Of Dukes and Deceptions

by Wendy Soliman

She attempted to wriggle out of his grasp but Nick wasn’t ready to let her go. He continued to hold her, stroking the contours of her back until the rigidity left her spine and she relaxed against him. The afterglow of their activities was reflected on her features, lending them a translucent hue. It made Nick want to throw her onto that damned pile of hay and ravish her all over again. When she gave herself to him she was the most wanton, uninhibited creature on God’s earth.

  But all situations had a downside, and Alicia already appeared to be troubled by her conscience. Damn it, he wished he had enough time left at this place to set her straight. He ignored the voice in his head that berated him for his ungentlemanly conduct and focused on the fact that he’d barely scratched the surface of her remarkable passion. If he could turn back time and leave her unmolested he’d do it in a heartbeat, but matters between them had moved too far for that to be possible. That they must waste the afternoon out of one another’s embrace was a ridiculous travesty, but he couldn’t think of any way round that conundrum. He bent his head and savagely captured her lips one last time.

  “You have hay in your hair, sweetheart.” He broke the kiss and extracted the offending strands from between her thick tresses.

  “That’s nothing out of the ordinary for me.”

  “There, you look quite respectable now.” He retied her hair ribbon. “Providing no one looks too closely at your flushed face, that is.” He smiled at her. “Now, are you ready?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ll be engaged with your uncle for the entire afternoon. Oblige me by staying in your chamber with Janet in attendance until it’s time to dress for dinner.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Don’t try my patience, Alicia,” he said, sighing. “This isn’t a game. Besides, you look worn out. Use the afternoon to get some rest.”

  “But—”

  “I’m serious. If you won’t do as I ask for your own sake, then do it for my peace of mind.”

  “What is your peace of mind to do with it, sir?”

  What indeed? He kissed her again instead of trying to explain a situation he didn’t understand himself.

  “I’ll see you at dinner and, vitally, after that.” He gently stroked the curve of her face. “Besides,” he said, taking her hand. “If you intend to please me when I come to you tonight, then you must first recover your strength.”

  She glared at him, just as he’d known she would, but Nick could detect little real anger in support of her expression. “You really are the most arrogant, self-important, ungentlemanly—”

  “Come.”

  He was chuckling as he opened the door and called softly to Gibson. He materialised out of nowhere and doffed his cap.

  “Escort Miss Woodley back to the house, Gibson. I’ll follow in a moment.”

  Gibson’s glance lingered on Alicia’s glowing features but Nick’s warning scowl prevented him from voicing his thoughts. Instead he bowed to Alicia, grinned over his shoulder at Nick, and the two of them made their way toward the house.

  Several remarks were made during the course of luncheon about Alicia’s overbright eyes. She dismissed her relations’ concerns, blaming her heightened complexion on a disturbed night’s repose. She sounded quite convincing and her uncle appeared to accept her explanation, rejoicing in the fact that she was recovering so quickly. Only Frederick, usually obtuse and disinterested in anything but his own comforts, looked piercingly at Alicia. But that didn’t unduly concern Nick. The man was too mutton-headed to put two and two together and come up with anything more convincing than seventeen.

  The afternoon seemed both interminable and excessively boring. His time could have been so much more usefully deployed, and Nick resented having to occupy it with the stud’s records. He tried to concentrate but his mind kept returning to Alicia. Belatedly he recalled her comment about him collecting his bride and wondered what it could have meant. He mentioned it to Gibson whilst he was dressing for dinner.

  “How would I know?” Gibson said, a little too glibly.

  Nick’s suspicions were aroused. “What did the two of you talk about this morning?”

  “Nothing much, just the usual. She asked about Dorchester Park and I told her what I always tell ’em.”

  Nick narrowed his eyes at his servant. “This time I really am inclined to dismiss you for insubordination, Gibson.”

  “If you say so, guv’nor.” He brushed nonexistent specks of dust from Nick’s shoulders. “Right-ho, you’ll do.”

  When he entered the drawing room, the whole family was already there. His eyes instinctively sought out the lady who’d occupied his mind for the entire afternoon. She was seated serenely a little apart from the others and wore a lemon muslin gown he’d not seen on her before. It wasn’t the latest word in fashion but her dark colouring tempered its paleness. It was stark in its simplicity, but her height and elegance of posture prevented it from looking too severely plain. Not that he much cared what she wore. His mind was more agreeably occupied with thoughts of removing the garments she chose to hide her body beneath in a few interminable hours’ time. Or better yet, perhaps she’d make a provocative display of removing them herself. The dressing was absent from her temple for the first time since the attack. A dark purple bruise and smaller graze were partially concealed by her hair.

  She smiled at him as he approached and enquired after her health. Her complexion glowed in a manner indicative of their earlier occupation, and her lips were still slightly swollen from his searing kisses. He stored up these grievances as additional reasons to torment her with fiendish punishments later.

  “I hope you’ve not been overexerting yourself, Miss Woodley,” he said smoothly. “Concussion is a strange bedfellow. It’s impossible to know how long it will take one to fully recover one’s senses.”

  “On the contrary, Your Grace, I’ve been doing as I’ve been told this entire afternoon. I slept soundly for several hours and my only bedfellow was Jasper, who doesn’t seem the slightest bit strange to me. I’m quite recovered now.”

  “I am gratified to hear you say so. One never knows when one might be called upon to utilise one’s reserves of strength.”

  “Your Grace?”

  Woodley coughed, looking bewildered by this exchange, as well he might.

  Nick turned to him, grateful for the interruption. He’d got carried away, playing a dangerous word game with Alicia. He was conscious of Frederick Woodley’s gaze boring aggressively into the back of his skull.

  “We’re devastated to learn that you must leave us so soon,” Mrs. Woodley said. “Goodness, it feels as though you’ve only just arrived.”

  Nick formulated a polite reply, expecting at any moment for Maria Woodley to chime in with some pointed comment. To his surprise and considerable satisfaction she remained silent. She didn’t even look in his direction. At last she appeared to have admitted defeat, even if she was sullen and uncommunicative as a result. Nick didn’t care two figs about her truculent behaviour. Without the need to fend off her juvenile advances, he’d be able to enjoy his last night at Ravenswing Manor, and being in the same room as Alicia, without unnecessary distractions.

  The dinner was as splendid as always and Nick ate heartily. He was amused to observe that Alicia did likewise. Clearly their activities had given them both good appetites. In an anticipatory frame of mind, Nick condescended to keep the conversation flowing, barely noticing that Maria Woodley was still unusually quiet.

  As soon as the ladies left the table, Woodley turned the conversation in the direction of the stud business, trying to gauge Nick’s intentions. He listened with half an ear to Woodley’s rather desperate ramblings but his mind dwelt upon the infinitely more enticing prospect of his time to come with Alicia. Frederick said little but drank a great deal of port. Muttering something beneath his breath at one point, he stood up and asked his father to excuse him.

  “Must have a private word with Alicia,” he said, glaring openly at Nick as though h
e expected him to object. Nick merely offered him a lazy half-smile and lounged back in his chair, savouring his port. “She’s overdone it again today, unless I mistake the matter. Never seen her look so peaky before. There’s something about her eyes.” He frowned. “Some sort of look I’ve never seen in them before that bothers me. Shouldn’t surprise me if she’s contracted a fever.”

  Nick hid a complacent smile behind his hand and said nothing.

  “Yes, son, you go ahead.” Woodley waved Frederick away. “Make sure dear Alicia wants for nothing. We’ll be directly behind you.”

  But Woodley deliberately stretched out the discussion of the stud’s affairs to the point where Nick wanted to scream with boredom. Eventually he took matters into his own hands and rose to his feet whilst Woodley was still in mid-flow.

  “Shall we rejoin the ladies?”

  Not waiting for an answer, he headed for the door. Woodley had no choice but to follow. In the drawing room they found only Mrs. Woodley and her two daughters. Of Frederick and Alicia there was no sign. Nick cursed beneath his breath, unable to rid himself of the feeling that he’d somehow been outwitted by the young cub.

  “Shall we have some music, girls?” Woodley asked brightly.

  “If you wish, Papa.” Elsbeth immediately put aside her sewing and stood up.

  “I’m too fatigued to play.” Maria pouted and remained in her seat.

  Nick was once again taken aback by her behaviour. She had never, so far into Nick’s visit, missed an opportunity to show off. But that didn’t bother him so much as Alicia’s prolonged absence. No one else remarked upon it, and it was only during the course of conversation that Mrs. Woodley let slip her niece had retired to the library in order to write a letter. But that still didn’t explain where Frederick Woodley had got to.

  A further intolerable half-hour elapsed before Maria yawned and asked her mother to excuse her. Nick was delighted to be rid of her but felt like telling her that if she harboured serious ambitions to snare a rich husband, she really ought to pay more attention to her manners.

  A footman approached Nick shortly thereafter and informed him in an undertone that Miss Alicia was desirous of an interview with him in the library. He stood up with more alacrity than he should have displayed. Desirous was precisely the word that sprang to his own mind in respect of that particular lady. Thoughts of their forthcoming tryst had been slowly driving him out of his mind. He’d found himself constantly glancing at the clock, wondering if the hands were actually moving backward, since the time seemed to be passing so slowly. He assumed that impatience on Alicia’s part must have deprived her of her habitual common sense. Why else would she risk sending for him and drawing attention to their growing intimacy? But he was too anxious to see her to care how it looked, so he excused himself from Mrs. Woodley and left the room.

  “Alicia,” Nick said, closing the library door behind him with a gentle clunk, “are you here? I thought that damned evening would never end.”

  “So did I.”

  But it wasn’t Alicia’s voice that answered him. Instead, Maria Woodley emerged from behind a bookcase and blocked Nick’s path to the door.

  “Miss Woodley.” Nick spoke casually but beneath his urbane exterior he was cursing his stupidity. He knew how determined Maria was and, having observed the alteration in her behaviour that evening, should have anticipated that his impending departure had made her desperate. “What are you doing in here?”

  “Waiting for you, Your Grace.”

  “I hardly think this an appropriate—”

  “It’s perfectly all right. I understand your difficulty precisely. You can’t openly display your regard for me in front of my family and must be terribly frustrated because no opportunity has arisen for us to be alone.” She smiled sweetly and lifted her shoulders in the careless gesture of a spoiled child accustomed to having her own way. “And so I created one.”

  “What the devil are you talking about?”

  “I’ve seen it in your eyes when you look at me. You hold me in high esteem but it took me some time to realise that you can’t reveal your preference for me for fear of oversetting my sister. And so you pretended a regard for Alicia in order to fool everyone and increase Frederick’s love for her. How clever of you!” Her trilling laughter sounded almost manic as it bounced off the book-lined walls. “Alicia is very plain, that’s not to say a tad eccentric. All those smelly animals.” She shuddered. “But she has a kind heart and great good nature. I dare say she and Frederick will do very well together.”

  “Miss Woodley, a word to the wise.” Nick had overcome his initial astonishment and strove to take control of the situation. “You have entirely misread the situation.”

  “Come, sir, there’s no necessity to be coy.” She reached up to touch his lapel. “I took great pains to avoid talking to you this evening in order to put everyone off the scent. Was that not very clever of me? And I also went to a deal of trouble to contrive this private meeting so that we might discuss our feelings for one another without interruption.”

  Nick had little difficulty in believing that the chit was deranged and less difficulty still in accepting that she’d be a dangerous adversary if she didn’t get her way. He’d royally underestimated her cunning. She’d clearly noticed his partiality for Alicia and had been tipped over the edge with jealousy. If she’d been covertly watching his activities, she would also know that he’d spent a great deal more time with her cousin than was generally known about. She couldn’t be aware of their sojourn in Alicia’s chamber last night. Gibson would have intercepted her if she’d ventured into that part of the house. But it all likelihood she knew how much time he’d spent with her in the barn today.

  Damn, he should have seen through the footman’s message and known Alicia would never have sent it. What the devil had he been thinking? Nick rapidly reviewed his options. The situation required tact and discretion but he didn’t have the time for either. Anyone might come upon them at any time and reach inappropriate conclusions. That was clearly Maria’s intention. She truly believed that he had feelings for her. She thought too well of herself to imagine he’d be able to resist her. She’d set her heart upon becoming the next Duchess of Dorchester but wasn’t entirely sure of succeeding in that ambition. So she’d contrived a means to exact revenge. No doubt a signal of some sort would bring the rest of her family crashing in upon them.

  Only one course of action seemed prudent and damn Maria’s pride. He threw her a scathing glance and turned toward the door. Maria’s hand, still clutching his lapel, tightened its hold. She was surprisingly strong. Presumably it was a strength derived from desperation.

  “There’s no need for caution, Your Grace, not any more. I appreciate your concern is only for my reputation. Your consideration does you credit, but we’re well enough acquainted now to ignore convention. I can sense that you’re overwhelmed by the desire to kiss me, but your sense of honour holds you back. Don’t deny yourself, sir. After all, we’re practically engaged.”

  Nick rolled his eyes. Definitely demented! The combination of madness and steely determination in her eye removed any lingering doubts in that respect. He removed her fingers, none too gently, from his lapel and reached for the door.

  Her response was a bloodcurdling scream. He watched, appalled, as she ripped the bodice of her dress and gouged her fingers across the top of one breast, drawing blood. She tugged at her hair and it tumbled around her shoulders, pins flying in all directions.

  Nick sighed as, predictably, footsteps sounded on the tiled floor of the vestibule almost immediately. They were too close to mean anything other than that someone had been waiting close by for Maria’s signal.

  He glanced at her, repulsed.

  “Why?”

  “You may not realise it now, but it’s me you really want. Alicia has temporarily blinded you to reason. Your attentions have turned her head, poisoning her against Frederick. You can’t be allowed to upset our family in such a fashion.�
� Her eyes were sparkling with malice. “You should have followed your heart and pursued me,” she whispered. “But it’s not too late.”

  Nick wasn’t surprised to see Frederick at the head of the deputation pouring into the room, a smile as malicious as his sister’s twisting his lips. Blood poured from the corner of Maria’s mouth, presumably because she’d bitten the inside of her cheek. She hurtled herself into her father’s arms as soon as he pushed through the gathering throng.

  “Oh, Papa!”

  “There, there, child, don’t distress yourself.” Woodley glanced over his daughter’s head directly at Nick. He looked furious and, at the same time, totally perplexed by the situation. Nick understood then that he’d not been a party to the ruse. “What’s the meaning of this outrage, sir?”

  What indeed? Nick didn’t bother to answer his host and lifted his shoulders in an attitude of casual disinterest. His only concern was the amount of time it would take him to extricate himself from this ridiculous farrago.

  “Well, sir, I’m waiting.” Woodley clutched a sobbing Maria against his shoulder.

  “His Grace has clearly taken leave of his senses,” Frederick said, his expression appropriately outraged.

  “On the contrary, Woodley. My senses have never been in better order, I thank you. It’s your sister, I fear, who wants for perception.”

  “Because she very properly rejected your vile advances? No, sir, it’s obvious that you’re the person at fault here. My sister’s an innocent and you’re a man of the world. What do you intend to do about the situation?”

  “In the circumstances I’d recommend a good seamstress to repair that bodice, and the application of warm water and iodine to cleanse the scratches Miss Woodley inflicted upon herself.”

  “That’s a rum-un,” Frederick said, his face red with a convincing display of anger. “And don’t it just take the biscuit.” He paced in front of Nick, who was almost tempted to laugh at his ridiculous parody of the incensed brother. He swivelled toward Nick again, narrowly avoiding impaling himself on the points of his collar. “You take advantage of my poor sister and then try to blame her for your lack of control.”