Ram didn’t deny it.
Belinda squared her shoulders. Ram had every right to be angry with Izzy, but she was still his wife, and Belinda refused to leave this place without his aid.
“I’m telling you, Ram, she loves you,” Lucien insisted with dogged persistence. Belinda silently cheered him on.
“Nay, Lucien. Izzy needs me. That’s vastly different from loving me. Huntley doesn’t want her and her father won’t allow her back. She has nowhere else to go. That, my friend, does not love make.”
“Let’s say for the sake of conversation that was true. You would leave her with nowhere to go? You would see her cast into the streets?”
“She’s no longer my responsibility,” Ram insisted.
Lucien made a frustrated sound. “You didn’t see her yesterday, after you stormed out of here. She was devastated, Ram.”
“I care not for what pretty words she used to lure you to her side. She’s a master at deception.”
Belinda’s heart lurched. The pain in Ram’s voice was raw. This was a private matter that Izzy and Ram needed to sort for themselves. But she didn’t know where else to turn for aid, if not from Izzy’s husband. Belinda boldly entered the study, and both men froze.
“The Baron did not refuse Izzy a place, my lord, if that’s what you think.” Ram flushed, knowing she’d overheard him. “My uncle left a note for Izzy yesterday, before he departed with my aunt, asking both of us to join them when the carriage returned for us.”
“Belinda.” Lucien stepped forward and clasped her hands, oblivious to Ram’ wide-eyed stare at the action and the familiar use of her given name. “What’s brought you here so early? Is something amiss? If your uncle sent the carriage back, why aren’t the two of you already on your way somewhere safe?”
Lucien’s voice dropped, and that intimacy, combined with the large hands that held hers so warmly, discomfited her, almost made her reason for venturing out forgotten. She forced her attention from Ram and turned to Lucien.
“You are distraught,” He added with a stroke on her cheek. “Tell me what’s amiss.”
Regaining her composure, Belinda whirled on Ram, in time to see the quirking of his brow as he stared at her and Lucien.
She addressed her answer to her cousin’s husband. “Aye, there is something terribly wrong, my lord.”
Ram leaned against his desk regarding her with a lazy gaze. “You asked the wrong question, Lucien. The proper question would be- what catastrophic mess has your little bitch of a cousin gotten herself into this time that would worry you enough to bring you rushing over here at such an ungodly hour?”
Belinda gasped.
“Ram!” Lucien snapped.
Ram flushed. “I apologize, Miss Spencer. That was uncalled for. And I’m truly sorry for your sake if your cousin has once more selfishly embroiled you in her schemes. But Isabelle’s concerns are no longer mine.”
“She took the carriage early this morning and left!” Belinda cried, frustrated by his lack of interest. Had she been wrong about his feelings for Izzy after all?
He shrugged. “So?”
“She took it to court, Ramsay. To court.”
Something sparked in his grey eyes. “Why in the bloody blazes did she go there? The place is crawling with illness.”
“It doesn’t matter why! You’re her husband. You must find her and bring her home before it’s too late.”
Ram’s eyes narrowed. “Why did she go to Court, Belinda?”
Obviously he wouldn’t even discuss going after Izzy unless Belinda answered the question she’d hoped to avoid. She met and held his gaze. “She went to find Paul.”
An emotion flitted across his face so fast she almost missed it. But it was grief, pure and simple. “Then I hope for her sake he’s smart enough to take her out of there” Ram stared back, his voice returned to normal, his face a study of indifference.
Belinda balled her fists, resisting the urge to pop him in the nose, to knock some sense into him. She was acutely aware Lucien had stepped very close behind her, perhaps to lend her moral support.
“You don’t understand. She went for you, Ram! I couldn’t stop her! She went to beg Paul not to go to your father.”
Ram’s eyes widened. “What? Why would she do that?”
“Because she loves you! She accepts that your marriage is over, but she truly believes Paul will leave off with his threat if she asks him. She’s so afraid of being the cause of a rift between you and your father that she wouldn’t even consider the risks to herself.” Belinda took a deep, steadying breath. “I begged her not to go but she wouldn’t listen. She was adamant she do this one last thing for you.”
“The place is teeming with smallpox. Who knows how many have been infected. Was Izzy exposed to the illness as a child?”
Belinda shook her head.
Ram’s face lost all color. “My God. How long ago did she leave?”
“She was up by dawn. I’m not sure when she departed for court and I have no idea where she’ll go when she’s done there. We were supposed to join her parents at Eric’s estate in the north, but she has yet to send the carriage back for me, so I don’t know.” Belinda felt the sting of tears behind her eyes and fought to keep control of herself. “I’m so worried,” she whispered.
Before her eyes, Ram underwent a transformation. Gone was the lazy indifference. In its place she saw only steady determination.
He clasped her hands in his. “I’ll stop her if she hasn’t yet made it to court. I’ll drag her home kicking and screaming, need be, if she’s there” As he turned away he muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “and then I’ll tan her arse.”
The moment he disappeared through the door Belinda sighed with relief. Then, utterly exhausted, she collapsed onto a sofa and shut her eyes.
She became aware of Lucien the instant he sat beside her. She’d almost forgotten his presence in her haste and worry. Her eyes snapped open when he lifted her foot into his lap and slid off her shoe. She started to protest, but the words died on her lips as he kneaded the sole of her foot through her stocking. She was so weary and worried, and it felt like heaven. Her head dropped back against the cushion and a tiny moan escaped her lips.
“Belinda, if Izzy took the coach, how did you get here?”
“Hmm?” Without lifting her head, she answered. “I hired a hack.”
“Alone?” The hands on her feet stilled. She wiggled her toes against his fingers, letting him know she wanted more.
“You’ll never do such a thing again, do you hear me? If you need transportation, you’ll send a servant to my house and I will dispatch a carriage for you. Do you understand?”
Finally, she lifted her head and looked into his brooding, angry eyes. Why was he so upset? But his concern touched her, made her want to giggle with happiness for reasons she didn’t understand, or more aptly, didn’t want to contemplate. “If you continue rubbing my feet, I’ll acquiesce to anything you desire,” she flung back coquettishly instead, astounding herself with her forwardness.
He started, but then a bark of laughter escaped his lips. “You know not what you agree to.”
“Hmm.” She repeated, wiggling her feet again. “I’m willing to take the risk.”
They sat in quiet for a few moments, the only sound in the room her soft sighs as he worked the soles of her feet.
And then;
“Do you think he’ll find her?” she chewed her lip, worrying about Izzy all over again.
Lucien’s touch grew gentle. “I don’t know. But Ram is tenacious. If anyone can find her, it will be he. My coach will take you home and I’ll send word to you as soon as I hear anything at all.”
Belinda shook her head. “I appreciate your offer, I truly do, but I intend to stay here. I want to be here in case Izzy comes home.”
He sent an odd look skittering in her direction, but nodded. She removed her feet from his lap and sat up straight on the sofa, determined to wait for whatever news Ram might return
with. But soon her exhaustion of the previous days began to catch up with her.
“Belinda?”
“Hmm?” she responded drowsily.
“At least let me have Dexter make up a chamber for you.” he reached out and snatched a lock of her hair, rubbing it between his fingertips. “You are exhausted with worry.”
“Nay. I should prefer to wait here for Ram. I’m well enough.” His touch on her hair sent tingles down her spine.
“You don’t have to be strong all of the time, you know. I’m here, and I can be strong for you.”
His kind words almost brought her to tears. Two days of worry and fear for Izzy’s health were taking their toll. She was emotionally and physically fatigued.
She sank back against the settee, let her eyelids flutter closed. She would rest for but a few minutes.
Slowly, Lucien wrapped an arm about her shoulder. Belinda remained sitting stiffly upright, so aware of how inappropriate it was to let him touch her this way, to be with him like this. But any voice of reason that might convince her otherwise was drowned out by a wave of exhaustion and slowly she relaxed into him, until her head lay against his chest. The warmth of his embrace soon lulled her to sleep and she gave into it, knowing she was safe in Lucien’s strong arms.
Chapter 30
What the hell was Izzy thinking? The question repeated in Ram’s mind like a mantra, tormenting him, over and over again, along with, does it mean anything that she was risking her health for his sake? She was misguided, it was true, for he could fight his own battles and Huntley wasn’t a threat he took seriously, but Izzy couldn’t know that. In his fury, he’d never bothered to tell her he had information of his own with which to neutralize Huntley. Perversely, Ram had wanted to see how far she would go with her threats, and so he’d kept his silence.
For very much the same reason, he’d never told her Huntley had sold out to Cromwell. During the years he’d been gone Huntley had gathered information on various Royalists, beginning with Izzy’s own family, and sold it to Cromwell’s spy network, over and over again. If he’d told her the truth, that Huntley endangered her brothers’ lives time and again for profit, that her feelings for the man would die. But Ram hadn’t wanted that to be the reason she turned away from Huntley.
Now she might pay the ultimate price for his stubborn pride.
He clung to the hope Izzy had lied. She was a master manipulator. How many times had she said she would do one thing, so everyone would look the other way while she did something else?
And then there was the chance Belinda was mistaken. Perhaps Izzy only wanted to be sure her precious Paul safely escaped the stricken court.
Either way, whatever the reason, if Izzy truly meant to go to court, he would stop her if it wasn’t too late.
His heart constricted at the thought of her ill with smallpox. It was a horrid disease. Nearly a third of all people who contracted it died, and most who survived were hideously scarred for life. He knew, for he’d seen the disease in action when he was barely more than a toddler. Both he and his cousin had been stricken. Only Ram survived. The thought of his beautiful, vivacious Izzy taken out of his world in that way was a thought too horrendous to bear.
What was she thinking?
Once he found her, and knew she would be all right, he would kiss her soundly and then wring her lovely neck.
His carriage careened through the Holbein gate and Ram flew from the interior before hid driver, Guy, had even brought the coach to a complete stop. As it was, too much time had already been wasted on the journey. Ram should have dispensed with the coach and taken Mercury instead. The crush of carriages on the streets of London moving away from court had cost precious time.
Ram strode through the entrance, disregarding the warning cry of a steward who appeared on his left. His feet unerringly trod through the maze of hallways until he stood outside the door to Huntley’s rooms. When Ram was last here with Izzy he’d made it a point of knowing exactly where his competition was lodged and now that foresight proved useful.
He needed to assure himself that Paul was long gone, and that Izzy had no reason to be here.
His heart dropped in dread when he heard voices coming from the partially open door. One was male and one most definitely belonged to a female.
“Izzy!” he cried, shouldering the door open without giving any warning to the inhabitants.
Huntley sat on a bed, his face flushed. He was very obviously furious, but his anger was directed at the other occupant in the room. Ram’s gaze quickly swept the room and focused in on the lone female, standing across the room near the hearth, twisting her hands together in dismay. About to dismiss her out of hand when he saw that her hair was not the chestnut brown of Izzy’s tresses, but rather a buttery gold, his gaze slammed back to her face.
“Louisa?”
Her eyes widened, her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. “Ram? What are you doing here?”
He narrowed his eyes. How long had she been warming Huntley’s bed? It would be too ironic if she’d done so while still his mistress.
Ram turned his attention away from Louisa. He didn’t care in whose bed she spent her nights. He was interested in one woman only.
“Yes, Royston. What are you doing here?” Huntley stood from the bed, looking weary and furious at the same time. His eyes were bloodshot, his face was pale, his lips pinched tight in an expression of anger. Fingernail gouges ran down his cheek. Against the pallor of his skin they stood out in stark relief, blood red and quite deep. Ram couldn’t help looking past him to the rumpled bed just vacated. He noticed the cords tied to the headboard and shook his head in disgust, glancing at Louisa again. He hadn’t the slightest doubt that she enjoyed being tied to Huntley’s bed, playing his perverse games. When Ram first met her, he’d been jaded and bored with everything in life, and her antics in bed amused him well enough. Since that fateful day in the woods when he met a beautiful maiden who stole his heart, he’d discovered that despite Izzy’s innocence—or perhaps because of it—that with love came the greatest excitement he’d ever experienced during lovemaking. In a way, he’d been as innocent as she, for he’d never truly made love to a woman before, until Izzy came into his life. No amount of bed toys or role-playing could ever bring the kind of pleasure that making love to the woman he loved did.
Was he willing to give her up without a fight, to never know that pleasure again, to return to romps in bed with a faceless parade of women like Louisa?
He didn’t even have to think it over. Nay, he wasn’t willing to lose what he’d found with Izzy if there was even the smallest chance to keep it. He’d been a fool to give up so quickly.
Having reached that decision in his own mind, he became even more anxious and determined to find Izzy and bring her home.
“I’m looking for my wife. Was she here today?”
“Aye, she was here earlier.”
“How long did she stay?” Ram gritted out, determined not to jump to conclusions.
“Do you mean at court, or in my bed?”
Ram couldn’t stomach the smugness on the man’s face. He lunged forward, jamming his arm across Huntley’s windpipe with such force it lifted him from his feet and against the wall, where Ram kept him pinned. “I’m in no mood for games, Huntley. Why was she here, when did she leave, and where did she go?”
Huntley grimaced. “For a man seeking an annulment from his estranged wife, you seem strangely concerned for her well-being.”
Ram gritted his teeth, pressing harder against his nemesis’ throat. “Answers, Huntley. I shall have them now. Or you’ll not leave here.”
Huntley snorted. “You wouldn’t put yourself at such risk.”
“Wouldn’t I?” Ram challenged. “I’ve been exposed to smallpox. There’s nothing for me to fear here.”
Paul’s eyes widened as he recognized this was no idle threat and nodded curtly, signaling his acquiescence. He pushed away from the wall and Ram released his hold.
&
nbsp; Holding a hand to his throat, Huntley coughed and choked for a few moments. “She was here, but hours ago. I’ve no idea where her destination lay from here.”
“Why did she come here?”
Huntley laughed. “She came to buy me off.”
Ram drew his brows together. “Explain yourself.”
“She wanted me to swear I’d never betray your secret. She was willing to pay any price to secure my silence.”
Ram reeled. She had come here for his sake alone. Oh, Izzy. You wonderful, endearing, little fool. Then he focused on Huntley’s full intimation.
“What price? What did you demand of her?”
“Coin of course.” Huntley shrugged negligently as if extortion was a regular event in his daily life. “Five thousand quid.”
Ram started. “Where would she get those kinds of funds?”
Huntley shrugged again, but his eyes flicked to the table near the bed. Ram followed his gaze. Izzy’s sapphire and diamond earring lay sparkling upon the wood. Ram’s stomach twisted at the proof that she had indeed been there. Huntley lunged for the earring, but Ram was quicker, and scooped it into his hand.
“I’ll be taking this back.”
Huntley’s fist clenched at his side, but it relaxed as a malicious glint appeared in his ice blue eyes. “She paid an advance on my other demand as well.”
Ram stiffened. “Which was?”
“That she come willingly to my bed.”
A furious mist clouded Ram’s vision and it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to pummel the man in front of him to death. “What kind of advance?” he demanded tersely.
“Ah.” Paul’s mouth twisted into a savagely satisfied smile. “That’s between your wife and I. I’m a gentleman, Royston. I never kiss and tell. If Izzy wants you to know she’ll have to tell you.”
Ram was about to break the man’s neck when Louisa stepped forward.
“Paul!” she finally cried, her voice filled with shock, betrayal, and outrage.
“Shut up, you cow. If it weren’t for you, we’d be long gone from this hellhole. I never should have waited on you in the first place. I should have left you here to rot by yourself.”
Virtue and Vice Page 33