The Accidental Courtesan

by Cheryl Ann Smith

  She’d almost died to help him. She’d risked her heart. Now he casually mentioned marrying her off as if he had no feelings for her in the least.

  Once the danger was over, he’d simply walk away.

  Take me home.” Noelle clenched her jaw to keep from crying. Thankfully, the veil hid the telltale tremble of her bottom lip.

  “Noelle, what is it?” He reached for her arm, but she pulled free.

  “Take me home,” she repeated. “If you cannot follow a simple instruction, then I will find someone who will.” She glanced down the path and saw the Earl of Blakemore heading toward them at a clip on the back of a large white horse. “The earl will make an excellent escort.”

  She made to rise, and Gavin caught her firmly by the arm. “Have you lost your senses?” he snapped. He jerked her back down in the seat, and his jaw twitched as he watched Blakemore ride past. “You cannot wave him down dressed like a courtesan. What would he think to discover you are Lady Seymour?”

  In her haste to rid herself of Gavin, she’d forgotten her disguise. She slumped back on the seat.

  “Taking you home is an excellent idea. Clearly your head injury is worse than I feared. You have gone insane.” He grumbled something about her, the earl, and the footpads under his breath. And it wasn’t flattering.

  Noelle took satisfaction in knowing she’d angered him and he had no clue why. It mattered not what he thought about her. She averted her head to keep him from seeing her tears.

  Gavin Blackwell: American, Englishman, shipbuilder, cad. Why did he have to be the one she’d given her heart, just to have him stomp all over it with his polished boots?

  She never should have fallen in love with him! It changed her perspective on her life, marriage, and children. She never planned to have either. And they were still barely on the fringe of consideration. But the fact that she was considering them at all, with a man who clearly didn’t think of anything beyond sharing a bed, was painful.

  Perhaps she should find herself a husband just to spite him. Then again, he’d have to care to feel the spite. And since she had no father to see her wed, he’d probably walk her up the aisle of the church and gladly hand her over to her new husband. Maybe even toast the newly married couple at their wedding supper.

  He’d likely be happy to rid himself of her troublesome presence. She’d been nothing but a bother since they met. His face still held proof of her crimes in faded smudges of yellow beneath his sun-dark skin.

  “Do you plan to tell me the reason for this sudden change of temperament, or do you plan to ride the rest of the way back in silence?” The question came out in a growl. She stubbornly refused to answer. “As you wish.”

  Gavin clucked his tongue. Muffin sped up from slow to not as slow. The horse had only one speed.

  It was several long minutes of misery before Gavin finally pulled up to the stable behind Collingwood House. By then, Noelle was covered in her cloak to hide her disguise, and she didn’t wait for him to alight and help her down. She scrambled from the gig as the groom took control of Muffin.

  She brushed past Gavin, pushed open the garden gate, and hurried up the path. If she’d hoped her curt dismissal would keep him from harassing her further, his footsteps behind her divested her of that notion.

  Just outside the kitchen door, she quickly pulled off her veil and wig and shoved them into her valise. She dug for her handkerchief and quickly scrubbed off the beauty mark and makeup as best she could without a mirror. He stopped a few steps from her, but she refused to acknowledge him and jerked open the door.

  The kitchen staff openly gawked as she stomped through the warm, yeasty-smelling space and into the hallway.

  Continuing through the house at a rapid clip, Noelle managed to get to the stairs before he caught up with her.

  “Noelle.”

  Before he could continue, a door opened above, and Eva and Nicholas walked into view. Eva must have seen something on Noelle’s face that caused her to ask, “Is there something the matter, Sister?”

  Noelle expelled a harsh breath. “Men are so daft.”

  Without a look back at Gavin, she turned and walked stiffly up the stairs.

  Gavin rubbed his hands over his face and sighed. Women were so difficult to understand and so emotionally unstable. Quick to smile, quick to tears. One minute he and Noelle were having a perfectly innocent conversation, and the next she was behaving like he’d committed a crime against her. And she called him daft?

  “If I have learned anything from living with a Harrington woman, Blackwell, it is that you cannot understand them, no matter how hard you try.” The duke came down the stairs and joined him in the huge foyer. “I think you need a drink.”

  Gavin followed the duke to the library and accepted a splash of brandy. “When dealing with your sister-in-law, one needs a suit of chain mail to fend off the arrows she shoots from her sharp tongue.” Gavin downed the brandy and held out his glass. His Grace chuckled and filled it to the top. “May I live to a right ancient age, I will not understand her.”

  “The duchess led me on quite a chase from our very first meeting.” His Grace grinned widely. “Before I realized what was happening, she’d stolen my heart.” He gave Gavin a pitying glance. “I think, sir, you have been hooked by a Harrington.”

  “Nonsense.” Gavin scowled. “I have no intention to wed.”

  His Grace laughed with open merriment and clapped him on the shoulder. “Eva stole my courtesan. I despised Eva. She was a drab spinster with not a single interesting quality. You wouldn’t know it by looking at her now.”

  Gavin stared. “Her Grace, a drab spinster?”

  The duke nodded. “I planned to live my life a bachelor. My father was an angry bastard, and I was following the same path. I couldn’t wish my temperament on any woman. My wife tied me into knots until I knew I couldn’t live my life without her.” He winked and threw back his brandy. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  A grunt was Gavin’s answer. He moved to the fireplace and gulped down half of his second drink. It slid smoothly down his throat. If only his dealings with his courtesan-thief went so well. Noelle twisted him around until he couldn’t breathe without thinking of her.

  “Noelle is the most contrary woman I have ever met. When I’m with her, she leads me on a merry chase,” Gavin grumbled. “When I’m away from her, I cannot push her from my mind. I am an hour or two away from Bedlam, and know not what to do to rectify this situation.”

  A knowing nod followed the pronouncement. “You have been hooked, Blackwell, and there is no solution to your predicament. I know.” His Grace clunked his glass on the table and stretched his legs out. Knitting his hands over his stomach, the duke settled down to grin. “You might as well send for the parson, you poor bastard.”

  Noelle knew Gavin had left after an hour locked up with Nicholas in the library. Eva’s maid, who’d been sent down to spy, had informed them when he’d exited the premises. Only then did she stop listening for sounds of him coming up the stairs to confront her again, and she took a deep, calming breath.

  After she’d gone up to her room and Eva called for a bath, Noelle had ranted about men and all their foibles for a good half hour. She’d finally admitted most of her bad behavior with Gavin to her sister, in hopes of finding an ally. Instead, she’d been left with Eva threatening to see them wed. Noelle spent another quarter hour convincing her sister not to stomp down to the library and demand that Nicholas write up a marriage agreement.

  “He should marry you,” Eva said several times during Noelle’s rant, and she wasn’t about to be put off. Whatever the baby was doing to her body, the little mite had left Eva irritable and fiercely protective. “The man knew the potential consequences of his shameful acts. He shouldn’t get away with this unscathed.”

  Noelle swirled her hand around in the soapy water. No matter how angry she was with Gavin, nor how hurt, she couldn’t help wishing it was he, and not Eva, who was tending her bath. “
You can force us to marry and turn Gavin and me into my mother and our father.” She looked pleadingly into Eva’s eyes. “Would you want that life for me?”

  Eva sat on the bed, her face awash with concern. “You love him.” It wasn’t a question but a statement.

  Biting her bottom lip, Noelle nodded. “Sadly, I do.” She ran a finger over the rim of the copper tub. “He doesn’t love me. I will be forgotten once the thieves have been rounded up. He will move on to the next woman, and I will be just a memory.”

  “I don’t believe that.” Eva placed a hand over her stillflat belly beneath her simple green muslin gown. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He cares.”

  Noelle smiled wryly. “I care for lemon tarts. It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t give them up if my waistline expanded.”

  “I would hardly put you in the same pile as lemon tarts. Lemon tarts are sweeter,” Eva teased soberly. “I think we need to think about Mister Blackwell, and this situation, in an entirely different manner.”

  “How so?” Noelle braced herself for another press for marriage. Once her sister got a notion in her head, she seldom changed her mind. In that, they were similarly stubborn. Eva was likely already thinking of the cut and fabric best suited for Noelle’s bridal gown.

  “Do you want to marry him?” Eva asked.

  Noelle thought for a moment and answered truthfully. “I’m not certain what I want.”

  “Still, you want him to love you?”

  “I’d be happier if he did.” Noelle hated to admit that she wanted Gavin as desperately in love with her as she was with him.

  Eva nodded and started to pace. “I have discovered that it isn’t the greatest beauties that men desire most, though their first attraction is usually a pretty face. No, what men want is a woman who intrigues them, who has a certain quality about her that is unforgettable.” Eva pushed to her feet and walked to the tub. “You intrigued your Mister Blackwell when you broke into his bedroom. Now you need to find a way to make absolutely certain he will never be able to forget you.”

  “Such as riding through Hyde Park wearing nothing but my hair draped over my breasts?” Noelle’s saucy comment was rewarded with an impatient look from her sister.

  “That wasn’t what I had in mind,” Eva replied. “You know him better than I do. I’m certain you can come up with something grand.”

  She patted Noelle’s hand and left her to finish her bath. Eva did have a point. If Noelle wanted Gavin to want her desperately, she had to do something outside the usual. She’d have to come up with an intriguing plot to spin his head around until he could think of nothing but her.

  But what if she did hook him and he fell desperately in love with her? What if he flung all caution aside and wanted to marry her? Would she give up all the reasons she never wanted to wed and take him as her husband? Could he vow to remain faithful to her for the rest of his days? Could she trust him at his word even if he made that vow?

  She leaned her head back and looked at the ceiling. Was it in her best interest to use her parents’ miserable marriage as the measure for every relationship? Her two sisters were gloriously happy in spite of their parents’ misery. But would their bliss last for the next forty years?

  Somehow, deep inside she knew the love matches would hold. Harold loved Margaret deeply, and Eva and Nicholas had a love so rare that people often remarked how envious they were of the profound happiness of the duke and duchess.

  Suddenly, Noelle wanted more from Gavin than a tryst. She wanted what Eva and Nicholas had.

  She wanted to marry the exasperating American!

  With lightness in her heart, she stood abruptly, spilling water all over the floor. An idea took root that would so shock and delight Gavin that it had to work.

  She reached for the towel and vigorously scrubbed her skin. Lemon and cinnamon swirled around her from the bath oil. The scent was a step toward the downfall of Gavin Blackwell. But only the first step. She needed to push him off the cliff.

  Padding across the floor with damp bare feet, she went to the wardrobe and dug around in the bottom. Once she discovered the items she was looking for, she caught them against her bosom, giggled with delight, and spun round and round until her head whirled.

  Before the evening gave way to dawn tomorrow, Gavin would be fully and completely hers.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Confidence and an overriding desire to show Gavin she was unforgettable made the climb up the trellis easier the second time around. She’d sent a footman to inquire, discreetly of course, as to the whereabouts of the earl, and learned he was still in Bath with his family. This left the town house, and Gavin, to her.

  She’d borrowed Thomas from the courtesan school, knowing he would keep her secrets, and asked him to help her get to the earl’s town house undetected. To her surprise, he was quite good at sneak thievery. They passed through several gardens and over a fence without raising an alarm. If there were spies watching the town house, they’d certainly not seen anything unusual.

  Eva had a way of finding men who were fiercely loyal, and had shadowy histories, to protect her courtesans. Noelle was pleased to discover Thomas was a perfect, if a bit stoic, partner in mischief.

  And he’d promised to continue to watch over her until she was safely inside the house. She was grateful for his help and for his not judging her behavior.

  Now, if she could manage to put her feet on level footholds, and not drop to the ground in a bloody heap, she might actually prove to Gavin she was worth his attention.

  And love.

  If she ever wanted to take up burglary, she might very well have a successful career, she thought, as she managed to get the window open with ease and step into the darkened bedroom. One would think they’d have learned a lesson from her previous break-in and would have locked the window. Obviously, it wasn’t a matter of great concern.

  Thank goodness.

  In a matter of minutes, she was through the green bedroom and into the hallway. A thin trail of light flickered beneath Gavin’s door as she paused to steady her heart and to summon up courage. She was about to take a huge plunge into the unknown, and she wanted to be bold. Knocking knees and quivering hands did not an adventuress make.

  The door was unlocked and gave naught but a small squeak as she pushed it open and stepped inside. Though the light was low and the room dim, she could see Gavin stretched out on the bed, a sheet partially covering his lower body.

  Pity. Still, his finely sculpted chest was flushed with golden firelight and bared for her perusal. She touched her tongue to her bottom lip, her hands aching to caress him, wanting desperately to draw her mouth over his beautiful body.

  Unhurried, yet eager to begin the seduction, Noelle took a few steps forward. As she closed the distance, she discovered he was not sleeping, but intently watching her approach.

  “Good evening,” she said, stopping in her tracks. She offered him a small, and what she hoped was a confident, smile. “I was passing by with my first mate, Thomas, and saw your light on. With his help, I managed to cleverly avoid the patrol and slip into the garden unseen. I thought I’d pop in for tea and cakes.”

  One corner of his mouth cocked up into a crooked grin. “You look like a pirate, Milady.”

  Noelle looked down to her uncle’s black breeches, which she’d taken and hastily hemmed, and the borrowed white shirt whose sleeves she’d rolled up to the elbows and covered with a dark coat. He was in India and would never miss them. A square of red scarf tied casually around her waist held the trousers up, and another tied her hair back at the neck. Her slippers were out of place for the costume, but her uncle’s boots were too big for her to wear when making the climb up the trellis.

  “That is why I was traveling through the neighborhood.” She shucked off the coat and shifted her hips to a jaunty angle. “I was on my way to steal a ship to sail the seven seas. And since we are friends, and you saved my life, I couldn’t leave these shores behind without saying good
-bye or making a heartfelt apology for my earlier behavior.”

  His mouth twitched. “I accept your apology.” He locked his hands behind his head and nodded. “Well, good-bye, then. Be sure to write.”

  The casual farewell didn’t match the heat and intensity in his eyes as he lowered his attention in a sweeping path over the oversized shirt to where her nipples pressed the fabric in tight buds. He knew her game and was as open to playing as she was. The night was theirs to explore.

  “Certainly, a life saved calls for a more enthusiastic farewell, my dear Mister Blackwell.” She reached up to untie the scarf from her hair. The effort caused the shirt to stretch over her unbound breasts. She knew rosy flesh showed through the thin cloth. His breathing stopped.

  She’d breached his reserve.

  A shake of her head tumbled her hair over her shoulders and down her back. She had his full attention. He’d never allow her to leave the room now, game or not. They both knew how the evening would end and eagerly welcomed the hours ahead.

  “You have beautiful hair, My Lady pirate,” he said softly. Gavin shifted, and Noelle saw proof of his arousal beneath the sheet. He was steely hard. “You should never wear it bound.”

  Several strands fell over her eye. She peered at him from beneath the silky mass. “I do think my hair has merit.” She reached for the scarf tenuously holding up the large breeches. “I have always wondered about my legs. I used to think them skinny. Perhaps you can offer an opinion.” With a tug, the trousers were around her ankles. She casually kicked them aside.

  Gavin jerked his eyes wide. The move had been unexpected, and had the hoped-for effect on him. Noelle smiled seductively and slowly peeled off her garters and stockings. She let them flutter to the floor. Only a little wedge of shirttail kept him from viewing the patch of pale curls at the vee of her thighs.