"You have quite a habit of taking liberties, my lord. Do you honestly think Edward will not mind that you circumvented him in regard to his choice of son-in-law?"
"Ned is inordinately fond of Hew. Moreover, I have settled substantial monies and properties on my brother to ensure the comfort and security of his bride. I see no reason for Ned to object."
"Mayhap he shall not, but I still think he will not care a whit for the high-handed and clandestine manner in which this has all come about."
"You need not worry yourself about it, my dear. I shall deal with Ned upon his arrival."
"I rather think Edward shall deal summarily with you!" she shot back.
DeVere flinched at her reminder of Ned's last show of temper that had rendered him unconscious for nearly a day. He drained his glass and rose. "If you have no further questions?"
Diana rang for the footman to lead him out. "No further questions, but I insist upon speaking with each of them before any nuptials proceed. I am certain that Edward would not have Vesta wed under coercion. Swear to me that I will have such opportunity."
He inclined his head. "On my word of honor, I will personally deliver them to your door as soon as they appear. Now if that is all, I shall take my leave. There are several matters wanting my attention."
"Indeed?" She arched a brow. "We wouldn't want to keep your concubines waiting now, would we?"
He smirked. "You ill disguise it, you know."
"What?" she demanded.
"Your jealousy. There is really no need. I would be delighted to take you back into my bed, Diana. Indeed, I shall eschew them all upon your command."
"How generous to let me have you all to myself," she remarked drily. "But your mind must be disordered if you think I still want you. Then again," she continued in her acerbic tone, "given your adopted lifestyle, it's only to be expected you would eventually suffer the same affliction as your fa—"
"Don't!" He growled. "Don't ever presume to judge me or aspects of my private life you can know nothing about. The sooner you understand that, my dear, the better."
His body tensed, and his hands clenched by his sides, yet Diana refused to be cowed by his intimidating shift in demeanor. She lifted her chin. "And the sooner you understand I have no interest in further dealings with you, the better."
DeVere took his departure with a mocking chuckle. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."
Chapter Eighteen
DeVere House, Bloomsbury, three days later
Though he knew it must be near noon by the hideous blaze of light that slashed across his face when his valet drew back the heavy, velvet bed curtains, Ludovic nonetheless cursed a blue streak at being roused. Truth be told, he'd been in a damnable temper for the past several days—since he'd seen Diana. She'd aroused a fierce desire such as he'd not experienced in a very long time, and then she'd spurned him. Oh, he'd earned her scorn, all right, just as he'd made a life's work out of tempting the devil. It was a game he oftimes played with himself, pushing away that which he most yearned for just to make the later attainment of it all the sweeter.
DeVere groaned and scrubbed his face, inadvertently brushing his bruised and swollen lower lip, a tender memento of his recent encounter with the she-dragon. Ah yes, that had come as a surprise! He grimaced. Although he'd expected at least a showing of reticence on her part, he'd not anticipated the sting of a viper. Bedding Diana might not prove as easy as he'd thought. But then again, her newfound venom rather excited him.
For this reason he'd chosen to dull his senses with drink, rather than slaking his fevered lust with another. Now he found the heavy drinking he'd turned to as a temporary palliative had backfired with a vengeance the moment he awoke, inducing him to further indulgence in order to alleviate his damnably excruciating headache. It was a vicious cycle, but one he'd become accustomed to—living large only to pay the piper. Still, he determined to lay off the Arrack punch for a while in favor of claret.
"You wished to be informed the moment Captain Hewett returned," the wooden-faced servant replied after having his ears singed by his lordship's hangover-induced invective.
"Is he, indeed?" Along with his swollen lip, Ludovic's tongue felt thick in his mouth, making coherent speech an effort. "And the girl, Lady Vesta?" he asked, taking care not to lisp.
"She is arrived as well, my lord."
"And how do you perceive the situation on that front?" Ludovic inquired of his beleaguered servant.
"What do you mean, my lord?" the valet asked.
"How would you gauge my brother's humor at present?"
"I would say he appears in exceedingly high spirits, my lord. Several of the staff have remarked that he seems almost as he was before the war."
"Does he now? Then the little virago must have succeeded," Ludovic murmured with a self-satisfied smile. He rose from his bed and groaned, ignoring the proffered dressing gown, and half staggered behind the Chinese screen to relieve himself in the chamber pot. "Ensure the girl is attended to," he called over his shoulder, "and then convey to my brother that I will see him at once."
"In your dressing room, my lord?"
"Where else?" Ludovic snapped and then clutched his pounding head between both hands. "And bring coffee when you return, Masters. I require a great deal of coffee."
"Might I suggest a hair of the dog?" his servant suggested. "Mayhap a touch of brandy?"
DeVere's stomach lurched. "You'd best bring the whole damn bottle."
***
"Good afternoon, brother mine. You look like hell," Hew declared.
Ignoring the remark, Ludovic waved Hew to a chair and took a sip of coffee. He scowled at the cup and then sloshed some brandy into it with a trembling hand. He emptied it in one draught before returning the cup to the saucer.
Hew raised a brow. "Rough night?"
"The usual," Ludovic answered noncommittally.
"You know, you're slowly killing yourself with this life you lead."
"I'm hardly in a humor for homilies."
"I just hate to see it," Hew protested. "You are a man of considerable parts and still in the prime of life. A man of your station with your talents could do so much good, and yet you choose to waste it all on self-indulgence...indeed, on self-destruction."
"How I live is no one's concern but my own," Ludovic snapped. "Besides, I did not summon you to talk about me. I wish to know your intentions toward Vesta."
"Vesta?" Hew bridled. "That is a matter between me and her father. What right have you to ask?"
"As her godfather, I am placing myself in her father's stead."
"Really? That's a convenient shift." Hew scoffed. "I hardly think Ned would have condoned her recent activities or your complicity in them. You encouraged her to entrap me by imposing a compromising situation when you knew damned well I had no interest in that quarter. I could not have stated it more clearly—" Hew's jaw dropped at the sight of Vesta in the doorway.
Her face went deathly pale before their eyes. "I h-had come to greet my g-godfather...to share our happy news," she stammered.
Hew rose and strode toward her, his features contorted with a tortured expression, and then stopped. "Vesta, my love." He raised his hands plaintively. "What you heard... It's not what you think—"
Though her lips quivered, Vesta elevated her chin to meet his gaze. "I told you, Hew, that I would never have a man who didn't love me. So I gladly relieve you of your loathsome obligation." She turned to Ludovic with surprising calm. "Godfather, I have returned your yacht, and I thank you for your generosity, but it seems I shall have no further need of your assistance as I will be returning to Yorkshire with all dispatch." With a swish of skirts, she disappeared.
Hew raked his hair with an anguished cry. "Bloody hell! Look what you've done!"
"What I've done?" Ludovic repeated.
"Yes! Devil take you! She now thinks I don't want her!"
"But you just said you had no interest in her," Ludovic pointed out.
&nb
sp; "Hadn't as in past tense! I didn't want the bewitching little termagant until I spent three days with her. Damn it all, she's so full of life and vigor. She makes me forget all the miseries of the past. I realize now that I wasn't living but only sleepwalking when I returned from America. Can you understand that, Vic? And now that I know the difference, I can't do without her."
"Then what was the point of your little speech a moment ago?"
"Hang it all! I only wanted to vent my spleen regarding your meddlesome machinations before I saw that damnable smug expression when I told you we were to be wed."
"Me smug? When am I ever smug?" Ludovic smirked. "But I think you were a bit premature on the latter part. It seems you've made a quite a damned mess of it now, haven't you, Hew?"
"Me?" Hew stormed. "I'm the bloody victim in all this! First, I'm drugged and kidnapped. Then I risk my life climbing a hundred-foot mainmast in a tempest only to subsequently be driven to contemplate an ocean dive—"
"An eventful three days," Ludovic interjected.
"You have no idea." Hew groaned. "Now I ask, would any man go to such lengths for a woman he didn't adore? By some miracle, I managed to navigate it all without mishap but then not five minutes in your company, and all is lost, and I haven't a clue how to repair the damage." Hew gave his brother a harried look. "Damn you to hell, Vic!"
Ludovic raised the brandy bottle to his lips. "Undoubtedly."
***
Caught between rage and tears, Vesta didn't trouble to retrieve shawl and gloves before calling for the carriage. "Take me home, Mister Pratt," she commanded.
The jockey-cum-Man-Friday gave her a curious look. "What of the cap'n, miss?"
"I care to know nothing more of him." She sniffed. "Pray do not even mention his name again in my presence."
The grizzled little man gave a knowing nod. "Ah, that be the way of it, then."
"The way of what?" Vesta demanded.
"A lovers' tiff between you and Ca—"
Vesta shot him a warning glare.
"A certain gentleman," Pratt finished with a grin.
"It's not a tiff. It is finished. I won't have him now under any circumstances." She jutted her chin. "I only wish to leave this horrid place and go home to Yorkshire. Please take me now."
Pratt gaped. "To Yorkshire?"
"Yes, did I not say so?"
"When ye said home, I naturally thought ye meant the house on Upper Grosvenor, miss. Ye can't think to hie off all the way to Yorkshire at the drop of a hat."
"And why not?"
"'Tis three days. Ye'll need money for lodgings and a change of clothes for your person, let alone a chaperone. I durst not take ye, miss. Not wi'out his lordship's by-your-leave."
"Botheration! Then take me to Upper Grosvenor, though I don't know what I'm going to say to Aunt Di after all of this."
"I'll have the horses set to, miss. And by the by, my lady, ye might try the truth with the baroness. I've seen it work wonders on occasion."
She opened her mouth to protest, but Hew arrived in the vestibule. Pratt tugged his forelock with a nod to the captain and swiftly departed. Vesta, meanwhile, gave Hew her back.
"Vesta, please," Hew pleaded. "You must let me explain." He tried to claim her hand, but she spun out of his grasp.
"You explained everything very clearly to your brother only a moment ago. I did not coerce you! I only took you away from Diana so you could reason more clearly, but I see how mistaken I was. I will never wed you just because you think you compromised me."
"I don't just think I compromised you, Vesta. After three nights together, there is no question of it."
"Nevertheless, I free you of your obligation, so you have no fear of blemishing your status as a gentleman, Captain DeVere. Your precious honor remains intact."
"To hell with all that!" Hew threw his hands in the air. "I gave myself to you of my own volition, Vesta. I thought we had settled that. What you heard me say to my brother had nothing to do with us. I was only expressing my resentment of his underhanded meddling, but damn it all, let the ends justify the means. I need you." He knelt by her feet and took her hand in his. "I love you, Vesta. You have given me back my life, and I don't want to live it without you. Please say you will still be mine."
"Do you truly mean that, Hew?" she whispered, misty-eyed.
"With all my heart. Please let us be wed at once."
"But Papa—"
"Should be arriving any day," Lord DeVere supplied as he descended the stairs. "I confess I am impressed, Hew. I never knew that beneath that hardened soldier's veneer lay the heart of a poet. Such a touching display. I was almost moved to retrieve my handkerchief."
"Sod off, Vic." Hew glowered.
"Not my usual preference," Ludovic shot back. "Now if you lovebirds are quite finished, I have a pledge to keep. Let us depart for Upper Grosvenor."
***
"So you see, Aunt Di," Vesta explained, "Captain Hew is not to blame for any of this. It was completely my idea."
Ludovic sat back, studying the scene with an amused smile, a glass of claret dangling between his fingers, and one booted ankle crossed over his knee.
Diana looked aghast. "I can't believe it," she said. "What could have possessed you to do such a thing?"
"Does it really matter now?" DeVere interceded on Vesta's behalf. "They wish to wed, so it's all just water under the bridge."
"No, it is not!" Diana retorted. "I can only believe you contrived this!"
"Me?" he asked with feigned affront. "How can you blame me?"
"You have unduly exercised your influence over the poor girl, for Vesta is far too young to know her mind. She cannot possibly wed so soon. She hasn't even had her come-out, for heaven's sake! And you, Captain DeVere"—she turned blazing eyes on Hew—"I cannot believe you accept this situation with such aplomb when you had no interest in Vesta only days ago." Her gaze narrowed. "Indeed, I begin to think you as capricious as your brother when only a short while before, you were paying your address to—"
Hew flushed. "My apologies if my sudden turnabout offends you, but please, believe my feelings for Vesta are unwavering and true. And come what may, I promise to claim full culpability for my part in this escapade when Sir Edward arrives."
DeVere added, "At the risk of further affront to your injured sensibilities, madam, it matters not a whit what you think of me or my brother; it is for the girl's father to decide. And I can see no good reason for Ned to object to Hew."
Diana gave both DeVeres a resentful glare before capitulating. "Very well. I suppose there's nothing more to be done until Sir Edward arrives, but I think it would do Hew and Vesta both a great deal of good to take a few days to let passions cool and reflect upon this. Marriage should not be entered into frivolously. So I ask that you respect my wishes to refrain from seeing each other for a few days."
"But Aunt Di!" Vesta protested.
"She's right, my love," said Hew, squeezing Vesta's hand. "What are a few days when we have our entire lives to look forward to together?"
"May we at least have a moment alone?" Vesta pleaded. "Just a few minutes in the garden? Please, Aunt Di."
"What harm can there be?" Ludovic asked, glancing from the couple to Diana, who visibly bristled at him. He knew she didn't wish to concede for that would also place her alone with him. "Given my brother's eagerness to see the knot tied, I daresay any damage has already been done."
The younger couple colored and exchanged guilty glances.
"Five minutes," Diana said tersely. "Not a moment longer."
Vesta nodded and seemed to glow when Hew offered his arm.
"Edward will not like this at all," Diana remarked after the couple had departed out the terrace door.
"But he will accept it nonetheless," DeVere countered.
"I never could have pictured Hew and Vesta," she said. "But I daresay they seem to have grown fond of each other, which I suppose gives them as good a chance as any of making a go of it."
&nbs
p; "So cynical, Diana?"
"I have reason, as you well know, but isn't the pot calling the kettle black?"
He laughed. "Mayhap so, for I have little faith in the institution of marriage. Had I my choice, I would abolish it altogether."
"And pray, what would that accomplish other than creating a country teeming with illegitimate children?"
"At least there would be no stigma to bastardy," he said blandly. "All would equally fall under the bar sinister."
"And who do you suppose would take responsibility for all these unnamed children?"
"Were we to adopt the ways of the East, as in the sultan's harem, they would be raised all together. It's rather a hedonistic ideal, is it not?"
"You do not believe a man should provide for his own offspring?" she asked with disdain.
"Certainly he should..." Ludovic retrieved an enameled snuffbox from his pocket, a memento from his days in Paris, and studied the bawdy picture on the lid. "...if he can be certain they are truly his. In this country, the law covers a multitude of sins, for a man has no choice but to claim another's bastard if he and the woman are wed at the time. In Constantinople, the law protects a man from the injustice of raising another's bastard." He took a pinch of his favorite custom blend, replaced the box in his pocket, and shook out his lace cuffs.
"And how is that contrived?" she asked.
"A sultan is permitted to take four wives to provide his heirs and then numerous concubines to provide his pleasure. He is required to provide for the material wants of all the women and children under his care. In return, they are kept segregated from any other males, save eunuchs. To even speak to any of these women can merit a penalty of death."
Her lips thinned. "A hundred women enslaved to one man? And kept confined for life? You speak as if you condone this barbaric practice."
He laughed. "It is highly effective to ensure fidelity, for it ensures that the sultan's sexual needs are met within his own home. Thus, he has no reason to stray outside of it."
"What of the women's needs and desires?" she asked.
He shrugged. "It is a man's world, Diana. They may not have the freedom that English women enjoy, but they are well cared for."
A Devil Named DeVere (The Devil DeVere) Page 17