“Are you ready, Miss Alice?” he asked.
“One moment,” she whispered and huddled closer to her circle of friends hiding behind Sophia and Mr. Levi.
Hiding from Calvin did not work.
His hand settled on her arm.
“Pardon me,” Alice’s dance partner said. “But the woman and I were just about to waltz.”
Waltz?’ Alice’s ears strained to hear the music and she realized that a waltz had just begun. She didn’t want to waltz with the man whose name she couldn’t remember.
Calvin seemed of the same mind. “Another time.” Then he whisked her away. With long strides, he dragged her across the room and into a corner where they were alone.
Alice tried to calm her breathing as she was unsure whether to address what Calvin had done to anger her or the revelation that her father had presented her with that afternoon.
His fingers settled under her chin and brought her eyes to meet his. His were dark. “You look lovely.”
Alice had to agree with his assessment. Mr. Taylor, upon meeting her, had taken her into a room where he’d stripped her down and placed her into a dress of a periwinkle blue that he declared a color only she could wear right before he also said, “I don’t know what gives me more pleasure, seeing you in this shade or seeing you in your underthings.” To which Alice had reddened and sworn to never meet the handsome and irresistible green eyes of Mr. Taylor ever again.
But instead of being pleasant and telling Calvin, “Thank you,” Alice whispered, “I’m so glad to I meet your approval, Mr. Lockwood, as it seems I am yours, bought and sold. Tell me, do you plan to brand me as well?”
Calvin brows lowered slightly, which happened to be a look that only made him more attractive. “What are you talking about, Alice?”
“My father told me what you did. You gave him money, which makes you no better than Isaac.”
“It’s not what you think,” he told her.
“Oh?” she asked mockingly. “Then, please allow me to enjoy my evening.” She turned around.
Calvin’s hand settled on her again and he yanked her back until her body collided with his. She felt the hard pressure of his body against hers and his warm breath at her ear made her pull in a breath.
“I can see you and I will need to have a chat,” he growled. Then, he was pulling her again and not into a corner but out of the room.
“Calvin, this is hardly acceptable. You’ve more than ruined my reputation.”
“Our wedding will repair it.”
Arrogance!
“Calvin,” she went on as she dragged her slippered feet behind him and wished for her steady working boots. “You can’t go about taking me where you wish me to go. I am not a prized mare, even if you and my father seemed to think differently.”
He pulled her into a dimly lit hallway, pressed her into the wall, then hovered over her. “Tell me what your father said.” His breath smelled good, like wood, him, and chocolate.
She swayed, leaned forward, and whispered, “Did you drink chocolate?”
His assessing expression cleared. “I did.”
“I love chocolate.” She preferred it over both coffee and tea. She preferred most things over tea. Chocolate made milk even better.
Calvin lifted a brow and then Alice felt his mouth on hers. She moaned as his hands move to her hips, lifting her from the floor. He spun them around until his back was to the wall. Then he tossed her. Alice gasped as her lips were forced to leave his and, upon coming down, he caught her with his arms wrapped underneath her bottom, his muscles flexing against her. Her thighs pressed into his body, allowing her to feel every curve of him.
Her trembling hand rested on his shoulder. “What are you—”
“Come here.”
She lowered her mouth and called herself all types of fool for bending to him so easily, but he tasted sweet.
With his arms around her and with her over him, she noticed that she now controlled the kiss. She could pull away when she wished or just enough to trace his lips with her tongue just as he had when he’d kissed her earlier.
He bit her lip.
She groaned and pulled away.
He tightened his arms. “What did you want to tell me?”
His words brought her back to where they were then she realized that because her feet were not on the ground, she could not walk away if she wished to.
Her captor smiled, as if knowing her thoughts, and settled further into the wall. “You can’t run from me this time. We will actually have a conversation.”
“I don’t run from you.”
“You ran into a garden last night after finding me with Rose.”
Alice closed her mouth, knowing he was right and thanking him for reminding her of why she hated him. “You said what happened between you and Rose was not a subject we discussed anymore.”
“I said you could not bring it up. I can if I need to but I don’t believe I will after this. You also tried to leave me while we were in the drawing room.”
She’d done that as well.
“Tell me what happened after I left Madame Margaret’s.”
Alice would have crossed her arms if one wouldn’t give her pain. Instead, she was forced to glare. “He said you gave him money for me. Did you?”
“I did.”
A pinching sensation touched her heart. “Then you’re no better than Isaac.”
“What did he say about what the money was for?”
“He said I was free to marry you.”
“Then I don’t understand. What’s the matter?” He looked completely calm.
Yet a storm raged in Alice. “You brought me.”
“I bought your freedom,” he told her.
She stilled. “What?”
“You’re free to marry me. That’s what your father said, is it not?”
She nodded slowly and understood the meaning of the words. “So you didn’t buy me.”
“No.”
“So I’m free to marry whomever I choose?”
“Yes, but you’re going to choose to marry me.”
She smiled in spite of his arrogance. He hadn’t brought her, per se. He’d freed her from whatever obligation to Isaac that she’d had. She wondered how much that had cost him and groaned.
“What’s the matter?” There was no irritation in his voice, even though he’d said the words aplenty in the last few minutes.
“How much did you pay my father?”
His eyes held her. He shook his head. “I’ll not share that.”
“It was a great amount, wasn’t it?” Alice started to panic.
“It hardly matters.” He didn’t seem to care.
However, she cared greatly, especially when she considered the revelation her father had presented her with that afternoon.
“A man does not simply give away that kind of money. Now, I feel obligated to marry you,” she whispered.
“Then marry me.” Now he was slightly irritated.
Alice touched his cheek since her hand was not needed to hold her up. Calvin was strong enough to hold her on his own. She studied his tanned skin and his warm eyes and ran her hands through his hair. She watched the irritation leave his eyes and a peace settle over him and knew it was time to tell him everything.
I want to remember you like this. I want to remember you looking at me just this way.
Her heart beat rapidly and she licked her lips. “Last night, I don’t think it was one of your paramours who were after you. In actuality, I don’t believe the woman wanted you dead at all.”
Calvin released her and pressed her into the wall. “Are you sure?”
Alice had just caught her feet when she said, “Yes.”
“Thank God!” Then he was kissing her again and the kiss was more urgent than all the others. Alice gasped against his mouth and tried to speak words that would slow him down but then his hands gripped her breasts through her bodice and her blood grew warm and spread throughout her body until
it settled where his hands were and between her legs.
His fingers rubbed against the lace at the edge of the silk fabric. “That means you can no longer feel as though I’m acting out of obligation.” He kissed and spoke with his lips still on hers. “That I only wish to marry you because you saved my life.”
Alice pulled in another breath and held his eyes. “How’d you know?”
“Because, I know how you think, Alice. You’ll come up with any excuse to not wed me.”
She sighed. “But don’t you understand? Calvin, I didn’t save your life.”
He gave no reaction. Neither did he drop his hands, continuing to place at the line where her flesh met her dress. “What are you implying?”
“The woman who shot me might have been trying to shoot me.”
He gave a reaction then. His hand stopped moving and his expression turned to anger. “Pardon me?”
“It seems my father might have found himself in some trouble.”
“What do his troubles have to do with you?”
“I’m not sure.”
Calvin grabbed her shoulders and his eyes darkened an emotion that seemed just as dangerous as desire. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know. He told me to stay with Lorena until he made it right.”
Calvin cursed and stepped away. “I should have made him tell me who it was he owed money.”
“My father owes someone besides Isaac’s father money?”
Calvin nodded but his eyes were no longer looking at her. “He borrowed from Mr. Hanford in order to pay off a separate debt.”
Alice took up a place in front of him. “I don’t understand. That cannot be. My father doesn’t gamble. How could he owe a debt otherwise?”
“There are other ways to owe someone.”
Alice felt the words hit her right in the heart. Calvin thought he owed her his very life.
His eyes flickered to her. He touched her cheek gently, rubbing his thumb over the skin by her ear and jaw. There seemed to be a storm of emotions in his eyes. “You are light.”
“What?”
“It’s what you are to me, Alice. You asked me what you were to me earlier in the garden. I didn’t tell you but I am now. You are light, and you were light long before a bullet struck you.”
Alice’s eyes burned, and she wrapped her fingers around his coat sleeves and shook her head. “You can’t mean that.”
He shook his head slowly, as if thinking something to himself before he said, “Why do you think I kept returning to your father’s club? I was bored by the second hand I played. I always won. There was no challenge for me amongst the men there. Why do you think I was there, Alice? Why do you think I went there day after day?”
She bit her lip, refusing to go where he was leading her but her heart raced with joy at words that had yet to be spoken.
He tilted his head. “You know why.”
“Calvin.” Her voice was a strangled whisper.
“It was you, Alice. It was always you.”
“The first day.”
“What?” he asked as he tightened his hands on her shoulders.
“It’s when I fell in love with you,” she confessed. “The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew.”
Calvin’s kiss was hard, angry, and heated her from within, creating chaos inside her body. The kiss that morning had been sensual. The one given her in the afternoon had been warmth. This one made Alice feel as though her flesh were rubbing against its own personal sun, singing her and waking her in places she’d not known until that morning could be woken.
He abruptly stepped away from her, grabbed her hand, and started from the hall. Alice’s excitement grew as she thought Calvin to be taking to a place that would be more private, where they could be alone and she could discover what his hand could do if she allowed it under her skirts but a moment later, she heard voices and realized he was leading her back to the party.
“Where are we going?”
“To dance.”
“I thought…”
He stopped and turned to her. “If I touch you at this moment, your reputation will not be ruined, it will cease to exist.”
She tilted her head back and met his eyes. “I thought you didn’t care for my reputation.”
His eyes smiled before his lips. “I didn’t. You do. Now, so do I,” he told her. Then he touched a finger under her chin then grabbed her hand, and led her back to the ballroom and into a dance where nothing existed but each other.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
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Calvin turned when he heard Alice’s name called and watched as her uncle, the Marquess of Freyler, his wife, and daughter approached. There was an obvious glare on both the marquess and his daughter’s faces while Lady Arrah smiled in the most genuine manner. Arrah was a beautiful woman and he’d thought it tragic upon hearing that her sight was leaving her.
He immediately thought the marquess upset because of what had happened between him and Rose but if the man thought for a moment that he would propose marriage to his daughter then Calvin would set him straight.
Introductions were made before they moved ahead.
“Alice,” Arrah said with so much affection that one would think she was the blood relative and not her husband. “Where have you been? You usually come over to tea on Wednesday.”
Alice’s face reddened. She stood by Calvin’s side and his hand rested on her elbow though he wished to hold her like he’d done earlier that day in front of Emmett and Lorena, like he’d never held another woman, like a man who’d possessed her body and spirit and had no intentions of letting her go. Alas, the ballroom was overflowing with members of society and Calvin still had a civilized appearance to keep up.
“There’s been a few mishaps since we last saw one another,” Alice side without going into detail. It seemed that no one had informed the marchioness of what had happened and Calvin couldn’t understand why, though assumed it was her blindness. It simply made Arrah seem more fragile than other women her size.
He noticed Rose’s eyes shift to him and the glare dissolved into open desire. He turned away before he said something that would offend her father but even having her gaze upon him made him slightly ill. He’d touched her and had hurt Alice, which had almost cost him everything and though Rose had been aware of Alice’s feelings for him at the time, he didn’t set all the blame on her. He’d made his own decisions that night but the last of those was to be faithful to the woman at his side.
“Mishaps?” Lady Arrah asked. “I didn’t hear of any mishaps but when Rose mentioned seeing you, I insisted that I was led over to you. What’s the matter?” Arrah’s concern was like a sweet balm over the entire meeting.
Her husband, however, cut in. “Alice has been feeling ill, and I don’t want either you or Rose to catch whatever it is.” He took his wife’s arm and turned to Alice. “If you’ll excuse us.”
Alice stiffened.
Rose smirked.
Calvin was confused by what was going on.
Arrah gasped. “Oh, but she can’t be that ill if she’s here. Surely, we could spend a little time—”
Freyler finally spoke the truth. “I’d rather Rose was not seen with Alice.”
This startled not only Arrah but Calvin as well, for if there was any woman among them who could poison the other, it was Alice who should be protected. It was clear that the marquess did not know who his daughter was.
“Why can’t Rose and Alice be seen together?” Arrah asked.
“Because of Alice’s low morals,” the marquess said.
Arrah gasped.
Calvin said, “Excuse me?”
Alice used her most calming voice. “I’m afraid I won’t be around for tea anymore, Aunt Arrah. Please forgive me.” She curtsied then turned to Calvin with eyes that urge
d him to take her away.
Calvin didn’t move. Anger was the glue that kept the soles of his shoes stuck to their place on the wooden dance floor.
Rose was now smiling brightly.
Calvin looked at Freyler. “I must ask you to apologize to my fiancée, my lord.”
Freyler straightened and lifted a brow. Surprise came first, then anger. He was obviously not used to a man of low birth addressing him in such a way. “I will not. My daughter told me what Alice was found doing with you the other evening.”
Arrah looked ready to faint.
Alice grabbed his arm. “Calvin, let it go.”
He would not. “Nothing happened between me and Miss Alice on the night of Dovehaven’s party.”
“My daughter says otherwise,” the marquess went on, keeping his voice low.
Still, they were attracting attention and how could they not since the tension was growing and Calvin was trying to remember the consequences for hitting a peer in the face.
Lady Arrah turned to Rose. “Is this true?”
“It is,” Rose said brightly. She turned challenging eyes to Calvin. “Unless I’m mistaken.”
It was a trap. If Calvin confessed that it was Rose who’d he’d taken that night, he’d be forced to marry her.
Alice yanked his arm and he looked down to see her frightened expression. Her mind had gone in the same direction as his.
Rose, however, seemed to wish to push the matter. “Did I make a mistake, Mr. Lockwood? Was it not Alice who’d been with you?” She even took a step toward him. It was small but he’d seen it and so had Alice.
Calvin wondered what was wrong with the woman and why she sought to injure her cousin.
“Mr. Lockwood?” the marquess called, waiting for a reply.
“Please,” Alice whispered. “Let us simply leave.”
Alice’s Shameless Spinster’s Society Page 14
