A Ring of Midnight Orchids: Flowers of the Aristocracy (Untamed Regency Book 3)

by Jackie Williams

  “I see,” she said again and pressed her lips together thoughtfully. “And my brother is aware of the situation?” She suddenly continued. “I believe Pierce was quite forceful in his pursuit of me. It seems a little odd for him to have changed his mind after suffering through Harold’s wrath.”

  Not quite the reaction he had expected. She hid her disappointment well, but Lucas still swallowed bile.

  “I believe you were misled on that occasion too. It was Harold who insisted that Pierce marry you. He made it quite impossible for my friend to say no.” He pointed at his own eye to indicate Pierce’s injury, but stepped forwards quickly as she began to sway. “Here, sit down a moment. I fear the shock has upset you.” He steered her to the settle beside the window.

  She sat quickly, as if her knees had suddenly collapsed beneath her.

  “And Pierce asked you to bring me here? To kidnap me so that I would simply disappear? Am I so insignificant that no one will notice I am missing from society?” Tears brimmed on her lashes but didn’t fall.

  The devil stoked the fire that awaited him.

  “No, this was my idea. Angel, I am so sorry, but I have to tell you all. Hate me if you will, but I confess that I thought this the perfect opportunity to exact my own revenge on your brother.” He touched his own crooked nose and felt a knife plunge through his heart as a crystal droplet dropped onto her cheek.

  She blinked the remaining tears away and lifted her chin as she rose from the seat.

  “Well, I thank you for your honesty at last.” She looked up at him as he rose to stand beside her. “Please have the carriage sent for me. I believe I will be leaving immediately.”

  The fiery pit singed his toes as he shook his head.

  “I am sorry, but after such a long trip the horses need to be rested. I don’t keep an entire stable here to replace them. And I cannot let you go anyway. Pierce isn’t going to marry you, and you have been seen, drunk in the company of another man. If you return to town now, Angel, your reputation will be shredded by the gossips. You won’t be able to show your face anywhere.”

  She drew in a sharp breath at the harsh reminder and straightened her shoulders.

  “I show my face little anyway, so I am not sure that will be any loss, however, my name is Angelique, Lord Caruthers, but I will thank you to call me Miss Lancer for the duration of my stay... As it appears that I am to be kept prisoner, I think I will go to my room, unless you mean for me to be held in the dungeons. A house of this size and age must have them, I suppose... If you would tell me the way?” She walked quickly to the door, but stopped as it suddenly opened and a grey haired woman appeared carrying a tray of tea. Mary bustled in behind her.

  “Oh! Sorry, my Lady, but I was told you were taking tea in...” She stopped abruptly. “Are you all right, dear? Is the library a disappointment?” Mary glared at Lucas before putting her arm around her charge.

  Angelique shook her head, her chin still high.

  “Not at all, Mary. But I fear that I am more tired than I thought. As Lord Caruthers so kindly reminded me, the wine last night affected me badly. I would like to go to my room.”

  Mary turned instantly, leading her into the hallway beyond.

  “Of, course. Let me show you the way. Lord Trenchard has put you in the most beautiful bedchamber. It overlooks the lake. The swans are quite lovely. You will find it most restful.”

  “Thank you, Mary, but let us clear up any more misunderstandings. This house does not belong to Lord Trenchard, but to Lord Caruthers. It seems that we assumed too much.” She glanced back at Lucas and the tears fell at last.

  Lucas couldn’t bear to watch her pain a moment longer. Mouth set in a hard line, he strode to the door and closed it firmly behind her.

  Chapter Six

  Captivating Captivity

  A curl of her hair wafted across her face and she hooked it back behind her ear, smiling at the swan making its lumbering take off.

  “That’s the first smile I have seen in three days.” Mary spoke from behind her and Angelique turned to look over her shoulder.

  “They are such odd creatures. So graceful on the water, but so uncomfortable looking out of it. Their sheer size and wingspan make them look so ungainly. It is a wonder that they can take off at all.” She leaned against the window frame and stared out again.

  “You look as if you should be out there with them. I cannot understand why you have cooped yourself up in here for so long. Lord Caruthers is being kindness itself. He has apologized for his actions. There’s not much more he can do. You surely cannot be annoyed with him forever.”

  Angelique shook her head.

  “I am not annoyed with him at all.”

  Mary let out a surprised huff.

  “You’re not? Well, you could have fooled me. You’ve not been out of this room since we arrived, and you have barely eaten a thing. You must be starving, and don’t tell me that you are still feeling the effects of the wine. That has long gone. Lord Caruthers has been to the door asking after you every day. Several times a day, I might add. And you have not once been to the library again. I thought that was the purpose of this visit, regardless of whom the library belongs to.” Mary folded some freshly laundered stockings and placed them in a drawer.

  Angelique turned from the window and frowned at her maid.

  “Pierce put him up to it to get out of our marriage, not that I wanted to be married to the man in the first place. I just thought I should accept as he had the nerve to go up against my brother and ask. I thought it was romantic. Romantic? Ha! What a fool I am!” She threw up her hands in frustration, but carried on quickly afterwards. “And Lord Caruthers only went along with the idea because he saw an easy way to avenge himself on my brother. As if I didn’t have enough to contend with. Harold doesn’t make my life easy even now that father is no longer around. Between the three of them, they have ruined me! It was bad before, but now I’ll never be able to show my face in polite society again. How do you think that makes me feel?”

  Mary’s expression fell and she looked down at the floor.

  “Awful, I suppose. I hadn’t looked at it like that.” She cast her eyes towards the wardrobe. “But why did Lord Trenchard buy you all these evening dresses if he had no intention of marrying you? It seems a very odd thing to do, if you ask me. The expense must have been enormous, and he has gained nothing.”

  Angelique was about to shrug her shoulders, but stopped as a horrible thought crossed her mind.

  “Oh no! Now I understand. Lord Trenchard didn’t buy these clothes for me. I should have guessed before. Pierce has no eye for colour or fashion at all. And he has little cash to spare,” she added forcibly.

  Mary groaned and rolled her eyes, fearing what was coming next.

  “But Lord Caruthers does. Piles of it, clearly.” She looked about the opulent room with its huge, silk draped bed and comfortable furniture.

  Angelique felt her insides cringe.

  “Lord Caruthers bought the clothes for me. Drat the man! Pierce wouldn’t have had a clue what to choose, but his friend is fashionable and up with the trends. I expect he knows all about that sort of thing from Brendon Spencer’s wife. They know each other well. I believe Sophia Barclay breakfasted regularly with Lord Caruthers.”

  Mary glanced back at the wardrobe.

  “Well, that’s as may be, but you are not returning these gowns. I know how stubborn you can be, but they must have cost a rare fortune and they all fit you so beautifully.” She waggled her finger at Angelique.

  The younger woman sighed and dropped onto the bed, lifting her feet and sliding them beneath her.

  “It is not as if I can return them. I have nothing else to wear. And who knows how long I am going to be kept here. It might be weeks before I am allowed to return to town.”

  Mary pressed her lips together.

  “I would have thought your brother would be here by now seeing as it was him that was so keen for you to marry Lord Trenchard. He m
ust be out of his mind with worry.”

  Restlessness had her moving once again. Angelique walked back to the window and gazed out. A rider cantered around the other side of the lake, but she didn’t need to enquire who it might be. She would know the set of those magnificent shoulders anywhere. Disappointment surged through her again. How could Lord Caruthers have been so callous? And she had thought that the man was about to kiss her? She must have been delusional. She huffed out an irritated breath.

  “Harold is more likely to be leaping for joy that I am out of his way, though I do wonder what excuse Pierce gave for my prolonged stay here. It must be something quite convincing or my brother would never have believed him.” Her eyes followed the rider as he bent low, leaned into his mount’s neck, and let the animal have its head. Horse and rider moved as one, hooves thundering over the ground, echoing across the lake, the animal’s tail and mane streaming behind it.

  Angelique gave an involuntary jump as Mary suddenly spoke right beside her.

  “He rides rather well for someone so large. One would think he should be as ungainly as those swans, but he is as graceful as can be.”

  Pressing her hand against her thumping heart, Angelique simply nodded as Lucas rounded the curved end of the lake and headed back towards Perrydale.

  The wind in his hair felt good and he breathed in deeply as Blaze cantered along the lakeside. He needed to do this more often. Couldn’t think why it had taken him so long to come back to the place. Perrydale had always seemed such a drain on his purse and several times he had considered selling it. Now he was glad that he hadn’t. Every penny he had put into the place had been worth it.

  He glanced sideways, watching a swan take flight as he passed. The bird waddled over the water in the most odd fashion. Always made him want to laugh. How could an animal be so graceful one moment and so awkward the next? At last the swan became airborne and Lucas followed its flight path, regretting it almost immediately as he noticed a flutter of apricot silk at a window in one of the upper floors of the house. He would know that colour silk anywhere as he had been the one choosing the fabrics after Pierce showed obvious signs of being seriously colour blind. He didn’t need to look twice to know that Angel stood looking out of her bedroom window.

  Angel... Though she might have ordered him to call her Miss Lancer, Lucas still couldn’t think of her as anyone but Angel. His Angel. Her glowing blonde hair made it impossible to imagine her as anything but ethereal. She took his breath, made his heart slam against his ribcage, forced his blood to thunder through his veins, every time he saw her. However much he fought against it, he knew that she had captivated him, body and soul.

  Disappointment and self-loathing filled him as the fluttering apricot disappeared from view. Damn it! He knew he had done her wrong, treated her without thought, but it had been three days since she had fled to her room. What had she done for the three days. Certainly not eat, that was for sure. From the still full plates her maid returned to his kitchens, it didn’t look as though she had sampled more than a few mouthfuls during that time, and his stomach clenched hard at the thought. She had told him of her father’s mistreatment of her. Of her fears for her mother, of being half starved and kept a prisoner, and yet he was doing exactly the same.

  Not that he had bolted her doors or forbidden her to leave her room, but his dreadful assumptions, appalling behaviour, and vile insults had driven her there. And he was floundering, not knowing how to put any of it right.

  Pierce seemed to have abandoned him to his fate, not having arrived at the estate to explain the situation to her, nor even to send a note. The man was the worst kind of fool. Who would leave such a beauty in the care of another man? It was asking for trouble.

  And her brother had not made contact either. Which Lucas found more than a little strange. If he was as caring of her as she had intimated, surely the man would be frantic with worry and sending out search parties to every friend of Pierce’s in every corner of the land.

  Or perhaps Harold Lancer wasn’t as protective as his sister made out. He had forced Pierce to offer her marriage after all. Not the usual kind of behaviour for someone determined to see off any potential threats to a sister’s virtue. Odd thing to do, all things considered. Angelique would mostly likely receive many offers of marriage if she ever attended social functions. The woman was well connected, beautiful, and intelligent. She probably had a substantial dowry too. A match made in heaven for many a young buck. Suitors would be queuing at her door.

  But her brother had picked on Pierce to be the woman’s husband. Probably the most unsuitable man in the whole of London. Flighty, picky, easily bored, and though not unconnected, nor poor, the man was not likely to come into his father’s title for years. And he had no substantial fortune to his name. Harold Lancer could have chosen from many more suitable candidates, but he hadn’t. He had beaten the living daylights out of Pierce Trenchard and forced the man to make his proposal. A proposal that the man had no intention of fulfilling.

  He thought back to the woman hiding in her room and glanced back at the house sitting so majestically across the other side of the lake. The waft of apricot was back and a smile caught Lucas’ lips. Had she recognized him? She must have done. There were no other men on the estate apart from his gardener, carriage driver, his butler and valet, James, and the footman, Henry.

  He couldn’t help the prick of pride that swept over him as the apricot silk remained at the window. He was an expert rider, and his horse was an incredibly beautiful animal. Did she watch him simply for something to relieve the boredom of sitting in her rooms? He hoped it was for something more, but he couldn’t be sure. He had made many mistakes with her and didn’t expect to be forgiven very soon, but he hoped that one day she would, that one day he would see her smiling in pleasure and delight as she toured his library again.

  A duck, startled from the reeds at the edge of the lake, suddenly flapped into the air, quacking loudly. Blaze tossed his head and snorted, trying to take the bit between his teeth, and bringing Lucas’ attention to the animal beneath him. The recent storms had made the turf soft in places. He needed to concentrate or his horse might stumble on the uncertain ground. Leaning forwards, Lucas let Blaze have his head. And as the wind pulled at his own hair, Lucas let it steal his troubles and misgivings with it.

  Angelique let out a gasp as the horse stretched out into a gallop.

  “I wonder what it is like to ride like that? He looks so at one with his horse. So graceful, so powerful.” Completely enthralled by the sight, she couldn’t keep her eyes off the man and his beast, riding like the wind in the distance.

  Mary straightened the cover on the bed and the drapes surrounding it, smoothing the wrinkles, and banishing the creases. She glanced out of the window, following her mistress’ rapt gaze.

  “I am sure I don’t know, my Lady. I have never ridden a horse and I am not likely to now. Horses are only good for one thing, if you ask me, and that’s pulling a carriage. Or a cart.” She added as an afterthought as her gaze drifted to a magnificent oil painting on the wall, the harvest scene depicting two robust horses pulling a cart full of happy children and bags of apples. She went back to smoothing the silk covering on the bed.

  Angelique gave a small sigh.

  “I think that I should like to ride a horse. Being so high from the ground must give one a good perspective on how far one might fall.”

  Mary stopped fussing with the bed and lifted her chin as she walked to the window and peered around her mistress’ shoulder.

  “And that young man looks as though he has already fallen a long way,” she said mysteriously, and nodded as if confirming her own words.

  Angelique frowned as she stared out of the window.

  “I am not sure what you mean, Mary. Lord Caruthers looks to have his mount under perfect control.” A huff made Angelique glance at her maid, who spoke quickly.

  “About the only thing he seems to have any control over at the moment. ‘
Tis a pity he didn’t have more control over his friend.” Mary snorted in indignation. “I never heard the like before. I am afraid to put a name to it, but after thinking about it more carefully, however kindly you are being treated, I am not sure that you haven’t been kidnapped right from beneath your brother’s nose.”

  The distant hoof beats came nearer. Angelique narrowed her eyes as Lucas Caruthers came clearly into view, glossy dark hair whipped back over his collar as he clattered over the cobbles and into the stable yard.

  “I wonder what they set my ransom at? Perhaps that is why Harold hasn’t bothered coming after me. He is simply waiting my return after he has paid the requested amount.”

  There was another huff from Mary.

  “I wouldn’t get your hopes up too quickly, my Lady. Harold was trying to get rid of you, if Lord Caruthers word is to be believed. I should think your brother is glad you are off his hands without further ado. I mean, with the situation as it is, he hasn’t even had to pay for a wedding. Not a gown, flowers, nor even a wedding breakfast.”

  Angelique paled at her maid’s words. The woman was right. No one wanted her. Not her brother, not Lord Trenchard, and certainly not the devastatingly captivating Lord Lucas Caruthers.

  Tears brimmed on her lashed, but she dashed them away. All her life she had been downtrodden, used, and mentally, if not bodily abused. First by her father and then by her brother. It was time she took some control over what happened to her, and sitting moping in this room wasn’t taking control. She was simply waiting for someone else to do something for her. To her.