Calvin agreed. He’d not win this battle but he didn’t think to give up the war. He didn’t like Lady Arrah thinking poorly of Alice and could only imagine how Alice felt losing her affection, without a mother of her own it had to be hard for her.
“She is mistaken.”
Calvin turned just as Morris appeared almost out of thin air.
His teal-colored eyes were set on Freyler’s and his heavy dark brows were low.
Alice’s eyes widened as she stared at him.
Rose’s face went white.
Freyler seemed to miss what was happening around him and placed a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “How is she mistaken?”
“Because I’m not sure that your daughter saw much of anything, considering I saw her slip into a room with a footman.”
“No,” Lady Arrah whispered.
Freyler straightened. “You lie.”
Morris replied evenly. “I don’t.” The words came out with all the authority that a duke could hold.
Freyler’s steady gaze moved to Rose and he saw the answer on her face before he’d even asked the question.
Rose had tears already running her face. “Father—”
Freyler released his daughter as though she’d transformed into something hideous, and Calvin knew that whatever affection the father had had for his daughter was gone.
Morris didn’t seem to care. “You owe Miss Alice an apology.”
Freyler turned to Alice and said, “I’m sorry.” Then he grabbed his wife and steered her away. Rose followed in their wake, calling after her father.
Alice turned to Morris and said, “You didn’t have to do that.”
“The man deserved to know,” he said. “And you don’t deserve the burden of her sins.”
Alice smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He bowed.
Calvin grinned. “I always knew there was a reason I kept you as a friend.”
Morris’ lips twitched then he said, “I think I’m going to call it a night.”
“Retiring for the evening?”
“I might make a stop or two along the way.” He grinned and then left.
Calvin started Alice on a walk across the room. “I suppose Rose made some errors in how she told her father what happened the previous night?”
“Rose has been making up stories about me since we were young. I hadn’t known until recently that she’s always hated me and would get in trouble just to put the blame on me.”
He let his thumb caress her skin where it was hidden by their bodies. “At least you never took the blame for activities that would have very quickly ruined your reputation.”
“No, I hadn’t known about those things until the other evening when she came to Lorena’s and I forced her to tell me the truth.” He felt her tremble and they made it past a group of ladies and pulled her aside but there were still too many eyes on them to touch her.
He had a new reason to hate balls and parties. He finally had her and didn’t want to find himself in situations where he couldn’t touch her. Had it been an affair with only their close friends, he would have touched her how he wished.
She met his eyes but her feet kept moving, slightly jerking her body, which proved her nervousness.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“It’s a surprise to know that my cousin never liked me. It will take time for me to adjust to not spending time with her.” She looked away. “There was a part of me that always suspected her loathing but then she’d do something nice that she didn’t have to do. I still don’t understand why she would do such nice things for me when she never truly liked me.”
He wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her that everything would be all right but all he had were his words.
“We may never know. I think now about the moment when she told me that you loved me and wonder if she said it to help or hurt? We could very well never understand what goes on in that woman’s mind.”
Alice sighed and said, “I’ve decided I hate parties.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to touch you,” she whispered.
Calvin felt her words in his groin. “Let me get you back to your friends.”
She smiled and let him lead the way. “Why did he help?”
“Who?”
“Morris?”
Calvin looked down at Alice, glad for the change of conversation. He smiled. “Because it’s what being a Nashwood Brother means.”
“So you’ll have to return the favor?”
Calvin wanted to touch her but in a room full of people it was impossible. “I’ll choose to return the favor and have done so on numerous occasions.” Many of those occasions he hoped to forget. He started to lead her from the ballroom.
“Truly?” she asked. “In what dire situation have you aided Morris?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Of course I do.”
He glanced her way and said, “You don’t.”
She frowned.
He looked forward again.
“Does it have anything to do with what happened at St. Mary’s School for… Calvin, are you all right?”
He’d tripped and almost fell as her words caught him off guard. “Who told you about St. Mary’s?”
“Francis and Julius.”
He was going to kill them.
“Is it true?” She lowered her voice as they made it to the stairs. “Did he sleep with all the students?”
Calvin frowned. He didn’t like this conversation but he also didn’t like the thought of Alice believing something horrid about his friend. “No. The students were much too young. He slept with the teachers.”
She gasped.
“And the headmistress. Gorgeous woman. Much too pretty for the position. The same with the teachers. Morris arrived and it was like a harem fit for a king. It’s a silly idea to leave a bunch of women alone without a male presence. As Morris says, ‘It was hunting season.’”
She stumbled then but Calvin kept her straight.
They made it to the landing.
He turned to her. “Don’t tell anyone.”
She moved toward him but kept a small space between them. Her head tilted up. “All right.”
“Not even Lorena.”
“All right.” She smiled. “Thank you for telling me.”
He could kiss her. “Go to your friends.”
“All right.” She turned away and a part of Calvin wanted to go after her but there were other more pressing matters to attend to.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
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Calvin sat in a corner of the gaming room in Nashwood London and watched the men play a game of whist. Though the game had just begun, he knew who would win by the early morning hours. There were a few older gentlemen around the table but it was the young man who’d not only lured them to play but had also let it be known in the club that he had no clue what he was doing.
Since joining, Lord Ray Vance had only played a few hands and lost them all, so Calvin knew exactly what he was doing when he sat down to play a game against some of the wealthiest members of Nashwood London. He was going to fleece them all.
Raymond was Hugh’s younger brother, who was on break from Oxford and had come to visit his brother for a few weeks before going off with friends. He’d have plenty of spending money before then.
“If these men leave us, it will be your fault,” Hugh said as he turned a chair around and settled in it backward. His black hair, which hung unfashionably long, brushed his shoulders as he placed his arms over the chair’s back and settled his heavy jaw over his arms. His dark blue eyes were set on his brother with concern.
“My fault?” Calvin kicked another chair back and settled his feet into it. He was playing Solitaire and paused with a card in his hand to
look over at Hugh. “I think you voted him in just as swiftly as the rest of us.”
“He’s my brother,” Hugh grumbled. “I couldn’t very well not vote him in.”
“And you expected us to?” Calvin asked. “You know Raymond is like a brother to us all. He was there when we stole your father’s carriage and drove it into the lake. He was only seven at the time but he took the blame so we could go to that village party the next evening. You can’t vote a man out who sticks up for his brother’s friends even at seven.”
Hugh was now grinning as he stared at his brother. “I suppose you’re right.” Then he glanced at Calvin. “But you didn’t have to teach him how to play cards.”
Calvin shrugged and went back to his game. “He wanted to learn. He went to the best.”
“He’s going to empty those men’s pockets and you know it.”
“They’ll survive. They all have other pockets, investments and the likes. They’ll simply remember to never play Ray Vance again.” Calvin didn’t even play Ray because the boy was a true actor, could count cards while carrying on a lively and distracting conversation. “Just think of how dangerous he’d have been if he’d been the eldest.”
Hugh chuckled. He was the Marquess of Edvoy and everyone was very thankful for that.
Will came over and dropped into a chair across from him. “Flintlock pistol. 54 caliber. Henry model.”
It took a moment for Calvin to understand the change of conversation. “You found the bullet?”
Hugh slapped it on the table.
Calvin picked it up and examined it. “It was shot from an American weapon?”
Will nodded. “The woman must have taken it from the soldier, someone who’d gone to war, fought the colonies last year sometime.”
That didn’t make Calvin feel any better. “There are many soldiers about London.”
Will nodded again. “But not many can get their hands on this weapon. I’ll keep looking.”
“Thank you,” Calvin said.
Will stood and left.
The chair was pulled from under Calvin’s feet and they hit the floor hard. He looked over just as Frank sat down.
Calvin looked at Hugh.
Hugh flicked a brow but got up and left.
“I heard you had a conversation with our father.” Calvin started to play again but glanced over at Frank.
Frank had turned his chair so that it was facing Calvin. He had an elbow set on the table and his head rested on his fist. His gold-green eyes were as cool as his expression, and Calvin had always envied him for it. In Calvin’s eyes, Frank had always been the ultimate gentleman. Even as a kid, he’d mastered cool indifference in a way that not even Calvin’s father could manage. It came to Frank easily because he cared for few things outside his friends.
Calvin had wanted to be him for a long time. He’d finally found a way to simply be himself, which most people characterized as being like his father, allowing humor and merriment to guard himself against the possibilities of future pain. But Frank had stopped caring just enough to ensure that he never felt much of anything. Sure, he laughed and smiled with the other men and sought pleasure from his mistress, but Frank was reserved. And that purposefully set him apart from the others.
Phineas had wanted them to shield themselves, shoving it into their minds from the day of their mother’s death. They’d been told to marry ladies but secretly Calvin and Frank had made their own agreement.
“You owe me for this,” Frank said.
Calvin put his card down and focused on Frank. “We made that agreement when we were hardly out of Eton. There’s no need to hold ourselves to it now, especially in the face of what we thought was never possible. I’ve fallen in love. You can as well.”
A muscle jumped in Frank’s jaw. “We agreed that you would marry a lady and I would run our father’s estates. You and I are not titled men. The running will not be tied to my name. Only tradition holds me to our lands. You know we wished to pursue other things but I took the estates and you took the marriage bargain.”
Calvin knew he was right as his eyes moved around the club. He was right where he wanted to be in life. He ran a club and was set to marry a woman who loved him. He also had his hand in other enterprises around London but it was the club he saw to himself.
He looked at Frank again. “What is this going to cost me?”
Frank smiled. “A portion of the estate.”
Calvin straightened in his chair and his stomach dropped. “What?”
“Farming, actually.” Frank was grinning now. “You’ll oversee the crops and sheep and don’t worry, you’ll be paid just as any other manager would be.”
Calvin narrowed his eyes, not believing what he was hearing. His brother was going to force him to run half of Greenmoor, their family’s estate. Calvin hated the country. “And what will you oversee if I’m to do this?”
His brother was grinning now. “The tenants. Rent. The actual keeping of Greenmoor and its village.”
“Let me do that part.” Calvin insisted. “I’d do fine with overseeing the village.”
“It requires you attend church regularly.”
Calvin leaned away and cursed.
“Maybe Alice would enjoy some time in the country,” Frank went on.
Calvin stared at him. “And while we’re there, what would you do?”
“Pursue what I’ve wanted to for a long time.”
The brothers held eyes.
Calvin nodded. It was only fair. “Very well.”
Frank smiled. “I’m actually happy for you. I want you to know that. You defied the odds.”
Calvin grinned. “I know.”
Frank nodded and left.
Calvin felt rather than saw Hugh drop into the chair he’d previously been in.
“I just decided what I’m going to get you as a wedding gift,” Hugh said.
“What’s that?” Calvin asked.
“A golden hoe.”
Calvin threw his cards as his friend as Hugh burst with laughter and hoped he received a paper cut. Hugh had obviously overheard the conversation between him and Frank and knew the last thing Calvin needed was a reminder that he would soon be a man of agriculture.
“Farming is dying,” Calvin said. “Taxes are all but crushing those who depend on land for money.”
“If anyone can turn it around, it’s you,” Hugh said before turning to look at his brother.
Calvin sighed and hoped the man was right.
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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
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Alice inched back toward the heat that seemed to be emitting from behind her, not recalling the fireplace being lit before she went to bed. She held onto the blankets and inched closer to the heat until her body hit a wall. And then the wall grew arms, circled her waist, and pulled her in closer.
She blinked, coming fully awake with the realization that she was not alone. His scent hit her before he spoke.
“Did I wake you?” Calvin’s voice was deeper and laden with sleep.
Alice clenched the blanket and simply stared toward the other side of the room, seeing in the dark. She could hear the faint whispers of summer’s midnight rain taking place outside the window with clouds blocking the moon. She listened to the drops quietly land on the terrace and the sound of Calvin’s breathing as it began to slow with the telling signs that he was drifting back to sleep.
“Calvin?” she whispered.
“Hm?” The sound seemed to vibrate in his chest, through the thin cotton of her night-rail, and against her back. She liked it. She liked the heavy weight of his arm and the larger presence of him at her back, making her feel surrounded and protected.
She had no idea when he’d come in but had a feeling he’d been out late. She should let him sleep but simply knowing he was here was keeping her a
wake.
His breathing had slowed again.
She bit her lip and ran her fingers down his arm until she could curl hers between his. His fingers grabbed her, squeezed, and he seemed to shift closer to her until he settled once more.
Alice smiled and let the rain, the sure sound of his breathing, and his warmth lure her back to sleep.
She awoke when there was light and hands were at her knees. The first thing she saw was the ceiling, then she tilted her head down and saw Calvin.
His entire body knelt between her legs, the sheet had been moved away from her body, her night-rail had been pushed up to just below her mound, and Calvin was staring at her. His arms were under her bent legs and his hand on either side of the outside of her thighs.
It was morning, the room was gray from the storm outside, yet Calvin’s eyes still managed to create their own light with their intensity. The rain still fell outside the window but the distant sound of thunder could not complete with the sound of her pounding heart.
Alice had not worn undergarments under her night-rail. Therefore, though she couldn’t see anything from her angle, Calvin could see everything.
He placed his mouth against her inner thigh. “Now, where were we?” His words vibrated against her skin. Sensation shot straight through her body. The thunder growled outside. Calvin’s eyes remained on her as he did it once more, licking her sensitive inner thigh before he bit her.
“God!” Alice’s head flew back and her hands dug into either side of the sheet. She had no idea what Calvin was doing to her but she felt she would not survive the intensity of it.
She returned her eyes to his as he did the same to her other thigh, stroking his tongue backward and forward, and moving closer to the heat of her. Devil take her, she wasn’t going to stop him.
She watched with complete fascination as he kept at his work, licking her, reminding her of a large furious cat and making her recall that he enjoyed milk. It was as hilarious as it was arousing and her body jumped as he moved closer, pushing his shoulders through and opening her legs further until he was there.
Alice’s Shameless Spinster’s Society Page 15
