Noelle slumped onto a narrow padded bench near the door. “I got myself into a pickle, and now I am working to get myself out of it.” She began the tale with Bliss and continued with the edited version until the entire tale was exposed—well, she left the coach part out. No sense ruffling Eva further. “After Mister Blackwell was attacked, we knew this was more than a simple theft. There are some dangerous characters hunting for the necklace.”
“Why would they attack Mister Blackwell if the earl is the owner of the piece?” Eva pressed a palm to her forehead.
“I can only surmise that when Bliss disappeared with the necklace, they thought perhaps she’d gone to return it to his lordship.” Noelle screwed up her brow. Another thought came to mind that helped explain the mix-up between Gavin and Seabrook. “I wonder if one of them was watching the house that evening and saw me climb the trellis. They might have seen me come and go and thought I was Bliss.” She paused. The puzzle had grown much larger. “If it is true, then someone was lingering outside. I’m lucky to have gotten away unmolested.”
“You were very lucky you weren’t killed,” Eva said tightly. “Are you certain no one followed you home?”
Noelle shook her head. “I was careful. I didn’t want the earl putting Bliss and me together. I paid a hackney driver to wait for me two streets over, and kept watch out the coach window for anything suspicious. There was no one on my trail.”
Eva put her hands to her mouth and joined her on the bench. Her eyes were both troubled and angry. “And now you have offered to become Mister Blackwell’s courtesan as a way to flush out the criminals? Isn’t there any other way?”
Noelle shook her head. “It is like acting a part in a play,” she rushed to explain. She brushed past images of Gavin’s mouth on her nipples. “I am not about to become his courtesan in truth.”
She hoped if she kept her eyes averted, Eva wouldn’t see guilt on her face. She’d never consider herself his courtesan. It wasn’t proper. However, she’d acted like one in the coach. If Eva found out, she’d have Noelle locked in her cellar.
There was a long moment of silence while Eva pondered everything she’d learned. There was no indication of the direction of her thoughts.
“Who is this American, and can you trust him not to attempt to seduce you? I understand colonists live by an entirely different set of rules. Some actually live like barbarians in log huts. Or so I’ve been told.”
Rules that didn’t exclude kissing, and fondling, and sucking the nipples of virginal spinsters, Noelle thought, and those very same nipples began to tingle beneath her bodice.
“He isn’t actually an American. He was born here and is first cousin to the earl,” Noelle said weakly. It was impossible to think clearly when her body was recalling his seduction. “He’s in your book. I’ve been instructed to remove him.”
Eva’s head snapped up. “Wait. Your Mister Blackwell is the Gavin Blackwell?”
At Noelle’s nod, Eva expelled a harsh breath. “I have never met him, though he came well recommended. I hear he is quite handsome.” Her amber eyes scanned Noelle’s face. “Many women wish he’d find his way into their beds.”
Noelle felt her cheeks sting with heat. She was speaking of necklaces and footpads one moment, and the next, Gavin forced himself into her mind and her body was betraying her in a burst of tingles.
“Noelle, what is it? Your face is flushed.” Eva placed the back of her cool hand to Noelle’s cheek. “You don’t have a fever.” Eva pulled her hand back and cupped Noelle’s face. She stared hard into her eyes. “It’s Blackwell, isn’t it? Oh, dear. What have you done, Noelle?”
Noelle was trapped. No amount of stumbling around, searching for the right words, would help her now. Eva was on a mission for truth and wouldn’t be satisfied until every sordid detail was brought out and examined.
“I may have kissed him,” Noelle admitted.
“And?”
What to tell? “And we had a brief encounter in a borrowed coach. But nothing horrible happened. Not really.” She rushed ahead. “We were both fully clothed.”
Well, mostly clothed. One part of Gavin had been exposed. A large, fully erect, and pleasing part he’d used to pleasure her quite nicely. But Eva didn’t need to know those details. Some things were better kept private.
Eva stood and began pacing. “I am going to send Nicholas to beat him senseless. How dare he take advantage of a vulnerable young woman for his own pleasure? You are a Lady, for heaven’s sake. He should learn to keep his hands, and all other parts of him, to himself.”
Noelle clasped her hands to her mouth to keep from smiling. Eva was brutally direct. “The coach was my fault.” Eva abruptly stopped pacing. “He wanted to stop. I sort of seduced him.”
“You did what?” Eva’s lips thinned.
“I climbed into his lap,” Noelle admitted as her humor vanished. She’d disappointed Eva. Her shame was complete. “He is so very handsome and his kisses are delightful.” Her lower lip quivered. “I am a year or two away from spinsterhood. Just once I wanted to know what it felt like to be touched, desired.”
Eva stood tense for a moment, then reclaimed her seat and reached for Noelle’s hand. “Many men desire you, Noelle, as you know. If you opened yourself up to suitors, they would form a line to wed you.”
Noelle shook her head. “I have no wish to marry. You know my greatest fear is becoming old and bitter like my mother, suffering through an unhappy marriage.”
Both their mothers had suffered because of their father. He’d been a good man, but Noelle’s mother had never loved him. Eva’s mother, Charlotte, had slipped into a deep melancholia after his death and still endured bouts of it.
“I do know,” Eva said. “But your mother’s situation should have no bearing on your happiness.”
But it did. “To allow a man to have such control of my life is a fate I cannot bear. Love and hate are dangerous tools when put into the wrong hands.”
Their eyes met. “You are playing a dangerous game, Sister, and I’m not speaking of the thieves.” Eva squeezed Noelle’s fingers. “This man has crossed a barrier and has offered you no promises. What if next time he decides to take what you offer and not hold back? And if you become with child, then what?”
Noelle had no answers to give.
Gavin examined the card in his hand, puzzled at the name printed on the surface. He seldom had visitors at the town house, never a strange woman, and never one so highly placed in society.
At first he’d thought the woman had come for Charles, but the housekeeper, Mrs. Mayhew, assured him he was the intended host of the visitor. He supposed he’d never find out what she wanted if he loitered in the hallway.
With that thought in place, he wandered to the parlor, passing an unfamiliar maid perched on a chair outside the open door.
Hmm. A chaperone of sorts. The woman didn’t plan to seduce him. Once inside, he discovered the Duchess of Stanfield, quietly pacing the floor with clear impatience. He’d heard she was a beauty, and all of the gossip proved to be true.
From sculpted cheekbones to a pert nose to a mouth that might inspire men to all sorts of wicked thoughts, she was lovely. The question was why a married duchess would lower herself to pay him an unexpected visit.
“I must say, Your Grace, this is a surprise.” He flashed what he hoped was a charming smile as he stepped inside the room. She leveled a weighted glare upon him in return. “Have we met? I’m certain I would remember if we had.”
Her Grace did not smooth out her scowl. In fact, she clearly wasn’t charmed by him. She looked annoyed, put out, angry.
“We have not met, Mister Blackwell,” she said in a low, even tone that belied the dark emotion in her eyes. Had she been armed with gun or sword, he’d currently be bleeding on the carefully polished floor. “Though I do know many things about you, sir, not all of them pleasant.”
Her frank comment took him aback. He tried to recall a single reason he might have inspired her wrath and could t
hink of nothing. He hadn’t been in London long enough to make enemies, though some in society found a man in trade, even a man with blue blood, beneath them. And he certainly would have remembered Her Grace had he made an untoward and unwelcome attempt to seduce her. Drunk or otherwise.
“Then I will apologize for anything I have done to offend you, Your Grace,” he offered, attempting to look contrite. He knew she was married to a very powerful duke. It would be a great advantage to find a way into her good graces. “I have to admit, however, that I have no idea of the nature of my crime.”
From beneath her wide-brimmed blue hat, she seemed to be taking his measure, and she wasn’t appreciating his manly form. Obviously, she’d come on some sort of mission, and he knew she’d get to it at her own pace.
So he crossed his arms and waited patiently.
After a moment, she spoke. “I have come here on a matter of great concern, Mister Blackwell.” She took a few steps closer. “It has come to my attention that you have recently become acquainted with a young woman. Noelle, Lady Seymour.”
She paused; he nodded. His stomach clenched. It wasn’t implausible that Noelle and Her Grace knew each other. How well, was the question.
“We’ve recently met.” He picked his words carefully.
The duchess waved a dismissive hand. “Let us be honest here, sir. You are more than casually connected. If my information is correct, there was a certain meeting in a coach between the two of you that was entirely improper.”
Gavin’s mouth went dry. Oh, hell! How could the duchess know about his near-seduction of Noelle?
She continued unabated. “What I’d like to know is what your intentions are toward Noelle. For if they are even remotely dishonorable, I have the connections to see you ruined.”
He found he had nothing to say. The frontal attack and threats had thrown his thoughts into chaos. He had behaved dishonorably toward Noelle, but a consensual encounter between adults should not cause him to lose everything he’d worked years for.
It took a moment before he could find a worthy response, and with it came anger. Her punishment did not fit any of his crimes. Even this irate duchess should see that. “Clearly you have become privy to private information.” He glared back. She didn’t flinch. “I want to know why you feel what Noelle and I do is any of your concern, Your Grace.”
A slow, tight smile crossed her mouth as she stepped closer. With a sweep of her hand, she slid her hat back to fully expose her face. His stomach dropped to his booted toes as he peered into her amber eyes.
“I do believe my sister is my business, Mister Blackwell.”
Chapter Sixteen
Gavin was struck speechless. Of the many things Her Grace could have said to him, this was the last he expected.
She and Noelle were sisters? This certainly explained why the duchess had her petticoats ruffled. Her Grace was behaving as a sister would when a man was sniffing around her sibling, intending to bed her without the benefit of a wedding.
His next thought slammed through his mind. He realized he had heard some gossip about the new duchess, and was just now putting her together with the woman standing before him. She was the notorious Evangeline. Noelle’s Eva. The courtesans’ Miss Eva. What were the chances they were not one and the same woman?
In his casual inquiry into Noelle’s history, he’d never discovered she had more than one sister. Margaret, Lady Lerwick, was a baron’s wife and seldom came to London. From what he knew, she was not as social as her sister. Finding out a duchess was in the mix left him very uneasy.
He had no hope of finding a graceful way out of his predicament. Noelle had evidently informed her sister of some, if not all, of the details of their acquaintance. The best he could do was to attempt to soothe the duchess’s ire and hope she had no plans to see him taken out into the country and shot.
“You have surprised me, Your Grace.” He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. A dull pain tightened the area from the base of his skull to his forehead. “I did not know of your connection.”
Thankfully, Noelle had no father or brothers to call him out. He tried to imagine the duchess meeting him with pistols at dawn or, worse yet, forcing a marriage. With his history as a guide, he’d much prefer the former.
She stepped back a pace. “Not many do. Noelle and I pass ourselves off as cousins, and I would appreciate your discretion.”
Gavin nodded. The secret might be used, later, if she did decide to have him horsewhipped. “Your secret is safe.”
“Thank you.” She tugged her hat back into place and crossed her arms. “Now about my sister . . .”
Her Grace wasn’t a tall woman, yet she was an imposing presence. Oddly, there was a hint of vulnerability in her also, as if she was still getting used to the power behind the title. He wondered how long she’d been wed and what her background was. He surmised she hadn’t been bred to become a duchess by a social-climbing mother. Otherwise, the two sisters wouldn’t fear discovery.
His curiosity flared. Two amber-eyed sisters unable to claim each other publicly. What was the reason he’d never heard of the connection? He knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until he learned the answer, and why the duchess was a courtesan rescuer and matchmaker.
But now was not the time to probe. Having an enraged sister-duchess on his tail was not a situation he’d like to be mired in. Her husband had the power to make his life miserable.
“I have no excuse for my behavior, Your Grace. I’d like to say I was slobbering drunk when I took advantage of Noelle, but that is not the case. I was sober when I allowed myself to succumb to your sister’s charms. She is lovely.”
“Hmmm.” The tension in her shoulders appeared to ease. “I can see why Noelle finds you attractive, Mister Blackwell. You are a handsome man. I am certain she isn’t the first young woman to fall victim to your charms.”
The last comment was bland, yet he felt a veiled insult anyway. Did she believe him a despoiler of virgins?
“If you think I set out to seduce her, I assure you such is not the case.” The lie flowed smoothly from his lips. Regardless of the sisterly connection, the duchess didn’t need to know how intensely he had wanted Noelle in his bed.
“From what I’ve learned, that is difficult to believe.”
Gavin had been hunted by an irate husband or two in Boston, but never an irate sister. He held back a grin. “That first night, it was she who offered to become my mistress. True, it was a means to escape. Since then, I have no excuses. Your sister has a way about her that makes me forget my manners.”
“She is strong-willed.”
“An understatement, surely, Your Grace.”
Her lips thinned, and she gave him a sidelong glance before she turned away. Gavin believed she was hiding a smile. If the lady had not been married, and he had never met the vibrant Noelle, he’d consider Evangeline worthy of his attentions.
However, it was paler blonde hair and a kissable pink mouth that he much preferred.
“There are many aspects of Noelle’s life you do not know, sir. Both our childhoods were emotionally tenuous.” She turned back to face him. Any humor was gone. “You may not see it, but she has vulnerability in her that I fear you may exploit. I cannot and will not allow you to seduce her and then cast her aside. If I discover you have ruined her, I will see you hog-tied and dragged before a priest before you realize I’m coming.”
His chuckle was explosive. The woman was a tigress when it came to her family. His admiration rose.
Gavin dipped into a low bow. “Yes, Your Grace.”
The duchess tucked her reticule under her elbow and stepped close. The scent of lavender filled his senses. “I do not agree with your plan to parade her around the courtesan ball in an effort to draw out your thieves. But Noelle is stubborn.” The duchess frowned. “If you let anything happen to her, the priest will be called for another reason: to pray over your coffin.”
Gavin’s laughter followed her out of the house.
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br /> When he was alone again, he pondered both the differences and the similarities of the sisters. Both were strong-willed, almost to a fault. He suspected the duchess’s husband was forever busy keeping up with his wife. Any man married to her would need a firm hand. Still, spending nights with such a spitfire would be well worth dealing with her feisty nature. He believed any man sharing Noelle’s bed would feel the same.
Gavin knew Her Grace’s threats were not made lightly. If he ruined Noelle, he’d find himself burdened with a wife. There wouldn’t be a hiding place far enough away for the duchess not to find him and fulfill her threat.
With Eva hovering with a deep-set frown creasing her face, Noelle finished dressing for the courtesan ball, knowing tonight could lead the investigation in a new direction. Hopefully, Gavin could catch at least one of the footpads and force him to give up information to tie the thugs to their leader.
Not that she expected the culprits to confess willingly. And truthfully, the night could end with no captures or fresh clues at all. Still, being with Gavin would be worth the time spent getting into disguise.
She wished they could get the Bow Street Runners involved. It would help ease her worries. But between her and Bliss, their crimes were many. Until she was sure Seabrook would not prosecute for the theft of the necklace, or for her break-in at his town house, she’d have to trust that Gavin would keep her safe.
“A little more rouge, please,” Eva instructed the maid. Martha’s lips were pressed tightly together. She didn’t know the full extent of the plot, but what she did know, she didn’t like. She slathered Noelle’s cheekbones with color, and Noelle wondered if too much scowling could eventually cause one’s face to harden that way.
“Not too much,” Noelle protested as Martha dipped her fingertip in the rouge pot a second time. The maid set down the pot and wiped her hands on her apron. Her mouth worked silently, and Noelle knew she had much she wanted to say. It was the presence of Eva that kept her from voicing her disapproval. Noelle was grateful for Martha’s respect of her sister’s title.
The Accidental Courtesan Page 15
