The Earl Who Played With Fire

by Sara Ramsey

  But then she thought better of it. It wasn’t a very proper thought, but she hated Thorington. And Alex, after all, was winning.

  He hit Thorington again. Ferguson and Nick were critiquing his stance, mostly admiringly. But Alex and Thorington didn’t seem to hear any of it. “Promise me you will stay away from her,” Alex demanded, holding his fists up but not striking again. “Vow it on your mother, or I will kill you.”

  Thorington, oddly, dropped his fists away from his face. “Don’t bring her into this,” he said.

  Prudence was utterly confused. Alex wasn’t, though. He dropped his fists as well. “She’s what you’ve done everything for, though — isn’t that right? Vow it on her grave and I’ll believe you. I might even help you.”

  She couldn’t see Thorington’s face, but she saw him bow his head. “You did it, Salford. You won.”

  “What happened with his mother?” Nick whispered, not quietly enough, to Ferguson.

  Ferguson shrugged. “Don’t know. Family’s a mess, though — would have been smart for Thorington to marry someone as steady as Miss Etchingham.”

  Other women would have taken umbrage at being deemed merely steady, but Prudence was too focused on Alex and Thorington to react. Alex’s face, despite the swelling that had already begun around his jaw, seemed oddly sympathetic to the man he had just tried to kill.

  “Did my…winning affect you?” he asked quietly.

  Thorington was silent for several moments. Finally, he said, “Four days ago I thought I was having heart palpitations. Then I went to Wattier’s and lost a thousand pounds on a single turn of hazard.”

  Four days earlier was when she and Alex had made love at the pub. They had made love…

  Had Alex broken the curse then, not even knowing how it was done?

  But after, when she had gone home, Thorington had come to her and told her they were marrying immediately. If what he said was true, he knew then, even though they did not, that the curse was broken. And he would have forced her to marry him anyway.

  She went up behind him and clouted him on the head with her reticule. “You are a vile, vile man,” she said.

  “And you are a thief with fifty thousand pounds I am in desperate need of,” he shot back, pulling her reticule out of her hands.

  The conversation had gotten far too deep for the other men, who all gaped at their trio as though they were a poorly written, but still fascinating, theatrical production. But Alex seemed to have pieced together exactly the same puzzle that she had. He came up to her, finally, and put his arm around her.

  “We will give you the money, Thorington,” he said. “Consider it a peace offering between old friends.”

  “You were never so magnanimous when you were losing,” Thorington said bitterly.

  “And you were never so friendly when you were winning,” Alex said. “Take it, or not. But either way, I am marrying Miss Etchingham, and you can go to the devil.”

  As proposals went, it wasn’t much of one — in fact, it wasn’t one. But the yes that had waited in her heart came to life, burning with urgency now that its time was at hand.

  Alex seemed to realize, an instant later, what he had said. He turned to her, pulling her slightly away from their audience. His jaw was turning purple and she was sure he smelled of brandy, but the light in his eyes could only be described as radiant. “I forgot to let you have your say. Miss Prudence Etchingham, will you do me the incredible honor of marrying me?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Yes.”

  He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, as thoroughly as he liked and much more thoroughly than he should have. Their audience was better about it than she might have expected, but her ears were stopped up to their comments anyway.

  “I love you, Prue,” he murmured as they broke away. “More than anything.”

  “I know,” she said.

  He grinned. “Don’t get too cocky, love.”

  It was an idle threat. She stroked her hand over his heart. “I love you too, Alex. I thought I loved you before. But now…I love you more than I’d ever dreamed was possible.”

  “I know,” he said.

  She laughed as he kissed her again. They had said yes. They would say yes again in the morning, in front of a priest and a crowd of people who wondered if they had misread the invitation to Miss Etchingham’s wedding. They would say yes again in bed, and at the breakfast table, and in his study, and as they grew old together.

  They would always say yes. And it was the best word in the world.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “I cannot believe we are doing this,” Prudence whispered to Alex as they waited to greet their guests.

  Alex had wrapped his arm very improperly around her waist. “Smile, darling. No need to add to the gossip by looking annoyed with me.”

  She glared up at him, but she couldn’t feign anger when they were both so happy. She laughed instead. “I never thought I’d manage to escape Thorington and still celebrate my wedding in his house.”

  Alex had commandeered all of Thorington’s plans, from the priest to the church to the breakfast after. The wedding itself had been delayed by a few minutes — the bishop didn’t like being dragged from his bed at six in the morning to give Alex a marriage license — but the guests had all arrived on time.

  And they were all supremely confused about what had happened.

  “When were you going to tell me that you were marrying Salford instead of Thorington?” her mother asked. She had somehow edged her way to the front of the crowd so that she could greet Prudence first. “I didn’t realize it until I saw Salford standing at the front of the church.”

  Prudence kissed her on the cheek. “It was all rather…sudden. I hope you approve?”

  Lady Harcastle smiled. “A happy countess is better than a downtrodden duchess.”

  On another day Prudence might have taken offense, but today she only felt like teasing her mother back. “Surely the title doesn’t matter all that much,” she said.

  “I hope not,” Lady Harcastle said. “It would be a shame if you refused to associate with me because my title is less than yours.”

  She was smiling about something that Prudence didn’t understand. But then Ostringer reached Lady Harcastle’s side. “I offer you many felicitations, Lord and Lady Salford,” he said. “As I said, it’s the best thing in the world, marrying for love.”

  Then he offered Lady Harcastle his arm. She smiled up at him. It was like all the years and all her grief had melted away.

  Prudence gasped.

  “Oh, don’t be so scandalized,” Lady Harcastle grumbled. “You act like you’ve never seen a love match before.”

  They strolled away before Prudence could close her mouth. Alex cleared his throat. “That was…strange.”

  Prudence didn’t respond. There wasn’t time; their guests were on them in earnest. Everyone had the same questions, although none of them were so uncouth as to ask them. They danced around the issue of Prudence’s broken engagement to Thorington, even though they surely all wondered why he had disappeared and why Alex was standing in his place.

  “Where is our esteemed host?” one of the bolder ones asked.

  Alex shrugged. “Indisposed.”

  They hadn’t seen Thorington since he’d told them to take the church and the breakfast so the food wouldn’t go to waste. He was surely somewhere in London, but while he had finally agreed to let Prudence go, it didn’t mean he was eager to watch her marry Alex instead.

  The next guest looked at Alex’s jaw. “Did you hit your head on something, my lord?”

  Prudence smiled as though nothing was amiss. “Poor man ran into a door. Dreadful luck.”

  “A door?” Alex whispered in her ear as the guest walked away. “Am I that much of an idiot?”

  “Do you want me to say I punched you?” she suggested. “Because we can’t say that Thorington did it or the rumors will really fly.”

  He grinned. “Carry on, darlin
g.”

  The guests wouldn’t get any answers that satisfied them. But as long as Prudence was safely married and none of her friends or family seemed particularly upset by it, the rest of the ton would probably still accept her.

  It helped that her friends occupied the highest rungs of the social ladder — and that they all seemed eager to take credit for her marriage. “I am thrilled we convinced you to stop being stupid, brother,” Amelia said as she came up and kissed Alex on the cheek.

  “I would have married Prudence without your interference,” Alex said.

  Amelia patted him indulgently on the arm. Then she embraced Prudence. “Welcome to the family, sister,” she said. Then she leaned in to Prudence’s ear. “If he is always so slow to realize what he must do, hit him over the head until he learns to behave,” she whispered.

  “I heard that,” Alex muttered.

  Malcolm clapped him on the back. “Glad to see you came to your senses. I will guard your house while you go on your honeymoon.”

  “What if you and Amelia took our honeymoon for us and I guarded my house instead?” Alex suggested.

  “No need,” Malcolm said, some unholy humor brightening his grey eyes. “We like your house. We might have to stay the rest of the summer to enjoy it to its fullest.”

  Prudence laughed as her new sister-in-law and brother-in-law made way for the next guests. “I should have thought about your family before I agreed to marry you, my lord.”

  “Thank the gods you forgot about them,” Alex said. “Would that I could be so lucky.”

  His cousin Madeleine found them next, with Ferguson, Ellie, and Nick close behind. “I must admit there was a part of me that had hoped you would be a duchess,” Madeleine said to Prudence. “Then we could have lorded it over Amelia together.”

  “Amelia doesn’t give a fig for titles,” Prudence said. “Can you forgive me for settling for an earl?”

  Madeleine eyed Alex skeptically, then gave Prudence a sympathetic grin. “You could have done better. But I’m glad you’re part of the family now.”

  “I thank you for your judgment,” Alex said drily. “You could have done better, too, but I still love you.”

  Ferguson tapped his walking stick on the floor. “Careful, Salford. You might become my least favorite Staunton with words like those.”

  “I am a Staunton now,” Prudence said. “Where do I rank?”

  Ferguson took her hand and kissed it as though he was just as rakish as he’d been in the past. “Above all the others, my dear. I wish you very happy with this Puritan you’ve captured.”

  Ellie interrupted them. “Salford’s no more of a Puritan than you are, brother. Now let me congratulate them for taking my excellent advice.”

  “Your excellent advice?” Ferguson asked. “Do you think it was your actions that brought this about?”

  “Of course,” Ellie said, winking conspiratorially at Prudence. “I told her to tell Salford how she felt.”

  Ferguson sniffed. “I was instrumental in helping Salford rescue her. She could have been Thorington’s bride this morning if it weren’t for me.”

  Nick sighed. “I am sorry, Lord and Lady Salford. You deserve better than to have this joyous occasion marred by the lot of us.”

  Prudence and Alex looked at each other. She saw in his eyes exactly what she felt — love, amusement, slow-burning lust, and mild exasperation.

  She grinned at him. He grinned back, a bit lopsided, as though he was thinking of something far removed from whatever their friends were still bantering about. She felt his arm tighten around her waist.

  “Shall we leave our friends to their debate?” Alex asked.

  Prudence nodded. “Perhaps they can send word of their conclusions so that we know who to thank for our marriage.”

  He pulled her through their circle, not stopping to acknowledge their laughter. They didn’t stop for the remaining guests, or for the footmen who scrambled to gather their outer garments, or for the small crowd outside hoping to catch a glimpse of them. Carriages lined the street, and Alex stole the closest one, not willing to wait for his own carriage to be brought from the stables.

  Prudence caught a glimpse of the coat of arms on the door as he gave the driver the extravagant sum of three guineas to drive to Salford House. “Ferguson won’t be happy to lose his carriage,” she said as Alex handed her up through the door.

  “Will he not?” he said, leaping up after her. “I should give the driver an extra three guineas to crash it into the Serpentine after.”

  “Evil man,” she said. Then she nestled herself beside him as the carriage lurched into motion. “We are never going to hear the end of it from them, are we?”

  He kissed the top of her head. “They’ll all find someone else’s life to meddle in soon enough. Thorington had better stay away from his house until they’re gone or he might find himself at their mercy.”

  “It would almost be enough to make me feel sorry for him,” Prudence said.

  “You should feel sorry for him.” His lips moved closer to her ear, and she shivered as his voice turned lower. “I pity all the men who will never have you.”

  She arched her head away from him, letting him trail kisses down her neck. “I’d wager you don’t pity them that much.”

  Alex laughed. “You know me too well.”

  He kissed her then. They had time for everything they wanted to do to each other, every pleasure they had ever dreamed of.

  Still, they reached Salford House far too soon. She was breathless by the time they arrived, somehow both eager for a bed and desperate not to stop. “Do we have to go in?” she asked.

  They would have to explain to the butler that Prudence had returned as their new countess. Then they would have to let the servants cheer for the marriage. Alex should give them ale and porter, and possibly the afternoon off. By the time all of that was accomplished, Malcolm and Amelia would be home from the breakfast and looking to give suggestions about their honeymoon.

  Alex’s darkening eyes showed that he’d just had the same realization. “No,” he said, kissing her again. “Ferguson was so eager to help. Let’s see how far his carriage can take us.”

  He called up to the driver and ordered the man to take them as far north as he could go before the horses needed rest. Then he returned his attentions to Prudence, kissing her collarbone while she laughed at his audacity.

  “I knew marrying you would put me in danger,” she said. “Do you plan to make a criminal of me?”

  He stroked his hand up her back, then began attacking the pins holding her hair in place. “Between forgeries and horse thieving, we make quite the pair.”

  “Should we become highwaymen next?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’ve always thought it might be rather thrilling.”

  “You might have to live in a tent,” Alex warned her. “Criminals on the road don’t always have access to houses.”

  “How sad,” she said. “I would have made an excellent highwayman.”

  “I don’t doubt you would. But I find that I prefer badly behaved bluestockings. Especially my badly behaved bluestocking.”

  Prudence smiled, a slow, secret smile that made Alex’s eyes light up. “Be careful what you wish for, my lord. I can be very badly behaved.”

  He kissed her, not particularly well behaved himself. “I would wish for that every day of my life, my lady.”

  She leaned up to kiss him back. “Then I think we shall be very happy together. Until Ferguson has us transported to Australia for stealing his carriage.”

  “That would be an adventure,” Alex said. “But I plan to keep you safe here in England, where you will be much more comfortable while I ravish you.”

  She laughed. “How dastardly of you, taking advantage of my virtue like this.”

  His hand skimmed down her shoulder and palmed one of her breasts. “We’re only getting started, Prudence. There’s a whole world for us to explore together. And I, for one, don’t
want to wait a moment longer to begin.”

  She stroked her fingers across his jaw. “You were worth the wait, Alex. But we don’t have to wait anymore.”

  And so they didn’t. If the driver heard just how badly they behaved, he was too smart to mention it.

  THE END

  Books by Sara Ramsey

  Muses of Mayfair

  Heiress Without a Cause

  Scotsmen Prefer Blondes

  The Marquess Who Loved Me

  The Earl Who Played With Fire

  The Heiress Games

  Duke of Thorns - coming Spring 2014

  To hear about future books as they are released, please sign up for my newsletter

  What’s next?

  Thanks so much for your support for the Muses of Mayfair! I still have more stories to tell with this group, so there will be more Muses stories in the future. But the next book starts a spinoff series about a group of female cousins from a scandalous, dying line - one of whom is on a collision course with the Duke of Thorington. Thorington is in for the shock of his life, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

  You can find out more when Duke of Thorns comes out in early 2014. If you want to be the first to hear about launch dates, special sneak peeks, and giveaways, please make sure to sign up for my newsletter. You can also get all the latest news on Twitter (@sara_ramsey) or Facebook.

  I really appreciate the time you’ve spent with the Muses of Mayfair. If you feel so inclined, please consider leaving a review (positive, negative, or otherwise) on your favorite bookseller’s site. Happy reading!

  Best wishes,

  Sara Ramsey

  San Francisco, California

  November 2013

  About the author

  Sara Ramsey writes fun, feisty Regency historical romances. She won the prestigious 2009 Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® award with her second book, Scotsmen Prefer Blondes. Her first book, Heiress Without A Cause, was a 2011 Golden Heart finalist.