The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 5

by MacMurrough, Sorcha

  Juliet frowned. "My story?"

  "About you and your sister. How you lost your parents."

  She clapped her hand to her mouth and he took her hand before she turned away. He squeezed it gently. "I don’t mean to hurt your feelings on this of all days. But Thomas needs to hear it, and soon. Promise me."

  She nodded. "All right. I promise."

  "Thank you." He kissed her cheek.

  Ellen hugged her warmly, and they went off into the corner to divert Georgina, leaving Juliet staring after them pensively.

  "Georgina, give it up. There are so many single men in the world. Why must you continually wreck marriages?" Ash scolded.

  "I don’t! The men do!"

  "If you didn’t do the chasing, make yourself available—"

  "Just because you married this hot little hoyden here—"

  "You stop it right now! It’s bad enough Bridges spreading gossip about Ellen, without her own sister joining in," Ash reprimanded her.

  Ellen looked as though she would burst into tears.

  "No, you’re right," Georgina said with a gloating smile. "It couldn’t possibly be true. The pathetic little infant doesn’t know one end of a cock from the other, now does she?"

  Ash’s golden eyes were hard, unamused. "If that’s a proposition, you can take it elsewhere. I’m proud to say I’ve taught her everything she knows, and her wonderfully loving nature has given her the rest. The generosity and instinct to bestow so much sensual pleasure that she makes my toes curl."

  Georgina looked as though she had been slapped.

  Ash took his wife’s arm. "And now, if you will excuse us, we’re going home to curl each other’s toes."

  As they made ready to leave, Ash looked over to see that Juliet was indeed speaking with Thomas.

  His expression as she spoke went from polite interest to wariness to alarm.

  His head shot up and he looked at his wife with a mixture of shock, horror, and joy. His cup and saucer clattered to the floor unheeded.

  The small crash turned all eyes towards that corner of the room, but he didn’t care. He hugged Juliet, and then kissed his wife. The Duke picked Charlotte up despite her protests, and left the shop.

  Juliet stooped to clean up the shards, and gave a small smile. The broken porcelain was a tiny price to pay for helping bring the estranged couple find their way back together once more.

  Ash smiled at her, and with a happy wave, he and Ellen left the tea rooms arm and arm, and hurried home in their carriage for an even more sumptuous feast of the senses.

  He hoped that Thomas would admit he had been wrong at some point now that he knew the truth. and perhaps he could restore some of his lost status in the neighbourhood.

  He prayed that Ellen’s unease would end when the gossip was at last laid to rest, and they could get on with what was really important, practising medicine. And loving each other with all their hearts. If everyone in Somerset could just stop being so narrow-minded, they might just succeed in being the happiest couple in England.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Ash’s hopes for a happy life with his beloved new bride were dashed quickly. The Assembly Ball was a disaster of mammoth proportions for Ellen.

  Ash had kept from her what Thomas had said, that Bridges had been gossiping most viciously about her. She had assumed all of the odd behaviour in the district towards them had been a result of Thomas’s vindictiveness against because of his groundless suspicions.

  Now that Thomas knew the truth about why his wife Charlotte had been acting so oddly, he had made some attempt to undo the damage he had caused through his jealousy.

  But Bridges had become increasingly spiteful the more he had seen Ellen around the neighbourhood ever since she had given him the slip. He had wanted her to be cowed, to be shamed, powerless, the better to have her in his thrall.

  But she was far from any of those things. Who would ever have imagined she would have got married so soon, and thus rendered herself free of his blandishments.

  She looked every inch the Indian princess in her remarkable clothes as she accompanied her handsome and educated husband on his rounds throughout the district.

  He had never seen her look so lovely as she did the night of the Assembly Ball. As soon as he had the chance he took her from Randall Avenel, who had partnered her in the quadrille, and dragged her into an alcove.

  "More of a whore than ever, I see."

  Ellen gasped as though she had been slapped.

  "The Earl of Hazelmere is a most respectable—"

  "He never could keep it in his trousers. Nor his friend Matthew Dane, whom I also saw you so cosy with. All the so-called Rakehells really live up to their names. Swapping wives as though at a cattle auction."

  She tried to pull away from his grasp. "It’s not true! You’re disgusting! Let me go."

  "But it’s your fault, isn’t it? I never heard so many rumours fly until you moved into that house. Tell me, does Martin roger you as well? But then he was probably doing you and your sister in the same bed for years."

  "You are the most revolting—"

  "So you don’t even bother to deny it!"

  "I don’t know what sort of pleasure you can take from being so vicious and evil-minded, but decent people will not listen—"

  "They won’t if you pay me. Otherwise I shall tell them I’ve had you, and—"

  "You’re blackmailing me?" Ellen gasped.

  His beady eyes narrowed threateningly. "If you care at all for your husband’s reputation in the district, you’ll pay."

  She shook her head. "You're wasting your time. I have no money. Father gave my marriage settlement directly to Ash and he has reinvested it."

  Bridges laughed mockingly. "You’re standing there clad in a fortune of silk, gold and jewels and you tell me you can’t—"

  "These are fake—paste. No one would—"

  To her shock he actually took a jeweller’s loup out of his pocket, dragged her into a lighted alcove, and offered it to her. "Don’t pretend to be so naive. Those are real sapphires and rubies."

  Her jaw dropped. "Real? They can’t possibly—"

  But the evidence was plain to see as the facets sparkled seductively. But Ash had said...

  "So stop pretending. I want five thousand pounds by the end of the week, or I will spread my inventive rumours the way your sister spreads her legs. Far and wide." He pointed his finger in her face in what was meant to be an intimidating manner. Ellen acted without thinking. She grabbed his hand, twisted it around his back, and slammed him so hard against the marble pillar that his nose began to bleed.

  "Do your worst. I don’t scare easily any more."

  "You’ll pay for this," he gasped, and almost looked as though he would strike her.

  "No, you will if you ever come near my wife again. Stand away from him, Ellen," she heard from behind her.

  "Ash, don’t do anything foolish—"

  "I'm fine. But he has five seconds to leave.

  Bridges ran like the coward he was, leaving the two of them alone together staring at each other.

  "Are you all right?"

  "Yes, fine. But I want to go home, and I need to speak with you."

  Ash’s brows knitted. "It sounds serious."

  "I think it is," she said with a lift of her chin, the hurt in her eyes unmistakeable. "You’ve been lying to me ever since we met, sinve we've married, and I want to know why."

  Ash stared at her. "Lied?"

  "Not here," she hissed, heading for the cloakroom to fetch her dupatta .

  "I want to know," she said as soon as they were in the carriage heading back to Somerset, "why you’ve been pretending to be a poor humble doctor, when the gold and jewels in this gown would feed all the people in Millcote for a year."

  He gave a dismissive shrug of one shoulder. "They were a present from Mother. She’s a gem dealer. They come from India. Uncle Peter and Aunt Leela trade gems and gold as well as spices. I thought you knew that."
>
  "Your aunt and uncle are perfectly pleasant, but we never discussed business. So why not tell me—"

  "I don’t want people trying to cultivate our friendship just because we’re rich. Especially not your sister."

  "But if these jewels are really, then instead of adorning my gowns, why don’t we set up the fever hospital this area needs so badly, and—"

  "My mother works hard, my aunt too. I don’t want my family to feel obliged to help. I want to stand on my own two feet, live within our means, and have a fine legacy to give our children.

  "The fever hospital and infirmary would take all we have, and then some. Supplies need to be bought, and salaries paid. And the more patients, the higher the running costs. You know this. You do all the administration for all of us in the practice."

  "But I don’t need to be encrusted with gold and jewels."

  "Every woman deserves to be treated like a queen."

  Ellen laughed. "It’s very sweet of you, but promise me, please, that you’ll take all my wedding jewels back. I want my wedding rings and the presents from Holi, but your mother or uncle can sell the rest. It doesn’t sit well with me to be so well-off with so many others suffering."

  He nodded, quite proud of her principles. "Very well, if you insist. But Mother might be offended."

  "I shall explain, then. And I really do want to take a serious look at all our finances, and apply the jewels to the hospital fund. And I ought to tell you right now, Bridges just said the most incredibly vile things to me, and asked me for money to prevent him from repeating them."

  "What did he say?"

  Ellen repeated his scurrilous remarks.

  Ash exploded with anger. "Damn that bastard."

  She laid one hand soothingly on his chest. "No, I’m glad. He’s opened my eyes to just how evil people can be. And now that I know the truth about our wealth, I’m more determined than ever not to be the spoilt little miss everyone thinks me."

  "No, never spoiled."

  She gave him a loving smile. "Always when you take me in your arms and cater to my every wish. And even a few pleasures I never knew existed."

  He lifted the hem of her dupatta and sari. His mouth fastened over her most intimately, his tongue moving with an assuredness which bespoke an earnest desire to thrill her utterly.

  "Oh, darling, that is so good."

  "Anything to pamper my bride, make you happy."

  "Anything?" she said, licking her rosy lips.

  "Most assuredly."

  "Then lie down on this seat beside me so I can pleasure you too." She sat astride his head and let their delight flow.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Ash and Ellen couldn’t have been happier in the warm circle of each other’s arms. But the world could be a cold and cruel place, and Bridges’ nasty rumours after the ball proved the couples’ undoing.

  Despite Thomas’s best efforts to tell everyone that he had been wrong, the damage caused by his own gossip had already been done. And what was apparently forgivable in a foreigner and a man was unforgivable in an English girl.

  Door after door was barred to them, and even Eswara and Blake discovered that people were calling on doctors from as far afield as Bristol and Bath rather than admit them to the house.

  They ended up with only the most dire emergencies, which seldom had good outcomes, and the poorest patients, who could not afford to send to the big city for help.

  At a council of war Ellen said tearfully, "I can’t believe they would punish all of you for something I supposedly did."

  "People can be very vindictive. And they hope to drive you away," her cousin said. "Stand your ground. It will blow over. And by the time the bad weather arrives, and the roads are impassable, they will be more than glad to have us in the area."

  "But it’s so unfair to you, Blake. You’ve done so much good here. And unfair to Ash. He’s just starting out, and now there is this cloud over his head. Maybe he’s right. Perhaps India might be best for us both."

  Eswara’s face fell. "Might not London be just as good?"

  Ellen sighed. "You’ve heard what’s being said. I don’t think even that would be far enough away."

  "Edinburgh then, or Glasgow. You don’t have to go half a world away to find appalling slums with hundreds of suffering people. There is plenty of that right here," Blake said with a sigh.

  "And Ash does have choices," Peter Davison pointed out mildly, smiling at his wife Leela. "The spice and gem trade are booming, and we could use some help from you both--"

  "Thank you, Aunt, Uncle, but the plain fact is I’m a healer," Ash said. "I could try those things, but I would never be happy. Ellen might be a good contact in India though, if we were to go. She could act as your factor. She has quite a head for business, as she's shown."

  "I made a bad bargain with Bridges, though. I should have just paid him—"

  Ash shook his head. "He would have never stopped, just kept coming back for more. And he had already blackened your name anyway. Thomas told me that night we quarrelled."

  She stared at her husband in dismay. "What, all those weeks ago? And you never said?"

  "I didn’t want to upset you," Ash said with a sigh.

  "But you lied again!"

  The rest of the family took that as their cue to depart, and all rose to leave.

  "No, it’s all right. We’re leaving. Please stay where you are, comfortable in your own drawing room," Ellen ordered. She glared at her husband and he followed meekly towards their side of the house.

  Martin laughed when they were safely out of earshot. "My goodness, I never thought I would see the day when my adorable little cousin turned into a tigress."

  Eswara sighed happily. "I must admit I had my doubts. I wasn’t so sure she really loved him, or that she knew what she was letting herself in for by marrying him.

  "And I was also afraid he might overwhelm her. That she would always be a quiet, pale, wan little thing. Who would have ever suspected all the beauty and passion, and compassion underneath."

  "Ash knew. He saw her heart and soul, all hidden under that placid exterior."

  "Thank the gods for it."

  "Do you really think they will go to Calcutta?" Leela asked worriedly.

  "It’s looking more and more like it. Unless we can find a reason to stop them," Martin sighed.

  "Oh no, I don’t ever want to be accused of interfering," Eswara maintained. "They need to make their own way, find their own happiness."

  "Let’s just hope they can find it here with us," Peter said.

  "Amen to that," Martin said.

  "They’re strong. They’ll survive. There are worst things than being ostracised by the people of Somerset," Eswara said, her golden eyes glowing.

  Blake shook his head. "Aye, but not many. They can be a pretty unforgiving lot."

  "I blame the Duke for this," Martin grumbled.

  "Him and that bugger Bridges. It was all badly done," Peter pointed out.

  "Well, let's just hope it can somehow be undone," Blake said with a sigh. "I don't fancy losing the best assistant I've ever had, not if something can be done to stop it."

  "Amen to that," Eswara said with a sigh.

  Ash hated settling their argument in bed, but as soon as Ellen got her husband upstairs, she yanked his clothes off and swarmed all over him with her lips, tongue, hands, whole body.

  When he had climaxed for the fifth time, she finally drew breath and said, "You must never, ever keep things from me again. You made me promise, so I’m making you promise the same. No matter how bad, you tell me the truth!"

  "I will, I swear," he vowed, trembling helplessly after the way she had breached his defenses so completely.

  Ellen rolled off him and sat up in bed. She looked at him appraisingly for a long time. "I wonder sometimes if you really do love me."

  His eyes flew open. "How can you say that?" Ash rasped, stung.

  "You’re just so calm. So controlled. I feel like a passionate quiv
ering wreck. Nothing seems to faze or upset you. It’s most disconcerting."

  He laughed shakily, for he could barely stop trembling with the passion they had shared. "You need to meditate more. Not let that bastard Bridges upset you. Or the Duke."

  "I just hope you love me as much as I love you," she said wistfully.