A Scandalous Deception

by Ava Stone

  A sudden uneasiness washed over Fin. “He was a child?” Not much older than Edmund’s current age if Fin remembered properly. Rotherby shouldn’t have asked a parentless, grieving child such a thing. The boy probably thought the roof over his head was contingent upon his answer. Perhaps it had been.

  “He was fourteen, hardly a child.” Rotherby sighed. “We took him in, Fin, when he needed a home, and now I need him to do the same for Eliza. With the entailments to my estate, I don’t have much choice in the matter.”

  Fin’s uneasiness grew stronger. What an awful predicament.

  “He’ll get every last farthing.” The earl wrung his hands. “If only she’d taken when she came out last year…”

  But she had not. Eliza Ingram was a lanky bluestocking with skittish tendencies. She always had been. It was no wonder she hadn’t taken. It was no wonder Rotherby had been concerned about her future when she was an odd child. Fin’s brow furrowed as he said, “I’ll make certain she is taken care of, my lord. Lady Rotherby too.”

  “Thank you, Phineas. You cannot know the weight you’ve lifted from my heart.”

  And placed squarely on Fin’s shoulders. Oh, Fin was well aware of the weight. He nodded to the old man, said his farewell, and then made his way back to the drawing room. Music drifted down the corridor. Dancing must have begun in his absence.

  As he stepped over the threshold, he scanned the room for Lissy. And there she was, in the middle of the floor waltzing with the Marquess of Haversham.

  Fin’s vision turned slightly red. Hadn’t the man, that very day, promised to keep his distance from Lissy? Unscrupulous blackguard.

  “Just what is it you couldn’t say to me in front of my friends?” Lissy asked the disreputable Marquess of Haversham as he led her in a turn. She’d been more than surprised when the man showed up, once again uninvited, and swept her onto the dance floor.

  Haversham’s light blue eyes twinkled with mirth. “Carraway is like a rabid dog. I thought you should be aware.”

  Fin? “A rabid dog?” What a ridiculous thing to say. He could be priggishly annoying, but a rabid dog?

  The marquess nodded. “Tracked me down at my club this afternoon to warn me away from you in no uncertain terms.”

  Lissy’s mouth fell slightly open. What in the world had gotten into Fin?

  “He was quite insistent. He refused to leave me to my play until I gave my word to keep my distance from you.”

  Lissy scoffed. “I see how well that turned out.”

  The marquess laughed. “One should never take the word of a scoundrel.”

  “Apparently,” Lissy muttered softly, though her temper was rising. How dare Fin try to interfere in her life! The last fellow she wanted anything to do with was Lord Haverhsam, not that it was any of Fin’s concern.

  “But I thought you should know,” he continued smoothly. “If someone was behaving that way in regards to my daughter someday, I would hope someone would tell her.”

  “And she’s how old, your daughter?”

  “Eight, I believe.”

  “You believe?” Lissy’s brow lifted in judgment. No matter how uncaring her own father had been, Lissy was fairly certain the late Duke of Prestwick knew exactly how old his children were at any given time. Then again, one would have been foolish to question the old man about such things. Perhaps he hadn’t had a clue and no one ever knew.

  “Thereabouts. Somewhere between seven and nine.”

  “You might want to be certain before you see her next.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll make certain to check my ledger before next I return to Yorkshire.” His light blue eyes landed somewhere behind Lissy, and they twinkled with something akin to mirth. “And there’s your shadow now,” he drawled.

  As they turned, Lissy glanced to where Haversham had indicated, and at once she spotted Fin. The overbearing saint. When she got her hands on him…

  “Took me up on my advice, I see,” the marquess interrupted her thoughts.

  “I beg your pardon?” She drew her gaze from Fin back to Haversham.

  “What did you do, Lady Felicity?” His wicked lips turned up to an all-knowing grin. “Did you smile a bit more, was that it?”

  “What are you talking about?” She frowned. Honestly, did the man only talk in riddles?

  “Well, you’ve done something to catch his notice. And now that you’ve got it, he doesn’t seem inclined in the least to let go.”

  Lissy managed not to snort. Not that she needed to maintain a ladylike attitude around Haversham, but that was beside the point. “You are mistaken, my lord. I don’t have his notice so much as his concern, his responsibility to my family.”

  “I hardly believe he sees you as an obligation.”

  “Then you don’t know him very well, my lord. As though my sister was still alive, he seems to think that he’s responsible for me, much the same way as a brother would.”

  Haversham smirked. “And I don’t think you know him as well as you think you do, my lady.”

  The music came to a stop. The marquess released her and then offered her his arm. But before Lissy could accept or refuse him, Lord Haversham fell like a sack at her feet.

  A gasp sounded across the room and in an instant, Lissy’s gaze shot from the fallen marquess to the furious Phineas Granard, standing over the man, his hand still balled into a fist.

  “Fin!” Lissy’s hand fluttered to her lips. Heavens, he’d hit the marquess so fast, she hadn’t even seen it. “Have you gone mad?”

  But Fin paid her no attention, his eyes narrowed on Haversham at his feet. Through clenched teeth he growled, “You. Gave. Your. Word.”

  That was the outside of enough. Fin should never have spoken to Haversham about her as it was. She pushed Fin’s arm until he lifted his gaze to her. “That is quite enough, my lord.”

  The intensity of Fin’s dark eyes nearly scorched her soul. “Step away from him, Felicity.”

  Anger surged through Fin as he loomed over the Marquess of Haversham who, for some inexplicable reason, wore a blasted smirk.

  “For God’s sake, Marc,” the Duke of Kelfield muttered under his breath.

  Fin clenched his hand in a fist, but before he could do anything more, someone grabbed him from behind.

  “Not here,” a man said softly. Lieutenant Tristan Avery, if Fin wasn’t mistaken.

  But Fin wasn’t finished with the malevolent marquess. “Let me go,” he snapped, yanking his arm free of Avery’s grasp. Haversham had given his word that very day to keep his distance from Lissy, and…

  “I hate him as much as you do,” Avery continued, “but this is hardly the place, Carraway.”

  The officer’s words were like a splash of icy water, dousing a bit of Fin’s fire. No, brawling in the middle of Lord Rotherby’s drawing room wasn’t the best idea. He glanced from Haversham’s fallen form back to Lissy, who looked as furious as he’d ever seen her.

  Let her be furious. Foolish chit. She was bound and determined to ruin herself and Lady Arabella right along with her. Someone had to save her from herself.

  Lissy sucked in a breath, turned away from him, and then said to Avery’s wife, “Phoebe, I would very much like to return home, but I didn’t bring my carriage. Would you mind taking me?”

  “Of course not,” Mrs. Avery said softly, stepping closer to Lissy and sliding her arm around her friend’s shoulders. “Come with me.”

  And before Fin could find the words, asking her not to go, asking for her to say something to him, she was gone.

  The room was as still as a parish church at midnight. Fin glanced around the room to notice that everyone was staring at him. Well, of course they were. He’d downed one of London’s most debauched blackguards right in the middle of a quaint soiree.

  Haversham pushed back to his feet and dusted his hands on his trousers. “Not the first time I’ve been hit for dancing with a girl.”

  “Marc,” Kelfield grumbled. “Please.”

  But t
he marquess paid his longtime compatriot no notice at all. He did flick his eyes towards the lieutenant however. “You could give Avery’s mother a pointer on her upper cut.”

  “Do go somewhere else,” Lieutenant Avery growled. “Don’t you tire of making trouble everywhere you go?”

  “We all have our talents, Avery.” Haversham smirked. “Still, I should be going. A lady awaits me even now.”

  A lady wouldn’t have a thing to do with the blackguard. Well, other than Lissy, which was more than unnerving. Determined not to give Haversham the satisfaction of any sort of reaction, Fin turned his back to the man and faced Lieutenant Avery instead.

  “What in the world is wrong with the man?” Lissy complained as she settled beside Annie against the velvet squabs in the darkened Avery coach.

  “I have never seen him like that,” Phoebe agreed, which wasn’t all that helpful. It was a vast understatement to say the least.

  Lissy snorted in response. “Honestly, Phoeb, I think he may be losing his mind.” And perhaps that was it. Perhaps Fin had finally lost all sense of reason and sanity. For heaven’s sake, he’d actually hit the Marquess of Haversham in the middle of the Rotherbys’ drawing room. Knocked the man to the floor!

  The coach jostled forward, and Phoebe reached across the carriage and squeezed Lissy’s hand. “Are you all right?”

  She was shaken up. She was annoyed. She was beyond furious at Phineas Granard, but she was all right. “I’m fine, but what am I going to do about him? I can’t have him trailing after me all season long, hovering over me, assaulting people. If Juliet was here, she’d—”

  “What’s changed?” Phoebe interrupted. “Why is he suddenly attending social gatherings now?”

  Annie shrugged.

  Lissy scoffed. “He’s trying to protect me, as though I need it. He thinks there’s something between Lord Haversham and me, but—”

  “Is there?” her friend asked.

  Lissy’s mouth fell open. Did Phoebe think so low of her? “Of course not! I know what sort of scoundrel he is.”

  “It’s just unusual for Haversham to show up uninvited and—”

  “Hardly unusual. He’d never go anywhere otherwise.”

  Phoebe sighed. “It is unusual for him to waltz with anyone, Lissy. He strode through the doors, spotted you, and swept you onto the floor without so much as a by your leave to anyone else, not even Kelfield.”

  Well, that was true, but inconsequential. Lissy shook her head. “He only came to tell me that Fin threatened him earlier in the day. He thought I should know.”

  “Threatened him?” Phoebe echoed as Annie sucked in a surprised breath.

  True, it didn’t sound like something Fin would do in the least. If he hadn’t suddenly started behaving so strangely, Lissy would never have believed it, but… “What am I going to do, Phoeb? I’ve tried reasoning with him to no avail. I hardly recognize him anymore.”

  “You tried reasoning with him?” Phoebe’s brow lifted in surprise.

  “Yes.” Lissy frowned. Just exactly what was her friend insinuating?

  “I’ve seen you with him,” Phoebe continued. “You thrust your chin out and demand to be treated like an adult.”

  “I am an adult.” It was hardly an unreasonable thing to expect to be treated as one.

  “Reason just isn’t a word I would use in regards to your interactions. It’s as though you’re always trying to provoke him, to get him to acknowledge…something. I’m not even sure what. You poke him. You’re argumentative. Stubborn.”

  Lissy blinked at her friend then turned her attention to Annie. “Do you think that’s true?”

  With an uncomfortable expression, Annie shrugged.

  “Don’t put the poor girl on the spot.” Phoebe sighed. “You know I love you, Lissy,” she stressed. “I’m not trying to be unkind. I’m just pointing out that if you’ve approached him as you usually do, you might not be as reasonable as you think you are. Perhaps you should trying talking to him again, but without your back being up.”

  It appeared as though Lissy’s maid was in agreement with Phoebe’s assessment, but had the good sense not to say as much.

  Lissy heaved a sigh. Perhaps she hadn’t approached him as reasonably as she could have. But what did he expect? He wasn’t her father or her brother. He had no say over her life. She didn’t owe Phineas Granard anything. But…if he was going to shadow her all over London, she had to do something about the viscount.

  “Perhaps,” she finally muttered, not wanting to acknowledge that Phoebe might have a point.

  “Thank you for offering to return me to my home,” Lieutenant Avery said from across Fin’s coach.

  As though he could have done anything else. “Well, Felicity did abscond with your conveyance. Seemed the least I could do.”

  Even through the darkness, Fin could see the Army officer smirk. “You’ll become a legend, you know?”

  “A legend?” Fin echoed, thinking he must have misheard the man.

  But the Lieutenant nodded quickly. “Do you know how many men have wanted to knock that bastard to the floor?” His smile widened. “I’ve been tempted to do so myself on more than one occasion. And though I’m fairly certain Clayworth once blackened the jackass’ eye, there weren’t any witnesses to the event.”

  Uneasiness washed over Fin. “I…Well, I shouldn’t have done so. It was beyond the pale. He’s a villain to be sure, but…”

  “He had it coming. He’s had it coming for years. If there’s something you want to pass through parliament, now would be the time, Carraway. I’m certain your celebrity could buy you any needed votes at the moment.”

  “Lucky only men can vote then, hmm?” Fin rubbed his brow. “Do you know, Avery, why women seem to find him charming? Harmless, even? It makes no sense to me.”

  “I have no idea.” The lieutenant heaved a sigh. “One of life’s great mysteries. My own sister, who is quite an intelligent woman, by the by, still has a soft spot for the blackguard.” Then he snorted. “I think there are some women who find that sort of man a challenge. They know his reputation. They know he’s dangerous, but they think that they can tame him, make him transform into a butterfly or some other such nonsense.”

  “They’re fools,” Fin grumbled.

  “Indeed,” Avery agreed. “Leopards and spots and all that. A man is who he is. No woman, no matter how wonderful, has the power to change the core of a man.”

  “Would you care to explain that to Felicity? Perhaps she’d listen to reason if I’m not the source.”

  The lieutenant shrugged. “I think she already knows that, Carraway, better than most women. The feeling I’ve always gotten from Lady Felicity is she doesn’t trust any man, no matter his character.”

  Fin didn’t think that was true. Lissy wasn’t quite so cynical. On the contrary, if she trusted less, she’d find herself in fewer scrapes. “I think for the most part she trusts me.”

  “You’re family,” Avery replied. “You and Luke Beckford, she’s different with the two of you. But the rest of the male of the species?” He shrugged once more. “Well, she keeps everyone else at arm’s length. Has for as long as I’ve known her.”

  Lissy kept men at arm’s length? If so, how had he never noticed? Fin scratched his head. It was true, Lissy hadn’t seemed anxious to replace Pierce, but neither had he been so inclined to replace Georgie. He’d loved her too much to consider another woman.

  “Phoebe says Lissy’s marriage wasn’t a happy one,” Avery continued. “That probably explains her innate distrust.”

  An unhappy marriage? Fin had never heard Lissy utter one bad word against Captain Pierce. True, she rarely spoke of the man; but she had loved her husband, of that he was certain. Fin had seen the gushing letter she’d sent Georgie from Boston. Had she been unhappily married? He’d always just taken her at her word—that she simply didn’t want to dwell on the past.

  He’d never considered the possibility that she’d been unhappily married.
It didn’t even seen possible. She was always cheerful…Well, most of the time. She certainly wasn’t happy with Fin at the moment.

  “She told your wife she was unhappy in her marriage?”

  “Not in so many words.” The lieutenant shifted on his bench. “But she offered Phoebe sage advice when she needed it. Something along the lines of ‘Short of death there’s no escape from marrying the wrong man.’ Something like that, anyway.” He sighed. “Honestly, without Felicity, Phoebe might very well be unhappily married to my brother right now.”

  Short of death, there’s no escape from marrying the wrong man? Fin’s heart clenched. Dear God, Georgie might just as easily have muttered those words herself after her marriage to Teynham. The late marquess had treated his young bride abominably. And though Georgie’s external bruises had healed, Fin wasn’t certain her internal ones ever had. It was the reason she’d refused him over and over. Fear. He remembered how she’d trembled with fear the first time he’d kissed her.

  Widowhood had freed Georgie from a terrible existence. It had taken years of him begging and pleading and showing her time and again that he wasn’t like the old man before Georgie had finally agreed to marry him.

  Was that what Lissy’d meant? Was this distrust of men from having witnessed Georgie’s unhappy union, or had she experienced something awful herself? A pit formed in his stomach at the thought of anyone mistreating Lissy. The carefree, albeit flighty, creature had always been so trusting, so warm when she was younger. Was Avery right? Had someone taken that from her?

  Marcus Gray, the Marquess of Haversham, tipped back his whisky glass, closed his eyes and let the raucous rumble of White’s wash over him. So much more enjoyable than attending soirees.

  Someone thumped him in the back of the head. Marc glanced over his shoulder to find his old friend Alexander Everett, the Duke of Kelfield, standing behind him.

  “What the devil is wrong with you?” Alex asked as he navigated Marc’s overstuffed leather chair and dropped into one of his own just a few feet away.