by Anne Mallory
“Who ordered you to steal the documents?”
“No one.”
“It’s not too late to make that visit to the magistrate.”
“No, it’s not.”
He studied her and moved closer. “Aren’t you afraid of being sent to prison?”
“I’m terrified of being sent to prison,” she said quietly.
He arched a brow and stalked a circle around her. “You look quite calm at the possibility.”
She was quaking inside, but years of surviving on the streets had been an effective teacher for masking emotions and expressions. Sometimes it made the difference between life and death. Such was the case at the moment.
“Would you rather have tears, Your Grace?”
“No, but knowing you are sincere might not make me regret my choice to let you go.”
Her heart thumped in her chest. “You are letting me go.”
“No.”
Audrey kept control of her tears and pretended to examine her hands. She had to stop thinking there was hope.
“Then what is your intention?”
“We’ll discuss that later. I will call for you tomorrow afternoon for a drive in the park.”
Her head snapped up. “What?”
“A drive, in the park. Don’t try to run, don’t try to hide. I will find you.”
His tone turned hard.
Surely he had gone mad? “You trust me to wait for you in my house?”
He looked irritated, but whether it was with her or with himself, she didn’t know. “Yes. I don’t think you can run, or you would have done so already.”
Cold seeped into her bones. She had never been this far behind an adversary in plotting. Then again, her fate have never felt so much of her hands before.
She stared at him mutely. Footsteps echoed below once more.
Stephen crossed his arms. “You have thirty seconds to decide.”
The footsteps ascended the stairs again. This time there would be no stopping the person from entering the room.
“I will meet you for a drive in the park tomorrow,” she said hurriedly.
He held her gaze, and her breath lodged in her chest. The footsteps hit the top step.
“Good. See you then.”
Audrey didn’t wait for more. She leaped to her feet, raced across the floor, and dove through the open window. She landed roughly in the bushes and barely registered the raised voices from above before she sprinted down the street and allowed her tears to fall.
Chapter 5
“Mr Maddox. How nice to see you.”
Stephen Chalmers entered the small town house promptly, not a minute later than the time his morning note had indicated. His smooth voice wound up the stairs and through Audrey’s insides.
She waited at the top of the landing, out of sight of Chalmers, but with a good view of Maddox. Maddox shuffled his feet and exchanged pleasantries. Best not to leave him alone with Chalmers for too long. At best he would make a fool of himself, at worst his loose tongue would get them a one-way trip to the hangman.
Audrey grimaced and ran back to her room. Having to share information with that poor excuse for a man went against every natural instinct and acquired skill she possessed.
She grabbed the ridiculous-looking reticule sitting on the dresser. The woman Travers had hired to clothe her had proclaimed the gaudy accessory the height of fashion. The height of stupidity, more like.
Audrey hurried back to the landing, not wanting to consider why she had taken so long with her toilette, and was now carrying the absurd bag.
Dressing well for the execution or the executioner?
“Audrey isn’t feeling all that well today. I’m not sure she’s up for receiving visitors much less a drive in the park.” Her stepfather was doing his own thinking again, which was not a good sign. A nasty crimson brightened his already ruddy cheeks.
“Nonsense,” she announce brightly, descending the stairs. “It’s a lovely warm day, and fresh air will do me wonders.” She held out her hand and curtsied. “Your Grace.”
Stephen flashed a wicked smile and took her hand to his lips. “It would be any woman’s fondest wish to look as beautiful as you do now. Like a perfect spring bloom.”
The only thing blooming was the warmth spreading through her body.
Unwanted heat stole into her cheeks. So he had dropped the hard cold demeanour of the previous night and was back to playing the charmer?
She could deal with that. “Shall we be off?”
Chalmers grinned, and Maddox looked overset. What else had the two men been talking about? At the moment she needed to hurry Chalmers out before Maddox did anything stupid.
She again cursed Travers for saddling her with Maddox. He had claimed it was to maintain appearances. Appearances? She could have played her part without her incompetent stepfather in the mix. No, Travers had done it to keep Maddox in line. And also because Travers knew she loathed Maddox almost more than she loathed him.
Stephen said a cheerful farewell, and they left Maddox, ruddy and sour-looking, on the front-step. Audrey passed her reticule from one hand to the other, trying not to think about where the looming carriage would take her. She trusted this incarnation of Stephen Chalmers less than the determined law enforcer she had met the previous night.
Stephen helped her into the curricle and directed the horses into the lane.
“I thought we’d ride through the park and talk. Is that acceptable to you?”
“Yes.” Anywhere but prison was acceptable. She examined the passing scenery and tried to edge closer to the side of the carriage seat. The seat was not nearly enough to escape contact. She could feel the heat of his body as if it were a magnet.
He chatted about innocuous events and shared amusing stories that had her smiling unwillingly. She had no choice but to accompany him; if she encourage him, perhaps he would let his intentions slip.
The park was nearly empty. A few artists sketched, and several nannies pushed strollers. Stephen threw the reins to his tiger and assisted Audrey from the carriage. The servant took the ribbons, and the vehicle rumbled down the street.
“I thought we might walk through the garden, then to the lake.”
Knowing that Stephen was obsessed with plants and botany, she replied,
“Well if you had skipped the gardens and gone straight to the lake, I might have become suspicious. As it is, now I am left thinking that the only reason you invited me along, was to have an excuse to explore the gardens.”
He smiled. “You are a good excuse. The best I’ve had in a long time.”
“You haven’t had me yet, Your Grace.”
“In one respect I had you last night, Miss Kendrick.” He leaned toward her, and his breath tickled her ear. “In another respect I look forward to the pleasure of having you.”
“Don’t bet on it.”
“There are few bets I lose.”
She muttered under her breath, unwilling to be goaded into a further response.
They entered the gardens and were met with a profusion of colourful flowers and intriguing fragrances. The plants were artfully arranged and presented, care being given to the placement of each colour and variety.
Determined to play her part, Audrey pointed to one of the leafy plants near the entrance. “What is that plant called, Your Grace?”
“That is an Adder’s Tongue.”
“You are fond of those.”
Stephen smiled. “Been poking through my town house recently, Audrey?
That explains the disappearance of my favourite shirt and trousers.”
Audrey’s face reddened. She had almost stolen a pair of trousers from his London house last year. It would serve him right for her to mention why.
“I don’t know I’d do with your clothes, but I’d have Grimmond count your silver if I were you.”
A look of surprise crossed his features. “I suppose it shouldn’t s
hock me that you know my butler’s name. But if you knew him at all, you would know he counts the pieces each week. The man has an unnatural obsession with my property and propriety.”
“He does seem rather rigid, but isn’t that the way with all butlers?”
“Grimmond aspires to rigidity. Luckily, he has me to add a little colour.
Or disorder and mayhem as he calls it.”
A beautiful pink bush decorated one side of the path, and Audrey rubbed the petals between her fingers, letting the blossom fall from the tips.
Stephen watched her touch the petals and shifted.
“That is a rhododendron.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Yes. But then everything in this garden is.”
He was watching her. Audrey’s breath caught in short breaths under that look. After their encounter last year he had been a constant presence in her thoughts. To have those bright green eyes suddenly focused on her was unnerving. That he couldn’t remember their encounter was little consolation to her overly active imagination. He turned his head, releasing her from his hypnotic stare.
“That blue explosion over there is bugleweed. And these colourful vines are clematis. This is one of my favourite times of year.”
He launched into a discourse on the different types of plants and flowering shrubs around them. She noticed he had an affinity for the more prickly varieties. The lecture should have allowed her to recover, but the passion he found in the subject and study of all things green enveloped her. To have a tenth of that passion directed toward her …
She stopped her wayward thoughts and gave herself a mental shake. Bud Audrey. She couldn’t allow herself to forget who he really was and ignore the actual situation. Stephen paused and looked at her. She gave him a half-hearted smile and promptly stumbled over a hedge.
Stephen caught her, pulling her back onto the path and into his arms.
Without thought she wrapped her arms around his waist to steady herself.
Their bodies tensed at the contact, and his arms tightened briefly before he took her hand in his and tugged her along.
She almost stumbled again. Pull her hand away? Let him keep it?
Her thoughts were flying in all directions as she tried to make sense of the moment. Meanwhile, Stephen was totally in control and whistling as they continued down the garden path.
“What are you doing?”
He looked at her in amusement. “Walking with you to the lake. We have reached the end of the gardens. Did you want to circle back through?”
“No, no, continuing on to the lake is fine.”
Dammit, he had known that wasn’t what she meant. Why did stupid things always come out of her mouth around him? It never happened to her around anyone else. This malady occurred only around Chalmers.
Chalmers would undoubtedly start some inane banter to swindle her of her secrets, or worse, start up his passionate plant dissertation and seduce the words from her. Better to take matters into her own hands. The direct approach might work to her advantage and keep her from trouble.
“What do you want from me, Your Grace?”
“Call me Stephen,” he said, with an amused smile.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Why did you invite me on this outing, Your Grace?”
“Isn’t that what men are supposed to do? Ask a beautiful young lady to the park?” Stephen plucked a yellow wildflower from the side of the path and offered it to her. “Bring her flowers?”
Audrey accepted the bloom in her free hand and twirled it in her fingers.
Smooth, handsome, charming and all too sure of himself. “We both know you aren’t courting me.”
“We do?”
He sounded so surprised that she dropped her carefully cultivated mask and gave him a pointed look. His lips curved into a devastatingly languid smile, and he took the flower from her grasp and tucked it behind her right ear. His fingers scalded the tip and lingered as he smoothed the wayward tendrils that had escaped from her loathsome bonnet.
His expression became intense. He traced his fingers under her ear, down her cheek, and sensuously along her jaw. He tipped her chin up and started to lean forward, and, God help her, she felt his pull and leaned into him too.
Crash.
A rabbit came skittering into the path, a skinny fox hot on its heels. Both animals screeched to a halt and appeared startled to see humans. They abruptly turned and scampered in opposite directions. The rabbit was safe this time.
Audrey looked at Stephen. His body had gone alert at the first sound. She was reminded of the previous night, her body trapped beneath his. He had looked like he might kiss her then.
And he had nearly kissed her again. Why?
She had been half-joking with the thought of him seducing her for information. But it didn’t seem so far-fetched now.
She pulled away and clasped her hands together. He was a peer of the realm. Handsome, wealthy, and intelligent. He could have any woman in London, and he knew it. And she knew better than to fall for it.
He smiled, but on further inspection, she saw the tension in his eyes. The duke wasn’t as carefree as he appeared.
“Shall we continue on to the lake?” His voice was light, and had she not glimpsed the tension, she would never guess him affected at all.
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. He held out a hand, and she placed hers lightly in his. Self-preservation had allowed her to survive to the ripe age of twenty-two with only one unfortunate stint in prison, and even that hadn’t been due to capture. Even if she was unlucky with cards, she knew when to hold them.
She had to rid her mind of thoughts of last year and Chalmers’s vulnerability The thoughts that made her mind try to disregard the hard and dangerous man that he really was. Laying herself mentally and emotionally bare to any man, especially Chalmers, would be sheer folly.
She could try to recover her faith in humanity after she and Faye stepped onto a distant shore.
Thankfully Chalmers kept silent. They walked into the clearing, the lake sparkling in the summer sun. Audrey lifted her face to the sky and allowed the rays to warm and calm her. A fence enclosed one end of the lake, and they walked to it in silent agreement.
Leaning against the fence, Audrey turned to Stephen. “So Chalmers, what’s it going to be?” She deliberately used his last name instead of his title.
He lifted a brow. “Whatever do you mean, Audrey?”
She tugged her bonnet. She could still feel the path of his fingers running beneath it and down her face. “We both know what’s happening. Why pretend ignorance?”
“I confess I haven’t the faintest idea what is happening.”
She picked up a rock and tossed it into the lake. It took one bounce and sank into the blue depths. “I’m sure the game was invented by you. You are toying with me. Don’t.”
He bent down, picked up a stone, and dropped it into her hand. It was the perfect skipping stone. How irritating.
His easy smile returned. “No toying? That removes half the fun of a game. I suppose the next thing you’ll want is for us not to play at all. And that would truly disappoint me.” His eyes were hot and lazy.
A hot swirl rushed through her, and she looked away. She sent the flat stone skittering across the water. One, two, three, four bounces. Satisfied, she looked for another, avoiding his gaze. He held one out for her inspection.
Another perfectly shaped stone. Lord, he was irksome. She grabbed it and sent it flying. Five bounces. She wiped her hands on her skirt before thinking better of it. Oh, what the hell. One game she didn’t have to play with Chalmers was the society game. The man knew who and what she was.
She jumped onto the railing and swung her legs. “So? Why did you bring me here?”
He leaned against the fence, only inches to her left. “To enjoy the beautiful weather with a beautiful woman?”
“Is that always your excuse?”
“
Only when it’s warm.”
She continued to swing her legs. He continued to stare at her in silence.
His eyes were like the bright emerald stones she had “liberated” on her first job, unnaturally green and disturbing. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes. Better to avoid looking into those fathomless depths.
The sun felt wonderful against her upturned face. If he wasn’t going to arrest her, she might as well enjoy the day. Maybe she could avoid looking into his eyes for the rest of their visit.
“Why do you think I brought you here?”
She kept her eyes closed. “To get me to confess to some horrible crime and throw me into Newgate?”
“Have you committed any horrible crimes lately?”
“No, just boring, tedious ones.”
“That doesn’t sound like much fun. Perhaps you should retire and try something else.”
His arm brushed her leg, and she nearly lost the thread of the conversation. “I hear pirating is quite exhilarating. I’m not sure about the food, however. ”
“A few weevils never hurt anyone.”
She had to restrain a smile. She risked another glance. He looked solemn, but his eyes were twinkling. She sighed. It would be much easier to have him trying to drag her to Newgate. She didn’t want to joke with this man.
“Chalmers, what do you want?”
“To discover what you’re plotting.”
She fought to control her emotions. “Why? Can’t we continue to play that lovely evasive game where you send some inept man to chase me?”
“Hmm … I think my men would take offense at that statement.” He strode a few feet away and picked up a stone. “Besides, you know they will eventually catch you.”
She snorted. He tossed the stone. Six bounces. Damn.
“And then where will you be, Miss Kendrick?” He drawled her last name.
“I’m not sure any of my men would be willing to turn the other cheek and escort you to the park.”
“Which doesn’t explain why you have. As to your men catching me, we’ll wait to see if it happens.”