He imagined seeing her drowsy smile when she awoke beside him, her laughter as they walked together in soft autumn rain, shared glances over dinner and the caress in her eyes after they had made love under a starlit sky.
Yet his dreams delighted and tormented him in equal measure because there were reasons why they could never become reality, and acknowledging this was more painful than a rapier thrust to his flesh.
Mellow and sweet, her voice reached him.
“Find her, Luc. I will be waiting here when you get back, but promise me one thing.”
He pulled her close again. “Anything in my power,” he said thickly.
Her reply was muffled in his coat. “Make sure you do come back.”
Luc groaned. The impassioned sound reverberated in his chest and he rested his chin against her hair, whispering in a husky voice, “Beelzebub and all his hellhounds couldn’t keep me away.”
As his mouth covered hers again, her arms stole around his neck and her head tipped back naturally. This time their kiss had a desperate edge. It was as if now the dam restraining their feelings had been breached, a riptide of need swept them along. Her lips parted and the tip of his tongue slid into her mouth in silken exploration. Luc plundered the warmth she offered up, consuming her with a hungry ardour that left him shaken. He knew he should go, but his blood still burned. Unwilling to let these precious moments end too abruptly, his mouth slid over her throat and along her jaw, finding the soft, sensitive hollow below her ear.
When she sighed with pleasure, it was almost his undoing. At last, with a supreme effort of will, he eased her from him. Her gaze locked with his in a moment of searing wonder before he turned and strode out.
Perry had still not broached the delicate matter concerning Olivia. Instead he had droned on about everything else: the weather, the fashions, the sights, his gaming successes and the people he had met.
Sophie turned to look out of the window of the hackney, her chin propped in her hand. Bored and only half-listening to his anecdotes, she grew increasingly irritated and wished he would get to the point.
To her surprise she saw they were not travelling along Oxford Street, but through a different area. The scenery passing outside the carriage window was unfamiliar. Sophie sat up, instantly alert. She did not know London well, but it was obvious even to her inexperienced eyes that they were not heading toward Mayfair. The crowds and the buildings were growing sparser and she didn’t recognise any of the passing landmarks.
“Where are we going?” she demanded, a frown tugging at her brow. “This is not the usual way.”
Perry, seated next to her, leaned against the swabs with his arms folded across his chest and legs stretched out, his body swaying with the movement of the coach. “No. I thought you might enjoy some refreshment at a little inn I know on the outskirts of town.”
She swung around to face him. “But you promised to talk to me about Olivia on the way back.”
“I did not. You assumed I meant discussing it in the carriage, but I merely said it was a good opportunity to discuss the matter privately, hence our detour.”
“What?” Wrath blazed in Sophie’s eyes. “Don’t quibble! You have deliberately misled me! How dare you?”
“Dear me,” he drawled. “Why you are behaving in this ridiculous fashion? As I recall, you chose to come and if you enact a scene when all I have in mind is conversation over tea and cake you will look stupid. You can return to Brook Street anytime you wish when you have heard what I have to say.” He glanced outside. “Ah look, we have almost reached our destination.”
His supercilious manner made Sophie want to slap him. Had she suspected he intended to travel out of London, she would never have agreed to come, whatever inducements he had offered. She felt a fool, but she could have staked her life that he had not been lying about Olivia, even if he had misled her about their destination.
But why? For what purpose?
This was no abduction. Their progress was too sedate and Perry’s mood too relaxed. Besides, they could not go much farther in the hackney.
As they trundled past a charming green surrounded by neat houses and tall elms and were set down outside a large old country hostelry, her brow furrowed. She began to wonder if, after all, he harboured nothing more sinister than a desire to speak to her in comfortable surroundings.
To her relief, the location was not an isolated one. The inn courtyard thronged with people and a variety of coaches, while the sign above them bore the name “The Angel”. Given the short time they had been travelling, they must indeed still be on the outskirts of the city. It seemed he was telling the truth about that at least.
She caught her lower lip between her teeth. She hated to admit it, but he was right. Making a scene now would be pointless because there was nothing she could accuse him of. Bringing her to take afternoon tea without asking first was a typically arrogant action, but it was not an iniquitous one.
She must stay calm and pretend to humour him. Only then could she hope to see what he was about. And, if he did harbour any notion of carrying her off against her will, she would create a scene worthy of attention and beg one of the other travellers to take her home. There wasn’t enough money in her reticule to pay for a return journey. Relieved to have formed a plan of sorts, she glanced at Perry as he strolled inside to seek out the landlord. Although she was not afraid, she felt vulnerable. Notwithstanding Perry’s deceit and the fact he had exploited her affection for Olivia, she had fallen into another scrape, one which at the very least it might be awkward to extricate herself from.
This bitter reflection, and the bustling inn so reminiscent of another on the Bath Road, sent a familiar longing spiralling through her. Recollections filled her mind...Theo’s dark, smiling eyes, his laugh, the way he had held her...
She missed him so much the yearning was like a physical pain and she wondered again where he was and what he was doing. The hours she had spent with him had been the happiest of her life and she wished she could tell him so, just once. But it was not to be. This time he was not going to rescue her from the consequences of her folly.
Perry ushered her into a private parlour where a maid was laying out refreshments. While the girl put out plates and cutlery in the pleasant, sun-lit room which overlooked the courtyard of the inn, Sophie removed her bonnet. Putting it on a side table, she sat down in one of the spindle back chairs and, keeping a wary eye on Perry’s movements, tried to ready herself for whatever was to come.
“This is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon,” began her companion, sitting down.
“Is it too much to ask that you get to the point, Perry?” she said. “You have gone to a deal of trouble to bring me here and I can’t see why. What is this place?”
“The Angel at Islington Green.”
She looked up quickly. “Islington! That is to the north of London, isn’t it?”
“About a mile from Hicks Hall, at the start of the Great North Road.”
She paused, her gaze fixed on his face. “And should I see any significance in that?”
Perry did not answer at once. He waited for the servant to scurry out and to Sophie’s consternation, got up to lock the door and slipped the key into his pocket. Then, ranging himself once again in the chair opposite Sophie, he made a steeple from his fingers and tapped them against his lips in a thoughtful fashion. “There might be. You see, you have upset my plans and it will not do.”
“I’m not going to apologise for leaving Ludstone,” said Sophie, trying to calm her jangling nerves, which had increased with his turning the key in the lock. “It was the best thing I have ever done.”
He shook his head slowly. “It was a mistake. You should have married me as planned, and then all this would not be necessary.”
“What do you mean ’all this?’”
“I want the Devereux Star.”
“For once in your life, you will have to accept that wanting something and getting it are two different things,” sh
e said.
“Not for me.”
“Don’t be childish, Perry,” she retorted.
His eyes narrowed. “You’ve never appreciated me, have you? Never given me the respect I deserved. How I am going to enjoy surprising you! Your sudden departure forced me to reassess matters. Annoying, but all was not lost. I set off in pursuit and once I had caught up with you, I waited until nightfall to slip into your room at The Pelican—”
Sophie gave a start of surprise. “You!”
“Yes,” he said, a mocking light in his eye. “When I discovered you had the Star, I was pleased. You had presented me with an unexpected opportunity. If I could steal it, no one need ever know I was responsible. I waited until you were asleep and began to search. Inconveniently, you woke up before I could find it and stabbed me.” His smirk twisted into an ugly look as he spat out, “Upon my word, you will regret that!”
Watching him, Sophie had the curious sensation the earth was shifting beneath her feet. A short time ago, she had berated herself for being a fool. Now she wondered if she was going mad. She replayed Perry’s words over in her mind.
No, she had not imagined it. He had just confessed to trying to steal the Star from her room. His expression had undergone a transformation too. He was looking at her in a peculiar way. There was a pitiless, implacable set to his features and a smile unlike anything she had seen before curled his thin lips.
His words and the way he was staring made her feel sick. Her mouth was dry with fear. She tried to think rationally, but something in his manner, in that light in his eyes and that slow, singularly unpleasant smile, repulsed her and sent a chill down her spine.
The scene was certainly bizarre. Steam rose from the tea cups on the table and a clock ticked merrily away on the mantelpiece. From the kitchen in the depths of the inn, she could smell bread being baked. Indistinct voices and occasional bursts of laughter drifted in from the taproom and the noise and bustle continued unabated outside. Meanwhile, her cousin sat opposite, his habitual indolence gone, his expression frightening. His dark eyes were fixed on her like a bird of prey ready to swoop. She could find nothing amusing in his appearance now. He looked monstrous, and the whole thing felt like a nightmare she would wake up from at any moment. She ran her fingertips over the polished wood of the chair, only to find it and the rest of her surroundings were distressingly real.
“...it suited me to let you to continue on to London,” she heard him saying. ”The Star was not in the reticule that some of my friends took from you in Savernake, nor was it in your room at The Bell and Anchor when they searched it.”
“Your friends?” she echoed blankly.
“Charming fellows. Not much intelligence—they made pathetic highwaymen—but they would sell their grandmother for a farthing.” Perry thrust his head forward, his eyes snapping with anger. “By the time we reached London, you were annoying me a great deal. Not only had you bolted when I did not expect it, but you managed to acquire a champion along the way. Cavanagh was always at your side, curse him! Lucius Grey, too.” He frowned heavily. ‘Something strange about that fellow. Always appearing when you least want him to. Thought I could get some money out of him when we first met, but turns out he’s no fool. I should have been more wary of him from the outset.” His eyes locked onto her again. “With Cavanagh ever present and any chance of stealing the Star gone, I had to revert to the original plan. You thought it was my mother’s idea for us to marry, didn’t you?” He gave a mirthless titter. “You were wrong. It was mine. Once I had planted the notion in her head, she was all encouragement for it, as I knew she would be.”
“So that’s what is behind this,” she murmured, staring. “You must be mad. But you are wealthy enough…why bother to go to such lengths?”
Without warning, his fist slammed down on to the arm of his chair. “Because I covet it! Covet it, do you hear me?” he thundered.
She flinched, but said with deliberate calm, “I do, but your mother would be shocked if she were here to witness your behaviour.”
Another ripple of laughter escaped him. “Undoubtedly, but she is the most doting parent. I believe she would excuse me if I was the blackest villain in England. Although she would not approve of my methods, she is eager to bring the Star into the family and will comply with whatever I say and do. I have always been able to twist her round my finger. She encourages my greed yet even she does not appreciate the half of it, or what I am capable of. No one does.” His hooded gaze swept over her, his voice remaining hypnotically low and even. “You used the right word a moment ago. There is a selfish madness in me which means I will do whatever is necessary to get what I want. I always get what I want, but you had to make matters complicated. When I thought you might be about to marry Verney, I had to act—”
“No—” she began, until she realized he wasn’t listening.
“You had to be carrying the Star on you somewhere and I racked my brains to think where it could be. By then I knew it was not in the necklace. I called in Brook Street as often as I could, but only after you had agreed to accompany me to the museum did the answer suddenly occur to me—the Star was concealed in that ugly thing.” Pointing to the hat pin where it lay on the table beside her bonnet, he added, “You wore it all the time on the journey and in London and yet I had never seen you with it at Ludstone. A prodigious clever disguise, I admit, but then I had been uncharacteristically stupid. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize—”
Sophie reached for the pin, but he was too quick for her. Fast as lightning, his fingers closed around it before she could snatch it up.
He studied the gem, twisting it until it caught the light and glowed with inward fire. “Beautiful,” he murmured, almost purring with pleasure. “I shall never tire of it.”
“Take it if it means so much to you,” she said, unnerved by his increasingly capricious manner. “I make you a gift of it. It’s not entailed so there’s no need to marry me to get it.”
He frowned at her over the pin. “That won’t do. I can’t guarantee you won’t want it back.”
“I promise you I won’t.”
“I’m not prepared to accept your assurance. Besides, the way things have worked out, it is better done properly. There is also the legend to consider. You wouldn’t want to see me dead because I’m not the rightful owner of this, would you?”
She threw him a scornful look. “You don’t believe that nonsense! You didn’t regard it when you were trying to steal the Star from under my nose. Take it! I won’t tell else anyone what has passed between us today.”
He shook his head. “Too late. Can’t trust you to keep your mouth shut. Marriage is the only solution. Better it is done, and done quickly. My mother will not object as to the manner of it. You may do as you please afterward. Take Verney as your lover if you wish. I’ll place few constraints upon you as long you are discreet. And obedient. I insist upon that. You will give me what I want, whenever and however I demand it.”
An involuntary shudder ran though Sophie. It was difficult to reconcile this ruthless, hard-eyed stranger with the foppish cousin she had lived alongside for three years. His next words dashed any remaining hopes she might have had that his plans did not extend past Islington.
“We’ll set off for Gretna at once,” he said.
“B-But your carriage is not here,” she stammered.
“It’s in the stables. My team is being hitched up now.
Sophie’s heart sank. “But we can’t go to Gretna in a curricle!”
“We shall go as far as Barnet and then hire a post chaise at the Green Man.”
There was silence until she declared, “You’ve planned it all, haven’t you?”
“Naturally. Once I knew where the Star was, the only difficulty was how to get you away from Brook Street and you were obliging enough to join me in the hackney today without too much questioning. My powers of persuasion are impressive, aren’t they?”
Sophie exhaled on a hiss of fury. “Don�
��t you mean lies? You spoke of a matter concerning Olivia and I was stupid enough to be taken in! Oh, you were clever! You played on the very thing you knew would convince me to accompany you: my affection for Olivia.”
“I did not lie. Tell me, do you still refuse to go to the border?”
“Nothing—nothing—could induce me to leave here in your company!” she said in low, throbbing accents.
“Really?” he observed, his gaze steady on her face. “We must put that to the test. You need to understand my friends from Savernake have helped me before. In fact they work for me.
Sophie frowned. “Oh? Doing what?”
“Assisting in various robberies.”
An incredulous laugh escaped her. “You, a common thief and housebreaker? I don’t believe it. It is one thing to try to steal the Star from me, quite another to extend the practice elsewhere.”
“Don’t refer to me as common,” he said, eyeing her unpleasantly. “I find the word offensive.”
“So you don’t object to being called a thief then?”
“No, it is an ugly description and insufficient to convey my talent, but that is what I am…in another life.” He stood up and brushed a speck of dust from his sleeve. “I prefer the adjective ‘daring’ or even ’reckless’, but never common.”
“You speak in riddles! Are you a thief or are you not?
He executed a bow. “A famous one. Or perhaps that should be infamous.”
“Indeed?” she observed, drily. “Next you will tell me you are actually a highwayman, or perhaps even the Bath Fox.”
“How intuitive of you. The latter is correct.”
Sophie stared. It was a full minute before she could command her voice sufficiently to answer with some composure.
“Y-You are joking, of course,” she stammered.
Three Secrets and a Scandal (Regency Secrets and Scandals Book 2) Page 20