by Lady Vixen
The soft mouth thinned and Nicole leaped to her feet. Clutching her reticule so tightly her knuckles showed white, she spat, "Thank you very much! It relieves my mind no end to know that I can face the future knowing I shall not be married to such an utter swine as you!"
Staring at her vivid features, at the topaz eyes flashing sparks of tawny fire, a curious expression flickered across his face, and softly, almost threateningly, he murmured, "I said at the moment I had no intention of marrying you!"
Nicole caught her breath in a gasp of pure rage. Forgetting that marriage with Christopher was something she longed for with all her heart, or that only moments before she had been torn apart, agonizing over the great wrong done him by her mother and Robert, she cried furiously, "You beast! Do you honestly think, you have only to change your mind! That I won't have something to say about it?"
A lazy smile on his mouth, he levered his body away from the sideboard, and before Nicole had time to guess his intention, she was locked in his arms. With the mocking mouth hovering just inches above hers, he teased, "Oh, I'm certain you'll have a great deal to say about it! But there are ways of dealing with recalcitrant young women who don't know what's best for them."
Nicole jerked as if stung, but Christopher only tightened his hold and deftly caught her mouth with his, his lips hard and warm, almost hurtfully demanding a response from her. His kiss was the familiar half-savage, half-tender assault on her senses, and with a soft moan of part shame, part answering desire, she yielded her lips to him, offering no resistance as his tongue ravaged her mouth. Painfully aware of the solid muscular promise of his body against hers, of the hard thrust of his thighs against her legs and the strength of the arms that bound her so closely to him, Nicole fought against the traitorous urge to return his caress, to allow this urgent, hungry embrace to end as nature demanded it did—to let him sweep her into his arms and carry her through the doorway to the bed she knew lay beyond, and to feel again that exquisite dark enchantment of Christopher's body possessing hers.
But then even as her hands began to caress feverishly the dark head, the insidious memory of what Higgins had told her came slithering back like some venomous reptile from a black cave, and suddenly filled with revulsion, revulsion that her mother had known that same magic, she twisted frantically out of his arms. f
Christopher made no attempt to recapture her; instead, his eyes mere slits in the dark face, his chest heaving slightly, he said icily, "If that is how you act with Robert and if that is how Regina caught you, I am not surprised she lied as she did!"
Nicole glared at him. "At least Robert had the decency not to force himself on an unwilling woman!"
"Unnwilling?" Christopher taunted, unable to help himself. "Don't try that line of defense! You were as willing as I!"
"Have done!" Nicole muttered angrily. "I didn't come here to wrangle with you! Believe me, despite what might seem actions to the contrary, I really have no desire to be seduced by you! And if you were any kind of a gentleman you wouldn't put me in such an invidious position."
A rueful smile creased Christopher's lean cheek. "I agree, but we both have already agreed that I am no gentleman and that you, my little firebrand, are certainly no lady! I think we are each equally as guilty as the other for this present confrontation."
The fight suddenly vanished from her body at his disarming manner, and Nicole nodded and in a weary voice said, "At least there is something we can agree on! And now I think it best if I leave before we say anything that destroys this momentary accord."
For a seemingly endless minute Christopher stared at her, noticing the hint of strain that clouded the topaz eyes. He was aware of an inexplicable urge to take her into his arms and to demand that she allow him the right to resolve whatever difficulties had caused the air of sadness that clung to her. But then jeering at himself for being a fool and a madman, he shrugged his broad shoulders and said out loud, "I will order a sedan chair for you and escort you back to Cavendish Square; if we are lucky no one will ever guess that you have been here. What did you tell them when you left the house?"
"I didn't say anything, I just left," Nicole answered quietly, undecided if Christopher's help was what she really wanted. She was extremely conscious of the debt she owed him, of the wrong done him by her mother, and for the first time in their relationship she found herself ashamed and contrite for some of the things she had thought about him. Higgins's revelation had given her a different view of Christopher, and she hadn't yet had the time to accept the idea of his being vulnerable, of Christopher Saxon's being capable of being duped, of his having the same failings as any other person. An odd wash of tenderness for him clutched at her heart, and for one wavering humble moment she almost forgot herself and tried to express some of the conflicting emotions that were warring in her breast. But one look at his face and that impulse died. In a queerly docile mood she let him take charge of her and followed his lead.
They were able to return without undue incident to Cavendish Square. Nicole's unusually obedient manner nettled Christopher, and somewhat exasperatedly, the moment they were alone he said, "Will you please let off with these die-away airs! They don't become you, I can tell you that!"
Wrenched abruptly from her unpleasant musings, Nicole sent him a lowering look. "If you don't like it, you can leave!" she shot back.
His mouth tightened angrily, but he said nothing further on the subject; instead he asked, "Where are my grandfather and the ladies?"
And with a shock Nicole remembered the exciting news that Twickham had imparted earlier. Her constraint vanishing, for a moment the topaz eyes suddenly sparkled with mischief and she said almost happily, "Oh, Christopher, I did not tell you! Your grandfather and Mrs. Eggleston are to be married! This Sunday!"
If Nicole had thought to startle him she was disappointed, for he displayed neither astonishment nor surprise. "I wondered when he would get around to it!" Christopher replied lightly.
"You expected it!" Nicole returned almost accusingly.
Smiling sardonically, he merely remarked, "Of course I did—anyone who knew either of them would have been aware it was just a matter of time until Simon proposed. And there was never any doubt that Mrs. Eggleston would accept him. Even I could see that!"
Hunching a shoulder in displeasure, Nicole said sulkily, "Well, you don't have to be so conceited about it. I am prodigiously pleased with the news, and I won't let your cynicism spoil it for me!"
Dryly, his eyes hard and disbelieving, he retorted, "Could I spoil anything for you, Nicole?"
With something like horror she heard herself saying in a tortured tone, "You know you can, Christopher! You've known it all along."
Christopher froze; his eyes were like golden daggers slashing across Nicole's quickly averted features. The very air in the room seemed to crackle with electrifying suspense as Christopher digested those impetuous words, unwilling to trust what they hinted at. And Nicole, unable to bear the intensity of his narrowed gaze, terrified he would tear out the secret in her heart, muttered distractedly, "I don't like to be always at odds with you— especially since I am living with your grandfather and I owe so much to you. I wish that we could be friends, that we could put aside the past and treat one anther with courtesy and the fondness that one has for those who are dear acquaintances."
"Dear acquaintances!" he snarled. The crazy mad longing to read something vital and revealing in her statement died instantly like a snowflake under the desert sun. Crossing the room with lithe strides, he grasped her arm in a painful grip and with one long-fingered hand turned her face brutally up to his. "Friends!" he spat. "There can never be friendship between us! Forget that you owe me anything, Nick! Remember that, will you, the next time your sordid little conscience pricks you!"
With a contemptuous movement he released her, and walking over to the door, he said in a sarcastic tone of voice, "Now that you have expressed your gratitude and I have calmed your fears of a marriage between us, I think it i
s time for me to leave. Give my congratulations to the newly engaged pair when they reappear, will you?"
He slammed out of the room, intending to put the length of London between himself and Nicole, only to be brought up short by Regina's entry into the house.
"Oh, Christopher, there you are. Have you heard the news? Isn't it thrilling?" Regina babbled, wondering with one part of her mind why his face wore such a scowling black frown.
Stiffly Christopher replied. "Yes. I have heard. As a matter of fact Nicole just told me."
Ignoring the fact that he obviously had been on the point of leaving, delighted that he had apparently come to call on Nicole, Regina rushed on, "Do stay a bit longer, won't you? I am full of plans for the wedding, and as you are his grandson, I would like to discuss them with you."
Almost rudely Christopher retorted, "I'm quite certain Simon can manage his own wedding, and what he can't, you, my dearest aunt, will be more than capable of handling. If you will excuse me?"
Regarding him with exasperation, Regina snapped, "Really, you are the most boorish young man of my acquaintance! It is too bad Robert didn't let a little more of your hot, bad-tempered blood!"
Christopher bowed with insulting politeness. "Madame, shall I seek him out and request that he rectify his oversight?"
"Oh, don't be silly! You know I didn't mean what I said," Regina returned peevishly. "Really, Christopher, you are enough to drive a saint to the devil. Tell me, how is your arm?"
"Very well, thank you. It was only a scratch you know." And his gaze suddenly sharpening, his attention caught by something she had said, he added, "Perhaps I shall stay. There is something I would like to ask Nicole."
Very pleased with the change about-face, Regina said graciously, "Well, do rejoin her and I shall be with you both in just a moment. I simply have to rid myself of my cloak and to have a word with the cook about tonight's dinner."
Christopher reentered the blue sitting room so abruptly that Nicole gave a decided start. Still slightly stunned by the unexpectedly ruthless manner in which he had received her frail attempt at mending the past differences between them, she eyed him suspiciously as he shut the door and approached her. And it wasn't so unreasonable of her to put the protection of one of the low damask-covered sofas between herself and Christopher as he walked toward her.
With a derisive smile curling his lips, he murmured, "Don't run away, brat! I want a word with you and we haven't much time." He added enlighteningly, "Regina is home and will be joining us."
Her jaw clenched with anger at his careless tone and the arrogance of his actions, and Nicole replied tightly, "I think you and I have said enough today!"
"Mmmm, that may be, but unless you want an unholy row breaking over your head, you had better listen to me!"
Mistrustfully Nicole asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Simply this: I think it advisable not to mention what Robert told you." At her expression of doubt he said reasonably, "Regina made that up on the spur of the moment, of that I am certain, and to bring it out in the open will only cause complications I think we can both do without." With disarming candor he admitted, "I don't relish telling her, or my grandfather for that matter, that they are both living a fool's paradise if they think they can arrange a match between us. Especially since it all may be nothing more than a fond wish on Regina's part —one she unfortunately expounded on to Robert. To save all of us an awkward time of it, it is best for the time being to ignore the rumor, because, believe me, that is all it is!"
After a moment's hesitation Nicole nodded her head. "Very well, I shall say nothing," she agreed listlessly, wishing only for the privacy of her room, for the time to refocus her thoughts, to come to terms with all that she had learned this traumatic afternoon. But Christopher now seemed in no hurry to depart, and when she glanced inquiringly at him, he said, "There is one more thing I want to discuss with you. Tell me, precisely which night was it that Robert found out about this supposed engagement between you and me. Can you remember exactly?"
Her forehead wrinkled in a frown of puzzlement, and she queried, "Why do you want to know that?"
"Because," he answered curtly, "I think it will explain something that has been baffling me for the past fortnight or so. Do you recall when it was?"
For a second longer Nicole stared at him, trying to discover why the date was important to him. And then with appalling clarity she connected two apparently unrelated events with one another. Her heart lurched sickeningly in her breast, the topaz eyes widened with ugly realization, and she whispered, "The night before your accident. It was the night before you were wounded."
Christopher smiled grimly. "Thank you, my dear, that explains a great deal."
"Oh, Christopher! He didn't! He wouldn't have done it deliberately, would he?" It was a cry for reassurance, but Nicole, with Robert's earlier base action burning in her brain, didn't really expect Christopher to answer any differently than he did.
The gold eyes cold and impenetrable, he drawled, "Now that remains to be seen, doesn't it?"
CHAPTER 30
Having discovered what he wanted, Christopher would have preferred to depart from Cavendish Square immediately. But he had committed himself, and reconciling himself to the inescapable, he gained a queer sense of enjoyment from the afternoon, even going so far as to accept Regina's invitation for dinner that night. It was the least he could do—tonight's dinner would be a celebration, and it would have been churlish to refuse. For a brief while he was able to forget that tempting memorandum that lay just out of his reach.
It had been because of the memorandum that he had returned so unexpectedly to his rooms. Wary of approaching Buckley too soon after last night's indiscreet conversation, he had avoided his usual haunts, but finding no place in which to do some hard thinking, he had returned to Ryder Street, intending to plot a course of action. Nicole's untimely presence had put an end to that, and once he had connected Robert's attack on him with Nicole's news of the alleged marriage arrangement, he knew he couldn't leave Cavendish Square without discovering if his deduction had been correct.
Watching Regina at dinner that night, he wondered wryly if she had any inkling of what her deliberately mendacious remarks to Robert had caused, or that it was her careless inquiry after his wound that had led him to connect the two events. As it was, he hadn't really needed Nicole's confirmation of the date to convince himself of the devils that had driven Robert to attack him. He briefly toyed with the idea of letting Robert know that Regina had lied to warn him off, but then he discarded it; unfortunately he was incorrigible enough to leave Robert with that mistaken information. It gave him wicked amusement to think of the heart burnings Robert must be suffering.
Dinner was a pleasant affair; Christopher and Robert were the only additional guests at Cavendish Square. Robert took the news of his father's approaching marriage with careless indifference and murmured all the appropriate offers of congratulations in a tone that did little to conceal his disinterest. Christopher, on the other hand, was quite sincere and unstinting in his approval of the match. He was also guiltily aware that Simon's marriage fitted in very nicely with his own plans—with Letitia as his bride Simon wasn't going to miss his departing grandson a great deal, and that thought soothed Christopher's uneasy conscience.
If Robert was disinterested in the news of Simon's second foray into the married state, he certainly displayed no such disinterest in Nicole. Delighted by the invitation to dine at Cavendish Square, Robert spent the entire evening trying to fix his interest with Nicole, but Nicole was singularly elusive and unreceptive. Frowning, he regarded her across the room, as for the second time this evening she had escaped his attempt to have a private word with her. Not unnaturally he wondered if her sudden and obvious distaste for his company had anything to do with this morning's conversation. She had been so positive and vehement in her denial of any agreement between her and Christopher that he was more than a little puzzled by her actions. Did the ag
reement perhaps exist, and had his aunt and his father brought enough pressure to bear that she had given in to their demands? It was an unsettling thought, but after a moment's reflection he dismissed it. So why did she avoid him? Why did her eyes not meet his? Why was there more than a hint of reserve in her manner with him—almost as if she found his company distasteful?
Glancing suspiciously at Christopher, he caught the gleam of knowing amusement that flickered in the gold eyes and felt a shaft of rage whip through his body. It was obvious that Christopher knew the answer to Nicole's strange behavior, and Robert experienced again that blind rage of hatred against his nephew. Someday, he promised fiercely, someday I will be rid of you, just as I rid myself of your father! And soon, Christopher, it will be soon, have no doubt of that.
Almost as if he could read Robert's mind, Christopher smiled at him grimly and lifted his glass of wine in a mocking toast.
Armed with her new knowledge of Robert, Nicole could barely stand the sight of him. The thought that she had once considered marrying him filled her with revulsion. Watching the two men from under lowered lashes, she wondered how Christopher could act so nonchalantly, how he could smile so coolly into Robert's face without giving way to fury.
That ability came from many years of concealing true emotions, of mastering the wild, dark hatred that ate at his soul like some foul cancer. Christopher had lived with Robert's betrayal a long time, and like a hunting tiger, he could wait. There was no doubt in his mind that in time Robert would be his, and he would have no mercy. And so Christopher smiled at his uncle, and after the last toast to the newly engaged pair had been drunk, he prepared to depart, promising that he would attend the wedding on Sunday.