MISTRESS TO THE MARQUIS

by Margaret McPhee

  ‘Speak up, young man,’ Soames said in a loud voice. ‘Can’t hear a word you are saying.’

  A chuckle rippled round the table, all the more so given that Raggett was sixty if he was a day.

  ‘Every year we invite someone special to present the awards to each of our gentlemen and this present year is no exception. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Gentlemen, please put your hands together and welcome straight from the stage of Covent Garden’s Theatre Royal...’

  Razeby knew what was coming yet he felt the anticipation of just hearing her name spear through his blood.

  ‘...the delightful Miss Alice Sweetly,’ finished Raggett.

  Every man at the table got to his feet and applauded as Alice swept into the room.

  She was dressed in the same pale-green silk evening dress as he had seen her wear a hundred times. A dress that complimented her fair colouring. The bodice was low, but not indecently so, fastened in the centre with a line of pearl buttons that he was most adept at unfastening.

  The light from the overhead chandelier cast golden tones in the dark blonde of her hair. She had not followed the fashion, trying to curl her hair and wear it up in a mass of flowing ringlets. She had told him so many times that her hair defied all attempts to hold a curl, no matter how tightly she tied the rags in it or how long she left them in place. She wore it in its usual simple style, caught back in a simple chignon. And tonight she would pluck those pins from it and uncoil it to hang loose and free down her back in long silky straight lengths. With deliberate control he turned his mind away from that image.

  Raggett announced each award in turn, then read the name of the winner from the list, before passing the appropriate small silver cup to Alice. It was Alice who presented the cup to each winner, brushing a light kiss against each man’s cheek.

  He felt his stomach curl with anticipation. He tried not to think of it. It was just an award. Alice had been his mistress, nothing more. The sex had been amazing. She had been amazing. But that was over, done with. Or so he told himself. And he was taking Miss Longley out in his curricle in the morning. Doing what had to be done. He should just propose, move things on faster.

  ‘The Marquis of Razeby.’ Raggett’s voice brought him back to himself.

  He got to his feet, walked the length of the table to where she stood. And he couldn’t take his eyes from her. She was so self-contained, so radiant and golden, exuding that same strange paradoxical play of shyness and confidence that had enticed him right from the very start. And as he walked towards her, her eyes watched him with that same calm which did not quite cover the teasing playfulness he knew lurked beneath.

  ‘Congratulations, Lord Razeby,’ she said in that sweet, soft, sexy voice. It stroked against his ear, rippled down the length of his spine, straight down into his breeches.

  ‘Miss Sweetly,’ he said in a voice that was nothing more than polite, but the hint of a smile played about his lips as much as it played about hers.

  She knew what she was doing to him. Her smile broadened as she passed the silver cup into his hands, the tips of her fingers so close to his that his own tingled as if she had stroked against them, when in truth they did not touch. He could smell her perfume, the familiar clean scent of her, making his heart beat faster and stoking the heat all the hotter in his blood. Triggering memories he could not stop: Alice in his arms, Alice naked beneath him on the bed.

  She had kissed all of the others. Her eyes held his with that hint of mischief and he knew that she was going to kiss him. And, God help him, he wanted it so much, even standing there while half the members of White’s looked on.

  She leaned closer, tilting her face up to his, her eyes holding his all the while. And he could feel the speed of his heart and the driving urge to move his mouth and take hers with all the force of what was crackling between them. She smiled as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

  Her breath was warm against his cheek, the brush of her lips soft and hinting at so much more. All of which he knew, all of which he longed for.

  His fingers tightened around the cup. ‘Miss Sweetly,’ he said in a low husky voice.

  He saw the way her smile deepened and he smiled, too. Sharing this moment. Like so many they had shared before. As if there were only the two of them in the room. As if nothing else mattered. As if there were only light in his life.

  It was with a supreme effort of willpower that he managed to turn away and give his thanks to those assembled in the room before resuming his seat. But after it was done he kept his eyes on her for every last moment, until she walked from the room with that sexy little wiggle he knew too well.

  Alice Sweetly, you minx! And he smiled again and felt a glow in his heart.

  * * *

  ‘Razeby was at Almack’s again last night.’ Within Alice’s little parlour two days later, Sara announced the fact without so much as a glance in Alice’s direction.

  Alice should have been glad of it because it meant that she really was fine over Razeby and all of them knew it. But the words did not engender gladness. Rather it felt like a hand had tightened around her heart.

  ‘Was he?’ She concentrated on pouring the tea. Part of her did not want to hear how Razeby was getting on in his search for a woman to marry and part longed to know every damn detail. She did not ask the question but Sara told her the answer any way.

  ‘He danced with Miss Penny, Miss Lewis, Lady Persephone Hollingsworth.’ She counted the names on her fingers as she rhymed them off. ‘Miss Jamison, and twice with...’ she paused for effect ‘...Admiral Faversham’s daughter, who is quite considered the catch of the Season.’

  ‘Was Fallingham there,’ Ellen asked, all sweetness, ‘making a list of Razeby’s partners for you?’ She sipped at her tea, a picture of innocence, but Alice was not fooled. It both gladdened and worried her.

  ‘Only because his crowd were all there. It’s not as if he’s bride hunting. He’ll not be looking to settle down for ages yet.’ Sara could not quite keep the defensive tone from her voice.

  ‘You hope,’ murmured Tilly beneath her breath.

  ‘What was that?’ Sara snapped. ‘I didn’t quite catch what you said.’

  ‘I didn’t say nothing, it was just a bit of wind. Tea don’t half make me burp.’ Tilly shot a smile at Alice.

  Alice shook her head and barely suppressed the grin.

  ‘They’re saying that Miss Faversham has quite set her mind on him.’

  ‘She ain’t got a chance in hell,’ said Tilly.

  ‘She’s an heiress,’ retorted Sara.

  ‘She’d have to be,’ said Ellen. ‘She’s got a backside on her the size of a horse and a face to match.’

  Tilly sniggered.

  ‘He’d have to be blind to go for her,’ Ellen said.

  ‘It’s about breeding and money,’ protested Sara.

  ‘Just like a horse,’ said Tilly with a giggle.

  ‘Enough, girls,’ Alice said with a chuckle.

  But when her friends finally left and the maids came in to remove the used tea tray, the image of Razeby dancing with all of those women, one of whom would be his wife, lingered.

  For all the teasing and the jest, she knew what Ellen and Tilly had been doing—trying to protect her. As if she needed protecting! As if she were hurting from the split with Razeby! She felt mortified just at the thought, and a determination to prove to them otherwise, that it was just as she said, Razeby had never meant anything serious to her.

  A vision of him sneaked into her mind. Standing before her at White’s, with those smouldering brown eyes that sent spirals darting through her body. And it was as if she felt again the rasp of his cheek beneath her lips and smelled the scent of him in her nose. And felt that sense of heady power. And despite everything, she smiled at the memory. She could not help herself.

  It was a very dangerous line she was walking. A knife edge, just like being on stage at the theatre. Avoiding avoidance. Temptation—for him and ma
ybe even for her. Showing him what he could not have. But she could not turn back from it. Not when there was still clearly work to be done.

  Chapter Ten

  Within Lady Hadley’s stifling ballroom a few days later, Razeby and Linwood were standing by the glass doors that led out into the back garden, breathing in the draft of cool air.

  ‘How goes your search?’ Linwood asked.

  ‘Well enough.’

  ‘Almack’s, matchmaking, picnics and balls... You have been busy.’ Linwood paused. ‘And yet you do not appear to have narrowed down the field.’

  ‘Keeping my options open.’ Razeby took a sip of champagne.

  Linwood gave a nod of understanding. ‘White’s betting book has Miss Faversham as the favourite.’

  Razeby said nothing.

  ‘With Lady Esme Fraser as a close second.’

  ‘There are better alliances for Razeby out there.’

  ‘Maybe, but it seems you find a reason to reject every suitable woman who comes your way.’ Linwood held his glass up to the light and examined it.

  Razeby felt the slight tension in his jaw. ‘Nonsense.’

  ‘Indeed, one might almost think that your heart was not in it, Razeby.’

  His heart...? Razeby thought of Alice at White’s. Of the mischievous look in her eyes, of the caress of her breath and the warm tease of her lips. He thought of her in Dryden’s and of that heart-stopping moment in Hyde Park. All the tension that rippled between them. And the way he felt when he saw her, when he was with her, when he touched her. He pushed the memories away, crushed the feelings that were coursing through his mind and body, knowing they were something he could not allow.

  ‘What has heart to do with it?’ he said grimly. ‘It is about consolidating positions, about power and money, and safeguarding the future. Duty, my friend, nothing else. We all know that.’

  ‘And Alice?’

  ‘Alice has nothing to do with it.’ He said it too quickly. ‘It is over between us.’ If he said it enough times maybe he would come to believe it.

  ‘So you keep saying,’ said Linwood. ‘But from where I was sitting in White’s the other night, it looked anything but over.’

  ‘You are mistaken.’

  Linwood said nothing, just looked at him.

  ‘We are both adults. We both understand how these things work. ‘

  Still Linwood said nothing.

  ‘Hell, Linwood! We still move in the same circles. What do you expect? That we should snub one another? Alice is not like that. I am not like that.’

  ‘So it would seem.’ Linwood raised his eyebrows by the tiniest degree. ‘And you do get to forgo Almack’s tomorrow.’

  ‘I am the charity’s patron, for heaven’s sake! I can hardly miss their benefit ball. It is just unfortunate that it happens to coincide with Almack’s.’

  ‘Most unfortunate,’ agreed Linwood with his usual deadpan expression, but Razeby knew exactly what his friend was thinking.

  And the problem was Linwood was not far wrong.

  * * *

  ‘Are you sure about this, Alice?’ Venetia set the fan back down upon the dressing table in Alice’s bedchamber.

  ‘Frew has invited me and it’s for a very good cause.’ Alice pushed the last hairpin into place and turned away from the peering glass to look at her friend. ‘The Benevolent Society for the Assistance of the Unfortunate and Homeless of London.’

  ‘You do know that Razeby is their patron.’

  ‘Of course I know.’

  ‘And that as such he will be there tonight.’

  ‘I can’t let that stop me. If I avoided every place I thought he’d be, I’d never set foot outside the door.’

  ‘Alice...’

  ‘What?’ She tried to look all innocent. ‘It’s the truth!’ And it was, just not all of it.

  ‘You do not have to do this.’

  Alice met her friend’s eyes directly. ‘Yes,’ she said firmly. ‘I do, Venetia. If I avoid him, what message does it send all of London? I’ll not turn away from a single situation.’

  ‘Proving to the world that he did not hurt you?’

  Proving to herself. Proving to him. That was what this was about.

  ‘Or punishing him by showing him just what he has lost?’ Venetia asked.

  ‘Maybe a bit of both. I’m not afraid to face him, Venetia.’

  ‘You are not afraid of much, Alice Flannigan.’ Venetia’s eyes held hers. ‘I heard you beat him at Dryden’s.’

  ‘I beat them all,’ Alice said carefully.

  ‘At vingt-et-un,’ pointed out Venetia. ‘Razeby’s game.’

  ‘So?’ Alice gave a shrug, but she knew Venetia understood something of the game’s significance between them.

  ‘You are playing dangerously with him.’

  ‘We always played dangerously, me and Razeby.’

  ‘Such games do not always turn out the way we think.’ Venetia’s warning, though veiled, was unmistakable.

  ‘Maybe not, but sometimes for the sake of our pride we have to play them,’ Alice said and met Venetia’s gaze. ‘I’m getting on with my life, Venetia. I’ll not let Razeby get in the way of that. And if, along the way, he’s made to feel just a tiny bit of regret, is that such a very bad thing?’

  ‘As long as you know what you are doing, Alice.’

  ‘I do, trust me. I’ll flirt with him just the same as the others. But it doesn’t mean anything. Honest.’ She gave a grin. ‘Well, maybe I’ll flirt with the others just that bit more to annoy him!’ She pressed a swift kiss to Venetia’s cheek.

  ‘Alice Flannigan, you are an incorrigible woman.’

  Alice laughed. ‘I’ll say it now because I can’t say it once we’re at the ball. Enjoy the evening. Dance with Linwood until your head’s dizzy. It really is for a good cause. Had there been a similar charity in Dublin years ago, it would have saved my mam a lot of trouble. Being homeless with thirteen mouths to feed isn’t much fun.’

  ‘I hope you enjoy yourself, too, Alice.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll be doing that, all right. You needn’t worry on that account.’

  ‘Will you be all right with Frew?’

  ‘I know how to deal with Frew. He’ll be getting a few dances and not a thing more.’

  The two of them laughed, knowing that Alice could more than handle herself.

  * * *

  The ballroom was crowded. Alice caught sight of Venetia and Linwood standing talking with Linwood’s parents, Lord and Lady Misbourne, and Venetia saw her, but they could not give any acknowledgement, or even appear to notice one another. Ton and demi-monde. Two different worlds indeed, even if they were standing only a few yards apart in the same room.

  Alice was wearing a new dress from Madame Boisseron. It had cost a small fortune, much more than Alice would ever normally have paid for a dress, but she had bought it, and a few others, with the winnings from her card game. The skirt was plain ivory silk, the bodice was gold silk, suggestively cut and fitted, but without even a hint of cleavage on display. The dressmaker had said that it would make every man that looked at it unable to take his eyes from her, which, judging from Frew’s reaction, seemed to have been an accurate prediction.

  It had small gold sleeves that were really just two bands of silk framing her fully exposed, naked shoulders. She wore not so much as a ribbon or a necklace, neither a bracelet nor a ring, and yet Madame Boisseron had been right to say the dress was designed to be worn this way, without a single item of adornment. Alice had known it the moment she looked at herself in the peering glass. And she knew it now from the way every gentleman in the room was looking at her. And the way Venetia raised her eyebrows and sent her a secret smile.

  Razeby was dancing with some respectable young lady across the dance floor. Alice told herself it did not matter. Every man in Razeby’s position had to do the same, eventually. It was just as he had said—he had a duty to marry and provide an heir. She ignored the stab of jealousy and moved her mind to mor
e pleasant thoughts.

  She glanced across at Frew, and the fact that he so clearly thought himself so handsome and a gift to all of womankind made her want to chuckle; he set not a single firework alight in Alice’s arsenal.

  ‘You are looking especially beautiful tonight, Miss Sweetly,’ he said.

  ‘You’re too kind, Mr Frew.’

  ‘My given name is Edward.’ His eyes stared deeply into hers, affecting a smoulder that at best appeared contrived, and at worst as if he had contracted an ocular complaint.

  ‘How interesting, Mr Frew.’ She smiled.

  Razeby would have laughed at the response. Frew just looked slightly aggrieved.

  She refrained from teasing him further and resigned herself to a very dull evening in his company. ‘So what was that poem you recited in the Green Room the other night?’

  ‘I wrote it just for you, Miss Sweetly.’ Frew began to recite the flowery words again, but Wordsworth had nothing to worry about. After two verses she knew that if Frew made one more reference to long thrusting swords and softly dewed maidens she would not be able to keep a straight face.

  Halfway through the dance his hand took hers and their steps led them to exchange places. It was the point she had been waiting for. She glanced again towards Razeby, whispering his name in her mind as if to call him.

  Razeby’s eyes moved to meet hers, as if answering her call. She watched his gaze drop to her dress and sweep over it before coming back up to her face. She held his gaze, gave him a small teasing smile. Nice? it asked.

  Very nice, indeed! His eyes answered with an unmistakable interest.