by Tamara Gill
Alice dabbed at her cheeks, sitting up. “You’re right. We need to find out if he’s the devil’s spawn who stole the jewel.”
“Isolde mentioned they were attending the Cavendish ball that marks the beginning of the Season. We could go along with them. If Lord Arndel is in Town, he’ll be there. From what I remember, he’s friends with the duke.”
“Yes, he is.” Although how, Alice didn’t know, as they were quite different men. “But I can’t believe he’d deceive me in such a way. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this.”
Victoria’s lips thinned into a disbelieving line. “I hope so, but you must prepare yourself for that not to be the case. Now come, let us ask Mama and see what we can do to calm her before we go.”
Alice nodded and followed her sister from the room, hoping against hope that all of what happened was coincidence and Callum wasn’t guilty as he seemed.
…
Two days later, Alice stood at the entrance of the Cavendish’s large London home, looking over the ton who were fortunate enough to be invited before the Season commenced next week. The scent of an array of perfumes and sweat swamped her, and instantly she missed the cooling, sweet air of the country. A year ago, this was a life she’d grown to love, the Season something to look forward to, but no longer. Now, it seemed like a market for debutantes to marry someone they hardly had knowledge of and did not love.
Alice scoured the room for the man she’d been looking for the past day and a half. She’d sent a letter to his townhouse but received no reply, nor had she heard any talk of his lordship that he was even in Town.
So where was he?
She tapped her slippered foot against the polished wood floor. Had he not come to London after all, but had lied about that, too? This morning they had received a letter from their mama stating the jewel was still missing. Alice handed her shawl to a footman and waited to be introduced to the highest-ranking members of London Society.
After their introduction, Alice, with Victoria by her side, waded into the throng of guests. They were greeted with enthusiasm. Two eligible, wealthy duke’s daughters were always good sport to have at these types of events. To Alice, it set in stone why she needed a love match, not a match made of social standing and security.
Something she’d thought she had gained with Callum.
They walked down the short flight of stairs into the ballroom itself and Alice turned to Victoria. “We’ll look about separately. If you see him, don’t say anything, I will speak to his lordship.”
Her sister nodded, walking off in the opposite direction. Alice was stopped here and there by friends, women who wanted an introduction, and the previous year’s gentleman admirers. She was polite and jovial as required, but the whole time her mind whirred with thoughts that Arndel wasn’t here. That their plan had been a complete waste of time, and they would not find out the truth.
That he had left her. The only consoling thought was that his daughter Amelia was still in Surrey. If his lordship wished to disappear, he would not have left her behind. Alice was certain, above all else, of that fact.
It wasn’t until after supper that Alice conceded their plan hadn’t worked. She took a deep breath and looked up at the ornate, painted ceiling, anything so as not to allow the tears that threatened to run down her cheeks. Arndel wasn’t here.
Gaining control of her emotions, a glimpse of a gentleman, taller than most, caught her attention across the room, and the breath in her lungs seized.
Callum walked toward her, the smile on his face brought forth her own before she remembered why she wanted to see him. Swallowing her unease at how she was to ask his lordship a question that put his honor in jeopardy, she dipped into a small curtsy as he bowed before her. His eyes were warm and welcoming and she fell a little more in love with him despite herself. How was she ever to do this?
“Lord Arndel, we meet again.”
…
Callum took in the beauty that was Alice Worthingham. He had the overwhelming urge to pull her hard against him and hold her close. How he’d missed her the past few days, and so many things had happened. Things that made his heart ache, but had also relieved him beyond measure. If his meeting with the moneylender went to plan, the debt hanging over his estate and the threat to his family, would be no more. And he could set out to earn the love of the woman before him.
Why he’d never thought to rent out the London property left his mind spinning, and having to sell his horse stock broke his heart. But, in time, he would purchase them back and set out to breed his thoroughbreds as he used to. He hoped they fetched a good price at Tattersalls tomorrow.
“Lady Alice, you look…stunning.” He eyed the gold shimmering gown with heavy beading and stitch work across the bodice. That he was aware of what that marvelous bodice held at bay made him impatient to get Alice someplace private so he could kiss her to his heart’s content.
She nodded, but didn’t venture much in return, and an inkling of concern pierced his conscience. “Is all well with you?”
“Yes,” she said, looking fully at him for the first time and keeping her attention fixed. “Can we talk?”
Callum looked about the room and noting everyone was either in their cups, playing cards, or dancing, none of those around them taking any notice of their conversation. He clasped her hand, placing it on his arm, and pulled her out onto the terrace.
The cool night air met his senses and thankfully cooled his ardor a little. He walked her toward the end of the terrace that was less occupied and stopped before the corner of the house. “What is it that you wish to say?”
“Did you receive my note? I sent one to your townhouse yesterday upon our arrival in Town.”
“I haven’t read my mail from yesterday. I apologize, I would’ve replied had I known you’d written.” The distant tone of her voice gave him pause, and he wondered what had happened in the few days since he’d seen her last. “What’s happening, Alice?”
She bit her lip and fear took hold. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
“Why did you leave early from the ball? You never said.”
Callum ran a hand through his hair, picking his words wisely. His cousin, the baronet, didn’t need to factor in his life, nor did he wish Alice to be burdened with what he now knew of the man. “I argued with my relative over the estate and our deceased cousin. I’ll not go into details, but needless to say, I didn’t wish to stay and have to listen to him or his septic tongue.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I did not know.” For the first time tonight since this conversation had commenced, Alice sounded sincere. His fear eased a little. “There is something that I must ask, and you’re not going to appreciate it. In fact, you’ll probably think, and rightfully so, that it’s unpardonable.”
His fear was back. “Go on.” Callum spied the other couples returning indoors, leaving them practically alone.
“The day after I met you at the cottages, I awoke to Mama in a panic. The emerald brooch that Papa gave her is missing again—”
Callum held up his hand, not sure he was hearing her words correctly. “And you suspect me of the crime, if this conversation is going where I think it is.”
Shame washed over him that Alice would think so lowly of him. Yes, he’d stolen in the past, and from them, but he’d given her his word that he’d never do such a thing again, and that she would doubt that promise hurt more than he thought it could. Especially, after all they’d experienced together.
“I had hoped it was not true, but Victoria thought it too much of a coincidence with you leaving the ball early and then heading for London.”
Callum cringed, seeing how that would seem, but it didn’t change the fact he’d not stolen the damn jewel again and was innocent of the crime. “I did not steal it.” He ground his teeth at having to justify himself, yet it was his own damn fault. If he’d not had to take the life of crime as his way out of financial trouble, none of these questions would be flying at his h
ead now.
Callum reminded himself he’d been left little choice. Blackmail and threats against one’s daughter was all that was needed to make a man do as he was bid. A father would do anything to keep his daughter safe.
She studied him for a long while, and he could tell she was unsure of his words. “You don’t trust me.” It was not a question, just a statement of fact. He shook his head as pain shot through his chest. “Nor, it seems, do you believe me.”
“Do you wonder at it? I know who you were, Lord Arndel. I know what you’ve done.”
Looking up the terrace, the last couple walked in the opposite direction to where they stood, and he took the opportunity to pull Alice around the side of the home, the cover of darkness giving them some privacy. “I know what I did was wrong, and I know it is hard for you to trust me, but believe me when I say that I did not take the brooch. That is true.”
“Why are you in London? And I don’t want to hear it’s because of estate business. I want the truth.” She crossed her arms and for a moment Callum was distracted by her bosom. Damn it, he needed his wits about him. “Well?” She persisted when he didn’t reply. “Answer the question.”
“First, I think we’re past the point of my lord, my dear. Unless you wish to go back to formalities, which I’m loath to do after I’ve ruined you most sufficiently.”
She shushed him, pulling him farther into the darkness. “Don’t say such things out loud.”
“Why not, they’re true.” They stood scant inches from each other, and Callum was reminded how very delectable, how beautiful his Alice was.
“Why are you here?” The annoyed tone of her voice pulled him from thoughts of kissing her senseless and making her forget her absurd questions.
He wondered if he should tell her the truth, even though to say such a thing would surely make him look even more guilty than before.
“Estate business, like I said.” The lie lodged in his throat, and he could see by the narrowing of her eyes that she didn’t believe him. Clever girl.
“You’re going to meet those men your cousin owed money to, are you not?”
He ground his teeth, hating the fact that the chit had too quick a wit. “It has nothing to do with your mama’s missing brooch. I did not steal the jewel again, I promise you on my life.”
She stepped away from him, the severing slicing him deep down to his soul. “I don’t believe you.” She shook her head. “Or I cannot trust you…as to which one I’ve not made up my mind, but either way, I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to court me any longer.”
Anger threaded through him. Just another person who thought the worst of people based on their past. “Is that what you’re calling what we did in that cottage. Courting? I’d call it fucking.”
She gasped, hurt registering on her face. A flicker of regret passed through him that he’d injured her, especially when she was the last woman on earth he ever wished to hurt.
“How dare you speak to me in such a way? I’m merely trying to work out what has happened to Mama’s brooch. The least you could do is be helpful.”
Callum threw his hands up in the air, at a loss. “How can I help you when you refuse to listen to me? I cannot tell you what you want to hear, for I have not stolen what you seek.”
“How are you paying back the men your cousin owed money to?”
“That’s none of your business.”
She growled, literally growled at him, and he stood there, shocked. “So you admit it, you are going to see the men. And I want to know how you managed to gather the funds you need.”
“It doesn’t matter how I pulled the blunt together, just let it be known between us that I have, and it was not due to your mother’s jewel.” Callum walked over to the balustrade and leaned against it, watching Alice as she stayed where she was, her back to him. “Do you believe me?”
Alice turned and eyed him. “After you left the ball the other evening, your cousin was quite vocal in telling me how much you owed, due to your cousin’s misbegotten lifestyle. It was quite a sum, and I know I took the last payment that was due. So, tell me, my lord. How will you manage to pay them back?” She crossed her arms, her chin lifting in defiance. “I cannot see how we can go on with such lies, such secrets between us.”
Callum scoffed. “You’re just like all the rest of the aristocracy. Conspiratorial, viperish Society. I remember why I turned my back on it at the end of last Season. None of you are worth the money stashed in your bank accounts. No matter what I’ve done in my past, I did not do this crime that you are laying against my door.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve rented out the London home for the Season, and I’m selling my horses, if you must know. After tomorrow afternoon, I’ll have two left to pull the carriage and one of those will also have to serve as my own mount. There will be no funds to plant crops or tend to my tenant farmer’s homes. Nothing. Are you happy now, my lady? Does hearing how low I’ve fallen prove to you that I’m the man whom you so obviously loathe?”
She gaped at him, her eyes wide.
Silence reigned between them for a moment and Callum wasn’t sure where this conversation would leave them. “To think that I was happy to see you, that I’d missed you.” He shook his head. “The lark’s on me, I suppose.”
…
Alice hated the hurt that was written across Callum’s face and she wondered, warred within herself, as to how to repair the damage the past had wrought between them. “I don’t know what to say.”
He shook his head, looking away from her. “If you’re pregnant, will you find words then? Will you demand the Surrey Bandit marry you to save your reputation?”
“I’m not pregnant.” He looked at her, frowning. “How do you know? It was only a few days ago that we…”
“Because I know, if you understand what I’m saying.” Alice wouldn’t go into details, and normally she would not venture out to balls under the circumstances, and yet, desperate times called for desperate actions.
“Well, that is perhaps fortunate for you, for I’d hate for you to marry a man you did not trust and could not possibly love.”
“Were you going to offer marriage? A gentleman would’ve asked the moment he took a virgin’s maidenhead.” Alice made a mental note to shut up before she ruined everything, but his arrogance brought out the little devil on her shoulder.
“I wished to court you.” He walked up to her, taking up too much space, and yet, not enough. “But I refuse to marry a chit who jumps to conclusions and does not believe when a man, standing before her, declares himself free of such crimes. I will not go through my life and every time I go to Town, or purchase property, or a trinket and have my wife wonder how I came to own such an item. I want her to trust me, unconditionally. Could you?”
When he said it like that, Alice wanted to reach out and pull him down for a kiss. Make him see through her actions that she did wish to trust him, but a small part of her could not. The jewel was still missing, he was in London and, well, he’d been the Surrey Bandit. “I want to believe you, more than anything, but—”
“No more. That ‘but’ is all the answer I need.”
“Callum, please.”
He bowed, the muscle at the top of his temple flexing. “Good evening, my lady. I wish you a happy Season,” he drawled, sounding bored with their conversation.
An ache formed in her chest and she bit the inside of her lip as her vision of him blurred with the sting of tears.
“Callum, I’m sorry.”
“So, too, am I,” he said, moving away from her. “I hope you find a gentleman who suits your high standards, who does not bore you to death.”
Alice watched him leave and she swiped at a tear that fell down her cheek. Without looking back at her, he entered the ballroom. At the finality of it something inside her snapped, along with the notion that she’d made a catastrophic error of judgment.
Not against Lord Arndel, but toward him, the man he was to his very core, not the title that
had been bestowed on his head. For weeks, he’d worked alongside her, more than proven his worth, given her friendship and companionship.
And at the first sign of him needing her trust, she had let him down. She had proven to him that she was like everyone in the Society he’d been foisted onto. If anyone had proved how untrustworthy they were tonight, it was she, for not believing his words.
Alice walked over to the terrace railing, looking out on the darkened gardens beyond. Right here and now she had to make a choice and, once committed, run with it and trust in herself.
Turning about, she headed back to the ballroom and sought out Victoria. She found her standing beside Isolde, their conversation animated with an abundance of laugher. Merrick stood beside Isolde, gazing at his wife with an adoration that left a hollow feeling inside Alice’s chest.
She had had that very look given to her not half an hour past, and now she risked never seeing such affection again.
What a fool she’d been. Callum may be a lot of things, may have made mistakes, but he was no longer the thief that had robbed them on the road from Ashford. He was a good man, an honorable, loving father, and of course, he hadn’t stolen the brooch. The thought of no funds for crops, how would he support his tenants in the coming months? The money he received from the parcel of land, the renting of his townhouse, and the sale of his horses would only go so far, and not last very long. It was only a matter of time before he faced ruin.
She sighed. None of his troubles could come to pass.
She spied Lord Thetford, her brother’s oldest friend, and excusing herself from her family, made her way over to him.
He bowed when she joined him. Alice dipped into a perfect curtsy. “Lady Alice, how very beautiful you look tonight.”
She took his arm and guided him along the edge of the ballroom floor. “You should know by now that flattery doesn’t work on me, but I do wish to ask a favor.”
He groaned and she laughed. “Something tells me I’m not going to approve of this favor and that should your brother find out, I’m going to have hell to pay.”
