Lady Unveiled - The Cuckold's Conspiracy (Daughters of Sin Book 5)

by Beverley Oakley

  She was out of the door before Lissa could say another word, running as fast as her slippers could carry her over the wet cobbles. But her heart was singing at the same time as it was skittering inside her chest.

  Lord Debenham couldn’t best her. She’d held him off as much as she dared, but tonight she was going to show them all that Kitty La Bijou wasn’t London’s most self-centered darling. She wasn’t doing this because it would see her achieve her heart’s desire, or to rise up in the world. She was doing it because the chance had fallen into her lap to do something that would redress the balance. Lissa had worn her fingers to the bone—and for what? Yet she still looked down at Kitty for forging a life that included freedom and, for a short while, love.

  “Dorcas, you’ve got to help me!” She was out of breath as she let herself into her townhouse, and for the first time, didn’t linger with a longing look at all the comfort she would soon lose together with her position of safety as Silverton’s mistress.

  “I need a sleeping draft. Something strong and fast-acting. What do you know about such things? Where to find them, I mean.”

  “Lordy, miss, wot are ye on ‘bout now? If ye’re feelin’ poorly yer should go straight ter bed. I’ll fetch yer sumfink.”

  “No! It’s not for me. It’s for Lord Debenham. He’s waiting for me at his townhouse, and I’m going to use this opportunity to get the pewter box your friend Sal told you about.”

  Dorcas looked as if she were about to fall over. She sat down on the nearest chair and fanned her face with her apron, shaking her head. “No, miss, I won’t let yer go. It’s too dangerous. The risk is too great.”

  “The risk is great, but it’s worth it if I succeed. I’ve told Lissa and she’ll tell Ralph, and now you know so it’s not like I’m rushing into some hare-brained scheme. If I can slip a little powder into Lord Debenham’s wine—for he knows I’ll expect to be properly entertained—then I’ll be in no danger at all.”

  Though she said it brightly, Kitty nevertheless felt a pang of pure terror. But then the excitement that churned in her stomach was bigger than that. For the first time in her life, she was going to be the one to make the rest of her family proud of her.

  She put her hands on her hips and faced her maid squarely. “Dorcas, I shouldn’t have to say that I do not need your permission. Now, quickly, do I look the part? I don’t need to change my gown for I look well enough for what I’m about to do?”

  “Wot is that, miss? Murder Lord Debenham or be seduced or murdered by ’im?”

  Frustrated now, Kitty brushed past her, rummaging in her wardrobe for her most commodious reticule.

  “Ye’re really goin’ inter the dragon’s lair, miss?” Dorcas sounded on the verge of tears.

  “I’m going to visit Mrs. Mobbs along the way. I’ll ask her for a sleeping draft without revealing the nature of my mission. She’s used to my visits.” She did not need to put into words the fact that Kitty got her regular supplies of Queen Anne’s Lace seeds to prevent conception.

  Araminta ran her palm the length of Teddy’s naked thigh and sighed. “If only it could be like this every night, Teddy dearest,” she murmured. She truly didn’t think she’d ever been happier.

  The clandestine nature of their assignation had infused everything with an excitement that made up for what might have been lacking in Teddy’s performance. Of course, he wasn’t used to women, and he’d been so eager and adored her so very much so it was only natural that things might have seemed a little…rushed.

  She glanced across to see him staring at the ceiling, a look of wonder on his face as he turned and met her eyes. “You are…exquisite!” he breathed. The most exquisite woman I’ve encountered in my entire life.”

  He rolled onto his side and held her to him and Araminta closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his chest, lightly dusted with fair hair, damp from their exertion and so dependable. Not like Debenham’s arrack-infused torso, coarsely coated with black hair, that was not dependable at all. Excitement was all very well, and her heart was still running a little fast at the risks she was taking, for there was no telling what Debenham would do if he discovered she was being unfaithful.

  There was no telling what he’d do if he discovered he’d been cuckolded so, she reasoned, this was far less serious a crime, and since she was clearly already pregnant again, it was almost no crime at all.

  “Oh Teddy, I wish we could be together like this all the time,” she said in a burst of feeling. Yes, danger and excitement were all very well, but her life was so dreadfully chaotic and uncertain, and Debenham could fly into a temper and do something dreadful if he learned of her misdemeanors.

  “I wish to God my timing had been different, and I’d never left you a year ago. Then you’d be married to me,” he muttered, holding her as if she were the most precious creature he wanted to protect forever. That’s what she wanted. To be loved and nurtured, indulged and protected. Just when she hoped he might suggest they run away together to a far-distant land, where he had an endless supply of money and a handsome residence waiting for them, and where she could start afresh with no blemished reputation, he said, “Alas, we dare only risk such pleasures when your husband is away.”

  Araminta had told Teddy that Debenham was up north shooting. She knew her darling would have refused to be alone with her if he’d known Debenham was in London, but time was running out. Araminta badly needed to secure Teddy’s affections at the earliest juncture. There’d only be a few weeks—six, at best—before her pregnancy started to show and Teddy would be repulsed and refuse to make love to her, since he seemed a stickler for propriety, even when it came to matters of the flesh.

  “But don’t you want us to be together always?” she prompted.

  “Of course, I do. But I don’t know how we can possibly do that.”

  “We could if Debenham died.”

  She felt him go rigid, and to ameliorate the shock, laughed and said, “Well, it’s true. Debenham is perfectly vile to me, and I don’t love him at all. He’s quite likely to drink himself into an early death, or have someone come after him since I know he blackmails people so one of them is bound to take revenge. No need to look so shocked.”

  Teddy raised himself onto one elbow and stared into her eyes. “You seriously wouldn’t grieve if your husband…were no longer around?”

  Araminta shrugged. “I’ve been called heartless, but I don’t believe in pretending something I don’t. I’m not pretending when I say I adore you, Teddy. Why should I have to pretend I’d mourn my husband since he tricked me into marriage and is cruel to me?” She stroked his neck. “I only feel safe with you, Teddy darling.”

  “My dearest, you seriously mean that? That you adore me and want to be with me forever?”

  “Of course, I do!”

  “And you’d be prepared to suffer privation and scandal?”

  “Well, I wouldn’t have to if I were widowed.”

  “But if Debenham were found guilty of gross wrongdoing, then you’d be placed in an intolerable position. His estate would be forfeited and he’d go to prison, or worse, and you’d be neither wife nor widow.”

  “Well, that’s not going to happen,” Araminta said lightly. “But if I were widowed…” She let the idea take root in Teddy’s mind. Really, the way Debenham carried on she couldn’t see him outlasting her. As for the alternative, she certainly wasn’t prepared to suffer privation and scandal, which meant she certainly wasn’t going to let Debenham stupidly walk himself into danger.

  “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, darling—”

  There was such an ominous edge to his tone, Araminta’s happy contemplation of Debenham’s demise was replaced by sudden, all-enveloping dread.

  “What is it, Teddy?” She rolled onto her stomach and flung a leg over him, as if to cement him there and force out the truth for he suddenly looked evasive.

  “I really shouldn’t say it, dearest.” He held her more tightly to him. “I will look after you. Wha
tever happens.”

  “Look after me! That’s what I want. I want to be your wife! You asked me a year ago but…but then you raced off on your foolish quest to help someone else you hadn’t seen in years, and look what happened to me. And now I’ve made the greatest sacrifice a woman could make. Look at me! Look what I’ve risked to be with you.”

  “Hush! Everything will be all right; I promise you,” he soothed. “We’ll find a way out of whatever trouble might arise.”

  “You haven’t had reason to suspect that Debenham knows about us?”

  “Dear Lord, I’d be quaking in my boots if I thought he suspected anything. But with Ralph keeping such an eye on him, I feel safe in reassuring you on that score.”

  Araminta started to breathe easy again.

  “And Silverton has the matter in hand. Now there’s a chap I trust. He and Tunley are well on the way to making up a case that’ll get Debenham out of our hair, eh. Spencean, blackmailer. You said it yourself. Thought you’d be happy to be reassured, though I shouldn’t have come out with it like that. Ralph wouldn’t be at all pleased, but you mustn’t fear the future, my angel. Like I said, I’ll look after you. We’ll go abroad, perhaps. Find a little place—”

  “What are you talking about?” Araminta sat up and shook back her glossy dark hair as she stared at him. “Debenham isn’t about to be…?” She couldn’t say the words. All her worst nightmares were closing in on her. She thought of her reduced dress allowance. Debenham could be generous. Even if he was floating in the River Tick he always managed to find a way. If it came from some of the demands he made for secrets, that only served the victim right for having secrets in the first place.

  Teddy, looking concerned now, sat up also and tried to comfort her. “You won’t say anything to him, will you?”

  “About what, Teddy?” She tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

  “They are organizing a search warrant to search his townhouse tomorrow night, but you must promise you won’t say a word. I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but I heard Ralph and Silverton talking when they thought I wasn’t attending. Anyway, they know how I feel about you and that whatever happened to Debenham you’d be in safe hands. With me, that is.” He seemed oblivious to the turmoil in her breast as he smiled and tenderly stroked her brow. “Debenham’s heir will be provided for. Everything will be for the better. You’ve married a bad chap, but that’s not your fault. It’s a good thing I’m around, dear heart. Truth is, I’d never have gotten this far—he gave a short laugh as he indicated their nakedness with a nod” —had I not known what was in the offing. Now, I daresay we should talk practicalities.”

  “Practicalities? What do you mean?” Araminta felt ill. Debenham was going to be apprehended? Dear God, she needed to warn him—fast! She was not going to be left stranded, pregnant, and without the financial support of a husband who was at least duty bound to provide for her. Teddy was a love, but he’d already proved unreliable. If he’d only succumbed to her charms and taken ownership of that wretched baby a year ago, they’d have been blissfully joined as husband and wife.

  But that hadn’t happened. Araminta had had to make a bold and daring plan to get her life on track, and now it looked like—thanks to the information Teddy had just provided her—she was going to have to do it again.

  “How, exactly, is this going to happen?”

  He looked evasive. “I really shouldn’t tell you, my darling. It’s a very important investigation, and I only mentioned it to forewarn you so that you were prepared. Having ascertained the ill-will you bear your husband for his appalling treatment of you, and the fact that you are so distressed that he has been operating outside the law, I’d hoped to reassure you that whatever happens, you can rely on me to look after you.”

  “So, you say this is going to take place tomorrow? Is there no more warning than that?”

  “No, I heard that…well, I really shouldn’t say, but because a certain young lady had ascertained the whereabouts of a great deal of incriminating documents and other material, and had announced plans of laying her hands on them, my brother had felt compelled to act at the earliest, even though the investigation has been ongoing for some time.”

  “A certain young lady? Dear God. Connected with my husband?”

  “Dearest, these are things I’d meant to keep from you so as to save you distress. You already know the kind of man your husband is. It serves no purpose to paint him even blacker. Where are you going? I thought you were staying?”

  Araminta gathered her shawl about her and tried to hide her urgency as she smiled at him. “I know I said I should stay, Teddy, but the bliss I’ve just experienced has made me feel anxious about poor William, who is cutting a tooth and needs his mama. You know how I dote on him.”

  “Really?”

  “I think one can’t help a mother’s instinct. I hardly see Hetty these days; she’s forever with her baby.” She knew she was prattling, but it helped to discuss inane and unimportant matters when her fingers were shaking so badly, and time was of the essence. “Please help me with my fastenings? Thank you, darling.” She stroked his cheek before seizing her pelisse and rapidly doing up the buttons in the front. “And now for my hair. Untangle it for me, please, and I’ll fashion it into a semblance of order which will be perfectly acceptable beneath my bonnet. There…how do I look?”

  “Like a goddess. Some women would take hours to look as you’ve managed before I have time to…click my fingers.”

  Araminta thought this a very pretty compliment and bent to kiss Teddy, feeling much more charitable toward him than she had when he’d said such dreadful things about privation and no dress allowance and losing her reputation. None of those things were going to happen to her, and furthermore, she was going to get her man. Yes, she was going to enjoy a blissful and worry-free union with Teddy, who would love and indulge her, but she was not going to do it wearing last season’s castoffs as the wife of a traitor and living in penury.

  She snaked her arm around the back of his neck and rubbed her body against his, pleased at the instant response she received. Teddy was like soft clay in her hands, and that’s what she needed him to be if she were to find the happiness she deserved.

  “Who is this young lady? Please tell me, Teddy, for you know how I hate being the last to know, and of course, by tomorrow it’ll be all over and…and I will be yours forever.”

  He pursed his lips. “I suppose it’s all right to tell you since you are sisters…”

  “Hetty?” She jerked forward as fury bubbled up inside. “Why, she pretended her argument with Debenham was in the past. I know she hates him, but she pretended so well during my birthday.” Her brain raced. “No, it can’t be Hetty. Surely Sir Aubrey is behind it!”

  “No, neither. Please, darling!” Concerned, Teddy tried to cool her anger by holding her to his chest, but Araminta would not be comforted. The knowledge that someone who would do Debenham harm, that might in turn damage Araminta, was beyond bearable.

  “Dear Lord, Lissa? Lissa is the traitor? That mousey, mealy-mouthed—”

  “No! Not Lissa—”

  Perplexed, Araminta stared. “Then who? I have no other sisters.”

  “My dear, did you not know?” Teddy pushed back her dark hair and regarded her with a look of concern and uncertainty. “Ralph mentioned it once. I was sure you knew…”

  Chapter 25

  “My dear, has anyone told you how exquisitely diamonds and rubies become you?” Kitty fingered the necklace Debenham was admiring, and which she was going to have to sell before long if she were to pay her rent and purred, “Many.”

  “I believe it sets off your fine coloring better even than it did my wife’s.”

  “Yes, Lord Nash told me it had once belonged to Lady Debenham,” said Kitty. “In fact, had it not been for this very necklace I may have married Lord Nash.”

  In response to his enquiring look, she added, “I learned he’d acquired his so-called wedding gift to me fr
om a brothel he regularly frequented. How he came to discover it there, I do not know. There’s no telling what items of value one will surrender if the bargain is good enough.”

  “Everything has its price, eh, Miss Bijou?” Debenham patted the sofa onto which he’d just lowered himself. “And what is yours?”

  Kitty raised her eyebrows. “Surely such important negotiations are conducted over the finest champagne?”

  “Of course.” Debenham leaned forward and pulled on the bell rope, his summons answered by a young footman to whom he dispensed the requisite orders. Once the door had closed behind the lackey he moved his hand to Kitty’s, trailing it up her arm to fondle her neck.

  “You have very soft skin, Kitty La Bijou. And quite a reputation. In fact, you are beyond rubies, I’m told.”

  “And who tells you that?” Kitty was feeling distinctly uncomfortable at the close proximity, and the sudden fear that her plan may not yield the results for which she was hoping. The footman had returned and uncorked the bottle before discreetly withdrawing. Kitty glanced over her shoulder to see the light, fizzing liquid in the glasses, and her chest constricted as she wondered how she could dispense the contents of the vial of powder she’d obtained from Mrs. Mobbs. A distraction, of course; she was an actress. She could do that.

  A shout of anger from his Lordship was not what she’d been expecting. She startled as he rose and snatched up the bottle.

  “This is not what I would have for such an occasion!” For a moment Kitty thought he was angry with her.

  “I wouldn’t foist this on my worst enemy. My pardons, Miss Bijou. I shall procure something more suitable.” In a moment, he was out of the door and Kitty was suddenly alone in his private sitting room. Just through those double doors was his bedchamber. The bedchamber Dorcas had described where he kept the box. Lord, was this the God-given opportunity for which she’d dreamed? And without her having to suffer any more of his caresses?