“True.” His lips quirked. “But in a most hoydenish fashion!”
“That is my concern. I trust you are fully recovered?”
“Alas, no! Would you like to inspect my wounds?”
“Certainly not!” Tessie snapped. The temptation confronting her was large, and her temper was frayed. She realized she had to ask Nicholas—yes, she still persisted in thinking of him as that, however deplorably improper—for the ten thousand pounds, or she would lose her nerve.
“Lord Cathgar . . .”
“Nicholas. And it is churlish to refuse to see the outcome of your ministrations.”
“Churlish but ladylike, for a change. You may think me beyond redemption, but I am not, I assure you!”
“I think no such thing. . . . Ah, the tea tray. You are dismissed, Rutherford.”
Rutherford bowed.
“And shut that door!”
The door shut behind them.
“This is not proper, my lord.”
“You should have thought of that before calling on me, unchaperoned, at this hour. One of these days you will get yourself into trouble, my girl.”
“I feel I already am in trouble.”
“How true. So you might as well relax, forget your remarkably stuffy notions of propriety given your propensity for scrapes, and sit down.”
“I would rather stand, thank you.”
“Suit yourself. But I shall sit. Though I am undoubtedly restored to my remarkable good looks, I am still rather weak.”
“I am sorry for that. Have you consulted a doctor?” Tessie weakened as Nick hoped she would. He grinned.
“Joseph had a sorry old sawbones in. Sent him packing.”
Tessie’s eyes could not help a sudden twinkle. “Then doubtless you are restored to perfect health, and I shall waste no more sympathy on you.”
“Ah, I have committed a strategic error, I see.”
“Indeed.”
Nicholas remained standing. “Are you not going to honor me with your name?”
“I shall, but only because it relates to the business I have with you. You must read nothing into my relenting.”
“I shall not. I shall be extremely obedient.”
Tessie eyed him suspiciously. “I find that hard to believe, my lord!”
Nicholas tried his very best not to grin. So he regarded the teapot for some moments, until Tessie found herself surprised by his silence. He was a hard man to read. And it did not help that he was standing so devilishly close to her, or that his emeralds glittered so brilliantly, so enticingly. . . . She shut her eyes.
“If you do that again, I shall kiss you, I give you fair warning.”
Her eyes opened swifter than she could ever have dreamed possible.
“I shall either slap or shoot you, so be warned yourself.”
“Little minx. I tremble in fear. And you are not carrying your famous reticule.”
“Botheration! I must have left it below stairs.”
“Good, I am safe, then. Or relatively so. I am not mindful of having a bullet wound added to my other pains.”
“You forget I can slap you.”
“Do I? You underestimate my memory. And my ability to retaliate.”
“You would not slap a woman!”
“No, I have other, more subtle weapons.”
Tessie blushed, for he was looking at her most meaningfully, and the color could not help rising to her cheeks. Oh, she had forgotten how infuriating he could be!
“Your name, if you please.”
“It is Theresa Hampstead. Of the Wiltshire branch.”
Nick regarded her musingly. Hampstead . . . there was something he recalled about the name, it rang curious bells, but he was not sure why. He focused on the second part of her speech.
“Did you say the Wiltshire branch?”
Tessie nodded.
“Now, why am I not surprised?”
“Beg pardon?”
“Oh, it is nothing, only I bemoan the fact that I have a remarkably omniscient mama . . .”
“What?”
“Hush, you look confused. Have a cupcake.”
“I have not come for cupcakes.”
“More fool you, for they are perfectly delicious and I recall that you have a rather large appetite. . . .”
“Do you not wish to know why I have called on you?”
“No, for I am sure it was for some positively odious reason. You have not allowed me to take even the smallest liberty . . .”
“You are funning. And, for your information, it is for an odious reason that I have called!”
“Now you interest me, Miss . . . Theresa.”
“Tessie.”
“Thank you. Tessie.”
“No! I mean I am not ever called Theresa. My friends call me Tessie. You are to call me Miss Hampstead.”
“I am suitably chastened. But I challenge you, Miss Hampstead, to deny we are friends. Hush, don’t bother to do so, for there is more between us than mere strangers.” He stepped closer, so that his mouth was tantalizingly close to her own. “You feel it, Tessie, I know you do.”
“Oh, you will hate what I have come here for!”
“Have you just been married?”
“No . . .”
“Then I shall not hate it. Have your tea. You will need it while I inscribe your name, at last, on this.” He opened a bureau drawer inlaid meticulously with mottled amboyna wood.
“What is that?”
“It is a special license for us to be married.”
“You really mean it, don’t you?”
“I always mean what I say. You have saved my life at the great expense of your reputation. You shall marry me before there are any scurrilous rumors floating about.”
“And we shall live happily ever after?”
“I doubt that.” Blue eyes blazed, suddenly, in amusement. He was not deceived that marriage would be meek and harmonious. With Tessie it would be like walking the plank into ever-increasing danger, but he was glad of it.
Tessie, less attuned to his thoughts than she should have been, heard his funning words bleakly.
He didn’t want to marry her, why should he? Doubtless he had a thousand eligible belles fawning at his feet for the privilege. He felt obliged, which was kind, and very possibly noble, but not at all, at all, at all what she wanted. But neither did she want to reward his kindness by dunning him. She drew in a breath and flung the papers in the fire.
He stopped her by staying her arm and catching a charred sheet just as it was about to ignite. He blew on the blackened edges.
“What is this?”
“It is nothing. Let it burn!”
“A curious nothing that you have been clutching more closely than your pistol! I must, if you please, see this nothing.”
“No!”
“You intrigue me now enormously.” Nick flicked some ash off his sleeve and reached for the second paper, burning merrily in the grate. He singed his fingers a little, which caused Tessie to alternately chuckle and look upset, a situation he found mollifying.
“If you hadn’t been such a chucklehead as to throw those things in the fire, I would not have had to retrieve them!”
“You would never have burned your fingers, my lord, if you had just let be. Does it hurt very much?”
“The very devil!”
“Then you must pour some of your Madeira over it. Cold liquid will help.”
“Oh, no, you don’t! That was smuggled out of France, if you please!”
“Then your fingers shall ache and very likely blister.”
“You look uncannily pleased, little madam!”
“Well, you would be well served, for you have no right to scrutinize my private papers!”
“I do if they burn in my grate. Let me see . . .”
Tessie made a dive for him but tripped over her troublesome skirts and landed in a tumble at his feet.
“Good, a woman who knows her place. Now, let me read—”
&n
bsp; “No!”
“Good gracious, woman, stop being such a pelterhead! I only want to know what dastardly words can be penned in there! Or can they possibly be love letters dedicated to the arch of my brow, or to the scar at my temple?”
“None of those, my lord. I fear your consequence is quite large enough.”
“Oh, you slay me. I shall make you eat those words, lady wife!”
“I am not your lady wife!”
“No, but you shall be just as soon as I can get you to a dressmaker. My consequence simply does not allow me to wed a young lady dressed in that vile shade of green.”
“Olive, my lord.”
“Olive, then. A particularly dreary color.” He helped her up with a touch as light as silk. Tessie snatched her hands back and ignored the sudden arching of his brow.
“It is all Madame Fanchon could whistle up upon such short notice!”
“Then we shall take our custom elsewhere. I would like to see you in pinks and silvers, maybe a touch of turquoise . . . the glimmer of gold, possibly, and pearl buttons . . . but I digress from the point.”
For an instant, Tessie was so tempted, it seemed like a physical pain. Nicholas Cathgar was so exactly like the type of person she could fall in love with, it seemed heresy not to do so. This despite his deplorable manners and his insistence on snatching things that did not belong to him . . .
“You have a very strange idea of fashion, my lord! Turquoise and golds are not the colors of half mourning!”
He grinned, an endearing twinkle lighting up the severe blue of his eyes.
“My bride, my dear, shall in no way be mourning! It would be a blight on my manhood I simply could not tolerate!”
“Fustian! Your consequence is quite large enough for me to wear sackcloth and ashes!”
“Which I must implore you not to do, for kissing a sack, while novel, must nevertheless be somewhat depressing.” The seriousness returned to his eyes. “Hush, don’t argue for once, little Tessie. For whom do you mourn?”
“My grandfather. He was the Viscount of Hampstead and the dearest, nicest man. . . .”
“Indeed. I was on terms with him. His death was tragic, but it must be put behind you. No one in society will look askance at the Countess of Cathgar dressing as she pleased.”
“You mean as her husband pleases.”
“Indeed, no! If she were to dress as her husband pleased, she would wear nothing but nightrail—preferably torn to the knees—all evening long.”
“Now you are being absurd! And all this is academic, my lord, for I shall not marry you.”
“We do not suit?”
“We do, I believe, but for your high-handedness . . .”
“Then?”
“Then I am not what I had thought. It changes everything.”
“What had you thought yourself?”
“My grandfather’s heiress. It was for that reason I traveled so precipitously to London.”
“For that reason you traveled as Miss Charity Evans?”
“Yes, for I thought I could drop that persona and slip easily into my new one—that of Miss Theresa Hampstead, heiress—without anyone being any the wiser.”
“Silly! Don’t you realize that head of hair would be recognized, or the clarity of those eyes? Or that haughty stare, for that matter . . .”
“It is not haughty!”
“Yes, it is . . . and if you go about shooting people, you are bound to be noticed!”
“I do not go about shooting people . . . or not in the ordinary way. I did not shoot Mr. Dobbins, and he was odious enough to deserve it!”
“What did you do to him?”
“I bit him and kicked a little . . .”
Nicholas laughed. “If I didn’t want to crush him to pulp, I might feel a little sorry for him!”
“Well, spare your sorry, for he stole my valise and left me with nothing but a drab mauve gown. . . .”
“Then I shall kill him undoubtedly if ever our paths cross.”
Tessie laughed, but she was holding her breath again, a habit she seemed destined to adopt in this rakish man’s presence. It almost felt like he was about to kiss her again, but he did not. The papers, still crushed in his hands, crinkled a little. Tessie noticed a black, charred end float idly to the floor.
“I wish you would give me back my property.”
“I wish so, too, but alas, my besetting sin is curiosity. You shall have them back after they are read.”
“You are a beast!”
The beast eyed her quizzically and grinned.
Twelve
He smoothed out the papers and scrutinized them carefully. Then he drew out a quizzing glass from his desk and stared at one of the charred pages longer than seemed strictly necessary. Tessie said nothing, squirming at her ridiculous plan to extort money from him.
“Good gracious, what a singular female you are! You are actually dunning me!”
“I was actually dunning you. If you had let the wretched papers burn, you would know nothing of it.”
“But I didn’t, did I?”
“No, for as I believe I have repeatedly told you, you are rag-mannered and never, simply never do anything to oblige me!”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that, my dear. It is really far too tempting a prospect to contradict you. I recall once or twice when I have indeed obliged you . . . ah, yes! The telltale color in your cheeks! You really are very modest for the little spitfire you purport to be. Maybe it is because your weapon is safely out of harm’s reach. At least I hope it is!”
Then, rather negligently, Nick leaned forward and drew poor Tessie into his arms. She regarded this as supremely unfair, for it is very hard to stick to one’s resolve to be noble when the beneficiary of all this self-sacrifice is being so disobliging as to kiss one’s nose.
Tessie slapped him.
“You little vixen! That stung!”
“I warned you, my lord.”
“So you did.” The voice was a trifle cold as he regarded her. Tessie wanted to weep, but instead, she stiffened her shoulders and turned on her heel.
“Just one moment!”
She stopped.
“I owe you a sum of money, I believe.”
“It is void, my lord. I believe I made that clear.”
“And I believe I am a gentleman. A gentleman always pays his debts.”
“Then why was this one never paid?”
For a half second, Tessie thought she had gone too far. Then she noticed the fingers, arrested at his neckerchief, relax. The grim expression altered subtly. For some reason, she breathed easier, too.
“I am sorry. I should not have—”
“No, by all means Miss Hamptead. Chastise me. You are perfectly correct.”
“I am not chastising you!”
“No, that sort of activity can become tedious, can it not?” He gestured to his cheek, though the redness had long faded.
“It is my damnable temper. I am sorry about that too.”
“Oh, dismiss it entirely from your mind. I am sure my mama would conspire with you to say I was most deserving of it!”
“Well, you were . . .”
“Such contrition!” The mocking laughter returned. Better, Tessie thought, than that truly bone-chilling coldness. She smiled, but he was striding across to his desk. He opened a locked drawer, pulled out a box fashioned in leather, and beckoned her to sit.
“Now, Miss Hampstead, to business. I did not, as you point out, pay the debt on time because I have lately dismissed my man of business and have had great difficulty finding a reliable replacement. I did, at last, on Tuesday, but my desk is piling up with bits and pieces that will take us to Christmas to wade through. The note must have been one of them. How much, precisely, do I owe?”
“Do you not know?”
“No, for the sheet has burned at the crucial figure. Most distressing, is it not? So tell me, how much do I owe?”
Tessie skirted around the question and finally helped herself
to an iced cupcake. She was hungry, after only her morning chocolate!
“You owe me ten pounds.”
“You lie, Miss Hampstead.” Blue eyes gazed directly into nutbrown. He pushed her into the seat beside his desk.
“Ten pounds is a fortune, my lord.”
“Ten pounds will buy you a gaudy bauble. I do not deal in baubles.”
Tessie swallowed. “And I was mad to come here! It is just that . . . oh! I do not wish to become a watering pot!”
“What an inestimable relief! I do not think I could tolerate tears upon my very fine Axminster carpets. Did you notice them?”
“Yes, they are very fine, like everything else in this . . . home.”
“I am glad that they please you.” Nicholas caught a tear that was about to offend his precious carpets. Tessie tried her very best not to startle to his touch. Her efforts were wasted, however, for he trailed a gloved finger right down her face, almost to her lips. Then she really wanted to cry, for he was horribly comforting and maddeningly impossible to resist, though all her principles cried out against succumbing. She pushed his hand away ungratefully and rubbed crossly at her face.
“I am probably all blotchy.”
“Very likely, for my sisters say tears are fatal to the complexion! ”
For an instant Tessie was diverted.
“You have sisters?”
“Oh, dozens of them! They bully me frightfully. It is a great trial.”
“I’ll bet they cosset you rotten!”
He grinned. “I was the baby, you see, and a rare uproar it was, for Mama had been trying for the succession for positively eons!”
“No wonder you are spoiled!”
“I am not spoiled, hellion! Tell me at once how much I owe.”
“No, for though you are overbearing and wickedly tempting—yes, I own myself tempted, and it would serve you right if I relented—I do not think I should cadge money off you like a . . . like a . . .”
“Like a street urchin?” he put in helpfully.
“Street urchins ask only a penny.”
“And you ask?”
“I am not saying.”
“This grows tedious. It is a small matter for me to find out. Perhaps I shall just notify my banker that you may draw whatever you like.”
“You are negligent, my lord. I could be a thief.”
“A singularly pretty thief.”
A Rag-mannered Rogue Page 13