The earl chuckled at the taunting remark. “Charming. Nevertheless, after observing you these past weeks, I am prone to believe your sister’s story. You have too much of your mother’s blood in you, Sin, and whether you want to admit it or not, your father hated you for it.”
The explanation would do as well as any other, Alexius mused. No matter what he had done to prove himself to his father, the elder Sinclair had not been satisfied. In the end, the hate had been mutual.
“Excuse the interruption, my lords.”
Hembry entered the library carrying a basin of steaming water and materials to bandage his lord’s injuries.
Alexius took the basin from the butler and carried it to the desk. Frost set aside the pistol he was holding and stood up.
“Allow me, Hembry,” his friend said, relieving the butler of his burden. “I will take care of your master. He will need a hot meal. I will wager he has not eaten a morsel all day.” He pushed a clean towel into the hot water and squeezed out the excess liquid.
“I will see to it at once, Lord Chillingsworth.”
To Alexius, Frost said, “Sit.”
“Does everyone rush to do your bidding, Frost?” Alexius hissed as the earl unceremoniously pressed the heated towel against the gash in his shoulder. “Christ, have a care. It hurts.”
His friend made a clucking noise with his tongue. “You are fortunate that Gomfrey did not shoot your ear off.”
Frost assumed Alexius had sought out the man after he had called on the Ivers town house. “When I left Gomfrey, he was in no condition to stand, let alone aim a pistol at my head. No, since we last spoke I have gained a new enemy.”
Frost snorted derisively at the news. Water and diluted blood dripped down Alexius’s arm, chest, and back as Frost concentrated on his task. “Ah, so you did speak with Lady Juliana. Who shot you, her widowed mother, one of the sisters, or the lady herself?”
“Her cousin. Lord Duncombe.”
Alexius recounted the hours after he and Frost had parted ways. By the time Alexius had finished, Frost had managed to do an adequate job bandaging his shoulder.
He leaned over and grabbed the clean linen shirt Hembry had brought him. “So someone had told her about your fondness for quims and pearls,” Frost mused with humor dancing in his eyes. “Damn awkward.”
Alexius suspected Gomfrey had told her.
With Frost’s assistance, Alexius shoved his arm through the sleeve and pulled the shirt over his head. “Juliana tore the string of pearls from her neck and pressed the necklace into my hands.” Alexius scratched the side of his jaw, recalling the pain in her eyes and the bruise on her cheek. “I can hardly blame her for being angry about the necklace. It was . . . a cruel jest. One I have played with countless ladies, and yet I did not care one whit about them when I walked away.”
“You were an arse.”
Alexius’s hot gaze locked on his friend’s mildly sympathetic expression. “Leave it to you, Frost, to be so elegantly simple when you are insulting me. I know you think me a fool, but I care about Juliana. I hurt her, and my chest aches knowing that she hates me for it. When the marchioness told me that Juliana was going to marry her cousin, I was willing to kill for her. Damn me, I think I have fallen in love with her.”
Frost cuffed Alexius on the top of the head.
“What was that for?”
“For taking leave of your senses,” his friend replied. “A lady’s heart is not worth the grief and loss of freedom. Love ruins a good man.” He picked up the dueling pistol from the desk. “You might as well stick the muzzle in your ear and pull the trigger. At least it would be a merciful death.”
Alexius laughed and pushed the pistol away from his face. “You must have been hatched from an egg. Is your sister aware of your cynical views about her sex?”
The amusement dimmed in Frost’s gaze. “I have done my duty toward Regan. She would be an ungrateful brat to complain.”
He said nothing more about the girl. In truth, Regan was probably the only female who had dented Frost’s cynical heart. After their parents’ deaths, the earl had become her guardian and for years the child had run wild. It was only the insistence of a distant cousin that forced Frost to concede that Regan needed more attention than Frost could provide for her. Ignoring his sister’s vehement protests, he had sent the girl away to a girls’ boarding school.
Neither sibling seemed happy with the arrangement.
And Regan had yet to forgive her brother for his high-handedness.
Frost crossed his arms. “I assume this business with Lady Juliana is not finished.”
“According to her, we are through. It would be kinder to respect her wishes.” Alexius thought of the broken string of pearls tucked away in the inner pocket of his coat. He was finished with games.
“Kinder, perhaps,” Frost agreed. “However, you have never been sensible about this woman.”
“True,” he said as a ghost of a smile flickered in his eyes.
Juliana believed that his sister had been the sole reason for his pursuit. Well, that and lust. Alexius had been too angry to contradict her. Nonetheless, ever since he had stared up into the Lettlecotts’ hazel tree and seen her startled face, Alexius had desired her. He craved to be near her. Nothing had changed.
“Gomfrey and her damn cousin still need to be dealt with.” Alexius would not be satisfied until he had put a bullet in each man.
“In the upcoming days, I look forward to watching your fumbled attempts to win Lady Juliana. And if all else fails, you can use the pistol on yourself.”
Chapter Twenty-five
“THERE IS NO need for pretenses,” Cordelia said as she entered the bedchamber. “You watched him depart, did you not?”
Juliana could feel the heat of a blush creeping onto her face. “I did no such thing. The man is a liar and an utter beast.”
The moment she had heard her sister’s footfalls, Juliana had scurried from the window to the chair positioned next to her small writing table.
“Did Maman invite Sinclair into the drawing room?”
“Of course.” Cordelia clasped the back of a delicately fashioned oak and brass chair and dragged it several yards until she had positioned it beside Juliana’s. “In spite of his obvious faults, the gentleman did rescue you from a disastrous marriage with our cousin. Rest assured, Maman has only partially forgiven him. However, Lord Sinclair will accept any mercy bestowed upon him, since you offer him none.” She sat down and fussed with her dress.
A week had passed since Juliana had pushed the broken pearl necklace into Sin’s hand and walked away. He had returned to the town house twice, asking for her. This was his third visit to their house.
Although she had refused to come downstairs, on each occasion, Maman and Juliana’s sisters had taken pity on him and received him in the drawing room. It was difficult not to feel a prick of betrayal toward her family. Still, it had not prevented her from quizzing her sisters about each visit.
“He seemed well?”
It was the same question that Juliana had asked after each visit.
Cordelia pretended to contemplate her reply. “Lord Sinclair claims his shoulder wound is not troubling him at all. I noticed that his movements as he bowed to us seemed unhindered, so perhaps he is telling the truth.”
For once.
Juliana stared at her clasped hands as they rested on the writing table. The man did not deserve her concern, but he had it. Blast him! His death would not ease her heart. Nevertheless, she wished there was something she could do about the hurt and anger that plagued her in quiet moments.
“Lord Sinclair asked for you,” her sister confessed without prompting. “Maman told him that you were resting. However, I do not think he believed her.”
“I was resting, Cordelia.” Juliana unclasped her hands and rubbed her temples. “Nor do I care what he thinks.” She did not understand why he had returned to their house three times when he had nothing further to gain.
“If it were true, you would not be so sad.” Her sister reached over and placed a tiny bundle on the writing table. “Lord Sinclair asked me to give this to you.”
Juliana stopped rubbing her temples and stared at the small cloth-wrapped bundle on the table. He had brought flowers on his previous visits. She had assumed he had brought them to soften her mother’s disposition. This gift, nevertheless, was different. Juliana picked it up. It was smaller than her fist and secured with a narrow red ribbon. “Was there a message?”
“Yes, but Maman and I thought it rather odd. He said that he had lost his taste for pearls.”
“He did?”
Juliana’s heart leaped in her chest at the thought that he was giving up his wicked ways for her. It was followed promptly by a scowl, as she reminded herself that she no longer cared how the marquess spent his days—or nights.
“Was that the entire message?”
“He went on to say that it was something whimsical and it made him think of you.” Cordelia could not resist leaning forward as Juliana untied the ribbon. “What is it?”
Juliana could not fathom Sin procuring anything whimsical. Nevertheless, she was relieved that he was not returning the string of pearls that she had torn from her neck and tossed at him. She would have taken a hammer to each pearl and pounded them into dust if he had tried.
She unfolded the fabric until Sin’s gift gleamed at her from its green velvet wrapping. It was a gold brooch. Speechless, Juliana gaped at the man’s audacity.
Her sister peered closer and then sniffed. “Whimsical, indeed. Why would a spray of gold leaves remind him of you?”
Juliana said nothing. It was a lovely piece, the detail so refined that she immediately recognized the large tooth-edged, heart-shaped leaves. Hazel tree leaves. Nestled within three leaves were a cluster of nuts. Beneath the gold cupules were large nutlike pearls.
Sin wanted her to remember that night in Lord Lettlecott’s back gardens. While she had clung precariously to a bough of the hazel tree, Sin and his hostess had chosen the same tree for their tryst. His fortuitous discovery of Juliana’s presence had ended his love play with the lady.
Juliana bit her lower lip as she studiously admired the brooch. They had been strangers. Sin had not known her name, and still he had desired her. She had been aware of his masculine appreciation. He had even protected her from Lady Lettlecott’s fury and the awkward position of having to explain why she had been spying on them.
As clever as Sin was, he could not have contrived their outrageous first encounter even at his sister’s behest.
Still, the gentleman had not been squeamish about mixing his desire for her with his sister’s need to vanquish a potential rival. Juliana sighed and set the brooch on the velvet.
“Juliana?”
“Hmm?” Juliana belatedly recalled that she had not answered Cordelia’s question. “Oh, I fear the purpose behind Sinclair’s gift is unclear,” she lied.
“You are making a fool out of yourself!”
Alexius was not surprised by his sister’s incensed pronouncement, only that it had taken her eight days to confront him. For several days he had ignored a dozen of her imperial missives summoning him to her town house. Never one to be thwarted, Belinda had cornered one of his friends to learn Alexius’s whereabouts this evening.
If he could figure out which one of the traitorous gents had set about to ruin his evening, Alexius was tempted to return the favor.
“Good evening, Belle. As usual, you look delectable,” he said, fingering the twinkling emerald and diamond drops dangling from her ears. “Someone has been generous with you. Lord Kyd?”
Belinda was in no mood for Alexius’s flattery. “I have not chased you all over London to discuss my new earrings. What I want to know is, have you taken leave of all your senses? For the past week, my drawing room has been filled with visitors who delight in regaling me with tales about my beloved brother. None of which are becoming to you and the Sinclair name.”
“You have never been one to listen to the gossips,” he said dismissively.
Belinda grabbed his forearm before he could walk away. “Is it true that you accosted Lord Gomfrey in his library, and then a day later faced him at dawn? Someone told me that your bullet shattered his left elbow.”
Alexius clamped his fingers around his sister’s wrist and dragged her to the closest alcove. “Have a care, my darling sister. A little louder and I will be forced to leave the country.”
“And there are rumors that you are hunting Lord Duncombe, but the gentleman has eluded you.”
The recollection of discovering Juliana locked in a bedchamber and tied to one of the bedposts still haunted Alexius. “The gentleman deserves far worse than a festering bullet wound for attempting to violate his young cousin with the purpose of forcing her into marriage.”
“Cousin?” Belinda’s mouth curled with disdain. “You would not be speaking of Lady Juliana Ivers.”
“What if I am?”
“So it is all true,” she said, placing her hand over her heart. “When several of your friends told me—”
“Who? Who approached you? I want their names.”
Belinda tilted her head as she studied Alexius’s intimidating stance. Although she did not fear he would harm her, her unidentified ally would face her brother’s wrath if she did not choose her words with care.
“Half the ton has been whispering in my ear, Alexius. Do you plan to shoot them all?” She sharply rapped him on the hand with her closed fan. “And for what? A silly miss who parted her legs for the first gentleman who fancied her?”
His sister’s hatred toward Juliana was unjust. Nevertheless, Alexius doubted any defense on his part would only increase Belinda’s ire. “Hold your viper’s tongue, Belle. There are those who might think the same could be said about you.”
Hurt burned in his sister’s eyes. “Men are so easily beguiled by a comely face. It was apparent to everyone who observed that humiliating display in Gomfrey’s theater box that Lady Juliana despises you. What do you hope to gain by this lunacy? The lady’s forgiveness by fawning over the lady’s insipid mother and sisters? By challenging every man who is sniffing after her?”
Alexius slammed the palm of his hand into the wall above his sister’s head. Belinda started at the barely restrained violence. “Lord Kyd’s interest in Lady Juliana was business in nature,” he said, enunciating each word now that he had Belinda’s rapt attention.
The hope that softened her expression was reserved solely for herself. “You cannot be certain—”
“Kyd told me, and he had no reason to lie.” Alexius’s hand slid from the wall to Belinda’s shoulder. “We are selfish people, Belle. Your jealousy and my arrogance ruined a young lady’s reputation. Our actions placed her in a position so that she could be preyed upon by the unscrupulous. I cannot wholly make amends for my actions; however, I can try.”
“I cannot dissuade you from your fool’s endeavor.”
“No. Do not stand in my way.” Alexius kissed his sister on the forehead and stepped away.
When he turned back toward the ballroom, he noticed Juliana and her sisters. Her discomfort was apparent even from across the room. Alexius leaned against one of the marble columns, his hungry eyes noting every detail.
From behind, his sister asked, “You are not considering . . . marriage to the chit?” Belinda did not bother concealing her disapproval.
“Do not fret, Belle. Lady Juliana will not have me. Our tainted Sinclair blood ruins us for marriage. You should know this better than I.”
Chapter Twenty-six
“HE IS HERE.”
Juliana felt her heartbeat quicken at Cordelia’s whispered words. Her gaze drifted from face to face, searching for the man whom she could never trust. The gentleman her heart could not seem to forget.
“Lord Fisken is near the doors that lead to Lord and Lady Collinge’s gardens.”
Though Cordelia clasped both Lucilla’s and Ju
liana’s hands, it took both sisters to keep her from dashing off in pursuit of her neglectful suitor.
Lucilla squinted at the man. The distance made her long for the spectacles that she usually refused to wear. “Maman said that Lord Fisken would be in attendance this evening. Do you think she sent him a note?”
Cordelia paled at the notion. “Maman would not dare!”
Juliana silently believed Maman would dare anything. This was her daughter’s happiness at stake. “He has not moved from the doorway. Perhaps he has not noticed your arrival?” Juliana said to Cordelia, attempting to soothe her frazzled nerves.
“What if he has, and plans to shun her?”
Cordelia swayed. “Oh, I could not bear the humiliation.”
Juliana glared at Lucilla. She understood that her sister was still mourning Mr. Stepkins’s disappearance, which seemed to confirm that he had been hired by their cousin to spy on the family. Nevertheless, Cordelia needed their support.
“Do not listen to Lucilla. You know that she is blind without her spectacles and is not in a position to judge Lord Fisken’s demeanor.”
It was the only reason why Juliana had allowed her mother to talk her into attending the Collinges’ ball. In the weeks since her arrival, she had lost her innocence, made enemies, been bartered to cover her mother’s gambling debt, almost ravished by her hateful cousin, and deemed scandalous by most of the ton because of her connection to Sin. Her reputation was in tatters. Any chance to have her musical compositions published had vanished. London was finished with her. A sensible miss would concede defeat and retire to the country.
With dozens of guests weaving between Cordelia and her beloved, Juliana’s breath caught in her chest as she watched the nobleman’s face shift from boredom to pleasure as he recognized her sister. Cordelia, who never possessed an ounce of patience, brazenly waved at Lord Fisken. The man grinned and nodded toward the open doors, silently inviting her to walk the gardens with him.
All Night with a Rogue: Lords of Vice Page 22