The absence of other guests and the lack of visible food struck him anew. So did the transparency of the scanty wisp of silk, which moulded itself to her form, outlining her taut nipples.
Distracted, Joshua took a gulp of wine and found the taste no better than the last time. If this was superior quality, then give him a tankard of ale any day.
“Come with me,” she said, holding out her hand and moving towards an open door. “All is prepared for us.”
He looked across the threshold of a bedchamber containing the largest, satin-covered couch he had ever seen. It was enormous.
How the deuce could he extricate himself from the situation? There was only one way. He would have to bluff it out.
“I beg your pardon for the intrusion, madam,” Joshua said, struggling to regain his composure. “The servant must have brought me to the wrong place. I understood I was to take supper with the Countess… and her party.”
“No,” she said, with a little smile. “He followed his instructions to the letter.”
“Where are the other guests?”
“They sent their regrets. I’m afraid they found the distance too much for their constitutions.” She laughed at his look of surprise. “No, I confess that was my little ploy. There is only you, Joshua Norbery, and me, and we have the rest of the night to get to know each other.”
Even he knew this was the height of foolishness.
“No,” he said, backing away. “I must go back. My friends will miss me.”
“I don’t think so.” She pouted and looked at him from beneath her sooty lashes. “I doubt if they have even noticed your absence. In any case, the door is locked, my dear sir, and the only key is here…”
She extracted a gold-coloured chain from deep in her cleavage.
“If you want to open the door, you will have to take it from me, by force, if you must, but I would much prefer to give it willingly. It would be a pity if I had to summon help to restrain you…”
“I haven’t touched you.”
“No, but you will,” she said. “You won’t be able to help yourself.”
A sense of unreality invaded his senses. He did not know what it was, but he started to feel as if a drunken haze was seeping into his limbs, just like when he was at the bagnio.
Not that again… please…
“What was in the drink? It feels as if you’ve drugged me.”
She gave a cynical laugh. “Don’t be foolish. That would deprive your body of power, and I want you fully compliant. The cocktail will simply erase the event from your memory.”
“You’re mad,” he said, and believed it.
She went on as if he had not spoken. “Not that you will ever forget what I teach you. In fact, it will give you a thirst for the unusual.”
He stood, fighting a sense of unreality, yet unable to resist as the woman snapped her fingers for attention. Willing hands came from nowhere to ease the coat from his shoulders, and dispatch in seconds the necktie, which took Gilbert an age to achieve.
“No… Let me do it…” She moved forward, feverishly brushing hands aside when others would have unbuttoned his shirtfront.
With a low growl of delight, the woman ran her fingertips over his nipples, teasing them hard with anticipation, then she trickled her fingers down across his belly…
Hours later, Joshua awoke to the sound of Charlie snoring across the room, which told him he was in his bedchamber. The hour was early, but the sun streamed through the window.
He could not remember returning to the ball after supper, but he must have. How else would he be in his own bed? He looked around the room to where his eveningwear lay scattered across the floor.
His mind registered the fact Charlie had placed his neatly folded clothes over a chair. That must be the soldier in him, and it was something Joshua would have to learn.
The fancy dress clothes were there, so he had obviously been to the ball, but he could not recall how much of it was a dream. It seemed so real at the time, but surely, respectably married women did not go to bagnios, nor entertain young men alone in locked rooms – but then, she was hardly respectable.
The thought of her hands made his blood start to sizzle, and he knew if he ever met her again, he would never be able to look her in the face. It simply could not be true. It must have been the wine he drank or his overactive imagination…
Then the stark reality came back to him. The whore was wrong about the mixture erasing the event. He could remember everything she touched and his reactions. He broke out in a sweat. Even the thought of her sinking her teeth into his nipple set him on a cliff edge. He did not know what else she would do, had it not been for the interruption.
Thank God for the blessed interruption…
To Joshua, it seemed like an hour passed, but incredibly, little more than ten minutes ticked by between the time he entered the outer door and when the disturbance came. He was never more grateful to hear the patter of hurrying footsteps and an agitated, Italian-sounding voice, calling the Contessa’s name.
The words were too fast and garbled for Joshua to follow, but the diplomat’s wife heard and understood. She shrugged her shoulders, and said, “Of all the inconvenient times for my husband to come – now we will never know how good we were together…”
Then, with an urgency belying the woman’s previous languid state, she was on her feet, pushing him through the door into a corridor. He straightened his smallclothes all by guess, as the barrier slammed behind him and he heard the key turn. Then there was silence. He looked down at his crumpled blue coat and necktie lying on the floor at his feet, alongside his cape.
Bemused, he reached down to retrieve the clothing, and his belly rumbled in protest at the lost supper it anticipated. He wondered if the supper room would still be open. It was strange how important it seemed. As he looked around the darkened corridor to gain his bearings, a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him into the shadows. Charlie stood before him.
“Cobarne, what are you doing here?”
“Rescuing you, me lad,” Charlie said with a low chuckle, “but we’d better be making ourselves scarce – the husband is only minutes behind us.”
“Where can we hide?” Joshua said, looking around the corridor for alcoves.
“We don’t, but I’ve brought you the next best thing to an alibi.”
“What?” Joshua turned and saw his aristocratic lady friend. He could not see her face in the shadows but he could imagine her expression. She would be disgusted.
Charlie had other ideas. “Her ladyship was telling me what a devilish place this was for getting lost. She thought you might need a bit of help in finding the ballroom again, so I’ll leave you with her, Josh, and go outside to blow a cloud.” With that, he melted into the darkness.
“I can explain, Rosie…”
“You can tell me later,” she said in a fierce little voice. She grasped his arm and urged him forward as far in the opposite direction to where he had been, through a door into a lighted courtyard.
Seconds later, they heard irate voices and hurrying footsteps, as a door opened on the opposite side of the quadrangle. Three figures appeared. The Italian diplomat swept through first, followed by two waiters, one of which was the minion who guided Joshua’s footsteps from the ballroom.
Before he could move, Lady Rosie took matters into her own hands, tangling her fingers in his hair and drawing his face down to meet her kiss, whilst his arms instinctively slid around her waist, drawing her closer. Seconds later, a rough hand caught at his shoulder and spun him around.
The diplomat railed accusingly at him in his native Italian tongue, and Rosie responded, equally eloquent. The man fell back, uttering profuse apologies.
“A thousand pardons, signor, I mistake,” he said, and was gone.
Only then did Joshua recall his state of undress, and the fact that Rosie’s hands were on his uncovered chest. In the time since he left the bagnio room, he had only replaced his coat, but his neckcloth
was hanging loose around his neck with his unbuttoned shirt open to the waist, just as the seductress had left it.
For a moment, he felt sick with relief as he realised how close to disaster he had been. If discovered with the man’s wife, as he surely would have been, the news of his involvement would have reached his father in London through diplomatic channels long before his return.
“How did you know where to find me?” he said.
“La Contessa is renowned for her penchant for naïve young men,” Lady Rosie said. “She did the same to my cousin five years ago, but then, she was only the envoy’s mistress. Her usual ploy is to claim to have been ravished if caught in flagrente delicto. Poor Peter, the scandal almost killed his mother, and all he was guilty of was naivety. The family sent him to India to weather the storm, and it has been the making of him. We made the journey to visit him and were en route back from India when we stopped off in Athens. Grandmama wanted to see him again before…”
Her bitter voice ended in a frustrated sniff. Joshua turned to confront a fiercely independent lady struggling to contain her emotions. He watched anger and distress vie with each other for supremacy. Wishing to distract her, he took her shaking hands and raised them to his lips.
“Lady Rosie,” he said. “How can I thank you for saving me from the same fate? If you hadn’t come when you did…”
She burrowed her face against his chest and he cradled her there. For a moment, he thought her shaking shoulders denoted she was weeping. Then she looked up and said with a throaty chuckle, “If you really want to thank me, Joshua Norbery, you can resume the delightful process I was enjoying before we were so rudely interrupted. I’ve wanted to do that with you for ages.”
How could he refuse?
CHAPTER 21
The letter arrived whilst they were eating a hearty breakfast. Joshua was ravenous and determined to make up for the supper he missed the night before, when Gilbert entered the room.
“This has come from next door, Mr Joshua. The man said it was urgent.”
He glanced at the flowing hand on the cover before breaking the seal. The contents were short and concise.
Lady Kenchester requests Mr Joshua Norbery to attend her at twelve o’clock.
Request…? No, this was tantamount to a royal command. He looked at the clock and saw he had less than an hour to prepare.
Charlie raised an enquiring eyebrow, and Joshua handed him the letter. There were no secrets between friends.
“I’d better come with you for support.”
Time was short, but it was no excuse to attend looking less than presentable. That would create the wrong impression.
At precisely five minutes to twelve o’clock, they were admitted to the reception hall in the adjoining villa and were ushered into the peeress’s sitting room. Rosie was sitting beside her grandmother, her face a mask of impassivity. She kept her eyes lowered, refusing to meet their gaze. Her cousin, Lady Alice, sat equally straight-faced in a high-backed chair on the other side,
Joshua looked at Charlie, unsure what to expect.
“Mr Cobarne,” Lady Kenchester said, “I would be obliged if you would take a turn on the terrace with Lady Alice.”
“It will be my pleasure, ma’am,” Charlie responded with his usual charm, and they left the room, whilst Joshua waited in silence.
He felt as if he was in the classroom again, and prepared himself, out of habit to receive a scold. When the Dowager spoke, it was not what he expected to hear.
“I hope you have recovered from the most unpleasant experience of last night, Mr Norbery? No lady of quality would behave in such a way.” She emphasised the last words.
Rosie sat with bowed head and flaming cheeks. Joshua looked from one to the other, his face suffused with colour. Hardly anything he experienced last night was unpleasant. Quite the reverse, it was illuminating, and much was due to Rosie.
The Dowager took his silence as agreement, and continued.
“To prevent any such recurrence, I would advise you to go home and take a couple of years to grow up – sow your wild oats or whatever it is young men are supposed to do. I understand you are a younger son, so you will need to find some occupation and establish yourself in life. Have you any plans?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Joshua said. He was not sure where the old lady’s comments were leading, but at least he could have his say. “My father has promised to purchase a commission for me and Charlie – Mr Cobarne, on our return home.”
“Mmm, yes,” she said. “I can see that handsome young fellow in regimental uniform. He’ll be a heartbreaker, but I’m not sure how you will cope with military life, and I would not like to think of you putting yourself in danger.”
“But ma’am,” Joshua protested. “Charlie and I have always planned to join the army together. Why would we not do so now?” He looked from one to the other, hoping for enlightenment.
Rosie looked exasperated. “Grandmama has some nonsensical notion that…”
“No, Rosemary, I will not be interrupted.” Lady Kenchester compressed her lips. “Very well, I will be succinct. It appears, Mr Joshua Norbery, that my foolish granddaughter has formed a tendre for you. Whilst it is understandable, she should know better at her age to choose a callow youth, but it would be unfair for you to form an attachment before you have seen anything of life.”
Joshua looked at the old lady, stunned, as the enormity of her words sank in. Rosie sat, mortified by the exposure, while the Dowager continued her monologue.
“Young man, if you have any regard for my granddaughter’s reputation, you will leave her alone. It is bad enough she felt obliged to rescue you from a harlot, without ending up compromised herself. Still, not all is lost. I intend to spend the next few weeks visiting Naples, and return by the middle of next month. If your party is still here, we would be pleased to acknowledge you, but I suggest you think carefully about what I have said.”
The Dowager sagged back in her seat, emotionally drained. Rosie looked anxiously on as the old lady waved her hand dismissively. “Yes… yes, take him outside to find his friend.”
Keeping a respectable distance between them, Joshua and Rosie left the room through the French windows and made their way down the terrace steps.
“I do beg your pardon, Joshua,” she said. “It was unforgivable of Grandmama to say what she did. It’s just that she worries about me.”
He walked at her side, pondering the situation. It was obvious, the way Lady Kenchester’s mind was working, but it had not occurred to him to consider marriage at this stage. She was right in saying he was too young, but her thinly veiled hints confused him. He had only just acknowledged having feelings for Rosie. It would be years yet before he would be in a situation where he could consider an attachment.
Last night, Rosie had been kind, guiding his fumbling attempts at intimacy. Their emotions were high and it was a natural response then, but in the light of day, it seemed vaguely improper.
When they were out of sight of the villa windows, Joshua said, “I’m sorry, Rosie. I took advantage of you.”
He reached out to take her hand, but she turned away, leaving him to follow her along the ornamental stone paths as she searched for somewhere private to go. Seeing a secluded little arbour set in the high garden walls, she entered the enclosure and sank down on a marble seat. Only then did she give him her attention.
“No,” she insisted. “It was quite the reverse. I could have called a halt at any time, had I so wished, but did not. I have never felt this way before, about anyone. I knew what I was doing, and wanted to be close. Please do not worry about any consequences. Grandmama told me how to deal with such matters. She delivered eight babies before she found out.”
Rosie’s calm assumption of responsibility stunned him, almost as much as the fact she wished for a future with him.
“When are you leaving?” There seemed nothing else to say.
“Grandmama plans to make a start this afternoon, but she did a
gree I could speak with you.” She reached for his hand and pressed it against her cheek. “Take care, Joshua. I hope you are still here when we return, but if you are not, I hope you do not take too long to grow up.” Her voice broke. “Oh dear, I must look a complete hag.”
“No, you don’t,” he said, wanting to comfort her. “You’re a very special lady to me.”
“Oh, Joshua, where were you when I made my coming-out six years ago? I imagine you were a young boy, playing with your friend at being soldiers. The years have been kind to you, but I fear that as many more will not favour me. I hope we meet again soon.”
Joshua wished he could say something to reassure her. Rather than make promises it might not be in his power to fulfil, he gently wiped away her tears with a handkerchief. Then, he took her hand, pressed his lips against the palm and whispered, “Until the next time we meet…”
Joshua returned to the villa, his mind in a daze. He felt cold, despite the bright sunlight, which dazzled his eyes.
A sudden panic gripped at his throat. He felt sick, not knowing what to do. The Dowager’s words pounded in his head. He had never considered marriage before. Some day he might, but situated as he was, with Matthew as heir, it was impossible to take his wife to Linmore – and if he joined the army, he could not expect her to follow the drum.
It was too late to think about the veiled warnings of indiscretions in the lessons. They only looked at things from a female perspective. It never occurred to anyone a woman might be the hunter – and he the prey.
Joshua berated himself for his naivety. He should have known better than leave the ballroom. If he had gone to down to supper, there would have been no need for anyone to rescue him, and none of this would have happened.
At least Charlie understood his predicament.
“Why do they want me, Charlie?”
“Well, it can’t be for your looks, can it, Josh? Now, if it were me…”
He choked back a laugh. Of course, it could not be that.
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