“You remember Audrey Jordan, don’t you, my dear?” Lady Ashton motioned to Audrey with a small grin.
His face lit up as he took Audrey’s hand. “Of course. Good evening, Lady Audrey. It is good to see you again after so long.”
“My lord,” she said as she smiled at the man.
He turned to his wife with a wink. “Tabitha, would you like a dance? They’re playing the waltz and I’d like to prove the older generation can perform these new steps with the best of the young ones.”
“I’d love to. Audrey, if you’ll excuse us.”
She smiled as she watched the two enter the dance floor to begin the twists and turns that were the waltz. After so many years together, it was obvious they remained very much in love. A twinge of envy made her turn away, though she was shocked by it. How could she be jealous of a couple that had been together for over thirty years? It was ridiculous.
With a sigh she looked out over the ballroom again. Couples were paired off all around her, huddled in corners, flirting from across the room with fans and winks or spinning across the dance floor in each other’s arms to the strains of the waltz.
The rest of the unpaired masses were in groups. Tittering girls years younger than she stared at the other women with admiration or scorn, and the men with interest or desire. The dandies and the rakes had even moved in together for talk of sport and women. Everyone belonged somewhere.
Everyone but her.
The life she’d chosen with Noah had put her firmly on the outside of this gay little world, just as she had been when she’d run from in it disgrace years before. This time the ton liked her, wanted to be near her, but that was only because of the mask she wore. Without Hannah’s hairstyles and her lavish wardrobe, she had nothing in common with the people around her.
Overwhelmed by her thoughts, she suddenly needed a moment alone. Gathering up her skirt into her fist, she fled around the parameter of the dance floor and through the veranda doors. The air outside greeted her with a breath of freshness, cooling her heated brow and making her feel less stifled and uncomfortable.
What was wrong with her? She had a job to do, yet she was mooning about on the veranda, looking out on the massive garden while she felt sorry for herself. She had no reason to be so maudlin. To be so… lonely. But she was.
And tired.
Tired to running from country to country. Tired of being alone every night. And tired of knowing men wanted to be near her only for the inheritance she could give, and that she only wanted to be near them for the secrets they could share. Her entire life was a fraud.
“Audrey?”
Turning slowly, she faced the voice and gave a soft smile. What she wanted stood feet away from her, outlined in the light of the ballroom. She wanted Griffin Berenger, still. Always. Forever.
“Audrey?” he repeated as he shut the door behind him softly and took a few steps toward her. “What’s wrong? Did my mother say something to upset you?”
She motioned to the other side of the veranda where fewer people stood. “No. Your mother was a dream, as always. I just felt… felt…”
“Stifled in there?” He held out a glass of champagne.
She accepted with a smile and a nod, happy he’d voiced what she felt. “Yes, exactly.”
He leaned lazily against the low stone wall to look out across the maze of gardens below them.
“I’ve always felt the same way.” A frown darkened his face. “Luci lived for these events, but I was happy to stay away. I still cringe at being surrounded by all these people.”
“That must have been very frustrating for you.”
She moved a bit closer to him. Her hand stirred at her side as the breeze blew his dark blond hair into his eyes, but he brushed it aside before she could touch him.
“Yes. I went with her, of course. At first, at least,” he added with a frown.
Audrey took a deep breath. This was her chance to ask all the questions she had wanted to about Luci. About the rumors and innuendos that crackled in the air whenever anyone spoke about her.
“Please tell me more about…” she began, watching through foggy eyes as he moved a fraction closer to her. She could almost feel his heat, and could definitely smell the spicy scent of his skin.
“Here we are again.”
Griffin moved first, turning to face Douglas Ellison as she jumped a foot away.
“Ellison,” he said with a false smile.
“This is becoming a habit, isn’t it?” Ellison asked, his tone colder than an icehouse as he looked past Griffin to her. “My interrupting the two of you.”
She stepped forward and held out both her hands. “Douglas, you misunderstand my friendship with Lord Berenger. Please don’t allow your jealousy…”
“I would like a moment alone with Lady Audrey if you don’t mind, Berenger.” The thin man glared at Griffin as if daring him to refuse.
Griffin opened his mouth to speak and Audrey’s heart lodged in her throat. If he said anything to imply she wasn’t safe with Ellison, it could tip the man off to what she really was.
For a long moment, Griffin said and did nothing, just stared at her. Then he bowed to Ellison and said, “As you wish.”
Turning on his heel, he strode back into the ballroom, his gate clipped and purposeful. Audrey could guess he was planning to find Noah and felt a bit safer with the knowledge.
Focusing on matters at hand, she moved closer to the man who had interrupted her moment with Griffin. Looking up into his gray eyes, she felt nothing but contempt, but refused to let him sense her distaste.
“Your jealousy is quite sweet, but misplaced.”
“Really, Audrey?” Ellison’s anger was evident in everything about him, from his cold tone of voice to the way he held himself. “If that’s true than why do I catch you looking so deeply into his eyes? Why do I find him watching your every move whenever you’re in a room with him?”
Torn between stoking Ellison’s jealousy and keeping Griffin safe, Audrey pondered what she should say. Finally she shook her head with a sadness she didn’t feel.
“Lord Berenger is an old friend,” she explained, biting her lip before continuing. “He’s gone through a terrible trial, losing his wife, and I want to comfort him. Perhaps he has misconstrued that friendship, but I tell you, you have nothing to fear.”
Ellison took in a shallow breath as he stepped closer, invading her personal space and making her uncomfortably warm. “Why is that?”
She swallowed hard, then looked up into his eyes with what she hoped was an adoring stare. “Douglas, you must know there is only one man who has captured my heart this Season.”
Well, at least it was the truth. If Ellison believed she was talking about him, so be it. Only she had to know Griffin Berenger was the one she loved, and would always love.
“If that’s true, prove it to me,” he whispered, putting his arm around her waist with the slowness of a snake encompassing around its victim. “Kiss me as I kissed you in the carriage.”
“I…” she stammered, unsure if she could press her mouth against his one more time. “I have my reputation to think of.”
“Nonsense.” He inched her ever closer to him with tiny tugs on her waist. “You and I have been courting publicly. And this is a private area where no one is watching. Besides, Audrey, it isn’t as if you haven’t been caught in such a situation before.”
She froze at those words. He couldn’t be referring to what had happened to her on a similar veranda all those years ago. There had been general rumors about her thanks to Luci, but no one had ever known about the man on the veranda except for her mother and Griffin’s wife. Luci had, at least, kept that promise.
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t think I know about your past?” he asked, his lips moving closer to her ear. “I must be careful who I associate with as I move my way up in Society. I had you investigated by certain people in my employ. But don’t worry, Audrey.”
He
r skin felt like a thousand spiders were crawling on it, their tiny tentacles tickling her and raising the hairs on the back of her neck.
“Kiss me,” he whispered. “And I’ll believe that you care for only me.”
“And if I refuse?”
Her lip trembled even as she tried to remain playful and teasing like a lover would be.
“Then I’ll have to take it that Griffin Berenger is a threat to me.” His lips brushed her ear. “I don’t like threats.”
Everything around Audrey suddenly slowed down to a snail’s pace. Douglas’s lips moved, but she didn’t hear anything more than that he would consider Griffin a threat. Griffin was in danger. Real danger. And all because of her and the feelings she couldn’t seem to hide. Without thinking, without breathing, she turned her mouth to Ellison’s and kissed him.
His lips were cold, cooler than she’d remembered them when he’d forced them on her in the carriage weeks before. But his hands were like steel as they wrapped around her shoulders and drew her closer. His fingers bit into her skin, burning her through the thin silk of her gown. How she kept herself from gagging, she couldn’t say, but when she drew back, dipping her head in a show of modesty, she barely resisted the urge to spit.
“Is that proof enough for you that you’re the one I care for?” She hoped he took her breathless voice as desire and not fear and loathing.
“Very much so.” He raised her gloved hand to his lips and placed a wet kiss there. His mouth made a mark on the silk, and she knew she’d been branded.
“Audrey? Audrey?” Noah’s voice came from the veranda doorway.
“I’m here!” she called out, trying to keep the break from her voice as she willed her brother to hurry.
He whipped around the corner of the veranda, then skidded to a slower speed as he gave the couple a suspicious look. “What’s going on here?”
She met her brother’s eyes with desperation. “Nothing Noah. We were just looking at the moon.”
“Yes.” Ellison released her hand at long last to bow his head at her brother. “I’ve enjoyed it immensely. But perhaps I should go back inside. It’s getting late and I have many people to speak with before I depart.”
“Goodnight Douglas,” she whispered with a shaky smile.
“Good evening Audrey,” he whispered back. He locked eyes with her before nodding again to her brother. “Lord Lockhart.”
Once he had gone, the veranda door safely shut behind him, Audrey drooped against the wall. Noah hurried to her side to take her arm as he whispered, “What happened?”
“I did it,” she said, hoping she wouldn’t break down into tears as she stared at the circular ring of spit that marred her glove. The outline of Ellison’s lips.
“Did what?” he asked, his tone cautionary. “What did you do?”
“I convinced him I belong to him.”
She buried her face in her brother’s shoulder. With every ounce of strength and training, she held back the tears that threatened to break her down. There would be time later to sob. For now, she still had a role to play. A blasted duty.
Chapter Sixteen
Griffin hated when he didn’t know what was happening around him. It reminded him of the long nights he’d waited for Luci to return from her parties, guessing what she’d been doing, but never certain. The same was now true with Audrey.
She had come back into the ballroom pale and shaky, holding her brother’s arm as if he were all that kept her upright. Griffin had wanted to run to her, to take her in his arms and kiss her until the look of terror left her face. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t because that would harm her beloved cover, and it would shame her in front of the ton.
Now though, as they raced back to his home in his carriage, he expected some kind of explanation. But Noah and Audrey were silent except for the worried glances they traded. Looks that locked him out of their world with no chance of entry.
“Will your mother and father come to visit tomorrow?” Audrey’s dull voice broke the silence in the carriage.
“Probably,” he said with a shrug. He hadn’t given much thought to his parents since Audrey had been trapped alone with Ellison. “They don’t intend to stay in the city long. Mother says London is stifling after the Season is over. Much too hot for her in the summer.”
She sighed. “I often feel the same way. Cities all over the world are like that. Too hot and too crowded.”
Griffin winced as the laughing young lady he cared for so much turned to a woman jaded by too many missions and too many cities.
“But you like many of those places, too, Audrey,” her brother reminded her gently. “You always tell me they each have their own unique charm.”
Audrey was silent as she looked at the lights of the city. Her only movement was a slight correction of balance as they turned onto Griffin’s street. The carriage stopped and the footman opened the door, offering her his hand as she stepped out.
“You had a long evening.” Noah stepped out and patted her hand before he slipped it into the crook of his elbow. “You need to rest.”
“Noah, you don’t have to tuck me in,” she said. “You have someplace to go, don’t you?”
Motioning with her head back toward the carriage, she smiled, but the expression was almost emotionless.
Her brother’s eyes crinkled with concern. “I can take a moment to escort you into the house.”
“I’ll escort her.” Griffin held out his hand to Audrey. “You go and take care of whatever it is you need to do to end this madness.”
Noah hesitated for a moment, then nodded as he swung back into the rig. After conferring with the driver, they were off again, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.
Audrey watched the coach go for a moment, then turned to look up at Griffin. Her smile was shy, not the one of a woman who knew him, or had touched him the way she had just one day before. She looked younger, more vulnerable.
“Come inside.” He took her arm and led her into the house, but instead of releasing her go at the foot of the stairs, he kept going up until he passed her room and entered his own.
At his doorway, she pulled back with a blush. “Griffin!”
“Come inside and talk to me. It’s private here and no one has to know.” He pushed the door shut behind him.
“Well…” her tone was unsure, but she didn’t flee his room. She did shrug from his arms, though, pacing nervously to the window in the sitting area of his chamber. He could feel how distracted and conflicted she was.
“Do you want to tell me what happened once I left the terrace?”
“You don’t want to know.” She dropped her chin to stare at the wooden planks in the floor below. “But do you think you could just…”
He drew in a breath at her hesitation as he took a long step in her direction. “Just what?”
Her eyes came up slowly and met his. “Do you think you could hold me for a moment?”
He didn’t answer, but opened his arms and drew her into his embrace, holding her against his chest as she took shuddering breath after shuddering breath. She wasn’t crying, merely hugging him as tightly as her arms could manage. As if she feared he might vanish if she lessened her grip even a fraction.
“Audrey,” he whispered into her hair, breathing in the subtle fragrance of lilacs and lemons. “Please talk to me. Allow me to help you in some way.”
Turning her chin up, she looked at him. Her face was full of desire as well as other emotions. It was enough to make his entire body clench in reaction.
“You can’t help me,” she whispered even as she lifted her lips toward him.
“Why?” he asked, lowering his own.
He never heard her answer because their mouths met and for a long time he hardly remembered to breathe, let alone speak.
Their lips crushed against each other, tasting, touching with fervor, as if this could be the last time they kissed. Of course, with the case escalating and nearing its end, it might be. The thought drove him to
deepen the kiss, until she whimpered against his mouth in a wordless plea for more.
Her fingers trailed up and down the path of his spine to awaken the nerves there until his entire body tingled with desire. He’d never had such a powerful reaction to a woman’s touch.
Her elaborate gown bunched under his hands as he slid them down her sides to her waist and clutched her hips. Eagerly, she tilted them up, touching his pelvis and following his animal movements.
Somehow he guided them through the open door into his bedroom, moving back to the bed until her thighs knocked against the mattress edge. There he paused to look at her.
Her hair had fallen from the intricate pile on her head, loosening into curls that fell like fire around her shoulders and across her chest. With one trembling hand, Griffin caught a long strand, rubbing it between his fingers before grasping the nape of her neck and pulling her to him for another kiss.
Sighing against his lips, she began unbuttoning his shirt. Her fingertips brushed through the wiry hair on his chest and caused him to utter a low groan of pleasure.
Audrey’s eyes came up at the soft sound and she smiled. If she knew nothing else, Griffin wanted her. And she wanted him. Perhaps that wasn’t enough for a lifetime, but it was enough for this night.
Finally she got all the tiny buttons unfastened and slipped the shirt from his shoulders, allowing it to fall to the floor. Then she stared at him.
In the carriage when they’d made love before she hadn’t felt the full impact of his body. He was as beautiful as she’d always imagined. Like a Greek god, he was broad through the shoulders, his muscles toned beneath her fingertips as she drug them down the length of his chest, stopping just short of where his wiry chest hair disappeared into his trousers.
Catching her hand in his, Griffin lifted it to his lips and placed a warm kiss inside her wrist. Before she had time to react, he wrapped her arms around his neck and brought his lips down to hers again. His mouth teased her, tempting her to melt against him as he drug his lips down to her throat.
The Secrets of a Lady Page 17