The Secret Marriage Pact

by Georgie Lee

  This was exactly how she’d expected married life to be.

  ‘Are you enjoying yourself?’ Jasper approved the bottle of champagne the footman held out to him and sent the man on his way.

  ‘I could get used to doing this every night.’ She sat back from the edge of the box where she’d been perched to watch the King carrying on with his mistress, Marchioness Conyngham, in a box across the way. Jane and Mrs Hale used to read about the woman in the papers. She never thought she’d be watching her and His Highness together before her and everyone. Between this spectacle and the glow of the last few nights of lovemaking, she felt very wicked and wanton. Philip was right to have kept her away from here.

  ‘It can’t be every night.’ He wrapped a linen towel around the bottle and worked out the cork with a muffled pop. Then he poured some of the straw-coloured liquid into the two glasses on the narrow table between their chairs. Each turn of the bottle as he poured to avoiding spilling a drop whispered with his experience. This wasn’t his first theatrical performance. ‘I must work if I’m to keep you in style.’

  * * *

  Jasper took a deep drink of the champagne, barely tasting it as he examined his wife. She wore a rich purple gown embellished by a thin line of lace along the bodice where the tempting mounds of her breasts rose above the silk. Maturity and poise hung in every elegant curl tucked in the combs at the back of her head, but her wide-eyed amazement and the ease of manner between them were just as alluring. Around her there was no pretending he was someone else, no lies about slipping out to his hell. They simply enjoyed their marriage and all the delights it offered.

  ‘Do you like your new earrings?’ He caressed the curve of her ear, following the delicate skin down to where the gold-and-diamond bauble shimmered with each of her movements.

  She laughed as she pulled back, her joy as effervescent as the champagne. ‘I love them, but you mustn’t keep buying me things I don’t really need.’ She twirled a gold bracelet on her arm, another of his lavish gifts.

  ‘It’s the reason I bought them for you.’ And why he sent funds to Mrs Robillard. Spending money on them was the single penance he could do to make up for his failings. ‘You’re too sensible to spend my money so shamelessly.’

  ‘You should be, too.’

  ‘I don’t buy anything I can’t pay cash for right away. You won’t find a bill clinging to me.’

  ‘Not even if I looked very, very, hard, over every inch of you?’ She traced the line of his jaw with one gloved finger while balancing her champagne glass in the other hand.

  He caught her fingers with his. ‘Not even then.’

  She bit one lip with her teeth with the same anticipation tightening his insides. ‘We’ll see tonight.’

  The audience laughed and Jane whipped her attention back to the theatre. Jasper held her hand, enjoying her delight as she watched the spectacle in the audience as well as the one on stage. Her excitement reminded him of the thrill of seeing Savannah when he’d disembarked after the crossing and the morning his uncle had revealed his secret. It was the first time he’d thought well of the city and his years there instead of cursing it, and it was all thanks to Jane. It was hard to be around her and not view potential and possibility in everything instead of ruin.

  I should have allowed her to wait for me, written to her and continued what she’d tried to start during our last night together. When she was old enough, she could have gone to him in Savannah, perhaps helped him see the pitfalls of his life and leave it, or at least been there with him through the darkest days.

  She laughed with the rest of the audience, her eyes sparkling with her amusement, and he was glad she hadn’t come to him. It would have killed him to see the hollowed-out disbelief mar her expression as it had everyone else’s during the awful summer. He rested one ankle on his knee and settled back in his chair to enjoy the performance. He’d been at the hell the last few nights, but tonight he’d be home in bed with her. He squeezed her hand and she flashed him a smile to chase off his concerns.

  Then Jasper glanced across the theatre. A few boxes below the King’s he noticed Lady Fenton seated near the edge of her box with her noticeably wan eldest son. Jasper withdrew his hand from Jane’s and took up his champagne flute to enjoy a bracing sip. There’d been no inkling Lord Fenton intended to involve himself in Captain Christiansen’s debt, but it didn’t mean either the Earl or his son weren’t planning something. He wouldn’t know until they sprung it on him. Until then he continued to search for someone in the Admiralty who could tell him when the captain had resigned his commission, but he’d found no one. It undermined the peace he found with Jane tonight, one to both settle and scare him. He’d been content in his life once before and Mr Robillard had stolen it. He wondered who might take it from him this time.

  The curtain rustled behind him and the footman appeared again.

  ‘Sir, this arrived for you.’ He handed Jasper a note.

  Jasper took the note, his enthusiasm for the evening dropping. It was from Mr Bronson telling him to come to the hell at once.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Jane asked.

  He folded the paper and tucked it in his pocket. ‘Mr Bronson needs me.’

  ‘He can’t handle whatever it is?’

  ‘If he’s asked me to intervene, it must be bad. I’ll be home as soon as I can.’ He rose and kissed her on the forehead, irritated to be pulled away, but the hell paid for every aspect of this evening and their life. No matter how much he wanted to stay here with Jane, he couldn’t ignore business.

  * * *

  Lord Fenton stood across from Jasper in the warehouse. Mr Bronson had insisted he wait here instead of upstairs and Jasper was glad. The less Lord Fenton knew about the Company Gaming Room, the better.

  ‘To what do I owe the honour of this visit, Lord Fenton?’ Jasper asked, even though he could guess.

  ‘I wish to discuss my son’s debts. I understand he lost a considerable sum here.’

  ‘Not as much as he would have if I hadn’t asked him to leave.’

  ‘A gambling-hell owner with a heart, how quaint.’ The aristocrat sniffed.

  ‘A father coming to discuss his grown son’s debts, what filial love,’ Jasper shot back.

  ‘Mind how you address me,’ Lord Fenton sneered. ‘The very existence of this lowly club hangs on my good graces. With a few words placed in the right ears I could see this establishment closed for good.’

  Mr Bronson shot Jasper a wary look over the Earl’s shoulders.

  ‘With a few equally well-placed bribes I’m sure I could keep catering to a clientele far below the notice and interest of a lord. After all, I wouldn’t want you to sully your hands dealing with mere merchants.’ He might be preparing to leave the club, but he wouldn’t see it closed and Mr Bronson and all the employees left without wages or employment. Let the man mortgage some property or do an honest day’s work to meet his commitments.

  ‘I won’t have the Fenton name sullied by allowing some third-rate hell to take a substantial part of my son’s settlement. I want the two thousand pounds he lost to you returned at once.’

  Jasper imagined Lord Fenton wouldn’t dare to march into a club in St James’s and demand the return of money, but he had no compunction about doing it here.

  ‘He understood the rules of wagers as well as you do, my lord, and he paid his debt like a true gentleman.’

  ‘It wasn’t his money to gamble with,’ Lord Fenton continued as if it made a difference.

  ‘That is a matter for you and him to discuss, I have no part in it.’

  ‘You will give me back the money.’ Lord Fenton banged his walking stick against the floor as if sheer will could move Jasper. It couldn’t.

  ‘Our discussion is now at an end. Good evening, Lord Fenton.’

  Lord Fenton clasped the
handle of his walking stick so hard Jasper thought he heard the wood crack. ‘You will regret this.’

  The man turned on the heel of his polished shoe and stormed out of the warehouse.

  ‘What charm these lords have.’ Mr Bronson pulled out his red handkerchief and wiped his brow.

  ‘And an aversion to scandal and having their debts made public, especially when they have a wastrel son to marry off. It may keep him from troubling us further.’

  ‘Seems a slim string to hang our peace of mind on.’

  ‘It is, but it’s the only one we’ve got.’ Overhead, footsteps made the rafters rattle. Jasper looked up into the darkness. Everyone above him seemed so sure of their lives, but he understood how fast everything could fail. Disease wouldn’t undo him in London, but his own mistakes and weaknesses might. He’d already lived through complete ruin once. He couldn’t bear to endure it again.

  * * *

  The click of the bedroom door closing pulled Jane out of a deep sleep. She rolled over, confused about where she was until the gilding of the four-poster bed glimmering in the light from the grate caught her attention. With a contented sigh she turned to tempt Jasper into the exertion they’d been denied by his being summoned away from the theatre, but he wasn’t beside her.

  He stood by the window, staring out at the darkness just beyond it. The languid man who’d poured champagne was gone, replaced by the serious one who’d told her of Savannah in the carriage the other night.

  She sat up. ‘Jasper? Is everything all right?’

  He turned his back to her as he undid his cravat. ‘Yes, it’s fine.’

  ‘You don’t appear as if everything is fine.’

  ‘There were some things I had to deal with at the club.’

  ‘What things?’

  ‘Nothing you need to worry about.’

  ‘Of course I worry about it, especially after you leave me at the theatre and then come home looking like the devil.’

  He jerked the linen from around his beck. ‘If I say it’s nothing, then it is.’

  She drew back a touch on the bed, wide-eyed with shock. He’d never snapped at her before.

  He flung the linen over the back of a chair and scraped his hand through his hair, more contrite than irritated. ‘I’m sorry, it was a difficult night. I had to deal with some issues I failed to face sooner because I’ve been distracted.’

  By me. Once again she’d brought problems into a house, except this time it wasn’t her parents’, but her own. She wished she hadn’t pestered him. It was another testament to how stubborn she could be when she wanted her way and the trouble it could cause. ‘Then come to bed and let me help you forget about it.’ She shrugged a little to make her chemise slide down over her shoulder to reveal the top of one full breast, wanting to be close to him and settle the unease inside her and him.

  It didn’t tempt him. Instead he turned his back to her to shrug out of his coat and waistcoat. ‘It has been a long night. I need some sleep.’

  Jane tugged the chemise back up to cover herself, as baffled as she was wounded. He hadn’t hesitated to tell her about the Company Gaming Room, even treating his secret as though he’d killed a man, not backed a few card games. Tonight he was tight lipped about his troubles. It wasn’t right, she wanted him to confide in her, but she couldn’t force him to do it. Insisting had never made her reveal anything. She doubted it would work with Jasper.

  She settled back down in the bed while he continued to undress, the whisper of his clothes the only conversation between them. She was tired and so was he. The last few nights had been pleasurable but long. They both needed rest and afterwards he might be more willing to talk to her.

  At last, he slid into bed beside her, but didn’t reach out to hold her or laugh with her like he normally did when he returned early in the morning from his hell.

  ‘Goodnight.’ He kissed her on the forehead, not with affection but with dismissal before rolling on his side, his back to her.

  She turned on her side, too, careful to stay as far away from him as she could. How dare he dismiss her like some maid! She had no idea why he’d done it. The new earrings lying in a crystal dish on the table beside the bed caught her eye and a bolt of fear made her stiffen.

  Maybe it’s me. Maybe he regrets our marriage. The old nagging feeling she wasn’t worthy of affection covered her like the early morning darkness before she pushed it back. Nothing in what he’d said or done since the ceremony had hinted at such a thing, until he’d all but shoved her away tonight.

  She stared at the far wall turned orange by the smouldering coals, determined to be sensible and not fall prey to late-night worries, but it was difficult. Eventually, he was sure to explain, but patience wasn’t one of her stronger virtues.

  She closed her eyes, ignoring how cold the bed was when he didn’t hold her. The uneasy sense this wouldn’t be the last time Jasper might not turn to her for comfort continued to nag until the rising sun lit up the room and, unable to remain still any longer, she rose to begin her day.

  Chapter Nine

  Jane sat at the burled-wood-and-gilded writing desk in the sitting room to review receipts and the correspondence she’d collected in regards to the building. The new furniture would be delivered in a few days, an elegant and sizeable amount commissioned by a London merchant who had been sunk by the sudden drop in coffee prices. Jane had snatched up the unpaid goods at a splendid price and they would soon be installed at the club.

  Jasper had yet to rise and, if it hadn’t been for Mrs Hodgkin interrupting her more than once to discuss the dinner menus, she would have been quite alone this morning. After the delight of the theatre, this wasn’t exactly how she’d pictured spending today.

  Johnson, the butler, entered with a few letters. ‘Would you like me to leave these here or take them up to Mr Charton?’

  ‘You can leave them here. They’re enquiries into services. We needn’t bother Mr Charton with them.’

  Johnson placed the letters on the table beside her then left, his wan face not betraying whatever he thought about his employer sleeping so late. Jasper had mostly been at his parents’ house since coming home and all the servants in this one were new. They knew as much about his affairs as they did about his gaming hell, which was nothing. They were kept in the dark about it to make sure they didn’t inadvertently mention it in front of his family. They thought he went to a club for gentlemen merchants every night.

  Jane set down her pen and rose. She wandered to the window and pushed aside a curtain to take in Gough Square. A nurse and her young charges were out in the centre, enjoying their daily walk, and there was no one else to be seen. The clerks and shop owners who filled the houses in the square were up and hard at work, including her, while her husband slept.

  She turned away from the window and leaned against it, biting the nail of her thumb. Jasper couldn’t have built a successful gaming hell if he was a layabout.

  Maybe I should be glad he’s still in bed. Once he was up they’d have to face each other and the lingering questions and awkwardness of last night. He hadn’t been pleased to see her then—she wasn’t sure he’d be any more excited by her presence now.

  It left a sour taste in her mouth as she sat down to read a note from the painters about progress on the Fleet Street property’s walls and she tried her best to forget it. Hopefully, his distance and reluctance to talk to her was nothing more than a fluke. Years ago, there’d been times when Philip, after seizing collateral in the middle of the night to keep a debtor from making off with it, had been up, too agitated to sleep. She’d come downstairs to sit with him and talk. Unlike Jasper, Philip had welcomed her company.

  Enough of this. It had taken a while for Laura and Philip to come together nine years ago. It hadn’t been easy and they’d struggled during their first few months of marr
iage to become acquainted with one another after wedding as strangers. Jane had the advantage of a long history with Jasper and their entire lives together, but it didn’t mean the adjustment to their new situation wouldn’t be difficult. This was only a setback and setbacks were to be expected. She would be sensible about this and not act like a flustered lover or dwell on the incident and make it worse.

  She began a reply to the painters when the sound of the front knocker made her pause. It was loud and she hoped it didn’t wake Jasper. She twisted the new gold bracelet on her arm as she listened to the butler open the door. She expected to hear the butcher she’d summoned to give her a price on his goods. Instead, a gaggle of female voices filled the house.

  Jasper’s sisters.

  Before the butler could announce them, they spilled into the sitting room in a wave of chatter and greetings.

  ‘I hope you don’t mind us intruding.’ Olivia tossed her reticule in a chair to announce she didn’t care whether she was intruding or not, she intended to stay.

  ‘We were shopping nearby and wanted to see how you were getting on,’ Alice added.

  ‘Oh, I adore the way you’ve rearranged the furniture.’ Lily peered about the room, adjusting her dark curls after removing her bonnet. She flung it down on top of the pile of reticules and pelisses rapidly mounting on the chair.

  ‘I assume Jasper is at the club today?’ Alice asked while she removed her gloves.

  ‘Yes, he’s usually there during the day. I sometimes go with him, but I had to stay behind to see to some other matters.’ Jane glanced out of the sitting-room door and at the empty stairway just beyond it. She hoped Jasper didn’t wake up and come downstairs. If he did, he should hear his sisters and know better than to reveal his presence. She was sure neither of them wanted to make excuses for why he was home or for his sisters to think he didn’t work as hard as their husbands, or that there was some reason Jane had lied to them about where he’d been. She didn’t like lying, but it was necessary. He did work as hard as their husbands, but not at a business they would approve of, at least not yet. It almost made her wish the sisters would leave so she could return to the organising of the club. The sooner it opened, the sooner Jasper might leave the hell and whatever had made him so aloof this morning.