by Lucy Monroe
“Because she said she did not,” Lucas replied, not understanding why the question had even been asked.
“Thank you,” Irisa whispered.
“That is hardly enough evidence. Her mother and I have personal experience with Irisa’s willingness to resort to base behavior like blackmail.”
Lucas could not believe what he was hearing. “Explain yourself and do it quickly or you’ll be meeting me over a brace of pistols at dawn.”
Langley’s face paled, but he did not apologize. “Irisa was on the verge of betrothal to a duke when she took it into her head that she did not wish to marry him. She threatened to tell the ton of her illegitimacy if we pressed the issue. She has absolutely no sense of family loyalty or honor.”
“That’s a damn lie. Irisa’s loyalty to those who care about her is absolute and her honor is beyond reproach.” Ravenswood’s voice vibrated with anger.
“The duke was old enough to be her grandfather and she was barely out of the schoolroom. Your willingness to sell her into such a marriage to advance your own social position says little for your own character,” Lady Upworth admonished in regal tones.
Lucas intervened before the discussion could get any more out of hand. “Irisa’s ingenuity in protecting herself from your schemes is not at issue here. There is a blackmailer and he has threatened to reveal your past peccadillo when she marries me. Since the wedding will take place as planned, I thought you had the right to know the probable outcome.”
“That’s just it, Ashton. Are you quite sure the marriage is going to take place, or has Irisa decided she doesn’t want to marry you either and reverted to her ingenious methods in protecting herself?”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Papa’s words hung in the air like expended bullets. Harsh and deafening.
She supposed in his own bitter way, Papa was justified in his allegation. After all, she had blackmailed him once in the past, but could he not see the difference between then and now? Lucas was not some musty, aged duke whose very touch left her feeling nauseous.
And she was no longer a green girl barely out of the schoolroom. She would never revert to such tactics to end an unwanted engagement now. She didn’t need to. Thanks to her sister’s sage advice on investments, Irisa had resources of her own. “I did not write the note.”
Lucas hugged her. A warm embrace full of comfort. Right there in front of everyone and she didn’t care. “We know that, little one.”
He trusted her. He believed her. She loved him and it took every ounce of self-possession she had not to blurt the words out right then and there.
“Langley is an idiot and I’m sorry you had to live so many years in his company.”
Drake chuckled at Lucas’s words and Thea coughed. Jared grunted a sound of approval, but Mama looked scandalized and Aunt Harriet appeared sad and terribly fragile.
Lucas turned his attention back to Papa. “I assume you do not wish to cooperate in gathering the information necessary to identify the blackmailer.”
Papa’s mouth tightened. “I will not waste my time pursuing a phantom.”
Lucas nodded. “Then it would be better for all concerned if you and Lady Langley left.”
Mama gasped loudly. “We aren’t going anywhere.” The warm feeling Irisa experienced at her mother’s show of concern turned frigid with Mama’s next words. “I am not leaving this house until I have your promise that the wedding will be postponed or cancelled. Irisa has brought enough shame to our family’s name. I will not allow her to bring more.”
Lucas said something about parents eating their young, but Irisa did not understand it. Releasing her, he moved to where Mama was sitting.
He casually lifted her right out of her chair and she shrieked. “It really is time you left, Lady Langley. We will see you at the wedding. If you are not there, I will assume it is because you want to sever your connection with my title and position.”
Mama’s mouth opened and shut, but no sound came out. Lucas maneuvered her toward the door.
Papa followed, his expression like a thundercloud, but he stopped in front of Irisa on his way out. “If you have a shred of decency in you, you will protect your family’s name.”
Then he stormed forward and took Mama’s arm, leading her from the room.
Irisa’s knees wanted to buckle, but she remained standing by an effort of will. Lucas returned, took one look at her face and led her to a chair.
Once she was seated, he turned and met the gaze of each person remaining in the room. “Does anyone else believe Irisa and I should postpone our wedding?”
Aunt Harriet’s sigh caught everyone’s attention. “Secrets have a way of outing themselves. It would be foolish to take action based on the fear of it happening now rather than later.”
“I agree. Drake is in a similar position to Irisa and the ton does not ostracize him. I believe her marriage to you will protect her from a great deal, Ashton.” Thea nodded her head for emphasis when she finished speaking.
“My wife is quite correct. While Irisa is bound to face a certain amount of nastiness, your position will make her place in society almost unassailable,” Drake added.
“What about Papa and Mama? There will be awful gossip about them and many of Mama’s friends will cut her when they learn the truth.” Irisa could not believe that her family was blinded to the cruelties her parents would face.
“Langley married her, even if the legitimate ceremony occurred a bit late. In the eyes of the ton that makes everything all right.” Jared’s voice implied he did not share the ton’s views.
Irisa did not think he would ever forgive Papa for what he had done to the first countess.
Lucas smiled. “Then I can assume the rest of you will be in attendance at the wedding three days hence.”
Irisa listened in silence while they discussed the blackmailer.
“What about Langley?” Drake asked.
“I thought you were of the opinion that he was too self-serving to threaten the revelation of his secret,” Lucas replied.
“I don’t mean I think he’s the blackmailer. What about his enemies? He’s a bloody harsh man when he wants to be. It’s hard to believe he hasn’t made some pretty strong enemies.”
“Why attack Irisa? Why not just threaten Langley then?” Jared asked.
“Because anyone who knows Langley well knows how important social prestige is to him. Irisa’s connection to such a powerful title would be a coup he would relish and any opponent of his would know that,” Thea mused.
“That still doesn’t explain how Irisa got locked on the tower roof,” Lucas said.
Then Jared had to be told the story of her mishap at Ashton Manor. He didn’t take it well, but Irisa was not up to soothing him. She was trying to understand the connection Lucas seemed intent on drawing.
“Why would you think the two events are related? Getting locked on the roof was surely an accident. I know you hate to think your servants would lie to you, but I’m sure one of them must have done it and been afraid to confess later,” Irisa said.
“It’s all rather confusing,” Aunt Harriet said, her face wan with tiredness.
The revelations about the blackmailer, the altercation between Lucas and Papa and the subsequent discussion had all been too much for her. Irisa wished she could have spared her great-aunt all of the unpleasantness. Aunt Harriet was the kindest of women and deserved to enjoy her old age, not be plagued by family secrets and scandal.
Lucas noticed her aunt’s condition as well and turned to Irisa. “Call a maid to escort your aunt to her rooms.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll take her up.” Jared stood and ignoring the dowager’s protests, gently scooped her into his arms and carried her from the room.
“What of your enemies, Ashton?” Thea asked, “Drake told me that you played the role of intelligencer during the war. Surely you have enemies from that time.”
“If they were my enemy then they were the enemy of the Crown
and are dead or reside in prison. Besides, that was years ago. We need to look for someone whose anger is fresh enough to still want revenge.”
“We can’t be sure that revenge is the motivating factor,” Jared said, returning to the room. “There is also money.”
“But the blackmailer didn’t ask for any blunt,” Irisa argued.
Jared shrugged. “Not this time. Might be testing the waters, so to speak. If you called off your wedding, then they’d know you were vulnerable to them. Could turn you into a nice steady source of income.”
“It would seem if that were the case that the blackmailer would be happy for Irisa to wed Ashton. He has much deeper pockets than the unmarried daughter of an earl of moderate estates,” Thea volunteered.
“Maybe. Or maybe the blackguard realizes that once Irisa is under Ashton’s protection as his wife, the threats won’t hold much water.” Jared sat down in the chair he had used earlier.
“I had also considered the possibility someone wanted me out of the way so Lucas would once again be on the marriage mart, but this sort of blackmail seems so extreme, even for a lady who does not like me,” she said thinking of her former bosom beau, Cecily Carlisle-Jones.
“What of it?” Jared asked Lucas.
“There are always marriage minded females interested in a bachelor with both wealth and a title, but no one I can think of that has been marked in her efforts.”
“What of His Grace?” Thea asked.
“He rusticates in the country,” Jared said.
“He’s in Town for the Season.” Thea said, proving she wasn’t completely oblivious to what went on among the ton. “He came soon after Irisa’s engagement was announced and he hates the whole family since Irisa’s refusal.”
“If we’re considering rejected suitors, then there are several more men worth mentioning,” Irisa said doubtfully.
“Name them.” Lucas’s tone brooked no argument.
She had no desire to give any. “There is Mr. Wemby for one and Lord Yardley. There are a couple of gentlemen who have since married: Sir Roger and Viscount Atworth. And I suppose we had best consider Cecily Carlisle. She was once my bosom beaux, but now she hates me.”
Thea made a disgusted sound at this, but Lucas looked as if he was committing each name to memory.
He frowned. “Each one of them is a peer of the realm. I know from past experience how difficult it can be to investigate gentlemen of the nobility without raising suspicion. Servants talk and undue interest is noted quickly.”
“I trust you have a plan,” Jared said.
“Not yet, but I will soon.” Lucas’s mouth narrowed into a thin line. “While this is an avenue worth pursuing, I don’t see any way of luring the blackmailer out before the wedding. I think we’re all going to have to be prepared for the worst and expect him to make good on his threats. If Ravenswood is right and demands for money come later instead of revelations, we’ll be prepared.”
***
Lucas’s hand on her arm kept Irisa close to his side. He had insisted on attending the Bickmore rout as intended, saying that Thea’s original plan to prove to the ton that all was well between them after Irisa’s drive through Hyde Park with Miss de Brieuse still stood. She had agreed, not wanting to alert him to her plans to leave Town.
She’d thought and thought and thought about everyone’s willingness to pay the price for her happiness. She simply could not bear to let them. Her family had already paid too high a price for her place in it. Her own honor would not allow her to continue to pursue a path toward her heart’s desire that required everyone she loved to be humiliated by their association to her.
It would be different perhaps if Lucas did love her. The pain her leaving would cause him would weigh on the side of her happiness, but another lady of the ton would do just as well for his wife. After all, he’d said often enough he wanted to wed a perfect paragon and she was not that lady. If he could set aside his unbending honor for just one moment, he would see that.
Despite knowing she was doing the right thing in leaving Town, her emotions were in such a state, she had considered attempting to avoid this evening’s entertainment. However, after the debacle of being discovered by Lucas in her sister’s drawing room when she was supposed to be in bed with a sick headache, she had not dared try that excuse again. Although it was in fact very close to reality. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of never seeing Lucas again and her head pounded from trying to keep a serene façade in the face of the speculative stares being cast her way.
Lady Wickham bore down on them and Irisa pasted a smile of welcome on her face. “Good evening, Lady Wickham.”
“Good evening, Lady Irisa. I’m so glad to see you feeling better. We missed you at our ball last evening.”
Irisa gripped her fan more tightly, but did not lose her smile. “Thank you. My indisposition came as a great disappointment to me as well. Your entertainments are always so lovely. One truly regrets missing them.”
Had she done it too brown?
Lady Wickham smiled. “You’re too kind, my dear.”
“Not at all. Lucas was just telling me what a lovely evening I missed,” Irisa added, lying through her teeth.
Lady Wickham’s gaze traveled to Lucas. “I’m surprised he noticed. He barely stayed long enough to hear the hired orchestra play their first tune.”
“Not because the soiree wasn’t all that it could be.”
Just like a gentleman, he didn’t feel the need to explain himself while Irisa felt compelled to babble excuses left and right. She stifled a sigh.
“Your parents seemed to enjoy themselves,” Lady Wickham said, her eyes narrowed in consideration.
“Yes, one cannot help noticing that when her parents were present, Lady Irisa was absent and now that she is present, they are absent. Interesting, isn’t it?”
Irisa’s attention moved to the woman who had spoken the thinly veiled innuendo. Lady Preston. The gossip was at it again.
“The wedding is in only three days time, one can certainly understand both my fiancée and her mother succumbing a bit to the pressures of planning such an important event,” Lucas said smoothly. “The only surprise is that either woman has managed to attend anything at all this week.”
Lady Wickham laughed, sounding much like a friendly, braying horse. “Nonsense. The gel and her mother aren’t nearly so weak as all that. You, my lord, have a limited view of ladies. Why I remember my youngest daughter’s wedding. We hosted a month long house party. What a time that was.”
Once launched, there was no way of stopping the story. Not that Irisa wanted to. She found it preferable to listening to more gossip, but what she truly wanted was time alone with Lucas. Time to store up one more memory to keep her company in the lonely years ahead without him.
***
It was that thought that prompted Irisa to speak as Lucas led her from the third entertainment they had attended that evening. It was quite late, almost three in the morning, and she was tired from smiling and chatting with nosy, gossip minded people, but Irisa did not wish to go home. Not yet.
“Lucas, could we not go for a small drive before you return me to my aunt’s home?”
He stopped in the process of handing her into the carriage. “You look tired enough to fall asleep on the squabs. Why do you want to go for a drive now?”
“Perhaps I merely want some conversation in which I do not have to meticulously weigh every word I utter. Please, Lucas?”
He stared at her for an uncomfortably long moment and then turned to give instructions to his coachman.
“We will take a circuitous route to your aunt’s townhouse.” He settled in the opposite seat, his long legs brushing the folds of her cloak.
She affected a shiver. “It’s quite chilly tonight, don’t you think, Lucas?”
He shook his head. “Not particularly. Are you cold, little one? Would you like a lap blanket?”
So much for subtlety. “I would rather you share you
r warmth with me,” she blurted out.
Although her cheeks felt on fire with her blush, she did not retract the words. She wanted a last kiss from Lucas and she had already discovered to her dismay that subtle hinting did not work well. He was far too much The Saint to be so easily swayed.
Even in the dim light cast by the carriage lantern, she could see that his smile was anything but saintly as he asked, “Do you want me to kiss you, Irisa?”
She nodded, embarrassed to have to admit it.
He put a hand out to her. “Come here, then.”
She took his hand and he pulled her onto his lap. She savored the feel of his hard, muscled body beneath hers for several seconds before raising her head to meet his eyes.
“I think I know what this is about.”
Dread snaked through her. Had Lucas divined her plans? “You do?”
He nodded. “You are attempting to discover if I feel passion for you when I am not under the influence of darker emotions. I assure you I will give you sufficient proof of my desire for you on our wedding night, but I don’t mind giving you a small sample now.”
She swallowed. “You don’t?”
“No.” His mouth lowered and covered hers with the faintest of caresses.
Her eyes fluttered closed and she soaked in the sensations surrounding her, memorizing the feel of Lucas’s lips, the warmth of his body and his masculine scent.
He slid his tongue along the seam of her lips and she parted them without thought. He slipped inside and kept up the leisurely exploration of her mouth. It felt so good. This kiss was different than any he had yet given her and yet no less satisfying. The gentleness in him made her want to weep because under it she could taste his passion, genuine passion not prompted by anger or any other dark emotion.
Lucas did want her.
She needed to feel his skin. Just this once. Tearing off her gloves, she squirmed in his lap.
His hand gripped her hip and pressed down. “Stop moving, love, or I’ll forget this is only supposed to be a kiss.”
His mouth covered hers again, this time not quite so gently. She moaned as his tongue found hers. How could she go the rest of her life without knowing the pleasure of Lucas’s kisses? Pushing the thought away, she undid the buttons on his waistcoat and touched his rock like chest through the silk of his shirt. His heat burned against her fingers through the sheer fabric, but it was not enough.