Irritably Royce wished that Melissa were not quite so observant, and he knew that he must divert her attention instantly or she was going to come perilously close to guessing what he and Dominic were doing. And if it weren't for his certainty that she would want to be included in the charade, he wouldn't have minded in the least, but thinking of Latimer and visualizing what the Englishman might do if Melissa started asking some pointed questions made Royce exceedingly uneasy.
His handsome features arranged in a most arrogant expression, Royce said coldly, "What I may or may not do is none of your business. I am simply warning you that Latimer is not quite the gentleman he appears to be and that you would be wise to find someone else on whom to practice your wiles."
It was at times like this that Melissa longed fiercely for the freedom of childhood. Her hands were clenched into two rather respectable little fists, and she would have enjoyed nothing better than blackening Royce's eyes as she had once done when they were children and he had enraged her in just this same manner. Reminding herself forcibly that she was a grown woman, a married lady now, she contented herself with glaring at him and saying in a stiff voice, "I see that we have nothing else to say to one another. I apologize for detaining you." Turning her back on him, trying to hide both the hurt and the rage that his words gave her, she added, "I'm sure that you can find your way out."
Royce hesitated a second, hating the situation and cursing his own ineptitude. He had accomplished nothing but to hurt Melissa even more and to create a breach between them. His features softening, he took a step in her direction, saying in a coaxing tone, "Lissa, I never meant to cause harsh words between us, nor did I mean to wound you. Please, let us be friends again."
It was very difficult for Melissa not to yield to the pleading note in Royce's voice, but she was not going to pre tend that everything was normal between them when it . was obviously not. He was hiding something from her, she could sense it. But what? she wondered with a frown. When he had first entered the room, he had been full of concern for her, but the moment she had mentioned Latimer's name his entire manner had changed. Latimer ... Latimer and his sister seemed to arouse the strangest reactions in the men of her family of late. Even Zachary appeared to be besotted by Lady Bowden ... but that was something else, and forcing her straying thoughts to the matter at hand, Melissa suddenly realized that Royce had become cold and forbidding only when she had homed in on the fact that he was saying one thing and acting another in connection with both Latimer and his sister. How very interesting. And aware that it would do her cause no good to remain estranged from Royce, reluctantly she decided to accept his offer of peace.
Facing him, she gave him a slight smile. "We shall always be friends, Royce-even when you infuriate me the most. "
He chuckled and dropped a brief kiss on her forehead. "That's my Lissa! And now, sweetheart, I really must be off." His face sobered and he muttered, "Lissa, don't worry about things. All this will end soon."
With that he was gone, leaving Melissa staring blankly at the doorway through which he had disappeared, her thoughts traveling in precisely the direction he had not wanted. Royce did not like either of the Latimers, she thought slowly; didn't like them at all, but on the surface he pretended to find them very good company indeed. Why? Why did Royce keep saying that Dominic's flirtation meant nothing to Dominic and yet Dominic seemed unable to resist Deborah's blatant lures? Could Dominic be playing the same mysterious game that Royce was with Latimer? Seeming to find Deborah attractive when in fact he did not? And, most curious of all, why would they be doing this?
Melissa spent several hours puzzling over the contradictory behavior of both Royce and Dominic in connection with the English visitors, but she could come up with no satisfactory answers. And thinking about Lady Bowden brought to mind something that had been troubling her peripherally for some time: not only did Lady Bowden appear to have her claws in Dominic, but the older woman also seemed to have enamored Zachary.
Since her marriage to Dominic, Melissa and Zachary had naturally not seen as much of each other as they had when living in the same house together, but brother and sister still managed to get together quite a bit. Either Zachary came calling or Melissa rode over to Willowglen to see him, and then there were the various social functions which they both attended. Not until this moment had Melissa actually realized-how many times Deborah had been at Willowglen when she had called, nor how often Deborah had accompanied Zachary when he had come to visit her. In public, too, Deborah always seemed to be in Zachary's vicinity-except, Melissa admitted darkly, when the Englishwoman was hanging onto her husband! She supposed that she had been aware of Deborah's presence in Zachary's life, but she hadn't ever stopped to consider what it might mean.
Pushing aside for a little while the dilemma of Dominic and Deborah, she began to speculate about that same lady's relationship with her brother, not liking some of the conclusions that flitted across her brain. Lady Bowden, she acknowledged uneasily, had never appeared to pay Zachary the least heed until the Seymour fortunes had changed and Zachary had come into his share of the trust. No, that wasn't true, she decided with a frown. It had been after her marriage to Dominic.... Perhaps, when Deborah had realized that one rich gentleman was beyond her grasp, she had set her sights on another? A younger, more malleable man? A mere boy to be mesmerized and dazzled by the ripe beauty of an older woman?
Greatly disturbed by her train of thought, Melissa restlessly paced the confines of the small salon, hoping that her own dislike of Deborah was at the root of these unpleasant speculations. But she could not shake the sensation that while she had been absorbed in her troubles with Dominic, she had been overlooking the danger Deborah might present to Zachary's young heart. Trying to tell herself that she was just looking for another reason to mistrust Deborah, Melissa attempted to push away the ugly thoughts that were circling through her mind, but though she halfheartedly convinced herself that she was merely being silly, there were two questions that would not go away. Was Deborah only amusing herself at Zachary's expense? Or did she have a deeper motive for displaying a predilection for his company?
Chapter Twenty-four
SEATED in the parlor of the handsome house he had. recently leased on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, Julius Latimer was staring at his sister, wondering much the same thing. His eyes narrowed and watchful, he studied Deborah for several long moments as she fiddled with her cup of tea, pretending not to be aware of his scrutiny.
The siblings were alone at the moment. Julius was seated in a high-backed leather chair, and across the room Deborah was sitting near a small table which held a silver teapot and the remnants of a light meal. The conversation between the two had been sporadic and only mildly interesting to either of them, but Deborah had mentioned Zachary Seymour's name in passing, and that had brought something to mind for Latimer:
Unlike Melissa, who knew Deborah only slightly, Latimer harbored no doubts about what his sister was up to; after all, they had discussed her actions at length and had decided that Zachary Seymour, now that the trust which had crippled his finances and made him an ineligible party had ended, might prove a valuable source of some extra money. The fact that he also now had a very wealthy and generous new brother-in-law made him even more appealing to the brother and sister, and they had immediately put in motion a plan that had worked very well for them in the past: Deborah's sweet smiles and artful wiles completely enslaving their prey while she cleverly solicited expensive trifles and gifts from the thoroughly besotted gentleman. And to their gleeful satisfaction, everything appeared to be going as planned, Zachary apparently per fectly happy to bestow more than one costly gewgaw upon the woman who smiled so warmly and beguilingly at him, allowing him to believe that she found him utterly fascinating.
But of late, Latimer had begun to wonder if Deborah might be carrying this little charade farther than they had planned-a furious, heart-wounded, rejected suitor was not what Latimer had in mind when he had broach
ed the plan to his sister. A light flirtation, a mild dalliance, had been what they had discussed; and steepling his long, narrow fingers before him, he now remarked casually, "Aren't you laying it a bit too thick and rare in regard to the Seymour cub? You've picked up some very nice trinkets from him. Those sapphire earrings he gave you last week are particularly lovely and should fetch a tidy sum once we reach London . . . but we certainly don't want any ugly scenes or complications along the way."
Deborah merely smiled. "Oh, pooh! You are just starting at shadows. Believe me, I know how to handle my men, and Zachary is a lamb."
Julius did not look convinced, well aware of his sister's great vanity. "He did not look so lamblike to me the other night when you waltzed off with Slade at the Hampton soiree. "
"Hmm, I know," Deborah replied smugly. "He was quite angry with me, and it provoked a rather excitingly violent passion from him." A dreamy smile on her lips, she murmured, "Zachary is such a virile young man! I very nearly gave in to his demands to let him make love to me."
Latimer's face tightened. His voice dangerously soft, he said, "I thought we'd decided that you were not going to let things get out of hand. You were, if my memory serves me correctly, only to entice him, not seduce him!"
"You worry too much, brother mine," Deborah retorted with a hard note. "I know exactly what I am doing! Besides," she added petulantly, "I deserve some sort of reward for passing up the opportunity to be Dominic's wife and for suffering through that travesty of a marriage with old Bowden. " Her lovely features twisted and she muttered, "You don't know what it was like forcing my self to kiss that randy old goat and then letting him touch me and make love to me. If you hadn't taken care of him when you did, I don't know how much longer I could have put up with him without murdering him myself!"
"Will you shut up about that!" Latimer growled. "Your loose tongue is going to send us both to the gallows. The incident with Bowden is behind us, and you needn't keep bringing it up."
Shrugging her slim shoulders, Deborah took a dainty sip of her rapidly cooling tea. "Very well, but stop harping to me about how I'm handling my end of things." A sly look entered her eyes. "You didn't do so well with the hoyden."
His blue eyes very cold, Latimer said icily, "I may not have bedded the wench yet, but I did get the twenty-five thousand dollars-which was what we were after in the first place. It was only when I thought there was little hope of gaining the money that I decided to get some sort of recompense from the situation, and taking that haughty little bitch to bed seemed appropriate." A faintly lascivious smile touched the corners of his thin lips. "Teaching her to obey me in every way might almost have been worth the money."
"Yes, and if you don't stop gambling the way you have been lately, you're going to lose every penny of it!"
"Oh, shut up! I know what I'm doing. Roxbury may have funded this trip and he may have promised us a small fortune when we return to England, but in the meantime, there are appearances to keep up if I am to maintain my standing among these men. The same men, don't forget, whom Roxbury wants me to cultivate and bring over to our side. Taking part in their pursuits is only one way of ingratiating myself with them ... and there is something else, too, for you to remember the next time you chastise me for gambling. Many of these planters are incredibly reckless gamblers, and there are several fortunes to be made by a man clever with the cards-far more money than Roxbury has promised us. I intend to take full advantage of this unexpected opportunity, and if I seem to lose for a while, so much the better. When I start to win . . . " A crafty expression entered the cold blue eyes. "And I
will start to win very soon-then you'll be quite happywith the results of my gambling, believe me."
"Have you set your sights on anyone in particular?"
Latimer nodded. "Hmm, yes. That Franklyn boy is just the sort of careless young fool who makes it almost sinful for me to pluck."
Deborah snorted. "I just hope he doesn't realize that he has been gulled and there is more of that same nasty business there was in London."
Latimer brushed her comment aside, saying lightly, "It doesn't matter. Even if he were to suspect that I had cheated him and was stupid enough to challenge me to a duel-what do we care what these provincials think? We'll be leaving here soon-the plan is for us to be in New Orleans before the first of the year, and shortly after that, if all goes well, we'll be back in London, this time with a respectable fortune to command."
Looking unconvinced, Deborah asked, "Must you lose so much money to him before recouping?"
"I don't intend to lose much more, but it was important to lull him into being overconfident about his abilities to best me. And by having lost the amount I have, there will be several gentlemen who will think that my luck merely changed and will not be as suspicious as they would have been if I had simply proceeded to strip the silly cub of his fortune. "
"Do you think that your antics will escape Dominic's notice?" Deborah asked dryly.
An ugly look crossed Latimer's chiseled features. "So much the better, my dear, if they don't! I wouldn't make the same mistake I did the last time I faced him on the dueling field. Only one of us would walk away this time, and you can be sure that it will not be me who lies bleeding in the dirt!"
Her petulant expression returning, she said moodily, "I still don't know why you didn't want me to marry him when I had the chance. He is far more wealthy than that old goat Bowden, and I certainly would have enjoyed being in his bed a great deal more. "
"Is that why you are fawning all over him now? Hoping for a taste of what was denied you then?"
"Why not?" Deborah demanded hotly. "You have your women, and I don't see why I can't bed the man of my choice for once, instead of making myself agreeable only to those you choose for their generous pocketbooks!" A pout on her lovely mouth, she muttered, "I would have liked being married to Dominic."
His annoyance showing, Latimer stood up and walked across the room to stand near her. Pouring himself a cup of tea, he said half angrily, half ruefully, "If I had known precisely how wealthy he was, I would not have stood in your way. I thought he was simply an arrogant colonial on the lookout for a bride with whom to impress his yokel friends back home." Stirring his tea with a silver spoon, he mused aloud, "But even if I had known of his wealth, I still don't think your marriage to him would have been a good idea. He is too sharp by half, and I don't believe he would have stood still for us to bleed him-I would have had to finish him off a lot sooner than I did Bowden. "
"Well, we certainly didn't gain very much from that plan of yours, I must say!" Deborah retorted waspishly. "And I don't know that I would have wanted you to kill Dominic-who knows, I might have wanted to remain his wife. "
"Now, that I rather doubt! Can you picture yourself surrounded by a brood of brats? Living here at the edge of nothing? It is hardly the setting I would choose for you, my dear," Latimer drawled, and when his sister merely sniffed disdainfully, he added, "Since we arrived here you have done nothing but complain about how crude and boring you find the country and the people. Do you really expect me to believe that you would be content to be buried in this barbarian wilderness? Away from all the glitter and excitement of London? You delude yourself."
Deborah hunched a shoulder. "You're probably right. And I must say that Dominic is not quite as I remember him. Oh, as handsome, to be sure, but he seems-"
"Less infatuated? Less likely to overlook your flaws? Less inclined to indulge you?" Latimer asked sardonically. "You forget that he has a wife now-a very beautiful wife."
"And does it ever gall you!" Deborah retorted sweetly. "You may pretend that you don't care that she escaped you and married him, but I know you too well to believe that nonsense."
A hard edge to his voice, Latimer replied, "Keep any thoughts you may have about my intentions for Melissa Slade to yourself! I have worked too hard to regain a friendly footing with her for you to ruin it all by a loose tongue! All you have to do is keep Zachary sweet and, if you
wish, amuse yourself with Dominic, but don't get any clever ideas about my relationship with Melissa in that pretty head of yours."
Deborah shot him a venomous look, but she made no comment. It was only at times like this that she felt the faintest stirring to escape from under Julius' thumb. For the most part she was perfectly happy to let him set the order of her life, even when it involved the disagreeable necessity of marrying a man old enough to be her grandfather. Julius had always dominated her, and since Deborah was essentially lazy, greedy and vain, she had always found it far easier to go along with whatever he planned than to strike out on her own. Dominic's offer had been tempting, but Deborah did not like the idea of being on her own, of being without a man to arrange everything for her; and though there was the odd occasion when she fleetingly considered taking up with someone other than her brother, she always dismissed it. Julius allowed her more freedom than either a husband or a lover would, and since she loved herself far too much to waste any real emotion on anyone else, it seemed just as well to let Julius see to everything. In her own fashion she was really quite fond of her brother, but that didn't mean that she was always pleased with his plans, or that she didn't chafe now and then at his arrogant disposal of her wants and desires.
Sulkily she regarded his handsome face. "It isn't fair," she finally said sullenly. "You're up to something with that silly little hoyden, but I'm not allowed to make love with her brother if I want."
"The lady's husband doesn't satisfy you?" Latimer asked mockingly.
If anything, her sulky expression increased. "He prob ably would if I could get him into bed, but we are always surrounded by other people."
"Since you seem to want him so badly, can't you arrange a rendezvous with him? In the right setting I'm sure that you'd have no trouble convincing him to sample your charms. "
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