‘The dark walks,’ he said, pulling her up short to turn her away.
‘I want to see,’ she said, pulling away again.
‘And you cannot,’ he replied. ‘If only because it is dark, and you can see nothing in that.’
‘Next, you will tell me that it is improper,’ she replied, scoffing.
‘Because it is,’ he agreed, gently taking hold of her arm. ‘There is a reason that chaperones do not allow their charges down those paths.’
‘Well, I have nothing to worry about,’ she said. ‘There is no one I intend to meet there, and you are here to keep me from getting into trouble.’ Then she broke free of his grasp and ran down the path into the darkness.
She heard him sigh and set off after her, a few paces behind.
For a place as shocking as this was supposed to be, it was disappointing that Mr Solomon had been right about there being nothing much to see. But that was the thing about darkness. It obscured. Even after her eyes began to adjust to the gloom, she wasn’t able to make out more than a few isolated shapes. There were trees and hedges on either side of the path which she felt beneath her feet. And there were occasional darker patches that were most likely small clearings with benches or follies where one might stop to...
She was not sure exactly what. It was probably nothing beyond a few stolen kisses, since she found it hard to believe that even the bravest couples would attempt anything more in such a public place.
But when she strayed too near one of them, she heard a female gasp and a sharp male curse, followed by the rustle of clothing and a warning to move on.
She jumped as she felt Mr Solomon come up behind and take her arm, pulling her away from the couple she had interrupted and deeper into the darkness.
‘Are you satisfied?’ he asked. ‘It is nothing but more of the same, from here to the end of the walk.’
They were beside another bench, and this one was unoccupied. She was sure because she could make out the uninterrupted white of the marble in the gloom. ‘Let us stop and sit for a while before going back,’ she said, plopping herself down on the seat and dragging him down with her.
‘If you want to rest, there are plenty of places in the lighted portion of the park,’ he said. ‘This place is for other activities.’ There was something more than resignation in his voice, something lush and promising that sent another shiver through her body.
‘I wanted an adventure,’ she said, smiling to herself. ‘Even if nothing more happens tonight, this is more adventurous than I had ever expected to be.’
In the silence after her words she could hear a new sort of night sound around them, other than the whisper of the wind in the leaves and the calls of night birds. She could hear murmured words of love, sighs, giggles and the sounds of bodies moving against bodies.
She was conscious of the feel of Mr Solomon’s shoulder leaning into hers as they sat together. The bench was small, as if designed to force intimacy on those who shared it. It made her feel curiously vulnerable and yet strangely brave. Without thinking, she reached out for her companion’s hand.
When she touched him, he did not pull away. But he did say, ‘This is extremely unwise, Lady Olivia.’
‘You may call me Liv,’ she said. ‘The situation does not call for such formality.’ She hesitated for a moment and then asked, ‘What shall I call you?’
‘Michael. Until we return to the light, at least. Then it would be wiser to forget I even have a Christian name.’
‘As you wish, Michael,’ she said and felt him shiver at her side. ‘Tell me, have you come here with other women?’
‘When I was young and foolish I attempted it, once or twice,’ he said. ‘Fortunately, the girls said no. If they’d agreed, I’d likely be married by now.’
‘Do all men marry the girls they take here?’ she said, surprised.
‘If they are caught, they would have no choice,’ he replied. ‘If they wanted to be thought of as gentlemen.’
‘And is that how you wish to be thought of?’ she asked.
‘I know my place, Liv,’ he said. ‘But I also know better than to be indiscreet.’
‘Oh,’ she said softly, unsure why it disappointed her to know that he was an honest man.
‘Are you not concerned with your reputation?’ he said.
‘No one will know I was here,’ she reminded him, before pulling off her mask and brushing it against the back of his hand. ‘Even undisguised, I doubt my old friends would recognise me if they saw me. Most of them are married now, and not having liaisons in a pleasure garden.’ She thought for a moment. ‘Since my first season was three years ago, I am practically on the shelf.’
At this, he laughed. ‘You make it sound as if you are too old to interest a man.’
‘To interest the men who once courted me,’ she said, quite sure of herself. ‘Many of those married my friends. The rest are at Almack’s tonight, courting girls fresh out of the schoolroom.’
‘Except for Clement,’ he reminded her.
‘I did not think you liked him,’ she reminded him.
‘I do not,’ he agreed. ‘You deserve better.’ He turned towards her now, leaning closer. ‘If he were any kind of man, you’d have been married over a year ago. Despite what you claim, he has probably taken enough liberties with your virtue that he feels no urgent need to make it right between you.’
‘That is a terrible thing to say,’ she said. ‘I have... We have... I mean, a few kisses, of course. But...’ He had done nothing like the things she suspected were happening all around her, even as they spoke.
‘Let us see, shall we?’ He leaned the rest of the way in, and suddenly his lips were on hers and his hands circled her waist.
She gasped in shock, for his kiss was nothing like the ones she had had before. When Alister kissed her it sometimes felt that he had no interest in what she might feel in response. But Michael Solomon’s kiss seemed calculated to raise an answer from her. He was toying with her lips, tracing them with his tongue as his fingers closed possessively on her waist, pulling her closer to him.
She should resist. She should demand that he stop. But wasn’t this what she had been hoping for when she’d set off into the darkness? She’d wanted to find somewhere where society’s rules did not apply. As far as she could tell, this was the only such place she would ever be allowed to enter.
So she sighed, put her hands on his shoulders to steady herself against him and gave in to the pleasure. It was very nice indeed. His lips were firm and warm and he tasted of the spiced nuts they’d bought from a vendor in the Turkish Pavilion.
And, most shocking of all, he had slipped his tongue between her barely parted lips and was moving it around inside her mouth. At first, she had no idea what she was to do. Alister had done the same to her on several occasions but had expected nothing in return. In fact, he seemed to prefer that she remain passive.
But Michael seemed to want more. He would move for a bit and then stop, as if he had asked a question and was expecting an answer. And all the while the hands that had moved to her back were stroking, as if in encouragement.
Gingerly, she moved her tongue as he had done, then thrust hesitantly into his mouth and did the same. She could feel the lips touching hers smile in approval as he began to move with more purpose.
The kiss raised strange feelings in her, a fluttering uncertainty that she rarely felt when she was with Alister. She stretched her arms outward and wrapped them around his neck, swaying against him and opening her mouth wider, offering anything he wished to take.
He pulled away briefly, his tongue tracing the shell of her ear. ‘Perhaps you are telling me the truth. You certainly do not seem like you have been kissed properly before.’ Then his hand strayed from her back to her side, to her bosom.
This was different from the furtive touches she had experienced so far in he
r life. This was a commanding caress, pressing hard enough against her body to find the nipples protected by her stays. He moved his hand just enough to arouse them to hard beads of pleasure, making her moan in excitement.
He laughed softly before kissing her again and releasing her. ‘All right, I believe you. Your lover is faint of heart and affection if he has not given you this small amount of pleasure.’
She pulled away. ‘Was that all this was? A test of my virtue?’
‘Or lack of it,’ he teased. Then added in a more serious tone, ‘Perhaps that was how it began. But that is not how it will end.’ Then he kissed her again, and his previous effort paled in comparison. His mouth seemed to envelop hers, stealing her soul with each breath they took together. His hands roamed freely over her body, memorising each curve until she felt hot and ready to strip the gown from her body, to lie naked in the moonlight and let him do what he would with her.
She wanted to feel him as well, trailing her hands down his chest, pushing her fingers inside his waistcoat and letting one hand drop into his lap to cup the hard bulge of his erection.
She immediately regretted it for he jumped away from her in surprise, taking in deep gulps of air as if he had been underwater and was just returning to the surface. Then he stood up, taking a step away from the bench. ‘I think that is enough of an experiment for the evening, Lady Olivia.’
‘Experiment?’ she said, annoyed at the faint tremor of embarrassment in her voice.
‘You wanted to experience the dark walks,’ he said. ‘Now you have. It is probably close to midnight, and time to return home before you are missed.’
‘Hugh said he would be gone all night,’ she reminded him. ‘No one will ever know.’
‘I will know,’ he said, and there was no trace of the softness that had been in his voice as he’d kissed her. ‘And I say it is time to go.’
They had been having a lovely time. Then it had been even better. And then she had ruined everything. ‘Of course,’ she said, pulling her cloak tight around her body and feeling vulnerable and foolish.
He was walking away without her and she stood and hurried down the path to catch him up. ‘You will not tell anyone what we have done?’ she said.
‘God, no. Do you take me for a fool?’ He sounded disgusted. But whether with her or himself, she was not sure.
They had reached the edge of the darkness and were continuing down the path towards the exit when she heard a voice in front of her snarl, ‘What the devil? Olivia? You are not allowed to be out of the house.’
It was Hugh. How had he recognised her? She reached up to touch her face and realised she’d forgotten the mask she had removed during the last minutes in the darkness.
‘She should not have got this far,’ Michael said in a voice that was disapproving but revealed no trace of the reality that had passed between them. ‘I am to blame for that. But there was no sign of whomever she intended to meet.’
It was a necessary lie. But it hurt that he could so easily deny her. She could not stop her response. ‘I was not meeting anyone. I came here for my own pleasure.’
‘If I were to believe that it would be even worse,’ Hugh snapped, glaring at her. ‘That would mean that you have been wandering about London at night with no chaperone at all. We will discuss what you have or have not done tomorrow, when we are both home.’
‘And just what are you doing here?’ she said, sensing an opening in the argument that could be exploited. It was then she noticed that a woman was standing just behind him, as shrouded in disguise as Liv had been and doing her best to pretend that she was not a part of the argument in progress. ‘Who is your friend?’ Liv asked, craning to see around him and offering an insincere smile to his companion. ‘I do not believe you mentioned where you were going when you left tonight, or where you might be. You only said that you did not mean to come home.’
The woman he was with stiffened and gasped and it was clear that, whatever Hugh’s plans might have been, hers did not include a liaison that lasted past sunrise. She turned, running up the path behind them.
Hugh reached for her, his mouth forming the beginning of a name and then stopping as he realised that the point of secrecy was not to call out to a person so all within earshot would learn their identity. He turned back to Liv for only a moment, glaring at her before snapping at Michael to, ‘Take her home immediately and see that she does not stray again.’ Then he was off up the path after his escaping friend.
Once he was gone there was a moment’s silence between them before Liv said, ‘Well. That was interesting.’
‘Interesting?’ he said in much the same tone Hugh had used. ‘We were very nearly caught by your brother, who, as you keep reminding me, has a penchant for homicide.’
‘And you covered for us masterfully,’ she said, not as embarrassed as she should have been by what had occurred between them. ‘He’d never have guessed that it was you I was with all along.’
‘Of course he wouldn’t,’ Michael said with a snarl. ‘Because I am so far beneath you that you could not possibly have allowed me to do what I did.’
‘That is not what I meant,’ she insisted, realising that she’d hurt him.
‘On the contrary, I understand you better than you do yourself,’ he said. ‘Things are quite different in the dark than they are in the light, aren’t they?’
‘Did you want me to acknowledge you?’ she asked, just as angry as he was. ‘That would have meant an end to your position, at the minimum. We’d have never seen each other again.’
‘That would have been the best for both of us,’ he replied. ‘If your protector was sacked, it would leave you free to run off with Clement. And it has given you leverage to use against me with your brother. If I do something you do not like, you have but to tell him that I was pawing at you in the shadows of Vauxhall.’
The idea had never occurred to her. It made what they had done together seem cheap and dishonourable. ‘Clearly, your mind runs in the gutter and cannot think anything but the worst of me,’ she said. ‘Before, you thought me unchaste. Now, you think me a blackmailer. To be clear, if I wanted to level accusations against you, I would not need to have kissed you. I could simply have accused you of things you had not done, and my brother would take my side against you.’
He grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her towards the gate. ‘Then I am glad that I have at least got some pleasure from you before you began telling tales. My only regret is that I did not give you what you were panting for back there. If I am going to hang in the morning, I might as well be guilty of the crime.’
He was hauling her towards the waiting carriage. When they arrived at it, he shoved her inside and hesitated on the step for a moment before giving the driver curt instructions and climbing in after her.
Now that they were alone together, the silence in the coach was oppressive. When she could not stand it any longer, she announced, ‘Since you find me so detestable, you do not have to come with me. I am quite capable of getting down and through my own gate without your help.’
‘Even now, you do not understand,’ he said. ‘It is my job to see that you are home and safe. I am doing that job to the best of my ability. And what happened at Vauxhall...’ He gave a disgusted wave of his hand. ‘I am not some plaything to be used and discarded when you are no longer amused.’
‘I never thought you were, Michael,’ she said quietly.
He flinched at the sound of his own name and replied, ‘What occurred tonight will not happen again. I think, in the future, our relationship should return to that which you had with previous guards that your brother hired. I will stay on one side of the door, and you on the other.’
He settled back in his seat and looked out of the window then, offering not another word for the rest of the trip.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Michael wished he could have thought of the
night’s activities as a good plan gone bad. But, from the first, he had known it was a disaster in the making. He should not have been dancing with her. He should not have gone anywhere near the dark walks. And he should not have done anything that might have been discovered by the Duke of Scofield.
Worst of all, he should not have enjoyed it. Lord, but she had been sweet in the darkness, where he could pretend that she was just a woman and he was just a man. But seeing her brother had brought reality crashing back. There was no way that she would forget his lowly position on her brother’s staff long enough to want anything more than a flirtation. Nor could he continue to dally with an innocent, no matter how responsive she was to his advances.
His only hope was that, on his arrival the following morning, the Duke would fire him out of hand. Then he would not have to see her again, nor would he have to stand by as she either succeeded in marrying the unworthy Clement, or whatever man her brother would eventually choose for her.
To think the matter over, he went to the nearest pub he could find. Since it required a lot of thinking, he tried a gin mill as well. And since it was hard to think in the din there, he found a gambling hell where he could lose the remainder of the money in his purse.
Then he walked towards his home, trying not to think at all about the woman he had left behind, and the chance that she might have escaped in the night, despite what she had told him. Tomorrow—or was it today?—he would be in no condition to outpace her should she make a run for the Scottish border.
He was not aware of the sound of running feet behind him until the stranger was almost upon him. He turned at the last second and the knife that had been inches from his back grazed his arm instead, slicing easily through the wool of his coat and splitting the sleeve and skin beneath.
He batted the arm that held it with his other hand, then lunged forward with the full weight of his body, knocking his assailant off-balance and into the street. Before he could get a good look at his attacker, a horse and cart passed between them.
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