"'Twas at her side that I realized I have a gift for languages. I discovered that if I immerse myself in any given language for a month or so, I can master it well enough to pass for a native. I also realized, within a fortnight's time, that I was in love with her."
Robin had been staring at the far wall as he related his tale, but a movement on Tracy's part caused him to look around. Malkent's countenance was frozen with shock. "You certainly were not contemplating marriage with a -- a -- " He wrinkled his aristocratic nose in distaste.
Robin smiled. "You did not see Angelina, my lord. She set my senses afire, stirred my blood in such a way -- I had never felt so passionately drawn to a woman before. I suspect now that once I had bedded her, I would have lost interest, but there was no one to tell me it was mere infatuation and, since my family had turned its back on me, I felt no loyalty to my aristocratic heritage. I was no longer Lord Robert Amberley, but Antonio the highwayman and I was in love."
"I spent many heavenly hours with her, drinking in her smiles while I strengthened my Italian. I brought her gifts of jewelry, money, and finery purloined during my nightly forays on the public roads and she accepted them with predictable alacrity." Robin's lip curled. "After a month had passed, she allowed me to kiss her. Within another fortnight, I asked her father for her hand."
"What happened to your pride, man? Your sense of your own worth? The grandson of the Duke of Lynkellyn and a common tavern wench? You might take her to bed, perhaps, but take her to wife? 'Tis unheard of!"
"The Duke of Lynkellyn had informed me quite clearly and vehemently that I was no longer his grandson!" Robin snarled.
Hearing the anger in the Rogue's voice, Tracy quickly urged him back to his tale. "What was her father's answer?"
"He said he would have to consider my proposal. I took to the highway that night as usual, hunting new riches for my Angelina." Robin's eyes darkened with pain and he plucked at his blankets with anxious fingers.
Tracy tensed, watching him. "You speak as if you may still love this Angelina!"
"Non, mon ami! Non!" Robin laughed bitterly. "Angelina long ago cured me of love. I find lust to be much more honest and forthright. That was what I really felt for ma petite Italienne after all, although I was too inexperienced, despite my raking in London, to know it." He took a deep, shuddering breath and ran his fingers through his sweaty copper locks. "Mon Dieu! I need some brandy!"
"Both the doctor and Her Grace have stated firmly that you are to have no spirits," Malkent said. "Did Angelina turn you down?"
"Ha! If it had only been that!" Robin's fists clenched.
"While I was stabling my horse after my night's work, I heard Angelina call my name. She was standing in the doorway, bathed in lantern light, looking so lovely. She said her family had come to a decision about my proposal. As she spoke, the innkeeper and his three sons loomed out of the shadows. I stared at them, nonplussed, as she told me that she was betrothed to a rich old farmer from a nearby village and had only encouraged my attentions to win a wager she had made with her brothers. She said that she would never seriously consider marriage with a penniless brigand and called me a fool for daring to raise my eyes to her. Then she laughed. 'Twas the ugliest sound I've ever heard.
"Her father and brothers rushed at me and grabbed me, determined, as they said, to teach me my place. Kicking and punching me as they went, they dragged me over to a support post with a ring embedded in it a few inches above my head. Threading a rope through the ring, they bound my wrists to the post so that I was facing away from them and ripped the back of my shirt open. Then -- then they -- they took turns horse -- horsewhipping me." Robin's voice broke on a ragged, sobbing breath, his eyes dark and moist with the agony of his humiliating memories. "The torture went on for an eternity. I faded in and out of consciousness so often that I could no longer track the passage of time. The ripping, burning bite of the whip was my whole world.
"Around the edge of the post I could see Angelina, her eyes glowing lasciviously as they followed the flight of the whip. I heard her laughing -- laughing. Her derision filled my ears, lashing me, searing me inside until my heart resembled the bloody mass of raw flesh that my back had become." Robin halted his narrative, staring into the candle's flickering shadows, his hands clenching convulsively on the hem of his blanket.
"And then?" Tracy prodded gently after a long, bitter silence.
"Then, mon ami, they cut me down and beat me with their fists," Robin said almost casually. "The last thing I remember before blackness overwhelmed me is Angelina's laughter and the humiliating, excruciating impact of her boot against my face. That I shall never, never forget." He lapsed into a brooding silence for several tense moments.
Malkent pulled a silver flask from his pocket and offered it to Robin.
"What's this?" he asked in surprise.
"Brandy! We both need a drink after a tale like that!"
Robin drank deeply and returned the flask to the earl who did the same. "Now what of the duel and your 'startling information' about Mountheathe?" Lynkellyn asked.
After Tracy related the tale of Giles's tree-climbing cutthroat, Robin's eyes searched his face. "You believe the man was aiming particularly for me?"
"Yes. The motive could not have been robbery. We had him outnumbered four to one. He wouldn't have had a chance against all of us. So why would he bother to attack us at all unless he wanted to target someone in particular? Both Bellefield and I were closer to him, but he didn't try for either of us. Why? The only explanation is that he specifically wanted to hit either you or your man and I don't think your servant is likely to have any enemies that dedicated. I have not told you the most shocking and intriguing part, however. I caught the brigand for a brief time and, before he twisted out of my grip, he told me that Mountheathe had paid him to kill you!"
Robin fell back against his pillows. "So Giles has raised the stakes in this mad little contest of ours. I didn't realize he was desperate enough to hire an assassin." He closed his eyes. "I'm suddenly exhausted, Tracy. I shall think about Giles and his treachéries tomorrow. I must sleep now, s'il vous plâit."
Chapter 17:
In Which His Grace Recovers and Lord Mountheathe is Chagrined
The dowager Countess of Easterbury erupted into Lynkellyn House, roaring orders like a battlefield general, and Lucia soon found herself without responsibilities. She spent most of her time reading or playing games with Robin. Under her care, he swiftly graduated from his bed to an overstuffed chair where he sat with his injured leg propped on a stool. The dressing for his head wound dwindled to a single large white bandage.
Lady Easterbury spent three days under Lynkellyn's roof before she deigned to visit him. She finally acknowledged him when Lucia stayed overlong in the invalid's room. "You should be resting, Lucia," Lady Easterbury scolded from the threshold of Robin's chambers. "Dr. Lindley specifically stated that you were to nap for two hours every afternoon."
Their graces glanced up from their chessboard. "Yes! In a moment, Aunt Corinna," Lucia called distractedly as she moved her man. "Checkmate, sir!" Her triumphant smile revealed a pair of charming dimples as her laughing eyes met Robin's incredulous ones.
"That's the third time!" he cried, astonished. "You should be commanding some army, ma chérie!" They both laughed. Lady Easterbury sharply rapped out her niece's name.
"Yes, I'm going, aunt. Let me gather up the chess set." Lucia collected the board and game pieces, promised Robin she would share dinner with him, and left the room. Casting a withering look toward the chair where Amberley sat, his leg propped up on pillows, Lady Corinna followed Lucia out of the room, deep in thought. She had been laughing and joking with her infamous husband. She had been happy. Indeed, as each day passed she seemed to resemble less and less a prisoner of marriage and more and more a cherished bride.
***
After a great deal of pestering from Lucia and Amaryllis, Dr. Lindley finally agreed to allow the duke and duchess to attend
Lady Blayne's ball if they followed his orders strictly until that time. "Plenty of rest and regular meals, Your Grace!" he said to Lucia, then turned to Robin. "And no dancing for you at the ball, Your Grace!"
Robin grinned from the depths of his armchair. "I doubt I'll feel the urge to do much of that, doctor. Just standing is an ordeal."
"You'll need to carry a cane," Lindley advised. "You are lucky that that ball entered only the flesh of your leg and not the bone or muscle as I had at first thought. Take care of yourself and with time, you should recover completely."
***
Surprised to receive Lady Blayne's invitation to a dinner party honoring the Duke of Lynkellyn, Peter Tallant, Viscount Norworth, stared at the gilt-edged card, considering whether to attend. Since he had not come to London until two years after Robert Amberley's spectacular scandal, the man was a stranger to him.
Although Society was abuzz with gossip, old and new, about the duke, Peter had listened with no more than polite interest to the old tale of Lady Malkent's abduction and Amberley's futile attempts to blame Lord Mountheathe for it. After trading a few bawdy jests with his friends over the diverting story of the stolen governess, he had completely forgotten about the duke until this invitation arrived.
Peter was curious to see the man who had managed, by his mere presence, to set polite London on its ear, but he didn't fancy being shunned for his association with a scoundrel. Still, Norworth reasoned, Lynkellyn must have some influential friends or he would not be holding Lady Blayne's invitation.
His grace had one circumstance in his favor, Norworth thought. Lynkellyn, like he himself, had a quarrel with that blackguard, Giles Bridland. If supporting the duke made Mountheathe's life unpleasant, Peter would be happy to oblige.
Curiosity finally prompted Peter to accept the invitation. One party with the Rogue, as he had heard Amberley styled, certainly could do little harm to a reputation already plagued by several dark spots of its own. Besides, Concordia Lannington would most likely attend and he was damned if he'd let Mountheathe have her without a fight.
***
The embarrassing tale of Giles's drunken conduct on the field of honor was spreading all over London. Mothers steered their daughters out of his path and warned their sons against him. Sniggering bucks made loud and malicious jokes at his expense. Amaryllis was crowing about the duchess's 'interesting condition'.
Giles knew something had to be done about Robin's so called wife before she whelped and he found himself at point non plus both financially and socially. Perhaps it was time to call on the wench and discover whether she was his blessing or his curse.
Giles could not have chosen a better day to call at Lynkellyn House. Robin was sleeping and Lady Easterbury had, at Lucia's insistence, gone out upon a round of morning calls. The duchess was, to all intents and purposes, alone.
When Laddock opened the door, Giles handed him a calling card and asked to see her grace. The butler frowned, not unaware of the tense situation between Lord Mountheathe and his master. He considered telling his lordship that her grace was not at home, but, fearing the possible unpleasant consequences of lying, he elected to admit the visitor and then alert the duke to Mountheathe's presence in the house.
"I will see if Her Grace is at home, my lord," Laddock said with cold formality. He showed Mountheathe into a small receiving room and bowed himself out.
The butler discovered the duchess reading in the Rose Salon, a small sitting room toward the back of the house that Lucia had taken for her own retreat. "Lord Mountheathe is here, Your Grace. Will you see him?" he said.
Lifting a delicate brow, Lucia wondered at Mountheathe's audacity. For a moment, she considered refusing him an audience, then laid down her book. "Show him to the Blue Salon, Laddock. I will be there directly." After the butler departed, she smoothed her skirt and took a deep breath, shuddering at the memory of her last meeting alone with Mountheathe. At least this time she would have a house full of servants for protection. Gathering her courage, she started for the Blue Salon.
She entered the room, purposefully leaving the door ajar. Giles bowed, smiling. "Your Grace! I trust I find you well?"
Alarm bells clanged in Lucia's mind. This sweetly false cordiality seemed incredible to her after his blatant contempt. Instinctively, she took a step back. "Lord Mountheathe." She nodded coolly.
"I heard of the unfortunate mishap which befell my cousin and I have come to inquire after his health," Giles said a little self- consciously, aware that she knew his sentiments were suspect. "I hope he is much improved?"
"He is doing better," she said, "and his manservant shall survive."
"His manservant was hurt, too? Well! Well!" Giles shook his head in mock disbelief. "I say! Footpads have become increasingly bold these days. It's quite shocking!"
"Yes, indeed. We are all exceeding grateful to Fletcher, though. He took the brunt of the attack! Saved Robin's life!"
"That must have been a grave disappointment for you." Cynicism crept into Giles's voice.
Lucia stiffened. "I beg your pardon, my lord?"
"Why, I merely meant that you would be a wealthy woman, free to pursue your own aims in life, if the Rogue were dead. Of course, there are other ways to fill your pockets, as I'm sure you're aware."
Lucia felt her stomach knotting in the old familiar warning. "I don't take your meaning, my lord."
Mentally planning another mortgage on Heathe Manor, Giles said, "I'll give you ten thousand pounds to leave the Rogue. If you want more, I'll find you a well-heeled roue who'll take you into keeping and shower you with guineas!"
Just outside the door of the Blue Salon, Robin stood, cane in hand, shamelessly listening. When Laddock had awakened him to say that Mountheathe was below, he had flung on his robe de chambre and insisted upon coming downstairs to confront Giles, his uncertain steps muffled by his doeskin slippers. He had paused by the open door as Giles's words carried into the foyer.
'... Ten thousand pounds to leave the Rogue...' Amberley's hand tightened on his cane and he took an angry step toward the door only to halt at the sound of Lucia's voice.
"You have gone beyond the line of what is pleasing, my lord!"
"Come now, my pretty jade," Giles leered, circling her. "Sleeping with peers of the realm beneath scented sheets and being paid a small fortune to do it has to be preferable to leading ruffians into dark alleys for tuppence. If you accept my offer, you won't have to go back to that alley when Amberley is finished with you. You could rise from the filth of the gutter to the glitter of the demimonde in a twinkling!" Mountheathe's hands caressed her shoulders from behind. His mouth was close to her ear, his voice intimate and disturbing. "And think of all that money! All you have to do is abandon Amberley."
"Get your paws off me, sirrah!" Lucia shrugged out of his grasp and moved a few steps away, turning to face him with smoldering eyes. "I am not on the auction block awaiting the highest bid, my lord! And I will not accept carte blanche from anyone! Anyone! I am not, as you have so blithely assumed, a -- a lightskirt and I refuse to behave like one! Or to be treated like one! I love Robin and I intend to remain by his side."
"Gammon, madame! Everyone knows the truth about you and the Rogue. Saddewythe made certain of that! So you may cease this romantic little farce of yours!"
"I have given His Grace my word of honor and I do not break my promises. I am not for sale, my lord, to you or to any of your friends." Lucia's voice shook with fury.
Giles's eyes raked her insolently. "How much honor may be found in a slattern's promise, I wonder?" he sneered. "You will be sorry that you did not accept my offer, little doxy. Damned sorry!"
"I must ask you to leave my house, my lord, and if you choose to call again, neither His Grace nor I shall be at home to you. Please go before I am forced to call my servants." Lucia stared at him unwaveringly, a challenge in her eyes.
"You shall regret this very stupid decision, madame! You will not be given a second chance to consider my
offer." Giles crossed the room, stopping near the door. His voice low and menacing, he said, "Do be careful, Your Grace! One never knows where a footpad may lurk. The Rogue's unhappy misadventure should have convinced you that death may threaten anywhere anytime."
"Leave my house, my lord!" Lucia crossed her arms and waited expectantly, meeting Giles's glare unflinchingly. At last, he turned on his heel and strode from the room.
As he passed into the foyer, he saw Robin standing by the door. Smiling broadly, victorious laughter in his eyes, the Rogue flourished him a triumphant bow. Furious, Giles flung open the front door before Laddock could reach it and slammed it loudly behind him.
In the Blue Salon, Lucia drew a deep breath, willing herself to relax. Feeling a distinct need for fortification, she walked over to a table by the front windows and picked up a brandy decanter. Pouring the golden liquid into a glass, she took a large swallow. Suddenly spluttering, she held the glass away from her, staring at it incredulously.
"Hoist on your own petard, ma chérie?" Robin laughed from the doorway. "I must confess I have not found apple cider to be a satisfactory substitute for brandy. Shall I ring for -- Lucia, you're trembling!"
Robin hobbled over to her. Relieving her of the shaking glass, he set it on the table and clasped her hand in his, endeavoring to warm it. "Your hands are so cold, ma chérie!"
"I sometimes have this reaction after I have met a crisis," she said unsteadily. "It will pass."
"Still, Giles Bridland can be a most distressing guest! You had better sit down." At her questioning glance, he said, "Laddock told me he was here." He led her to a sofa. "You are looking exceeding pale, Lucia. I shall definitely ring for some real brandy." He limped across the room and pulled the bell-rope. Laddock appeared almost immediately.
While they waited for the brandy, Robin sat beside Lucia and drew her close. "I had no idea you were so formidable, ma chérie; my lady knight fighting my dragons for me," he murmured against her ear.
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