The Rogue's Revenge

by Lucy E. Zahnle

  Amaryllis snapped her fingers. "That for Society, my dear. I am extremely fond of Cousin Robin and I will not forsake him, regardless of the ton's opinion."

  "That is exceeding gallant of you, my lady!"

  "You must call me Ryl, my dear. Everyone does. I am so looking forward to our shopping expedition tomorrow. Valeria and I shall call for you at ten o'clock sharp. I suppose that seems rather early, but I loathe the afternoon crowds."

  "Lady Malkent still wants to come?"

  Ryl searched her face. "I hope that meets with your approval?"

  "Yes! Yes! It is just that, well, I thought that the countess might not wish to be -- that is, considering the past, she would hardly welcome my company -- " Lucia faltered.

  Standing behind the ladies, Lynkellyn bowed stiffly to Sir William. "I would like to apologize for this morning's contre-temps, my lord. Mountheathe and I do not rub well together."

  Blayne gave him a hard, contemptuous glare. "He has a right to be angry, Rogue. You shamed his family and usurped his legacy. Giles was counting heavily on that inheritance."

  "Nothing is absolute in life, mon ami. Personal experience has taught me that. One day I was a fashionable young buck with a family, a fortune, and a future; the next day -- " Robin's voice trailed away significantly and he shrugged. "Ten years later, I am a fine gentleman able to command every luxury once again."

  "But Society despises you."

  "C'est vrai! However, since I detest Society quite as heartily, it cannot matter overmuch, n'est-ce pas?"

  "Ostracism doesn't bother you?" Blayne was incredulous.

  "Why should I wish to be among people who hold me in suspicion and contempt? As soon as Mountheathe pronounces himself satisfied with the legality of my marriage, Lucia and I shall wish a swift and eager farewell to London. And to your damned Society!" Robin spoke the last few words through gritted teeth.

  Another knock sounded at the door. Robin opened it to greet the Malkents. If the Blaynes' presence in Lynkellyn's box had set the ton abuzz, Lord and Lady Malkent's appearance stunned it into profound silence for a full thirty seconds; then a thunder of voices rolled through the theater.

  Robin welcomed his visitors, bowing formally as a restrained Valeria curtsied and moved toward the ladies. Malkent nodded, eyeing Amberley with distaste.

  Robin spun his quizzing glass lazily upon its ribbon. "This evening is full of unexpected pleasures, my lord," he drawled. "I find your visit most remarkable, considering our present antagonism. If I were a suspicious man, I would wonder what motivates such goodwill."

  "Only a desire to indulge my wife, Rogue. Valeria will drag me into your company," Tracy said.

  Blayne nodded. "Ryl is just as eager! Like a moth to a flame!"

  "I shall not scorch anyone, messieurs; however, if you want your ladies to give up what even I must concede is a potentially disastrous reacquaintance with the Amberley family, I shall insult them -- loudly. You will all be properly outraged at such treatment and depart in an affronted fury, never to acknowledge Lucia or me again! A good plan, n'est-ce pas?"

  "Ryl wouldn't give you up even then. Feels she owes you her loyalty for saving her in the woods or some such," Sir William sighed.

  Robin stiffened suddenly, his eyes hooded. "Mais oui! That incident. I had almost forgotten. So long ago. She owes me nothing and so you may tell her. I merely warned the fellow away from her."

  "Saved her in the woods? What fellow?" Malkent's interest was caught.

  Robin did not speak and Blayne was left to take up the story. "When she was a schoolgirl at home on holiday, Ryl was playing hide-and-seek in the woods and some blackguard accosted her. The Rogue rescued her."

  Malkent turned to Robin. "Well? What happened? Who was it?"

  "It is Amaryllis's story, not mine. I will reveal nothing without her permission."

  Tracy lifted a brow and looked at Sir William, who shrugged. "I have pleaded and bribed. I cannot get a name out of her," he said. "She says it will only stir up hard feelings if I know and she's right. I'd have the bastard's head on a platter!"

  Valeria's voice wafted into the gentlemen's conversation. "Look for us at ten, then, Lucia."

  Lucia's answering smile encompassed both ladies. "I shall be ready."

  "We had better return to our seats. The second act is about to begin." Ryl's satin gown whispered as she rose. Pressing Lucia's hand, she moved toward Lynkellyn, smiling. "I am overjoyed to have you home, Robin. You and Lucia must call on us soon. She is a wonderful girl. Much too good for you."

  "With that I concur, ma belle. Let us hope she never finds someone worthy of her. I daresay she'd leave me without a backward glance."

  Amaryllis tapped his chest playfully with her fan. "As if she ever would."

  The Blaynes departed while Robin and Lucia were bidding farewell to the Malkents. Valeria had passed through the door and Lucia had resumed her seat when Tracy muttered to Robin, "I would speak to you privately, Rogue."

  Amberley lifted a surprised brow. "très bien. Call on me tomorrow after the ladies have departed. Around half past ten."

  "I will be there." Bowing, Tracy went back to his box.

  As the curtain rose on the second act, polite London fidgeted, anxious for the performance to end. The Duke and Duchess of Lynkellyn had enacted a much more riveting spectacle than any on the stage and elegant tongues were eager to spread the tale.

  Chapter 12:

  In Which Malkent Demands An Explanation and Her Grace Wins Her First Campaign

  Having already eaten, Robin was closeted in the ballroom with his new Italian fencing master when Lucia sat down to breakfast. She sipped her tea and nibbled at a scone, nervously anticipating Lady Blayne's arrival.

  As odd as it seemed, Amaryllis appeared to want her for a friend. She had never had a friend before. When she had tried to play with other children as a girl, her mother whisked her away, telling her to trust no one. As she grew older, she learned well how to keep people at arm's length while she charmed their money into her pocket. It had been a staple of survival. Now, as an adult, she only vaguely understood what a friend was and hadn't the slightest idea how to be or acquire one.

  Indeed, the whole concept of friendship made her uneasy. She could never trust anyone enough to allow such a potentially perilous intimacy. Even now, she feared to find Lady Blayne's social dagger thrust into her ribs.

  When the ladies arrived, Lucia joined them in the Blayne carriage, a purse full of Robin's guineas in her reticule. The footman the duke had assigned as her escort leaped onto the back of the coach and it rumbled away toward Bond Street.

  ***

  Her grace's army of servants had yet to penetrate to the ballroom where a valiant sun struggled to shine through ceiling- high windows caked with grime. Dust devils danced through tangled footprints on the dirty floor and the musty smell of rotting velvet hung over the room.

  A ringing clash of swords echoed off the walls as Laddock showed Tracy into the room. Settling in a dusty chair, the earl watched Robin and his opponent duel with frantic precision. Robin had dispensed with his coat, waistcoat, and boots, tossing them onto a chair. Muted sunlight streamed through the dirty windows, glinting on his loose copper tresses as he danced around his adversary in his stockinged feet. Despite the Italian's obvious skill with a sword, the duke slowly, but inexorably forced him back. After a quicksilver succession of parries, feints, and thrusts, the fencing master found his back to the wall. With a sudden twist of the wrist, Robin sent his opponent's sword skittering across the floor, leaving an odd pattern in the dust. Amberley pressed the protected point of his foil against his antagonist's heart and tossed the weapon aside. The defeated man stared at him, open- mouthed, for a moment then laughed, breaking into an excited stream of Italian.

  The fencing master crossed the room to retrieve his sword. Amberley answered him in the same tongue, lazy amusement tempering his tones. After a few minutes of conversation, the Italian said with an apologetic smi
le, "Please, Your Grace, could we not speak English? I need to practice it even though I am happy to speak my own beloved tongue with a compaesano."

  "Very well, Giovanni," Robin said, switching easily to English, "but you are mistaken. I am an Englishman."

  Giovanni stared at him incredulously. "You speak my language very beautiful, Your Grace! You have visit Italia?"

  "I lived there for a time. You have the advance I paid you?" Robin briskly changed the subject as he tossed the fencing master a towel.

  "Your Grace, I -- I cannot take your money."

  "Indeed?" Robin's eyes hardened to granite. "Something is wrong with my gold?"

  "No, Your Grace! No!" Giovanni took a step back. "It is only that I can teach you nothing. My skill is -- how you say -- not so good like yours. Realmente, I would be pleased to have you teach me."

  "You are still a challenging opponent, Giovanni, and I need a practice partner. If you enter my service, however, I must be your only patron. You will wait upon me at my whim and travel with me when I go to the country or abroad. Naturellement, I am prepared to pay you well." Robin offered him an extremely generous sum.

  Giovanni's mouth dropped open in amazement. "So much money, Your Grace! It is too much for merely a practice partner!"

  Robin lifted a brow.

  "Very well, Your Grace!" Giovanni said. "I accept. Thank you! Thank you, Your Grace."

  "You will earn every penny, je vous assure. That will be all for today," Robin said.

  Giovanni donned his clothes, gathered his equipment, bowed to Lynkellyn, and was gone.

  As Robin took a black riband off his pile of clothing and brought it up beneath his auburn locks, he saw Malkent sitting in the shadows.

  "Tracy." he drawled, tying a reckless bow at the nape of his neck. "Pardonnez moi! I forgot you were to call. Giovanni's arrival drove all else from my head."

  Tracy watched Robin move about the room, collecting stray blades. "Your swordplay has certainly improved over the years, Rogue."

  "A skill necessary to my survival. If you will excuse me, Tracy, I would like to change clothes before our interview. I am devilish damp. Laddock will show you to the library and I will join you presently." He rang the servant's bell by the door and Laddock entered a minute later. "Please show his lordship to the library, Laddock. Would you care for some refreshment, Tracy?"

  "A cup of tea would be welcome."

  "très bien. Laddock, bring a tea tray to the library in half an hour."

  Laddock ushered Malkent into the library and left. The quiet room was graciously comfortable with soft, dark carpets and overstuffed chairs upholstered in shining leather. Polished cherry tables reflected the sunshine streaming through spotless windows. A massive desk, piled high with ledgers, sat at one end of the room. Two account books lay open, awaiting Robin's return.

  Tracy sat for a moment, listening to Laddock's footsteps recede. His exploring eyes strayed to the cluttered desk, then resolutely looked away to study the floor to ceiling volumes that covered the far wall.

  Finally, his curiosity overcoming his sense of propriety, Tracy rose and strolled casually to the desk. One glance at the open account books informed him that the contents of an older ledger were being transferred to a new one with mathematical corrections. A pile of notes written in French lay next to the ledgers. Tracy picked up the first paper, endeavoring to decipher the reckless hand.

  "I am gratified that you are so interested in my affairs, my lord," Robin said as he sauntered into the room. Elegant in velvet and lace, he looked altogether a different creature from the swashbuckling duelist of the ballroom.

  Tracy jerked around guiltily. "I was only..."

  "They're merely ledgers, Tracy! Quite dull, je vous assure!" Robin closed the books with finality and stacked them with the others.

  "Rumor has it you've already run through eighty thousand pounds in the month since you've been in London," Tracy said. "No doubt you are looking for new ways to milk your estates!"

  "Do you accept rumors so readily, then? I have not found it to be a sound practice." Robin took a chair, waving Tracy to another. "I trust only my own eyes and ears. Much more reliable."

  Tracy sank into his chair. "I had this information from Giles."

  "Mon cher cousin!" Robin laughed hollowly. "Worst possible source."

  "Damnation, Rogue! Just tell me where the eighty thousand went."

  Amberley's smile faded. "I know of no reason why I should, my lord. You have no legal, moral, or personal hold over me. To put it bluntly, sir, 'tis not your business to inquire into mine."

  Laddock entered, set a tea tray down on a table, and bowed himself out. Robin poured the tea and handed Tracy a cup. Malkent sipped his tea and set it down. "You lost all that money in some gaming hell or other, didn't you? You never could gamble, Rogue. Why won't you tell me the truth? No need to be ashamed of your shortcomings. Devil take it, I'm your friend."

  "Non, mon cher! You are not my friend. You were never my friend, i' truth." His tea untouched, Robin rose to prowl the room like a caged tiger, halting at last in front of the earl. "My friend would have accepted my word regarding my innocence! If you truly felt you couldn't trust me where Val was concerned, Tracy, you could have at least tried to verify my story. You could have made some inquiries regarding my presence at the posting inns along the Great North Road. The shade of my hair is quite distinctive and I had not powdered it that day. Believe me, I would have been remembered. Did you ask Tulley, the landlord at the Crown and Thistle, whether it was Giles or I who had arrived in the carriage with Valeria? Did you ask any questions at all? Non, naturellement! That would have required some effort on your part."

  Robin stalked back to his tea, gulping down the lukewarm liquid as he struggled to control his mounting temper. Calmer, he faced Tracy again. "Much easier for you, for everyone, to dismiss my claims and shame me into exile. I was a mere younger son, after all. A wastrel! A libertine of no consequence. Giles Bridland, in contrast, was wealthy. Titled. Respected. Certainly not the sort of man who would abduct a virtuous young woman! Certainly not the sort of man who, fearing the hand of justice, would hiss out a lie to save his own sanctimonious skin!" Robin's voice was thick with bitter fury and his teacup shook. "My peers! My supposed friends! My family! You all eagerly took the path of least resistance. Believed the worst of me, despite all my pleas and protestations of innocence. You never even gave me a fair hearing, Tracy. Bah! Vous n'êtes pas mon ami!"

  Robin's condemning eyes bored into Tracy's as Malkent searched for an answer to his accusations in uncomfortable silence. "If you truly are innocent, Rogue, I am sorry," Tracy said. "I simply cannot believe Giles would ever abduct anyone. The man goes to church faithfully every Sunday and he's founded any number of charities over the years since you left. I attended the opening ceremonies of an orphanage he was funding just last month."

  "Trying to atone for his sins, no doubt," Robin muttered. "I suppose my innocence in Val's case no longer matters. I've committed a thousand darker deeds since I left England."

  "Ending with the victimization of that poor governess in order to steal Mountheathe's money. Or are you, too, going to insist that the pair of you are in love?"

  Robin grinned ruefully. "I had been drinking a little too deeply the night we met at the Pelican, my lord. I should never have told you about Lucia."

  "Then the story you told me that evening was the true one? You coerced that poor girl into wedding you? And you are -- husband and wife?"

  "In every sense of the phrase." Robin took the chair next to Tracy's and stretched out his long legs, crossing them at the ankles. "How else will I beget a child so I can hold on to Grandpapa's fortune and have my revenge on mon cher cousin?"

  The thought of the Rogue forcing himself on his sweet little duchess, then insisting that she lie to the world about loving him infuriated Tracy. His mouth became a grim line of condemnation. "Then why are you fostering this myth of a run-away love match?"

&n
bsp; "A whim!" Robin shrugged. "A futile desire to appear a little less villainous than the truth suggests, I suppose."

  "And do you really think people are going to believe you?"

  Robin sighed. "I' truth, Tracy, they may believe what they like. I just want to go home. It has been so long since I've seen the Castle. I wish Giles would accept the legitimacy of my marriage so Lucia and I could leave this accursed city."

  "Eager to quit London, are you? I'll wager you already have a bevy of creditors nipping at your heels!"

  "What is it you want, Malkent? I told you that I would not thrust myself into your presence and I meant it. Yet you seem to be everywhere I am. If the purpose of this visit is to issue threats or offer bribes, I do not yield to intimidation and nothing you could offer can compare to what I already have."

  "I want to see justice done, regarding Mountheathe..."

  "As do I!"

  "...before you run through his fortune!" Tracy said. "How could you possibly spend eighty thousand pounds in one month?"

  "So we're back to that, are we? It took one, maybe two minutes at the most. I signed my name and the money was gone." Robin shrugged. "It was amazingly easy."

  "I'm certain it was." Tracy sneered.

  "My banker was rather astonished, though."

  "Your -- banker?"

  "When I paid off my mortgages, Tracy. I've satisfied all the claims against the ducal properties. I want to begin my new life free of debt. As usual, Giles only told you half the truth!"

  "Oh!" Tracy said, subdued, but he rallied after a short silence. "And the governess?"

  "Is my responsibility. As my wife, she shall lack for nothing."

  "Except love!"

  Robin shrugged. "Love has never brought me anything but grief. Enfin, she's better off without it."

  ***

  Lucia stared uncomfortably at her lap as Amaryllis and Valeria settled beside her in the Blayne carriage. The amount of money she had just spent on dresses staggered her. She could remember a time not so long ago when she had starved for the lack of a few pennies.