you chose me—”
“It was a mistake. I should never have let it happen.”
He shook his head, wrapping his arms around her and yanking her against him. “No. Don’t you dare call what we shared a mistake. It wasn’t some meaningless moment of recklessness. You know that as well as I do.”
She laid her forehead against the center of his chest, soaking in the feel of him, the smell of him, preparing herself to give it all up for good. “I’m sorry Dominick, but I cannot do this.”
His hold tightened, and he lowered his head to seek her lips. “Callie, please … I cannot lose you.”
His mouth brushed hers, and she shivered, felt herself being pulled in again. She gathered what strength she had left, her heart breaking at the pained expression on his face as she reared away, spurning his kiss.
A premonition trickled down her spine, taking her out of the sphere of their solitude and reminding her where they were. She stiffened, eyes darting toward the house—which they stood in full view of. The drapes were thrown open to the sun, several of the panes revealing that they had an audience. Apparently, their quarrel had drawn the attention of her father’s guests, many of whom had seen far too much.
Making of a Scandal (The Gentleman Courtesans Book 3) Page 25
