The Irresistible Lady Behind The Mask (Historical Regency Romance)

by Emily Honeyfield

  Now she was beginning to regret accepting the invitation because she knew that he meant plans for their so-called wedding would keep her busy soon.

  After minutes had elapsed, and she didn’t answer his question, he remarked, “If you don’t mind such a scene, perhaps you could join some old women to have tea this afternoon. They usually partake of the afternoon tea before leaving, that’s after visiting with my aunt.”

  Tempest almost wept. “So this is the sort of life you want to subject me to if we get married. Having tea and gossiping with old biddies?”

  Hudson paused in his stride and regarded her with intense eyes that made her uncomfortable. She stopped walking too and stared at the beautiful flowers around her to avoid his powerful gaze.

  “When,” he began, “we get married, things will be different. It would be unfair of me to make you leave here for the rest of our lives. We will visit London regularly and other places as well. For our anniversaries, I intend for us to travel a lot, see places and have beautiful memories.”

  She didn’t miss the emphasis he placed on the word, ‘when’, showing he believed their marriage was a certainty. His dreams for them permeated her being. An image of them aboard a ship travelling to maybe the Colonies or France flashed through her mind and sent a trickle of excitement in her. She hastily squelched it. Wishful thinking would get her nowhere. So, she kept mute and her face passive.

  Obviously recognising that she wouldn’t say anything about his plans for their future, he said, “I believe they are gathering in the drawing room as we speak. If you want to join them, I could introduce you.”

  Tempest judged between staying with Hudson and listening to gossip from old women. She chose the latter. Ever since she acknowledged that she was in love with Hudson, she became overly aware of his presence. To her discomfiture, she found out that she couldn’t even string intelligent thoughts around him anymore. Her wit had deserted her to be replaced by a desire to use gentle words on him. She couldn’t allow him to guess her feelings, he would never let her go if he knew. Possibly, he would chase her to the ends of the earth to claim her and have her declare her love for him.

  Trepidation filled her at the thought of that ever happening. She didn’t think he loved her anymore. Most likely he was only interested in acquiring his inheritance.

  Sighing, she replied, “Very well, I’ll sit with the old women. Maybe I will hear something about you that I’ll hold on strongly to set myself from this farce of a wedding you intend forcing on me.”

  Hudson laughed with gusto. It grated on her nerves that she couldn’t even seem to rile him anymore. Even her attempt at escaping had been received with amusement, not even her barbed words at the bottom of the stairs the previous day. She would have to put her love aside and think of a way to make him so furious, he would put her in a carriage and tell the coachman not to stop until he reached London.

  Sighing again, she allowed him to lead her to the drawing room. She could only hope her plan to annoy him would work. The five old women had indeed already assembled by the time they reached the drawing room.

  Hudson introduced her to his Danvers relations with pride in his voice. Whether it was false or genuine, she couldn’t tell. The women fawned over her.

  “Oh, she’s such a beauty,” said one of them with greying hair.

  “I guess she will do,” remarked another with a shock of white hair as she scrutinised Tempest with her raised spectacles.

  A hawk-faced woman glared at her and said, “Isn’t she too small? Will she be able to bear you heirs?”

  In his dreams, Tempest almost snapped, but she bit her tongue hard to keep from embarrassing not only herself but Hudson and his relations, too.

  Feeling self-conscious, she settled herself on one of the wingback chairs close to the window and accepted a cup of tea from the maid serving the women.

  Hudson departed after giving her a sensual wink. She swiftly looked away, trying to reduce the blush that crept up her face. One of the women who had been observing her smiled knowingly. Tempest, catching the look, reddened some more.

  Tempest groaned inwardly when for the next thirty minutes, the women complained about their maladies. She figured if she were a doctor, she would make a tidy fortune from the women. Ailments ranging from back pain, eye pain, waist pain, headache, even lack of appetite filled the air.

  The disgruntled lady was just about to ask the women if she could have some hartshorn from them because she couldn’t stand to listen more to their vapid conversation when they suddenly changed it.

  They talked about different men and women of the ton in such a derogatory manner that got her blushing. Their words were so succinct that Tempest deduced that the women had completely forgotten about her presence in the room. They were so much used to gathering like this and gossiping that they failed to acknowledge that they had a stranger in their midst.

  Tempest didn’t know whether to excuse herself from the discussion the women were having. Gossiping was one thing she didn’t partake in, believing that if one opened his or her ears to gossip, the person was also opening doors to be gossiped about.

  She was about to rise to tell the women that she regretfully would depart from their presence when her cousin’s name was mentioned. Her ears perked like that of a dog. What could they possibly have to say about Valerie? Perhaps they wanted to talk about her breaking her betrothal with Hudson. Didn’t they know the lady in question was her cousin? Reluctantly, she listened in.

  “Are you aware that she’s engaged again?”

  The women were so intent on their gossip that they failed to hear her gasp of shock.

  Valerie was engaged again? It couldn’t be!

  Her interest was now so piqued that she sat ramrod straight to listen intently what the women were saying about her cousin.

  “You don’t say!” exclaimed one woman, as shocked as Tempest.

  “Indeed it is true,” chipped it another woman. That gold-digging hussy. Apparently, she deceived poor Hudson all along. She—”

  “I beg your pardon, Emily. Are you the one telling the story or me?” the woman who began the gossip, clearly affronted, asked.

  Emily’s wrinkled face reddened instantly. “I apologise, Bertha. Do continue.”

  The woman after eyeing the other embarrassed woman continued her story. “Apparently, she deceived Hudson all along. She was already seen frolicking with the young man even before Hudson offered for her. Rumour has it that the young chap is next in line to the dukedom after his father disinherited his first son for soiling the family name by putting a servant in the family way.”

  ‘Oohs’ and ‘aahs’ filled the room as the women listened with rapt attention. Tempest couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She wished it wasn’t true and that she was someplace else.

  Enjoying the evident attention she was receiving, Bertha continued, “Since the match was made by her father, I heard she found a way to wriggle out of it, leaving Hudson disappointed. She has been on the prowl, searching for a wealthy husband. And now, she seems to have found one with a title, lands, and properties to inherit.”

  The women shook their heads except one who said, “She’s a very smart girl if you will excuse my saying so. I wonder how she got out of her betrothal to Hudson. Thank goodness Agnes had no idea who she was and also that he brought another woman to wed.”

  Tempest blushed as the women talked about her as if she wasn’t there. She was glad they didn’t know much about her because she had kept a very low profile all these years. Mayhap it would save Hudson from further embarrassment if she jilted him just like her cousin did. Her heart wrenched at the thought of causing sorrow to the man she loved, but it couldn’t be helped. He would destroy her if she stayed and tried to feed her love for him with marriage. She needed and wanted more.

  But that wasn’t her ire now. Her eyes narrowed as it dawned on her that not only did Valerie know the young man she was to be wed to prior to dissolving her engagement t
o Hudson, she had also tricked her into helping her end it.

  The gall and hide of it all! Valerie had deigned to use her in such a callous manner just so she could get her wish of being joined together with a wealthy and titled man. The little wretch didn’t have the nerve to end it herself, knowing her father would disown her, and so she had run to Tempest, capitalising on her hatred for marriage to end the match.

  Tempest’s hands fisted as she wished her silly cousin who had duped her was in her presence at that moment. She would gladly box Valerie’s ears as she had continually done when they were little.

  How foolish she felt at allowing the vain and vapid Valerie to pull a ring through her nose. The furious lady couldn’t believe that she who had prided herself on being very brilliant had fallen for a cheap plot at that, however intelligent.

  She had registered earlier that she had been wrong about Hudson’s character. Discovering now that Valerie had most likely coined those derogatory terms towards the innocent man made her feel even more terrible.

  All had been for naught. She was here now because she had cared enough for her cousin to want to guard her against an unwanted union. She should have known better!

  Tempest’s focus was diverted from her thoughts when the women started talking about Hudson.

  “Oh, poor Hudson. If only he were interested in beauty, his handsome face would have attracted one of the wealthiest heiresses in society. But, alas, it’s not to be so. He doesn’t have the fortune that is needed to make a good match.

  Emily hastily and loudly cleared her throat, subtly nodding in Tempest’s direction. The women followed the direction of her gaze and blushed.

  If Tempest wasn’t so consumed with fury, she would have burst into laughter at the embarrassed looks on their faces. Abruptly the conversation about Hudson’s fortune came to an end as they remembered her presence in the room.

  Although the old women appeared to be right, she didn’t think that Hudson was as poor as everyone seemed to think. Surely, if he were without money, he wouldn’t frequent her parlour. And he had no debt. He never owned and always paid cash straight-up.

  Tempest was confused because she surmised that Hudson obviously had some fortune somewhere. Perhaps, he was busy collecting IOUs with the hope that when his aunt died and he got the inheritance, he would pay up.

  The fuming woman nodded as she at last got to understand. But her ire wasn’t against Hudson now. Valerie was the one she wished she could lay her hands on. She would tell her in no uncertain terms that she wasn’t to ever put her in such a situation again.

  Admitting that she couldn’t sit there fuming, she rose and excused herself from the women. She sensed their eyes boring holes in her back as she departed from the drawing room.

  Outside she yearned to shout at the top of her voice, but she bit it back. More than ever now, she was determined to return to London so she could visit Valerie and demand the truth from her.

  Acknowledging that she needed to calm herself down, she went out through the side door to the garden, praying Hudson wasn’t there. He wasn’t, so she squelched the little disappointment she felt.

  When the beautiful flowers didn’t offer her any help, she left the place. Perhaps a visit with Aunt Agnes would be refreshing, she pondered.

  Lifting her skirt, she climbed the stairs and went to Aunt Agnes’s room. She had a lovely time with the woman even though the fury in her heart refused to die.

  Chapter 23

  Staring out of her window, Tempest wondered what was going on. Another carriage had pulled up in front of the manor. Carriages had been arriving in droves for the past few days.

  A week had passed since finding out that her cousin had duped her mercilessly. It had taken her time, but she eventually stopped fuming and planned retribution for her.

  As she silently brooded in her room, she had thought of ways to make Valerie pay for the devious way she had made a fool of her, which was the cause of her present predicament.

  Several ways had been devised by her to leave the estate, but they were all foiled one way or the other, either by Hudson or by one of the servants without meaning to. Eventually, she gave up, deciding that she wouldn’t give her consent even on the day of the wedding.

  “I say, Judith, what’s going on? Are we having a soiree or what?” she asked her maid who was tidying up her room.

  When the maid didn’t say anything, Tempest whirled around to look at the young girl who was staring at her with surprise in her eyes.

  “What?” she asked the maid who had her lips parted.

  “They’re here for your wedding to Master Hudson,” Judith relayed with a giggle.

  “My what!” All the colour drained from Tempest’s face. So Hudson hadn’t fibbed when he told her he had invited his relations, friends, and neighbours.

  Tempest gritted her teeth as the reality and hopelessness of her situation dawned on her. When the sound of another carriage arriving reached her ears, it was all she could do not to yell at the top of her voice.

  She turned around and eyed the hill. Perhaps now that she knew what lay beyond the mound, she wouldn’t be caught in surprise anymore.

  The memory of the iciness of the water surrounding her as her body was encased in mud caused her to shudder. No, she wouldn’t embark on such a dangerous and risky course again.

  But she wouldn’t be a part of the wedding come what may. Leaving the estate before that day was still very much her plan despite the fact that she loved Hudson and found out that she had been tricked in the first place.

  Valerie’s duplicity further served to make her determined not to wed Hudson. It would be a farce of a marriage, and she was afraid that Hudson would come to hate her.

  “Your dressmaker will also be arriving today with your wedding dress,” Judith informed her with excitement in her voice.

  Tempest turned to settle cool eyes on her. Was that piece of information supposed to make her happy? On the contrary, it sent dread wafting through her body. If the dressmaker was arriving today, then it meant her wedding day was close at hand.

  Darting her tongue across her lips and swallowing tautly, she said, “Pardon my awkward question, Judith. After my illness, I’ve been out of sorts. When is the wedding precisely?”

  Judith, after serving her a queer look replied, “In three days, Miss Tempest.”

  “How lovely,” Tempest squeaked, forcing colour back into her face as she turned to stare out the window again.

  In three days, she would be joined to Hudson in holy matrimony forever. That couldn’t happen! No, she wouldn’t allow it!

  “That’s why the dressmaker is coming here today. She’ll make the fittings and see if there should be any adjustments, which she will quickly do before the wedding,” Judith added with a smile in her voice.

  Then she went on to talk about all the arrangements that had been made for the wedding. The young woman was so joyous; Tempest nearly wept listening to all the activities planned.

  What was Hudson thinking? Were they having a carnival of sorts? It was just a wedding, a ceremony under false impressions for Christ’s sake!

  Tempest wished she could have a word with Hudson and demand one more time for him to let her go. Yes, he would face humiliation again, but surely it was better than him being jilted at the altar because, God’s truth, she would do it. Perhaps she could sneak into one of the arriving carriages and pretend to be a guest who needed to depart from the estate posthaste.

  As another carriage pulled up in front of the building, Tempest squelched the urge to seek Hudson and curse him into oblivion. It appeared that the man was avoiding her because she rarely saw him these days.

  “Our wedding is fast approaching, so I need to make some adjustments to my calendar in order for us to spend some time away after the ceremony,” he had told her when she demanded to know if he was avoiding her three days ago.