She looked defiantly up at her brother who towered over her. ‘I am no longer a child, Mathias. I will choose whom I see.’
‘And whom you consort with?’ He sneered. ‘For, make no mistake, that is all you will do with a man of Perth’s ilk. He will not offer marriage. Not now. He is known throughout the ton as a womanising rogue who dallies where he pleases and leaves without a backward glance. Will you become his next doxy?’
The blush she had lost returned in a rush. Only this time the reason was anger, not desire. And fear. For his words came too close to reality.
‘Let me go,’ she gasped, yanking away from his punishing grip.
He released her and stepped back, surprise flashing momentarily across his fleshy face. ‘Perhaps I spoke too harshly, but only out of concern for you.’
‘Perhaps you spoke too harshly? Perhaps?’ Her voice rose before she could control her fury. ‘How dare you call me a doxy, or even hint that I might be one! How dare you do that to me. And you my brother.’
‘I am only worried about you, Lillith.’ His voice took a more conciliatory tone. ‘Perth is a scoundrel and, while he intends you no honour, it is obvious that he still desires you. I wish only to help you stay out of his clutches.’
How many more truths would her brother utter? They were like darts that pierced her skin and left poison in their path.
She took a deep breath. ‘I am fully aware of Perth’s intentions. I do not plan on succumbing to him. I am a woman now, not a young girl—as I told you before.’ She turned away from him so that he would not see the sparkle in her eye that hinted of tears to come. Things were so complicated.
‘Please go now. I must change and then rest. This evening I am promised to Lord and Lady Holland for dinner.’
‘As you wish,’ he said.
She heard the door close behind her brother, but sensed that this was not the end of his objections. He would watch her closely. And he would do everything in his power to see that she and Perth were kept apart. She was not sure whether that knowledge gladdened her or made her ineffably sad.
That evening, to Lillith’s chagrin, she sat across the table from Perth. Lord and Lady Holland, as usual, had invited a mixture of politicians and wits. She wondered where she fitted in. Probably as a single woman. Other hostesses were always in need of single men; Lady Holland never was.
‘Do you not agree, Lady de Lisle?’ Perth’s deep voice asked.
Politics were not a great interest of hers and she had no desire to become a political hostess, yet she did keep up with the trends. Even she knew that Perth’s plan would not do well.
‘I think your idea is honourable, but I fear you will find opposition in executing it.’
Interest sparked in his eyes, making them snap. He was so devastatingly handsome, she wondered how she could continue to resist his advances.
Lord Holland interjected. ‘The returning troops are in sore need of jobs, else they will become lawbreakers and a worse burden on the country. But you are right, Lady de Lisle, Perth will face opposition in Parliament, just as Lord Alastair St Simon has.’
‘Honour is not always a matter of paying one’s gaming debts,’ Perth said harshly. ‘We, and all of Europe, owe these men a chance to find fit employment and the means to feed and clothe themselves and their families.’
She listened to him speak with conviction about the needs of the returning army. Now that Napoleon was finally defeated, men were being let go from the army and navy. Many of them had no other skills and could find no work. Many became beggars, others thieves.
The man on her right made a comment that demanded her response, and she reluctantly let Perth’s words fall away from her attention. Her first duty as a guest was to entertain the people seated beside her.
To Lillith, it seemed an eternity before Lady Holland rose, signalling that it was time for the women to leave the dinner table. She rose with the other women and followed them to the drawing room, while the men stayed behind to drink port and smoke cigars or cigarillos as the inclination took them.
One of the married women, Constance Montford, sat beside Lillith. She was older and considered one of the forthcoming London hostesses. She was also a gossipmonger.
She gave Lillith a large smile. ‘My dear Lady de Lisle, so delightful to see you back in Town.’
Lillith returned her smile with a nod. ‘Thank you, Mrs Montford. I am delighted to be here.’ She was not going to give the woman anything to bandy about.
Mrs Montford tittered, a trait that would not do well in a political hostess. ‘One hears such malicious rumours.’ If she had a fan, Lillith thought the woman would be fluttering it. ‘But of course, one knows not to believe all of them.’
‘A very wise choice,’ Lillith murmured, wondering when the woman would get to the point and mention the on dit circulating about Lillith’s disappearance.
‘Titbits are like spice,’ Mrs Montford continued. ‘They enliven an otherwise dull evening.’
Lillith gave the woman a tiny smile. ‘I thought you enjoyed politics over all else, Mrs Montford. Are you not trying to set up a saloon to rival Lady Holland’s?’
It was a bold thing to say in this company, but Lillith was determined that Mrs Montford should get as good as she gave. The woman was determined to drag Lillith’s potential scandal into the open, so Lillith would make sure that Mrs Montford’s ambitions were discussed as openly.
Mrs Montford’s eyes narrowed and her voice lowered to a sibilant whisper. ‘I had heard that you flaunted convention, Lady de Lisle, even to letting yourself be kidnapped by a gentleman and then staying with him for a length of time unbecoming to a respectable lady.’
Lillith’s smile thinned. ‘Ah, the gloves are off. One should not believe everything one hears, my dear Mrs Montford. The ton is notorious for rumours that ruin a person’s reputation.’
‘Yes, is it not?’ the other woman murmured.
A retort rose to Lillith’s tongue only to be swallowed by Perth saying, ‘Lady de Lisle, Mrs Montford, such beauty in one spot. May I join you?’
He sat down in a chair close by without waiting for them to invite him. Mrs Montford simpered at him. Lillith glared at him. With the on dit of her abduction making the rounds of the London drawing rooms, she did not need Perth’s proximity. She was not sure she could hide the emotions he engendered in her. Someone would be sure to notice and talk would eventually link him to her disappearance. Their past would only hasten that conclusion.
‘Lord Perth,’ Mrs Montford said, ‘you must come and call on us. I am holding a small gathering tomorrow. I am sure you will find many of your acquaintances there.’
‘You honour me, Mrs Montford.’
Lillith noticed that he neither accepted nor declined the invitation. He had charm when he chose to use it.
‘And what of you, Lady de Lisle?’ he asked, turning his dark gaze on her. ‘Will you have a small gathering tomorrow?’
He was baiting her. ‘I think not, my lord.’
His smile became predatory. ‘A shame. The one you had this afternoon was so interesting.’
Her fingers stilled in her lap. As soon as she realised that she had reacted, she sought to dissemble. ‘My brother is staying with me. His friends are always about.’
Mrs Montford’s sharp gaze went from one to the other. ‘Ah, yes, I had forgotten you two are acquainted.’
Perth turned back to her. ‘A long-standing acquaintance.’ He rose gracefully. ‘If you will excuse me, ladies. Lord Holland seems to want me.’
Lillith seethed. He’d added wood to Mrs Montford’s budding fire and then he left her to put it out. There was nothing else she could say to sidetrack the woman so she decided to leave.
‘If you will excuse me as well,’ Lillith said.
Before the woman could answer, Lillith used the arm on her chair to help lever herself up. Her ankle was much better, but it was still difficult at times to rise up after sitting for a while.
She ma
de her way to Lady Holland and made her excuse. ‘My ankle is acting up again, I am afraid,’ Lillith said.
‘By all means, don’t think you must stay here when you are uncomfortable.’ Lady Holland accompanied Lillith to the foyer. ‘I see that Mrs Montford had you cornered. The woman is thoroughly unlikable. I don’t blame you for wanting to get away.’
Lillith smiled and nodded. She had no intention of slandering any person to another, not even someone such as Mrs Montford. She knew only too well how harmful that could be. Her carriage arrived shortly after and she escaped gratefully.
Perth watched Lillith leave. No doubt she and Mrs Montford had come to an agreement that their dislike for one another was mutual. By tomorrow there would be fresh meat for the gossip mill.
‘Be done with it, man,’ Lord Holland said. ‘Marry the woman.’
Perth refocused his attention. ‘I beg your pardon?’
Lord Holland shook his head. ‘Lady de Lisle. Marry her and get this over with. Watching you watch her is like seeing a rabid wolf eyeing a sheep. ’Tis painful.’
Perth felt himself flush. ‘My apologies. I did not know I was making you uncomfortable.’
Lord Holland gave him a rueful grin. ‘She feels the same about you, you know. Written all over her.’
‘I see,’ Perth said for lack of anything else.
‘Then do something.’ Lord Holland slapped Perth on the back.
‘Perhaps. If you will excuse me.’ Perth made his bow and his escape.
Outside his carriage waited, the horses pawing impatiently at the ground. He leapt inside and they were off before he even sat.
It was the small hours of the morning and he did not want to go home. He was not sleepy and he would do nothing but brood about Lillith. He would go to Brook’s instead.
The exclusive club was filled with gentlemen gambling, drinking and talking. Perth made his way to one of the card tables and took an empty seat. Viscount Chillings, a tall, elegantly lean man with thick silver hair, was already there. They were shortly joined by Lord Alastair St Simon, who had married Lizabeth Stone, Lady Worth, just a year ago. The three men were old friends.
‘All we lack is Brabourne,’ Chillings said, ‘but he is on the Continent with his lovely bride. Shall we cut for deal?’ He fanned the cards across the table.
‘We are short,’ Lord Alastair said, ‘but we might as well.’
While they did that, a fourth man sat down in the last empty chair. Perth glanced up to see Mathias Wentworth. The man was as self-satisfied as ever. His silver-blond hair, so similar to his sister’s, fell over grey eyes that were as red-shot as the setting sun.
Perth resisted the urge to tell Wentworth to go and instead said, ‘You are just in time to draw. But I doubt that we play the stakes you are used to.’
Wentworth’s mouth split into the parody of a grin. ‘I think that tonight you will.’
Chillings lounged back in his chair as he flipped over his card, the ace of spades. ‘I am not in the habit of wagering my inheritance.’
Perth glanced at his friend from the corner of his eye. Was Chillings trying to provoke Wentworth? He turned his card over, the two of hearts.
‘It seems I am not to start this game.’
Lord Alastair St Simon turned his over to show the ten of diamonds. ‘Nor I.’
Wentworth, with the smirk still on his face, showed his card, the queen of spades. ‘It seems that neither am I.’
Chillings gathered the cards and expertly shuffled them. He then offered them to Perth to cut before dealing. The play began, the stakes relatively low for men of their wealth. Lord Alastair never played for great sums since his wife’s young brother had killed himself after losing a large amount of money to Lord Alastair in this very room. Perth was actually surprised to see him here.
‘Where is Lady Worth?’ Perth asked, knowing Lord Alastair would not be here if his wife wanted him by her.
Lord Alastair played a card before answering. ‘She is with my mother. It seems they think my country house needs refurbishing.’ He shuddered. ‘And I am not the man to tell them they are wrong. But I don’t intend to be there when they rip it apart.’
Chillings nodded. ‘I know exactly. My wife did the same thing. Made no difference that the place had been good enough for my family for the last four hundred years.’ He also shrugged. ‘Now it does not matter.’
No one said anything. The Viscount’s wife had died two years ago during childbirth. The babe had died as well.
The game continued. The stakes mounted. Wentworth continued to throw his vouchers on to the growing pile of wagers. No one thought him capable of coming up with the amount should he lose, but no one said anything either. It was for Wentworth and his own sense of honour to know when he needed to stop.
They broke their sixth bottle of port when Perth won the last hand. Everyone drank to him, even Wentworth.
‘I think it is time I left,’ Chillings said, finishing his wine and standing. ‘I will be by tomorrow with a bank draft.’
Perth nodded, never having expected differently.
‘The same,’ Lord Alastair said, leaving his port unfinished as he stood to leave.
When they were gone, Wentworth still sat across from Perth. His eyes were feverishly bright, an addicted gambler to the core. ‘I will play you another hand,’ he said, his voice high and excited. ‘All or nothing.’
‘You will?’ Perth drawled, wondering what the man was about. ‘You already owe me around ten thousand pounds.’
‘So I do. So I do.’ He rubbed his hands together. ‘But I have a better prize for you, one you have coveted for many years.’
Perth’s eyes narrowed, but he resisted the urge to lunge across the table and grab the repellent man by the neck. ‘Do you?’ he drawled. ‘Somehow I doubt that it is yours to give.’
‘Oh, never doubt that the prize goes where I bid it go. You of all people should know that.’
Wentworth’s knowing grin and sly words were nearly Perth’s undoing. Under cover of the table, his hands fisted until the knuckles turned white, but he maintained his outward pose of indifference.
‘We wagered money, not lives,’ he said softly.
‘So we did,’ Wentworth said. ‘I did not know you were so fastidious. Particularly since you have been panting after her for years. Why, just this afternoon you came sniffing around.’
The urge to knack the man’s teeth into the back of his throat was nearly overpowering. But that would create only more scandal than his actions toward Lillith had already started brewing.
‘Apparently, I am more interested in allowing people to do as they wish than you are.’ Perth paused and took a long drink of wine. ‘But then we already knew that.’
Wentworth bared his teeth. ‘Yes, we did. A pity. Of all the possible suitors for Lillith’s hand, you would be the easiest to land and the wealthiest.’
Wentworth’s crude words ignited the embers of anger that Perth had so far kept in check. ‘You intend to try and sell your sister to the highest bidder—again?’
Wentworth’s smirk widened. ‘Plainly put, yes. Do you care to enter the fray?’
Perth’s eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. ‘If you haven’t the blunt to pay me,’ he said slowly so that every insulting word would sink in, ‘then I will pretend that we never met tonight.’ He flicked a contemptuous glance over the other man as he rose. ‘But I will not take your sister’s life in trade.’
Wentworth poured himself another glass of wine and gulped it down. ‘You want my sister and I am willing to give her to you. So why all this fuss? Why not make things easy?’
‘You always were willing to give her to the highest bidder.’ Perth’s lip curled in contempt. ‘Is that why you sat down here tonight, so that you could gamble away Lady de Lisle’s freedom once again? And did you pick me because you thought I would make the trade? You are a despicable worm.’
Wentworth sneered as he poured himself still another glass of wine and gulp
ed it down, bringing a hectic flush to his cherubic cheeks. ‘You are no different from de Lisle, only younger. After that, you want exactly what he wanted. He had the money. Now you do.’
A low growl started deep in Perth’s throat. It would be so easy and so satisfying to rip Wentworth to shreds. And it would accomplish nothing.
‘I am not interested in playing your game. Don’t pay me what you owe—or have your sister pay it. She is wealthy enough to support you for some years to come.’
Wentworth’s heavy brows knitted for an instant before the man realised his features gave him away. Suspicion flared in Perth.
‘What have you done, Wentworth? Are you selling her to the highest bidder because you must in order to maintain your gambling obsession?’
Lillith’s brother downed his wine and stood. The creak of his stays was loud in the silence.
Perth stood as well. ‘It was a mistake for de Lisle to leave her inheritance under your management. But then, I imagine that you made that deal with him long before he passed on.’ In a show of indifference he did not feel, Perth poured himself another glass of wine and downed it in one gulp. ‘Have you paupered her already?’
Wentworth turned away without comment. His corpulent figure weaved its way from the room. There was a horrible sinking feeling in Perth’s gut. Lillith was back up for sale to the highest bidder.
Damned if he would lose her a second time.
The next day Perth received a draft on Mathias Wentworth’s bank for ten thousand pounds. He stood in front of the fire and stared at the piece of paper. He was tempted to throw it into the flames. Wentworth did not have this kind of blunt, he must have got it from his sister.
But if his fears were true, Lillith did not have this kind of money either. The man was playing a dangerous game with Lillith’s future.
Chapter Nine
Perth raised his quizzing glass and surveyed the crowd at the Covent Garden Opera House. Anyone who was anyone in Society was present. The Duke of Wellington sat in his box with friends. The Prince of Wales held court in his private box. And—his perusal stopped. Lillith sat with Madeline and Nathan Russell.
The Rogue's Seduction Page 10
