‘Not in the least.’ He reached for her hand and pulled her gently to her feet. ‘Will you stroll outside with me, Lady Eva? It’s a fine evening.’
‘Really, Lord Isaac, you surprise me. Do you really need moonlight to aid your seductive cause?’
‘Only if I am to keep my promise and refrain from taking the resolution of your difficulty literally into my own hands,’ he replied with a sigh that sounded rather frustrated. ‘Every secret you reveal makes that course of action harder to resist. But resist I shall. We are, after all, conducting this experiment to help you.’
‘Then I shall be glad to walk with you, but I think it only fair to remind you I am beyond help, at least in the way you imply. I would not want your manly pride to be indelibly marked by your failure with me, and for that reason I am perfectly willing to release you from our wager.’
‘Be careful what you say.’ Lord Isaac raised a warning finger. ‘I doubt there is a man in the kingdom who could resist proving to a woman with your sensual nature that she is wrong about herself.’
‘Then I am entirely at your disposal, much good may it do you.’
‘Lady Eva,’ he said as they reached the flagstoned terrace illuminated by the lights spilling from the house. ‘Would you do me the honour of dancing with me?’
Dancing? That was the last thing she had expected and she sent him a questioning look.
‘Why?’
He chuckled. ‘Spontaneity, remember? It’s a lovely evening, I’m alone with a beautiful woman. What could be more natural than to dance with her?’ His deep chuckle rumbled on the night air. ‘We are, obviously, talking of natural acts within the bounds of respectability, in accordance with the terms of our wager.’
Eva shook her head. He really was the most outrageous flirt but she found his company engaging and was rather enjoying being flirted with. ‘We have no music.’
Lord Isaac tutted. ‘Always making difficulties.’
A strong pair of arms closed possessively around her, holding her a little too close. Then he started to sing—a beautiful, rich baritone that robbed Eva of what little breath she still possessed—as he led her into a waltz. She recognised the tune he had chosen and found herself humming along with him, just as her feet effortlessly followed his.
This was dangerous fun, she thought, relaxing her rigid stance because she simply couldn’t help herself. When had she last danced? When had she last sung, or felt so light-hearted?
She reminded herself it would be dangerous to let her guard down. She was very conscious of the heat from his hand at her waist searing through the silk of her gown. The silk was admittedly thin, but also too thick, too much of a barrier. Ye gods, where had that thought come from? She experienced a fizzing sensation deep in her core that spread to her extremities and muddled her thinking. Eva was floating, not dancing. Her feet definitely weren’t touching the ground. Had Lord Isaac stopped singing? She could no longer hear his voice and yet their feet continued to move in perfect accord with the music inside Eva’s head. The arm supporting her waist tightened and she was conscious of his breath peppering her face, of myriad sensations, as alien as they were confusing, swirling through her body.
‘You stopped singing,’ she said, her dazed tone accusatory.
‘And yet we still dance,’ he replied, his lips grazing her brow as he spoke.
‘I like to dance,’ Eva said, breathless from her exertions. Breathless because Betsy must have fastened her stays too tight. Breathless because Lord Isaac had stolen all the air.
‘You perform well.’
‘I’m out of practise.’
‘Your husband doesn’t dance with you?’
She smiled a sad little smile. ‘There would be no pleasure in that experience.’
‘Then I am flattered.’
‘I take pleasure in this experience only because you’re such a good dancer.’ Eva thought it important he shouldn’t read too much into the situation.
His rich chuckle implied he was aware of the curiosity and doubt conducting a full scale battle with her conscience, arrogant man, and that curiosity was in danger of winning the day. Striving to regain a modicum of control, Eva said the first thing that sprang into her head.
‘I must assume your seductive powers are only effective at close quarters,’ she remarked, glancing down at the space which no longer separated their bodies. Where had it disappeared to and why had she not noticed before now? She canted her head and flashed a provocative smile. ‘Are you afraid your alchemy won’t work otherwise, Lord Isaac?’
He elevated one brow in an infuriatingly confident manner. ‘Physical contact is both desirable and pleasurable, as I’m sure, in the spirit of friendly competition, you will be honest enough to agree. Or is it that you are afraid you won’t be able to maintain your frigid stance if I stand too close?’
She fixed him with a droll glance. ‘I am not afraid of you,’ she lied.
The look he dealt her said she probably should be. He was definitely right about that. By indulging in verbal sparring with such a master of the art, she was already hopelessly out of her depth. But by then recklessness, anticipation and the ambience he had gone to so much trouble to create had combined forces, replacing her earlier caution with wild abandonment.
‘Satisfied?’ she asked when their feet finally stopped moving.
‘Not nearly, but then it is not my satisfaction that is at the heart of this experiment.’
‘Then let us proceed.’ She bit her lower lip to prevent herself from smiling and felt her face flush. ‘But I think it only fair to point out that it might also teach you something you did not already know about yourself when you fail with me.’
‘I am always willing to be enlightened.’
‘You say that now but I…oh!’
She was still in his arms, breathing in the heady aroma of jasmine and the earthy scent of strong, virile male. She glanced up at him, their gazes duelled and the arm supporting her waist tightened. Even in the dim light she could see a reckless sensuality in his expression that was contagious. Since she had agreed to be spontaneous Eva decided not to fight against it and to see where it led her instead. Her heart rate was far too fast and a catalogue of alien sensations filtered through her body as she contemplated her dangerous attraction towards this experienced sophisticate.
‘Point proved, I believe,’ he said softly.
‘You don’t fight fair,’ she replied, her voice dazed, her head disorientated.
He chuckled as he gently traced the curve of her face with the fingers of one hand. ‘Not when there is something I want very much.’
Eva shook her head and closed her eyes again, leaning her forehead against his broad shoulder. She refused to ask him what he meant by that obscure comment, worried she wouldn’t care for the answer. More worried still that she would. She tried to convince herself that the past half-hour had been a dream and that she would soon be her level-headed self again. Confronting past disappointments she had disciplined herself never to examine had unsettled her. But those disappointments would fade along with the dream that engendered them. She lived the suppressed life as the wife of a tyrant and no amount of regret could change that situation. In the meantime, she would enjoy the dream because she knew from bitter experience that dreaming, pretending she was someone other than herself, was the only way to survive.
It was a long time before she could bring herself to open her eyes again and break the spell. She was still held in the protective circle of Lord Isaac’s arms and his handsome face was the first thing her gaze alighted upon. She expected to feel embarrassed for having permitted him to confuse her. Instead she felt a great sense of wellbeing.
‘You were right,’ she said softly, unable to deny what he must already know. What he had made her feel, simply by dancing with her and making no other demands, was nascent desire. But with that knowledge came regret. There had to be more; so much more. But she was still married to William and would never get to experience it.
Lord Isaac’s smiled broadened. ‘I know,’ he replied softly.
Chapter Nine
William felt ready to commit extreme acts of violence. Night had fallen and his wife still had not returned to Whitechapel. He thumped his clenched fist against the wainscoting in his study, bloodying his knuckles without feeling any pain. Never before had he confronted a problem that he wasn’t able to solve with force, blackmail, guile, or whatever means proved necessary. That his wife thought she could defy a man of his ilk filled him with a murderous rage.
‘Where the devil can she have got to?’ he demanded to know. ‘She left all her possessions, such as they are, behind in that flea pit and has now disappeared off the face of the earth.’
Stoneleigh, to whom this comment had been addressed, spread his hands. ‘It’s like I already told you, one of her wealthy friends must be hiding her.’
‘Well, they won’t get away with it.’
‘You need to use the child. There’s no other way.’
William sent his henchman a scathing look. ‘There’s always another way. The child stays in London, at least for now.’
‘If you say so.’
‘I need you to send out as many people as it takes to talk to all the servants we know in London houses. Someone must have heard something.’
‘I can do that, but it might help if you talk to some of the gentry yourself. You have enough on several of them to call in favours.’
‘Possibly.’ William conceded the point with an abrupt nod. ‘I’ll consider doing that if the servants don’t come up with anything.’
‘Well, you know best.’ Stoneleigh frowned. ‘What about her family? They wouldn’t have taken her back, would they?’
William curled his upper lip. ‘That lily-livered brother of hers doesn’t have the guts. The fool’s already got himself into debt with me. Again.’
‘You don’t want to go to the gents you own because you don’t want to lose the hold you have over them.’ Stoneleigh sniffed. ‘I can also understand why you wouldn’t want them to know that you can’t control your own wife.’ William’s aggrieved glare had no discernible effect on Stoneleigh, who merely shrugged one massive shoulder. ‘Depends how badly you want Lady Eva back, don’t it? All I know is, the longer she’s gone, the greater the chances of her being compromised.’
William felt the blood drain from his face. It was all very well suspecting something of that nature, but another matter altogether when he heard his suspicions openly voiced by others. ‘Her friends are gentlemen. They wouldn’t.’
Stoneleigh snorted. ‘If you ask me, gentlemen are the worst. Seem to think they can get away with anything simply because they’re rich and powerful.’
‘Eva wouldn’t go that far.’
‘Really?’ Stoneleigh folded his arms across his chest, his expression bordering on insolent. ‘If she’s so dedicated to you, why hasn’t she come home yet?’
William wanted to plant a fist in the man’s face for his disrespect. He didn’t because Stoneleigh was the one person who dared to speak his mind to William without fear of the consequences. They had been together for years and familiarity gave him a degree of licence not extended to William’s other retainers. Stoneleigh knew just about all William’s secrets and was completely trustworthy, totally ruthless and untroubled by anything as inconvenient as a conscience. In other words, he and William were mirror images of one another.
And he was right. Eva hadn’t come home because she was scared of William. He still didn’t understand what he had done to make her fear him so much that she would abandon her child rather than return to live beneath his roof. He hardly ever beat her…well, only when she had seriously displeased him, or flirted with other men, showed him up in public or done something to deliberately remind him of the difference in their social statuses. That was a favourite way of hers to torment him. What sort of a man would he be if he permitted her to get away with such disrespect?
Damn it, it was a man’s right to beat his wife to keep her in line! He thought of the rough way he handled Rose and how she welcomed such treatment with laughter in her eyes. He never inflicted his baser requirements on his wife, much as he would like to, and yet his consideration for her finer feelings had earned her disdain. That wasn’t right. It wasn’t right at all. Unlike Rose, his wife almost never laughed, unless she was playing with their daughter. If he entered the room when she did happen to be laughing, that laughter abruptly faded and was replaced with an expression that bordered on contempt.
She had no right to look down on him. He had saved her ungrateful family from becoming paupers and treated Eva like a goddess, much thanks he got for it. Well, when she finally returned home—and she would have to, sooner or later—things would be very different. No more trying to win her affection. And no more Rose, either. Whatever itch of his required scratching, his wife could damned well do the scratching for him.
‘We have to go to the warehouse,’ Stoneleigh reminded him. ‘We have a meeting with the Sikhs.’
‘I can’t think about that now.’
‘You have to. You have another appointment with our mutual friend tomorrow and he’ll want to know how the plans are coming along. It won’t do for you to have missed an important meeting to settle the details. You’ll have to tell him Lady Eva’s not back, having assured him she would be, and that won’t please him. Don’t make matters worse.’
William threw his hands in the air. ‘I shall lie and say she is back. It’s none of his damned business anyway.’
Stoneleigh frowned. ‘Not sure you should do that.’
‘He has no way of checking. It’s not as though he’s going to invite himself to dinner. He does everything he can to ensure he’s not seen anywhere near me.’
‘I wouldn’t put anything past that one. Besides, he has more ears and eyes in London than anyone I know, and he mixes in the best circles. If Lady Eva’s hiding out with a socialite somewhere, he’ll get to hear about it before you do.’
William scowled, wanting to deny it even though he knew it was true. ‘You’re right about one thing,’ he said. ‘The child’s the key.’
‘You’re going ahead with the resumption of the visits to the park then? Make up your mind. First you said you were, then you decided against it. Ain’t like you to be so indecisive.’
‘Let’s try it,’ William said with a heavy sigh. ‘Start again tomorrow and keep Mary under constant watch without making it too obvious. I want to know who approaches her and the child.’
‘You’re wasting valuable man power. Lady Eva won’t go to the park.’
‘Perhaps not, but if she’s being sheltered by someone, that someone might want to set her mind at rest by checking on the child.’
Stoneleigh sniffed and rubbed his nose against the back of his hand. ‘Whatever you say.’
‘Follow whoever approaches Mary and find out who they are.’ William felt a little better now they had a firm plan of action—one which he had come up with himself.
Stoneleigh glanced at the clock. ‘Don’t forget we have to—’
‘All right,’ he said wearily, ‘we’ll go and meet with the blasted Indians. But we’re not going to rely just on the park outings. I want people asking questions of servants in all the right households first thing tomorrow.’ He wagged a finger at Stoneleigh. ‘I want my wife found and I want her found immediately.’
‘She will be.’
‘There’s half an hour before we need to leave for the meeting. Send Rose to me.’
‘She’s indisposed.’
William scowled. ‘What the devil’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Want my opinion, she’s with child.’
William recalled how rounded her belly had appeared the last time he had been with her. There had been something she had wanted to tell him but he hadn’t had the time to listen.
‘Damnation!’ Could nothing go right for him? It would be a shame to lose Rose. She was a lively one all right, but ha
dn’t he just decided he would give her up anyway once Eva returned? Still, Eva wasn’t back yet and what was he supposed to do in the meantime? ‘Find out if she is. If so, pay her off and find a replacement. One child in this household is more than enough to be going on with.’
William turned his attention to the papers on his desk and forgot all about Rose’s unfortunate plight.
***
Eva retired for the night, expecting to feel guilty about what she had done. Was it really her who had allowed a virtual stranger—albeit a very sophisticated and charming stranger—to all but seduce her? She knew very well that it was his restraint that had prevented matters from going further—not hers. It hardly seemed credible, and she waited for the shame and regret that was bound to keep her awake to grip her.
It failed to materialise. She slept like a baby and woke long after her usual hour, feeling refreshed and very different to her usual self.
At last she understood what all the fuss was about, Eva thought as she sat up and blinked the sleep from her eyes. She understood what caused married women to risk their all by taking lovers and reduced even the least poetically inclined to wax lyrical in the name of passion. Her concerns about William, the gaping hole in her heart caused by her enforced separation from Grace, were as strong as always. But she was now fiercely determined never to live beneath William’s tyrannical control again.
Lord Isaac’s whimsical experiment had done more for her than he could possibly have intended, causing a sea change to occur inside of her. She was not dead emotionally and that knowledge made a world of difference. She was no longer the obedient daughter who would do whatever was necessary to save her family from ruin. She was no longer wife to a man who thought he could own her.
She sat taller and indulged in a languid stretch. She didn’t yet know how it could be arranged but somehow she would regain access to Grace and put William from her life. He had the law on his side but that was no match for a mother’s strength and determination.
Betsy slipped into the room and pulled back the curtains.
Saving Grace (Victorian Vigilantes Book 1) Page 10