Regency Scandals: Touch Me, Tempt Me & Take Me Box Set

by Lucy Monroe

  “It was closer than that, my dear.”

  “What do you mean?” How could it have gotten any closer?

  “He planned to have the captain give the order to drop anchor and search the ship until they found the nasty man that accosted you.”

  Although Drake had not taken his aunt into his complete confidence, he had told her enough for her to be infuriated that anything so unacceptable had occurred on one of his ships.

  Thea could not believe her ears. “But that would have put the entire voyage in jeopardy.”

  “Nonsense.” Lady Boyle lifted the garment she was knitting and examined it closely before setting it back on her lap and resuming activity with her needles. “Merely his policy with Lloyds.”

  “I’m sure you are mistaken. Drake would never have jeopardized that policy on purpose. He told me coming into port on time was a matter of his honor.”

  “Apparently catching your attacker was of more import.”

  Of more import than Drake’s honor? She took leave to doubt it. Lady Boyle must be mistaken. She would ask Drake about it as soon as possible.

  The sound of the outer door opening drove all questions from her mind.

  He had returned.

  She rushed out the door, ignoring Lady Boyle’s instruction that a lady should never rush to a gentleman and should never run, period. She descended the stairs more quickly than might be ladylike. By the time she reached the bottom, Drake was handing his hat and coat to Lady Boyle’s very correct butler.

  She skidded to a halt a foot or so from Drake.

  He turned toward her and he cocked his brow in question. “Is something the matter?”

  She frowned. “Of course not.”

  “Then why the mad dash down the stairs?”

  “I could not wait another moment to hear how your meeting at Lloyds went.”

  He shrugged. “Much as you would expect it to go.”

  She wanted to throttle him. “Since I have never been to London, have never done personal business with a company so large and have no idea what collecting a policy entails, you will just have to tell me.”

  Taking her arm, he led her back up the stairs at a much more sedate pace than she had used to descend them. “It was not all that exciting. I brought paperwork from Liverpool showing the date of my arrival. They gave me a bank draft for the amount of my policy and that was that.”

  “What about your investors? Did they collect as well?”

  “They will. Most are gentlemen of the ton and will send their men of affairs around to collect their bank drafts.”

  “But they will miss all the satisfaction for themselves.”

  He laughed. “I assure you, they will enjoy all the satisfaction they desire spending the money they made on this trip.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I suppose.”

  They reached the top of the stairs.

  She held back, not ready to reenter the drawing room. “Drake?”

  He stopped and looked down at her questioningly. “Yes?”

  “Your aunt said something that I was sure she was mistaken about, but I wanted to ask you anyway.”

  Dark eyes gazed into her own. “You’re rambling again, Thea. That’s a sure sign that something has you excited or upset. Which is it?”

  “Neither.”

  He looked unconvinced.

  “The thing is, your aunt said that you were preparing to drop anchor so the ship could be searched for Fox.”

  His expression showed no emotion. “Yes, but he escaped on the dinghy before I could do so.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The closer we got to harbor, the more chance that he would jump ship to escape. I thought to drop anchor while we were still far enough out that he would not do so.”

  “But the search could have taken days.” She stared at him, not comprehending. “Even if you had found him immediately, we would have lost the momentum we were running under.”

  “It doesn’t matter now.” He frowned, his eyes filled with frustrated anger. “He escaped before we had the chance.”

  “Surely that is best. If he had not escaped, you would have disappointed your investors and yourself.”

  He turned her into his arms, the warmth of his big body surrounding her.

  She should struggle. What if the servants saw them? He would undoubtedly say that she had been compromised. However, she could not move away from the intensity in his eyes.

  “Your safety is more important to me than disappointing my investors.”

  His aunt had been right. There were weightier matters than his honor. It was her last coherent thought before Drakes mouth rocked over hers. Her body turned to liquid at the first touch of his lips. He had not kissed her since the fateful afternoon aboard ship when they had made love. Although she had tried to tell herself that was exactly what she wanted, she knew now that she had been lying. She wanted this - Drake’s mouth covering her own intimately and with purpose.

  “Pierson.”

  Lady Boyle’s strident tones broke the hazy passion swirling around Thea. Drake released her slowly and then turned to face his aunt.

  “Aunt Josephine. I did not realize you were there.”

  “Apparently.” She pointed one of her ever-present knitting needles at him. “You also apparently did not notice that you were taking unacceptable liberties with Thea in plain view of anyone who happened by. You might very well have been seen by one of the servants.”

  Drake bowed toward his aunt. “I am terribly sorry, Aunt Josephine. I will remember to keep my libertine ways with Thea private in future.”

  Lady Boyle’s mouth opened and shut, but nothing came out.

  Thea glared at Drake. “Stop it. You will not upset your aunt this way.” She turned to Lady Boyle. “What he means to say is that he won’t be taking any liberties in the future.”

  Lady Boyle harrumphed. “I very much doubt that.”

  It was Thea’s turn to be speechless.

  Drake popped her mouth shut by pressing her chin up with his finger. “My aunt appears to know me better than you do.”

  Thea batted his hand away.

  Irritated beyond caution she replied, “I sincerely doubt that is the case, unless you have a most unnatural relationship.”

  She immediately covered her mouth with her hand, but it was too late. The words were already out. She turned a guarded glance toward Lady Boyle, wondering if she had given the older woman a complete disgust of her.

  Surprisingly, the dowager allowed her laughter to mingle with Drake’s bark of amusement. “Come along, you two. You must plan your visit to Lady Upworth. She will be in alt to find out that Thea has come to Town. I am specifically waiting to take Thea shopping for her London wardrobe until Lady Upworth has been apprised of her presence. She will want to take part in the shopping, I’m sure.”

  ******

  Drake pulled his curricle to a stop in front of the old fashioned town house. Its exterior looked quite different from that of Lady Boyle’s. Thea marveled at the brickwork, so unlike anything back home. She marveled at something else as well. Lady Upworth’s home was not mired in layers of coal dust like so many buildings in London. She wondered how her aunt had managed it.

  She broke the silence she had kept since leaving Lady Boyle’s. “Do you think she will like me?”

  “You told me that you two have corresponded since you learned to write.”

  She smiled, thinking of the hundreds of letters she had exchanged with her aunt over her lifetime. “Yes.”

  “Then she no doubt already loves you.”

  The words warmed her and she turned a grateful smile to Drake. “Thank you.”

  He nodded before getting down to help her from the curricle. He put out his gloved hand and she rested her fingers in his, allowing him to guide her to the cobbled pavement. Tucking her hand into the crook of his arm, he led her to the door. It opened almost immediately after Drake had banged the large brass knocker against the door
.

  “Yes?”

  The butler’s stooped appearance and gray hair did not detract from his air of proper authority.

  “We are here to see Lady Upworth.”

  The elderly servant stepped back to usher Drake and Thea into the hall. “Whom shall I tell milady is calling?”

  Thea’s throat closed. To be so close to her aunt, the one member of her family still living that knew of Thea’s existence. The opulence of the house, the foreignness of things that should be familiar because she’d heard about them her entire life, but never seen them, overwhelmed her and she could not make any words get past the thickness in her throat. She threw a desperate glance at Drake and he answered the servant.

  “Please inform her that Miss Selwyn and Mister Drake are waiting her convenience.”

  She had no time to collect herself before the butler returned. “Milady will see you in her private parlor.”

  He led them on a ponderous procession up a flight of stairs. Opening a heavy ornate door to the left, the butler indicated they should enter. Thea could not seem to make her feet move. Drake took her arm and gently pulled her into a lady’s sitting room.

  The furnishings were exactly as Lady Upworth had sketched them. Matching chairs with needlepoint cushions sat opposite a fainting couch near the fireplace. The smell of furniture wax and dried flowers permeated the room. The escritoire her aunt had been so thrilled to find at a shop on the Pall Mall resided near the window. It looked exactly like the sketch she had sent, except it shone in a way that a charcoal sketch could not catch.

  And next to the small desk sat an elderly woman dressed in the first stare of elegance. Her aunt.

  “Is it really you?” Lady Upworth’s voice came out in a choked whisper.

  Gripping the edge of the escritoire, she stood and the skirts of her black gown fell in graceful folds toward the floor. The sound of rustling silk accompanied her movement across the floor.

  She appeared so frail, her step halting. Thea had not realized. Letters did not show age or infirmity. Her aunt’s obvious weak condition hit her like a blow. Had she waited one more year to make her trip to England, would it have been too late?

  Taking Thea’s arms in a grip astonishingly strong for such a frail-looking woman, Lady Upworth pulled her into a tight embrace. Thea stood unmoving, unable to respond for all of ten seconds, then her arms went of their own volition and wrapped around her aunt. This was her flesh and blood. Family. She was no longer alone in the world. She hugged her aunt fiercely. They stayed that way for long moments, Thea’s heart full at the thought of being part of a family again.

  Finally, Lady Upworth pulled away. “Let me look at you.”

  Then she did just that. Eyes the same blue as Thea’s stared at her, seeming to soak in her every feature.

  “You are the twin of your mother.” A shadow crossed the older woman’s face. “I will always regret sending her to the West Indies.”

  Thea shook her head, disbelieving. “Had you not, she would have lost me.”

  The older woman’s eyes filled with pain. “One never knows what would have been, but she died out there. She never saw Jared again and your father…” Lady Upworth’s voice trailed off.

  Thea knew what her aunt meant to say and didn’t want her to. Not in front of Drake. She did not want him to know the full truth of her father’s wickedness. It shamed her. She cast him a sidelong glance. Had he noticed the reference to her brother?

  “Do not think of that now,” she said.

  Lady Upworth nodded, but tears sparkled in her eyes. “You are right. That is water under the bridge. You are here now. I truthfully did not think I would live to see the day.”

  Guilt flayed Thea as her aunt’s words confirmed her initial fears upon seeing the older woman. She was ill.

  Drake offered his handkerchief to Lady Upworth.

  She took it and dabbed at her eyes, inhaling a deep breath. “Thank you, Mr. Drake, is it?”

  Remembering her manners, Thea made the introductions.

  Lady Upworth looked thoughtful for a moment. “You’re a relation of Lady Boyle’s, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. She’s my great-aunt.”

  Sudden understanding illuminated her aunt’s eyes.

  Sizing Drake up, as if he were a horse about to be auctioned, Lady Upworth asked, “You’re Lady Noreen’s son, aren’t you?”

  Thea felt her insides tighten. She shot Drake a quick look, trying to gauge his reaction to her aunt’s statement.

  Drake didn’t flinch under the older woman’s regard. “Yes.”

  “I see.” The words held a wealth of meaning and meant nothing at all. “Thea sailed on your ship to England.”

  Drake, still as a becalmed ship, simply nodded.

  She turned to Thea. “Why did you not sail on one of Merewether’s ships?”

  Thea was not sure how to answer. She didn’t want to share her concerns with her aunt and yet, she hesitated to lie. That clear-eyed blue gaze was entirely too discerning.

  She had so many secrets, they began to weigh on her like coal dust, making her feel gritty and unclean. “If I had waited for one of our ships, it would have been another month. I would have missed part of the Season.”

  “I see.” There was that comment again. “You’re here now. That is what matters, however it was managed.”

  Lady Upworth moved to one of the chairs near the fireplace and sat down. She indicated with an elegant wave of her hand that Thea and Drake should do the same. Thea sat on the fainting couch and Drake sat next to her.

  Lady Upworth raised her eyebrows, but said nothing.

  “Lady Boyle thought you might want to join her and Thea shopping for her wardrobe for the Season.”

  Her aunt’s eyes lit up even as Thea tried to stifle a groan. She didn’t want to waste time shopping while she could be investigating the thefts from her company.

  “Of course I will. We’ll move Thea here first thing tomorrow and I’ll make appointments with the modiste, the hairdresser—“

  Drake cut her off. “Thea will be staying with my aunt.”

  His tone did not invite comment, but her aunt was no more intimidated by it than Thea had ever been.

  Lady Upworth drew herself up until her spine was stiff. “Nonsense. She will stay with her family.”

  Drake’s gaze snagged Thea’s. “You said she was a friend of the family.”

  Chewing on her lip, Thea tried to look away from the inquiry in his eyes, but found she could not. “I…”

  “It was a necessary deception to protect her from her father. Neither her mother, nor Thea could ever acknowledge the connection for fear he would discover their hiding place.”

  Drake did not reply to her aunt.

  Instead he pinned her with unrelenting eyes. “You could have told me.”

  She wanted to deny it, say he had no more right to know her secrets than anyone else, but the words would not come.

  Instead she nodded her head. “Yes, I should have told you, but it did not seem important and then we were arguing.”

  She willed him to understand something she did not fully comprehend herself. She only knew that she hadn’t felt completely safe admitting her connection to Lady Upworth until they had met.

  “So you two have been arguing.” Her aunt’s smile was tinged with knowing. “From your letters, I gained the impression that you have more than the average amount of spirit for a lady.”

  Thea felt her cheeks heat. “I assure you, the arguments are not all of my making.”

  Lady Upworth laughed softly, the sound melodious. “Most ladies would not admit to having started any arguments.”

  Thinking of her panicked refusal to Drake’s offer of marriage, Thea knew she was responsible for at least one of their disagreements. She could have handled things so much differently. Beginning by not throwing herself at the poor man.

  She shrugged. “I may as well admit that though Mama tried to raise me to be a lady, I fall short in ma
ny areas.”

  Suddenly, Lady Upworth’s gaze shifted to Drake. “What do you think? Does my niece fall short in any way?”

  Thea tensed and slid a sidelong glance at Drake’s impassive profile. She wished her aunt had not put him on the spot like this.

  “She ignores the conventions, talks with sailors like they are gentlemen, harangues most everyone she meets about the issue of abolition, puts herself at risk without the least thought, is stubborn enough for five women, argues over every trifle and has far too much consideration for her maid to be a typical English lady.”

  Thea gasped. She hadn’t expected him to sing her praises, but he certainly didn’t need to list her every flaw aloud to her aunt. She tried to unobtrusively scoot away from him by shifting slightly toward the arm of the fainting couch. He moved with her until she was pinned between him and the arm.

  She glared at him and hissed, “There doesn’t seem to be enough room on here for both of us. Perhaps you should move to the chair.”

  He shrugged. “I’m comfortable.”

  “Well, I’m not.” She made to rise.

  His hot gaze pinned her in place. “Yes, you are.”

  How dare he argue with her? She knew if she were comfortable or not. “I assure you, I am not.”

  He turned to her aunt. “You see? She is difficult.”

  Thea made a garbled sound and tried discreetly to shove him off the fainting couch. He didn’t budge and that only seemed to infuriate her more. Her spine was so rigid, no one would ever know she wasn’t wearing a corset.

  He couldn’t resist pushing her just a bit farther. “She doesn’t act like a proper lady on most occasions.”

  “I see.” Lady Upworth’s smile and voice told Drake that she found her niece’s reaction to his comments amusing.

  He was glad. He’d pushed Thea into responding with her usual open emotion immediately, wanting to see her aunt’s reaction. If Lady Upworth had responded with disapproval, Drake would have protected Thea from her.

  He also wanted Lady Upworth to know what she was up against in presenting her niece to society. Thea would not be a shy maiden, easily assimilated into the ton. She was an original and needed to be respected as such.

  He smiled at the obvious approval in the older woman’s eyes when she looked at Thea. “I believe you do see.”