The Scandals Of An Innocent

by Nicola Cornick

  Alice’s blue gaze flickered over Miles again. “When she made this stipulation, Lady Membury was seeking to protect me from fortune hunters and to ensure that I chose to marry a man who loved and respected me for myself alone,” she said. Her tone was ironic.

  “That was very laudable of her,” Miles said, “but probably a little optimistic.”

  “So it seems,” Alice said coldly, “given the nature of your marriage proposal. Lady Membury’s wishes are quite clear, however. She stated that as she would not be present to scrutinize my suitors herself, she requires that the man I marry fulfill certain criteria. Specifically he has to be proven to be an upright and worthy gentleman.” She let the words drop into the silence of the room. “Perhaps if she had required that I should marry an out-and-out scoundrel, you would have a better chance, my lord.”

  Miles laughed. “You do not feel that I meet her conditions, Miss Lister?”

  “In no particular,” Alice said. “More to the point, my lord, Mr. Gaines, and my other trustee, Mr. Churchward, who was Lady Membury’s London lawyer, both surely know of your poor character and know that whatever else you may be, you are neither upright nor worthy. So I fear that your suit is doomed, my lord, blackmail notwithstanding.”

  It was a setback, Miles allowed, but he could not accept that it was insuperable. He had not come this far in order to give up now.

  “Churchward is my family lawyer, too,” he said thoughtfully. “Perhaps he could be…persuaded…to my cause.”

  “I have met Mr. Churchward and I doubt that he is corruptible,” Alice said sharply, “family lawyer or not.”

  “I am afraid you are probably right,” Miles conceded wryly. “Which is how it should be, I suppose. I do not really want a dishonest solicitor working for me.”

  “Only when it suits you,” Alice said. “There is more, my lord.”

  “Of course there is,” Miles said ironically.

  “In order to prove his worthiness to Lady Membury’s satisfaction-and to that of my trustees,” Alice said, “my future husband has to fulfill a certain requirement.”

  Miles sighed. He was starting to dislike the deceased Lady Membury quite intensely. He had no doubt that Alice was telling him the truth about the codicil to her inheritance-and that she was taking great pleasure in doing so. He supposed that it was the least he deserved for forcing her hand.

  He sat forward. “Name Lady Membury’s stipulations,” he said.

  “Her terms are that for three months you must be proven to be utterly and completely honest in your dealings, not only with me, your future wife, but with everyone else, too,” Alice said very clearly. “You must speak the truth on all occasions. You must be honest in all your transactions.” Her gaze held a hint of mockery as it rested on him. “You are a ruthless, deceitful manipulator, my lord. Never in a thousand years could you achieve such a thing as total honesty, though I do believe it would be the most painful punishment for you to try. I feel sure you would fall at the first hurdle.”

  Miles stared at her. For a moment he thought-hoped-he had misheard her.

  Utter and total honesty in his words and his dealings?

  What had that mad old fool Lady Membury been thinking?

  Utter and total honesty for three whole months?

  He was not sure what was showing on his face. Alice was watching him with interest and a certain degree of amusement.

  “I knew you could not do it,” she said with satisfaction.

  “Miss Lister,” Miles said, “there are very good social reasons for not being honest all the time.”

  Alice smiled slightly. “You need not tell me that,” she said. “I was not the one who set the condition. And I would not be expecting you to be honest if I ask you whether I look plump in a particular gown,” she added. “We are talking here about fundamental honesty of character, Lord Vickery. We are talking about you being at heart a sincere and worthy man.” Her smile grew. “Oh dear, you look appalled. I do realize that the concept of honor is completely foreign to you.” She raised a brow. “I take it, then, that you are withdrawing your attempt at blackmail and that we need not trouble Mr. Churchward and Mr. Gaines? I know you would not be able to meet the terms, anyway.”

  “Oh, I can meet the terms,” Miles said. He got to his feet and turned away from Alice for a moment so that she could not see his expression and know he lied. It was impossible to open his heart and reveal the unvarnished truth about his thoughts, feelings and behavior. He had not done such a thing since he was a youth, in the last, appalling, disillusioning interview he’d had with his father before he’d left to join the army. Telling the absolute truth was to reveal one’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It was to lay oneself open to pain and hurt. Being honest never paid. It was not a course of action that he would ever take voluntarily.

  And yet that did not mean he could not meet Lady Membury’s ridiculous conditions and win Alice’s fortune. Over the past ten years Miles had become so accomplished at disguising the truth, bending it, using it, molding it to his will that he was completely sure he could do the same now. Alice and her trustees would never know the difference between his carefully constructed pretence and total honesty.

  He turned back to her. She was waiting with nothing but the most polite interest showing on her face. Miles took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb gently over the back of it. Her skin felt warm and deliciously soft. He felt a tiny tremble rack her. Her lips parted and he heard her catch her breath. The hunger for her that was within him sharpened like a knife. He had to have Alice Lister. One way or another he would achieve it.

  “I will do it,” he said.

  “Money is a truly remarkable inspiration,” Alice said, “if it can persuade even you to reform.” Her voice was slightly husky. Miles felt his body stir. Once again he had a sudden, shocking urge to kiss her, to take that soft red mouth with his and dip deep within her. He pulled her to her feet, drawing her closer to him until her hands were resting against the smooth blue superfine of his jacket.

  “It is only for three months,” he whispered against the golden curls that had escaped from her neat little yellow bandeau and were tickling his lips. “I do not intend to reform for good. Only until I have you-and your money.”

  He watched the color spill up under her skin, pink as an opening rose. “Of course,” Alice said. “How foolish of me. You cannot change.”

  “Why would you seek to change me?” Miles asked. “I am far more amusing unreformed.”

  He saw a flash of something in her eyes that looked almost like pain. “You are dangerous and ruthless and arrogant unreformed,” Alice said. Her voice was husky.

  “Precisely,” Miles agreed. He leaned closer until his lips were barely an inch from hers, tantalizingly close. “Much more amusing.”

  Alice shook her head a little. He saw the deep blue of her eyes darken to the color of twilight. He could sense the resistance in her, but it was overwhelmed by the attraction she had to him. He doubted that she even understood what was happening between them. She was so transparently innocent that it felt unfair to be taking advantage. Except that Miles never let such scruples weigh with him.

  “Do we have a deal, Miss Lister?” he murmured. His lips brushed hers. “I will contact Churchward and Gaines to confirm that I will fulfill Lady Membury’s requirements as your affianced husband. By good fortune I am expecting Mr. Churchward to arrive from London any day to discuss my inheritance of Drum…”

  He saw Alice blink and pull herself back from the brink of sensual awareness. A shade of disquiet touched her face. She took a step back from him as though she had belatedly become aware of how far she had let him take control and how far he had affected her senses.

  “You go too fast, my lord,” she said. “I have not given my consent yet.”

  “But you will,” Miles said. “Think of your mother. Think of Miss Cole. You have no choice.”

  A flicker of temper flashed in Alice’s eyes. “I understand that
there is a family curse associated with your inheritance of Drum, my lord,” she said. “Can I rely upon it to carry you off before the knot is tied?”

  Miles laughed. “It certainly won’t happen before our wedding night, sweetheart.”

  Alice pulled a face. “A pity. But perhaps I could hasten it along.” She swished away from him. “Let us be clear, Lord Vickery. I detest you. You are the last man on earth I would wish to wed and if I am forced into this then-” she paused and then met his eyes defiantly “-ours will never be more than a marriage in name only.”

  Miles burst out laughing. “You are in no position to be negotiating terms, Miss Lister. A marriage in name only? I don’t think so.” He crooked a finger under her chin and brushed his lips to hers again. They were soft and yielding and he wanted to deepen the kiss and taste her and take her. Desire twisted in him.

  “Surrender to me now,” he said, against her mouth. “Accept my proposal. You know you have no choice.”

  “No!” Alice jerked back from him, pressing her fingers against her lips. “I need time to think,” she said.

  “No, you don’t,” Miles said. “There is nothing to think about.” He did not want to give her even a second to think of a way out-not that there was one for her.

  Alice stared at him for a long moment and then she nodded slightly, and Miles’s heart leaped with relief and triumph.

  “Very well,” she said, very low. “You have my consent to an engagement. I realize that if I do not accept, others will suffer, and that I cannot allow.” She swallowed hard. “But I do not believe that it will ever come to marriage between us. You will fail to meet the terms of the will. You will fall at the first hurdle.”

  “You mean that you hope I will,” Miles corrected gently.

  Alice glared at him. “We cannot announce our betrothal immediately,” she said. “I need time-a few days-to explain to my family and friends.” She made a slight gesture. “They will be…puzzled…that I have changed my mind and that I am willing to accept you when they know I hold you in such strong dislike.”

  “I am sure that your mama will be delighted and will ask no questions,” Miles said. “I foresee no problems there.”

  “No,” Alice said. She turned away from him slightly so that he could see her face only in profile. “But my brother, Lowell, will be a different matter. He hates you and would very likely call you out if he guessed the truth, and then you would probably kill him, which will make matters a great deal worse. So I have to come up with a reason that will convince him…And then there is Lizzie.” Miles saw her lips curve into a faint smile. “I imagine she, too, might do you some physical damage if she ever discovers that you are blackmailing me.”

  “I do not intend to bring Lady Elizabeth into this at all,” Miles said. “And I expect you to keep her out of it, as well.”

  “Of course.” Alice’s tone was scornful. “I appreciate that you do not wish to risk Lord Waterhouse’s wrath by dragging Lizzie into this mess.” She sighed. “And Lizzie is my friend and I love her and I do not want her involved, so for that reason I will not tell her the truth, but-” she shrugged “-as I said, I need time to think of a convincing reason why I might wish to wed you.” She looked disdainful. “The benefits are not obvious to anyone who knows me.”

  “I will give you two days,” Miles said. “You may tell your family whatever you please, as long as it is not the truth. That will also give me time to speak to your lawyers. Then we will make the formal announcement of our betrothal.” He saw a shiver rack her, but then she squared her shoulders and met his gaze.

  “No,” she said, “I consent to the betrothal being known within my family and friends but not to a formal announcement. Not until the three months’ courtship is up-and you have fulfilled the conditions of Lady Membury’s will. I absolutely will not compromise on that, my lord. I do not wish to emerge from this with my reputation any more tarnished than it will be already.”

  Once again the frustration gripped Miles. Devil take it but she was strong, and he did not know whether he admired her for it or wanted to shake the resistance out of her. “Forgive me, Miss Lister,” he said, “but once again I must remind you that you are in no position to negotiate.”

  She held his gaze fearlessly. “And I would advise you not to push me too far, my lord, or I will call off the entire deal and tell you to go to hell, blackmail or no blackmail.”

  They faced each other like fencers and then Miles nodded. “Very well,” he said.

  He heard her give a tiny sigh of relief. “I should also warn you, my lord,” she said, “that should you miraculously manage to convince the lawyers of your upright character and respectability-” she made an exasperated gesture “-then I will do my utmost to make you the devil of a wife.”

  Miles smiled. “And I shall be the devil of a husband, so we shall deal extremely well together.” He bowed to her. “I will see you at the Granby Ball tomorrow night, Miss Lister. You will save a dance for me.”

  He saw Alice’s eyes narrow at the fact that his words were a statement not a request. “Dance with you?” she said. She quoted his own words back to him. “I don’t think so.”

  “Yes, you will.” Miles smiled. “It is the beginning of our three-month courtship during which I shall prove myself the most honorable, worthy and upstanding of suitors.” He held her eyes, and she dropped her gaze first, the rose color deepening in her cheeks. “I assure you, Miss Lister,” he added, “that we shall be in each other’s company a great deal from now onward.”

  “That is ridiculous,” Alice snapped. “There is no need for us to spend more than the minimal amount of time together. No one is suggesting that this is a love match. It is a business arrangement!”

  “That may be so,” Miles said smoothly, “but I am not giving the lawyers any opportunity to suspect me. You will find me the devoted suitor, I assure you.”

  “I do not want you paying court to me,” Alice said. She was flushed with indignation now. “I loathe the idea. It…it makes a mockery of the whole concept of love and marriage.”

  Miles laughed. “Miss Lister, you are so charmingly naive. Accept it.”

  Once again he watched her struggle with her temper. “I suppose I have no choice,” she said angrily. She took a deep breath, recovered herself. “Mama will, of course, be present on all occasions to chaperone me, so that will at least ensure that you cannot try to circumvent the conditions and seduce me into marriage.”

  “Excellent,” Miles said cheerfully. “I cannot help but feel that Mrs. Lister will support my suit.”

  “Pray do not take that as personal approval,” Alice said sweetly. “If a duke comes along Mama will no doubt change her allegiance.”

  Miles laughed. “I have no illusions, Miss Lister.”

  “Nor indeed any principles,” Alice said.

  “Naturally not,” Miles said. “But I can adopt some on a temporary basis.” He bowed again. “Good day, Miss Lister. Until tomorrow night.” He kissed the back of Alice’s hand and let her go, noting with satisfaction that she clasped one hand in the other, unconsciously running her fingers over the place his lips had touched her skin. She might detest him, he thought, but she was far from indifferent to his touch. This was going to be the perfect arrangement. He would have Alice in his bed, and her money would save him from the debtor’s prison. Everything was within his grasp.

  Three months.

  Total honesty.

  The words echoed ominously in Miles’s head as he went out, down the steps of the house and onto the gravel sweep, but he told himself that he could do it to save himself from ruin. It would be easy.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  A LICE STOOD BY THE WINDOW and watched as Miles walked away up the drive. There was a casual assurance in his gait that spoke of utter confidence. He turned to look back and raised a hand in farewell, and she chided herself fiercely at having been caught watching him. Miles Vickery was the sort of man that women watched all the time and he knew i
t. She wished she had not been the one to confirm it.

  With a sigh she dropped into the armchair that she had only recently vacated. She felt exhausted from the pressure of withstanding Miles’s blackmail and drained by an anger so deep and intense that she had thought it would consume her alive.

  Miles Vickery. He was despicable.

  He was just like all the rest. Men like Miles took what they wanted with a coldhearted disregard for the feelings of others.

  She thought of Miles, and of Tom Fortune, who had ruined Lydia and callously abandoned her, and of all those nameless, faceless, careless sons of the nobility who saw any woman as fair game and who believed that a servant girl in particular was placed on earth to clean their boots and tend to their pleasure, to be picked up, used and discarded at whim, and she felt the fury well up in her again. She remembered Jenny, the sixteen-year-old scullery maid at the house next to Lady Membury’s in Skipton, whom she had found crying on the area steps, having been turned out for being pregnant.

  Jenny had sworn the master of the house had forced himself on her and that the mistress had turned her out in a jealous fury. Alice often wondered what had happened to Jenny. She had tried to find her when she had come into her money, but like so many other disgraced servant girls, Jenny had vanished without a trace. Then there was Jane, who had worked for the Cole family. Alice’s brother, Lowell, had found Jane lying in a ditch near Cole Court, raped, bleeding and bruised. He had taken her to the farm at High Top and Alice had sent for the doctor, but it had been too late to save Jane. No charges had even been brought against anyone for Jane’s assault. Alice had known the constable did not really care. It was as though because Jane had served others she did not count as a person. She did not matter. She had died and no one had paid any heed…

  Restless with anger, Alice got to her feet and walked across to the window again, where she stood tapping her fingers on the sill. It was blindingly obvious, she thought bitterly, staring blankly out at the bright, sunny day, that had she still been a maidservant, Miles would only ever have looked at her with seduction in mind if he had noticed her at all.