“You want to come back with me?” Kitty dropped her voice and gripped Dorcas’s arm with pleasure. “We can make a plan. Lord Silverton will help me, I know it!”
“It’s ‘bout Lord Silverton I wanted ter talk ter yer ‘bout, miss.” Dorcas glanced nervously toward her minder, but since he was ogling several pretty servants entering the shop, she clearly decided to take a chance. “I ‘eard summat ‘bout ‘im an’ Lord Debenham that got me right worrit, knowin’ yer ‘ad a fondness fer the gennulman, an all, since ‘e ‘elped yer, and since yer clearly like ’im.”
“Lord Nash is the most important man in my life, but Lord Silverton is a good friend,” Kitty said firmly, feeling a sense of great disquiet. Was this the moment she’d learn the full extent of his crimes? She wasn’t sure she wanted to have it confirmed that he was as wicked as Lord Debenham—just more charming. Yes, the less she knew about his proclivities, the better, she decided.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t tell me, Dorcas,” she said, smiling. “I think I like him too well to know the depths of which he’s capable, being such a friend of villainous Viscount Debenham.”
Dorcas’s eyes widened. “Oh miss, then all the more reason fer me ter say summat an’ I surely shoulda before only, like I said, I didn’t know ‘ow to get a message to yer. We don’t get a moment ter ourselves, nor paper nor nuffink.” She took a deep breath. “Which is why me friend, Daisy, goes through the gennulman’s pockets, mostly so she can find scraps o’ paper or summat she can write notes on the gennulmen she really likes, an ter ‘er family. That’s ‘ow she come across the note ‘bout Lord Silverton. Isn’t that true, Sally?”
It was only then that Kitty noticed the slump-shouldered girl who stood slightly behind Dorcas. She’d assumed she was a customer, but as Kitty peered more closely into the gloom, she saw that girl was definitely under the protection of the great hulk whom Dorcas had indicated earlier.
When Sally didn’t respond, Dorcas exhaled on a loud and sympathetic sigh. “Poor Sally ain’t bin the same since ‘er baby got taken off her. Mrs. Montgomery thought a bit of fresh air might do ‘er a mite o’ good, and I ‘ope it does, fer if Sally don’t pull ‘erself together, she’ll be on ‘er own an’ sellin’ ‘erself in the ’Aymarket.” She reached for the girl’s hand and pulled her into their conversational circle, saying kindly, “Yer used to be the prettiest ‘o all ‘o us, eh, Sally? An’ yer will be again, when yer done wiv yer grievin’.”
“I’m so sorry to hear of the loss of your child,” Kitty said, gently addressing the girl.
“Loss?” The girl repeated the word as if in a daze, and when she raised her chin to stare at Kitty with a pair of intense violet eyes, Kitty realized that beneath the lank hair and lusterless skin, she really was a beauty. “I didn’t lose the baby.” Sally gritted her teeth, balled her fists and hissed, “It were stolen.”
Dorcas smiled sadly and patted Sally’s hand. “I know yer wanted ter keep it, Sally, but girls like us aren’t s’posed to get inta trouble like that, which is why we’re ’ere.” She indicated the apothecary’s with a sweep of her hand. “An’ when we do get inta trouble, we’re forced ter get rid o’ it.”
She put her head close to Kitty’s and whispered, “Mrs. Montgomery tried all sorts ter kill Sally’s babe afore it be born, but it were a real determined ’un.” She turned to Sally and said in a bolstering voice, “An’ now yer babe’s got a ‘ome with a right grand family. Imagine it, Sally! Youse gived birth to a babe wot’s goin’ to want fer nothin’. ‘E’ll live in a fine ‘ouse an’ maybe ‘ave a ‘orse an’ he’ll neva go ‘ungry like he woulda if yer’d a kept ’im. Such good fortune don’t usually ‘appen ter the bastard child born from ‘un o’ the likes o’ us an’ a Spanish sailor.”
Daisy looked unimpressed. “Coulda’ bin Lord Heckleston’s, too. Both o’ ‘em were customers the same night me womb quickened. If it were Lord Heckleston’s, then the babe shoulda ‘ad all that by rights.”
Kitty bit her lip. “Oh, poor Sally, it’s true! Bastards are rarely recognized by their noble parents. My father is a nobleman, and I grew up in shame and ignominy. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. If your babe has gone to a good home you should be overjoyed. Truly.”
She had to try and revive the girl’s spirits, for Dorcas spoke the truth when she made it clear Sally could not have kept the baby out of poverty. “But, tell me what you were about to say regarding Lord Silverton.” She was anxious now, afraid of what she might hear, but realizing she needed to hear it. Besides, it might help extirpate the residual fondness she had for him, which she sometimes found quite disconcerting.
“Well, miss, I’m ‘opin’ I’m rememberin’ right, but the note Daisy told me ‘bout was ter Lord Debenham from a gennulman who signed ‘iself Mr. Cosmo Lamont an’—”
“Mr. Lamont?” Kitty started. “He painted my portrait. Go on, Dorcas.”
“Well, ‘e said summat along the lines o’ a traitor in their midst an’ Lord Debenham must keep an eye out on Lord Silverton fer as ‘e’d ‘eard a rumor or two ‘bout ‘im. That’s all, miss.”
Kitty frowned and repeated, “Mr. Lamont was telling Lord Debenham not to trust Lord Silverton because Lord Silverton was a traitor? Is that right, Dorcas?”
“Summat like that.” Dorcas shrugged. “Anyways, I reckoned yer might want ter know, since I guessed yer were fond o’ Lord Silverton an’ I don’t think anyone wants ter be on the wrong side o’ Lord Debenham.” She shuddered. “I don’t know ‘ow Daisy can stand it, bein’ ‘is favorite, an all. Mind, but that she earns a bit extra fer the secrets wot she tells ‘im 'bout the other secrets wot uvver gennelmen tell her.”
“Goodness! Daisy trades secrets to Lord Debenham?” Kitty’s mouth dropped open. She could just imagine the damage that could cause. “When did Daisy tell you about the note?”
Dorcas frowned. “Were a couple o’ weeks ago, maybe. Silverton an’ Debenham both came ter Maggie’s—”
Kitty gasped, unprepared for the disappointment she felt that her charming Lord Silverton visited Maggie’s, but Dorcas added quickly, “Oh no, miss, ‘e neva comes ter visit the girls. It’s ‘cause ‘e’s thick as thieves with Debenham, an’ Debenham is a regular. Lord Silverton drank absinthe with me mistress; that’s all. But that were the night Daisy found the note in Lord Debenham’s coat.” She shrugged. “I jest thought yer should know.”
Kitty was about to respond with gratitude when the girls’ minder stepped forward, impatient now to be gone, and Dorcas forced a smile that was twinged with sadness. “So nice ter catch up wiv the gossip, Miss Hazlett. I do ‘ope we meet again.”
***
For the rest of the way home, Kitty was consumed by the fear that Silverton might be in danger and that she had possibly, inadvertently, had a hand in the terrible business.
What could she do? Could she warn him? She had nothing substantial other than Dorcas’s claims about the letter, but at least she could tell him about that so he would be on his guard.
In front of her small townhouse, she stopped and gazed at it in the moonlight. It seemed incredible that it was hers. Well, as much as it ever could be since she had no security beyond the attraction she held for Nash.
She shook her head, as if that might dispel Lord Silverton’s warning that Lord Nash would never offer Kitty what she truly wanted, and that he could offer her more.
Not marriage, though.
A gentle breeze stirred the embroidered net overskirt of her lovely gown. Not Araminta’s castoff, but another reminder of Lord Nash’s generosity. This time, she was able to revisit her previous happiness by dwelling on the way Nash would rake his smoldering gaze over her naked body and lavish her with murmured endearments. She shivered, reminding herself yet again of how fortunate she was.
But by the time she opened her front door, her thoughts had returned to Lord Silverton and how he might be in danger.
Until everything was swept away by the astonishing vision before her. A trail of rose petals
led from the front door and up the stairs. Kitty followed, her heart growing fuller with every footstep, until she reached the bedroom, throwing open the door and gasping even louder at the sight of Nash reclining, naked, upon the counterpane.
“I thought you were at an important engagement!” Delighted, she ran forward and threw herself into his arms. He curled his body around her, and she rested her head upon his shoulder, spooned against him, shivering with anticipation as he stroked her cheek.
“This was my important engagement.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm, indicating the rose petals.
“Really?” She squeaked at the feel of his tongue tickling her ear and squeezed his knee convulsively, causing him to yelp and throw her onto her back.
“Yes, you irresistible siren!” His face, smiling above her, filled her with delight and warmed her to her toes. “But you have on far too many clothes.”
Kitty was more than ready to divest herself of the impediments. With Nash’s help, she was soon just as he desired her, naked but for her stockings, which he took in his teeth and pulled off her legs before returning north once more, tickling her flesh with his tongue and beginning a concerted onslaught upon her inner thighs. Soon her sighs of pleasure were moans as she writhed in growing ecstasy beneath him.
“Come inside me!” she gasped when she was nearly at the height of her pleasure, and he flipped her onto her stomach and entered her from behind, fondling her as he plunged into her depths with ever deeper, more intense thrusts.
“You are magnificent!” he gasped as he climaxed inside her, kissing her neck, her shoulders, and then when he’d turned her over, her breasts, as he lay panting on top of her. “The most magnificent woman I’ve ever met.”
Kitty, gasping, breathless, laughed with unadulterated delight. “And you are the most magnificent lover I’ve ever met.”
“And the only one.” He raised himself on one elbow and regarded her with loving intensity. “A virgin, and the most beautiful woman in London. I can’t believe my good fortune. You are mine. All mine. Why, to think that when you’d just arrived in London, you took one look at me, and lost your heart. And I was your first,” he repeated. He trailed his forefinger tenderly over her chest, circling her right nipple as he added almost thoughtfully, “And I want to marry you.”
For a moment, Kitty wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. She barely dared to breathe as she stared at him. “Marry me?” she whispered, sitting up, her face breaking out into a smile she thought would split her cheeks. “A real marriage?”
Nash nodded, curling her against his side. “A real marriage,” he confirmed.
“But...what of your family? They’ll never consent.”
“I don’t need their consent. I’m over twenty-one, and unlike our poor Royal Family, there is no Royal Marriages Act for peers which would prevent me from marrying whom I wish.” Still holding her with one arm, he reached across the bed to the side table and picked up an oblong velvet box. “Here. I’ve bought you a gift. A betrothal gift.”
Kitty’s hands were shaking as she opened the lid. First a marriage proposal, and now....
This. Her breath left her in a whoosh, leaving her, for a moment, speechless. “Oh Nash, I don’t know what to say,” she whispered, staring with wonder at his handsome, loving face.
“Go on, hold it. It’s real. Real diamonds and rubies.”
“Oh Nash, I can’t believe your generosity.” It was true. As she gazed upon the exquisite ruby and diamond necklace, his marriage proposal reverberating in her ears, she felt as if the gates to Heaven had opened early to admit her.
He rose onto his haunches, saying eagerly, “I thought it would complement your lovely golden and cream coloring. Here, let me.” He took the necklace from her and carefully fastened the catch, turning her in his arms to plant a kiss on her nose. “My family will love you. They will not be able to help themselves. But you’ve not answered me. Will you be my wife, Kitty La Bijou—whose name alone justifies such a glittering confection of jewels?”
“I will!” Kitty breathed, throwing her arms about his neck. “Oh yes, I will!”
He held her at arm’s length. “There is one caveat. We must marry in secret. I promise you, I am not trying to trick you into a sham marriage. You may have whomever you like as a witness to satisfy you that all is in good order, but the fact is that my grandfather is very ill, and I can’t risk hastening his end with a marriage that I know he will find difficult to countenance.”
Kitty put her head on one side as she took in what he was saying.
“Of course, we could have a proper ceremony with all the pomp and circumstance if you wanted to wait another two or three years. I am offering you that, too, my sweet.” He squeezed her hands. “I, personally, would prefer to marry you right this moment.”
Kitty raised her hand to trace the configuration of jewels that now graced her throat. Gazing into his face, she whispered, “You just tell me what to do and how it shall proceed, and I will be very happy to comply. Oh, Nash!” Again, she hurled herself into his arms. “I can’t believe it! You have made me the happiest woman in the entire kingdom.”
Chapter Twenty
“Is it not a little early to be going out in public, my dear?” Debenham raised one eyebrow as he fixed his gaze upon Araminta’s waistline. “It has been only two weeks since William’s birth. Apparently, too early to resume intimate relations, yet not too early to rejoin the hectic social whirl.”
Araminta glanced up from attaching her earrings and offered a beguiling smile as a defense against the thickening of his tone, which never augured well. “Soon you will be amply rewarded for your patience, darling husband.” She smoothed her hair and contoured her lithe body with her hands. “You were not so anxious to court my interest when my body thickened, as it surely will again if you cannot show a little restraint,” she teased. It was hard not to sing to the treetops as she reveled in the freedom of her newfound curves. Debenham would claim her, inevitably, but as long as she ingested the Queen Anne’s Lace seeds immediately he’d claimed his conjugal rights, she could be assured, Mrs. Mobbs had told her, that she would not conceive. Mrs. Mobbs had apparently been dishing out Queen Anne’s Lace seeds to young women for decades, and declared it almost one hundred percent effective, when used correctly.
Debenham skimmed the top of her dressing table, then leaned against it as he watched her pluck at her gown.
“William will need a sibling. No need to look so horrified. I’m well aware you are not maternal by nature, and I don’t mean immediately.” He sent her a critical look. “I believe I visit our son a good deal more frequently than you do. Have you even been up to the nursery today?”
Araminta avoided looking at him while she pulled on her gloves, and tried to remember the last time she had looked in on the boy. “Millicent tells me he’s thriving.” She offered her husband a bright smile, then took several leisurely steps toward him, pressing her body against him and skimming her hand up the length of his arm. She felt safe being so flirtatious, knowing the carriage had already been called around. “Haven’t I been a clever wife, presenting you with an heir then getting my figure back so quickly? Aren’t you going to reward me?”
She wished she hadn’t spoken in such an unguarded fashion for immediately he said, “If Jane cannot be relied upon to have your ruby necklace sent back, I shall take you off to The Grange myself to fetch it. I’ve had some cursed luck lately, as I told you and I need it for security.”
All the happiness drained out of Araminta, but she was buoyed by the fact she really did need to see Teddy again. He’d know what to do. Goodness, but she hoped he’d be at Almack’s this evening.
“You don’t really intend selling my beautiful wedding present?” Her outrage was not feigned. “Debenham, I thought you were funning me, truly I did. Surely it is mine. You gave it to me.” It occurred to her this might be a good moment for tears, but she hardly wished to venture out with a blotched face and besides, Debenham
was notoriously unresponsive to such emotion.
“What is yours is mine, legally. However, I’ll buy you something lovely when next you deserve it and if I’m feeling particularly charitable and plump in the pocket.”
Without warning, he twisted her in his arms and crushed her to him, kissing her hard on the lips while he contoured her curves with his hands, ending with a squeeze of her breasts. “God, you are a vixen without a heart, but I’ll have you crying for more when I’m finally allowed to have my way with you.”
Araminta sighed internally as she anticipated the sweaty pleasuring with which she’d have to involve herself. In the early days, she’d enjoyed herself, but the only time Debenham hadn’t been a completely selfish lover was the night he seduced her at Miss Hosking’s betrothal ball. What a fiasco that time in her life had been, when she’d felt overjoyed at being saved from marriage to plain and unprepossessing Mr. Woking, which is all he had been then. But Debenham had tricked her. He’d blackmailed, seduced, and tricked her, and she now had a lifetime to look forward to burdened by his careless cruelty, his cold contempt, and his gambling and womanizing. The only bright side about that was that thus occupied, he left her alone.
“You’ll ruin my hair!” she cried, outraged when he started to run his fingers through her coiffure. Araminta flew to the mirror and tried to rectify the damage while Debenham chuckled.
“You know, Araminta; you really are at your most entertaining when you are fired up. All right, I’ll leave you to sort yourself out, but don’t be late. Dobson is here to tell us the carriage is waiting, I believe.”
Araminta’s spirits took an upturn, when, at the ball, she spied Lord Ludbridge among the throng. As she hadn’t seen him since before William’s birth, he was quick to marvel at her stunning looks. “Is it right and healthy that you are here?” he asked with a consideration for her well-being that made Araminta want to cry.
She tapped his shoulder playfully with her fan. “You are the kindest and most honorable gentleman I know, Lord Ludbridge. Debenham simply thought it was wrong to court scandal by returning to public life so soon, and was quite violent in the way he crushed me to him as we were about to step out.” She shuddered and dropped her voice making him bend his head to hear her. “Debenham can be a brute, and I fear returning to what we married women must endure when we are wed to insensitive men.”
Beyond Rubies (Daughters of Sin Book 4) Page 20