“Tabitha?”
Tabitha Kingsley peered at him through her unfashionable glasses, blinking a few times. She looked startled that she had been noticed, confused that it had happened, and just a little like she was planning on running away from the whole mess.
“My lord?”
“You may not remember me, but your cousin Thomas introduced us at the Parrs’ crush last year.”
Behind her thick glasses, her gray eyes cleared up, and she smiled at him. With her auburn hair and slender figure, Tabitha, called Tabi by friends and family alike, was quite the beauty.
“If only she would take off those dratted glasses,” her cousin Georgiana often sighed. “I swear she would have all of London at her feet in a matter of months.”
“Well, she would also have to develop an interest in people who haven't been dead for four hundred years, and she'd have to want to go to parties instead of libraries, and she'd have to actually come to London instead of staying in the country with Father. And, of course, she'd have to want it, and I've never heard her say that she does.” Thomas Martin had grinned as he said it, however, and his fondness for his odd cousin was evident in his words.
When Robert had met Tabi last year, he had been amused by her eccentric ways, startled at her beauty, and inclined to be fond of her if only for Thomas and Georgiana's sake. They were his only real friends in London, and it was easy to look on Tabi with a brotherly affection.
“Oh, Robert!' she said with a smile. “It is Robert, isn't it? I'm afraid that I have forgotten the rest.”
“Robert Gordon, Earl of Dellfield, and a few other less important titles, but feel free to stick with Robert, it's much easier. Are you here all on your lonesome, Tabi?”
She shook head. “No, I'm here with Gwendolyn Larkin. Uncle Peter sent me to Westchester to find a monograph that we couldn't find at home in Devon or in London. I'm staying with the Larkins while I make up a clean copy for our own use.”
Robert grinned. “Well, that's a shame that Lord Southerly sent you all this way for some moldy old document.”
Tabi blinked at him owlishly, frowning a little. “Well, it's not a shame at all. I'm having a very fine time, and the pamphlet Uncle Peter sent me to copy is just fascinating, full of some of the most interesting details about life in the 1600s...”
Robert nodded, holding up a hand to forestall her. “My mistake, it sounds fascinating. But since we're both here and at loose ends, would you care to dance?”
Tabi looked at him gravely and nodded. “I would not mind, and I think that dancing with someone I know will be far superior to dancing with someone I don't.”
As they waited for the next dance to begin, Robert thought all over again that Tabi was an odd bird. Just a few months ago, Thomas Martin had gotten married to a hellion heiress disguised as a prim missionary. He wondered if Tabi were hiding anything similar under her earnest historian's exterior, but surely, Thomas or Georgiana would have figured it out by now. In a family renowned for its wild ways and dangerous tastes, Tabi seemed to be the odd one out, sweet as sugar, smart as a whip, and quiet as a mouse.
As they started the processional side by side, however, Tabi turned to glance at him.
“What is it, Tabi?”
“Who are you looking at?”
“You, of course. You look positively stunning in that dress.”
Her eyes were grave. “Look to your left.”
He did so, and she said, “Now tell me what color my dress is.”
“Lavender.”
“It's blue.”
He turned back to her with a wry glance, and yes, her dress was, in fact, a pale blue.
“Were you trying to make a point, Tabi?”
“I was mostly curious.”
“About?”
“About who you keep looking at over my shoulder.”
Robert realized at once what he was doing, and he winced. “I'm sorry, Tabi. I didn't even realize what I was doing.”
She tilted her head, gazing at him thoughtfully. It occurred to her that while she might not have any of the famous Martin recklessness, she likely had all their wit and intelligence.
“What's wrong? Thomas has told me a great deal about you, and he never mentioned that you were inclined to melancholy.”
For one mad moment, he wanted to tell Tabi all about it. He wanted to start with how he had been bored out of his mind in London and how he'd come to Westchester looking for something different. He had certainly found it in Lacey, but now it felt as if his reward for seeking the strange and exciting was going to be a broken heart.
Then he realized how utterly insane that would be and shook his head. “I'm fine, I promise. Just a little distracted.”
At her skeptical look, he sighed. “If it's still on my mind, I'll tell you when I see you at Christmas for the Martin family celebration, how's that?”
Tabi nodded, satisfied. “It might be a little quiet this year. Thomas is likely still going to be traveling with his new wife, and Georgiana—”
Before she could tell him what was going on with Georgiana, the dance ended, and she dropped into a deep and very creditable curtsy. At Robert's surprised look, she smiled at him.
“I know what my cousins say about me, but I'm not altogether without graces and skills.”
“They would never say such a thing about you, I swear,” Robert said, escorting her to the sideline. Tabi introduced him to Gwendolyn Larkin, the eldest daughter of the family she was staying with as she did her work, and the Larkin girl, a lissome beauty with striking black eyes, looked at him in a frank and curious way.
Robert returned her smile, but when he realized there was something empty in it, he begged their pardon and took his leave.
Even as he crossed the ballroom, Robert knew that the thing that was missing was Lacey. Gwendolyn Larkin was one of the most beautiful girls at the ball, and whenever she made it to London, she would likely be the ton's new darling, but she wasn't Lacey. Apparently, that meant there was something lacking in her, and Robert felt that same anger rise up in him.
The Winsteads' ballroom was blessed with tall French doors that opened onto their expansive gardens. Tonight, the gardens were lit with lanterns strung up in the trees, giving the garden a rather fairytale feeling. Ignoring the beauty, knowing only that he needed to get his head clear, Robert stalked into the darkness.
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CHAPTER
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My goodness, I don't think I've gone to hide during a ball since I was fourteen.
The thought that she had resorted to the same coping mechanisms that she had used as a teenager was not a pleasing one, and Lacey put it out of her head. If only she could put Robert out of her head as easily.
The problem was that as soon as she squashed down one memory, another came up to take its place, and no matter what she did, she couldn't free herself of the knowledge that their time together was truly over.
Don't be such a silly goose. This is exactly what you wanted. You have absolutely no right to ask him for more.
Of course, it hadn't felt like that when she looked across the Winsteads' gala and saw Robert paired in the dance. Lacey had never thought of herself as a particularly jealous person, but at that moment, it was as if acid poured through her veins. She couldn't stop staring at Robert's lean form squiring the girl—a delicate beauty with stunning auburn hair—around the dance floor.
If she were going to be an utterly fair human being, she would wish him well and understand that she had no hold on him at all. Instead, her nerve broke entirely, and she ended up in the garden, taking in great lungfuls of air as she tried to exorcise the vision of Robert looking down in adoration at that auburn-haired girl.
The Winsteads' garden was lovely in the daytime, and at night, it took on a k
ind dark glamour. Most people kept to the parts lit by the lamps close to the house, but recklessly, Lacey pressed into the darker areas of the garden, where the lights were fewer and the way narrower. She came to rest in a small garden nook containing a sundial, and for a little while, she simply sat on the bench nearby, thinking of nothing, trying not to feel anything at all.
Then footsteps sounded on the gravel path, and when she looked up, she felt her heart beat faster, like a bird fluttering furious wings in her ribcage. Robert looked at her, his face expressionless, and then he crossed the narrow space to come close to her.
“What are you—?”
She gasped as he pulled her into his arms, his eyes as dark as the night around them, and something cruel in the twist of his mouth.
“Seeing as you've had your satisfaction from me, I feel it is only fair that I take mine from you.”
Before Lacey could say anything, Robert's hand came back to cup the back of her neck, and he pulled her in for a deep kiss. Despite the circumstances, she couldn't help but go soft in his embrace, her hands going from warding him off to pulling him closer, her head tilting back to drink in more of this man who touched her like no one else ever had.
I need him, I love him, I need him
The words echoed in her head, and it was like realizing something she had known for a long time. She had no idea when she had fallen in love with Robert, but the fact that she had was as immutable and real as granite. She clung to him, and when he finally broke the kiss, she uttered a soft cry of dismay.
The sardonic look he gave her chilled her blood. “If that is what you are offering, I should have asked for more when we made this bargain. As it is, I am well-satisfied. I'll be leaving for London in the morning.”
“Robert!”
“What is it, Miss Welton? Do you have further work for me? If you do, I warn you that my price has gone up.”
Robert stepped back from her and she felt cold and then hot as his eyes traveled over her from head to toe. When she had been in his arms before, she had felt as if she was flying. This was like being slapped with a handful of mud.
“Robert, stop this at once. Don't you dare make out that this was... was some kind of game.”
“Oh, but it was, Miss Welton, and you have won. May your victory be everything you dreamed it was.”
Lacey felt her heart crack open, and she couldn't stand it anymore. She stepped around him and ran for the house, but she didn't stop there. Instead, she hurriedly told Lady Winstead she was ill and that her mother should proceed home at her own pace. The lady protested, telling her she could stay and sleep in one of the guest rooms, but Lacey shook her head.
“No, Lady Winstead, I feel if I don't get back to my own bed, I shall surely die. If I could just trouble you for the loan of a barouche...”
The light barouche was faster by far than the carriage she had arrived in, and she ached for home. As she left the lights of the Winstead gala, she wondered how in the world she was going to face the morning.
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CHAPTER
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Lacey felt a great swell of relief when the familiar shape of Baling House came into view. It was dark, the servants likely all abed by now, and she told the Winsteads’ coachman that she would be fine at the drive.
Someday, I will marry and this and Mother's title will all be mine.
The thought had never interested her much, but now it took on a positively bleak cast, because whoever she married, it wouldn't be Robert, and that left her feeling as if her heart had gone out of her. She flinched from the memory of his cruelty in the garden, wondering how they had gone from such sweetness a few days ago to this.
She touched the necklace he had given her, smiling ruefully because it was better than crying. It was beautiful, but she would put it and the earrings away. It was more practical than simply dumping them in the stream behind the house, at any rate.
She navigated the halls of Baling House with the ease of lifelong practice, using the moonlight coming through the tall windows to light her way instead of a candle. She was almost to her room when a loud thumping sound startled her.
What in the world can that be? Everyone is meant to be asleep right now
Lacey tried to tell herself that it was just a servant stirring or perhaps some animal outside the window, but she couldn't let it go. Instead, she made her way to the library, where it seemed the sound had originated.
Some instinct prevented her from calling out to see what was going on. Instead, she cracked the door open and stayed in the hall to see what was the matter.
For a moment, she didn't understand what she was seeing. It was Davis, stripped to his shirt sleeves, and he seemed to be building a great and roaring fire in the hearth. At least, he was bringing armloads of wood to the hearth... no, not to the hearth, next to the hearth, and he was dropping the wood on the library carpet.
He's… Oh, god… He's building a path straight from the fire to the books!
She must have made some noise because Davis looked up from his work, letting the wood fall in a scatter around him. In some distant part of her mind, she thought that Mrs. Elinsby, the housekeeper, would be displeased with the mess of bark and dirt, and then she realized what danger they were in.
“Oh. Miss Welton. I didn't imagine you'd be back so soon.”
Despite the bizarre circumstances, Davis was as polite as ever, and somehow that was more chilling.
Lacey swallowed hard.
“I was ill. But, Lord Exter, what are you doing? Is... is this because I rejected your suit?”
He shrugged as if she had asked him his opinion on something utterly inconsequential. “Yes and no, I suppose. It would have been easier if you were willing to fall for my charms, but my talents have never lain in that direction. Not like our father's.”
Lacey stared at him. “Our... father?”
He smiled at her bitterly. “Oh, yes. The previous Lord Baling was a rake of the highest order, and I'm the product of one of his exploits.”
“And... he turned you away?”
Davis’ face momentarily warped to something utterly furious and deranged, but then he smiled again, the same obsequious man she had known.
Dear God, I let him touch me...
“Left my mother with a pension and me with nothing, I'm afraid, and so I came to see if I could claim my inheritance for myself.”
“But I'm your sister!”
“You need never have known, at least not until we were married, and I could arrange a suitably appropriate fate for you.”
Lacey stared at him. “Then... this was all for revenge?”
He had started toward her when they began talking. All that mattered was she got him away from the fire, from the tinderbox of the library. She had to keep him talking.
“Revenge, wealth, satisfaction. I want it all, and you were the little bitch who thought she could deny me.”
Step by step, she lured him out of the library, keeping herself as calm as she could.
“I might have taken your suit a little better if you were a little kinder about it.”
“Kindness means nothing in this world, little sister. Force means more.”
On those words, Davis lunged at her, and she would have been caught if she hadn't been ready. Instead, he managed to tear a bow off her dress as she turned to run, kicking off her slippers as she did so. She could hear him running after her, and she knew he was likely faster than she was. She couldn't beat him over a long distance, but she was fast enough to beat him to the drawing room close by.
Davis was close enough that she couldn't close the door in his face, but she didn't intend to barricade herself against him. Instead, Lacey lunged for the bell pull, which would ring a sonorous bell in the servants' quarters. She grabbed the bell
and gave it several hard tugs, knowing it was making a clamor where the servants slept.
Please, please let it be enough.
Davis’ hands closed over her shoulders, dragging her back from the cord, and she screamed, ready to strike him with all the strength she had. Instead, he folded his hand over her mouth and started dragging her back to the library, where the fire raged on.
“You're done, little sister. And so am I.”
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CHAPTER
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Robert had it in his head to leave for London that night. Anything he had, including his horse, could be sent for, and he could spend the night in an inn on the road. However, that smacked of cowardice to him; at the very least, it sounded like what Davis was doing, and the thought rankled.
I need to see Lacey one more time. I can't let it end like this with us.
He didn't know quite what he was going to say, nor did he really know what he expected from her, but to have his last view of her be what he had seen in the garden hurt too much. He needed to get back to Baling House, and Tabi provided the solution.
“Gwendolyn is thick with the Winstead girls. She can get you a horse if you need one.”
It was against propriety, but no one was looking, so he pulled her in for a hug.
“Thank you, Tabi. I'll pay you back if I can.”
He set out toward Baling House on the back of a splendid chestnut mare, and as he rode, he thought of what he could say, what he could do that would make Lacey understand why they deserved more than a farce of an engagement. Finally, he had to shake his head.
The Marquess' Angel_Hart and Arrow_A Regency Romance Book Page 27