Dancing With A Devil (20 page)

“
Drink this.” Aunt Hillie moved Audrey’s hand out of the way and pressed the china cup to her lips.

Audrey inhaled deeply of the honey-scented steaming tea as she took a tentative sip. The warmth slid down her throat and pooled in her belly. Aunt Hillie peered at her with a worried frown. Audrey sat still for a moment, waiting to see if the tea would settle her stomach or be the thing that made her lose the contents of it. The rolling of her stomach continued, but did seem to subside a bit. She gave a tentative nod and then took another sip. After a few minutes, the tea cup was empty and her stomach was still, though her head still pounded dreadfully.

“
A bit better?” her aunt asked in a hushed voice.

Audrey nodded and closed her eyes, lowering the teacup to her lap. She slit one eyelid open when her aunt’s warm fingers grazed her hand and took the teacup. “Thank you,” Audrey murmured.

“
Of course, dear.”

The soft clank of the teacup being set on the side table resounded throughout the parlor along with the swishing of Hillie’s skirts and the soft pat of her slippers across the carpet and back. The settee sank a bit to the left as Hillie once again sat by Audrey, took up her hands and grasped them in hers.

Audrey did not open her eyes, but the much-needed comfort of having someone she loved who actually seemed to care about her take her hands and hold them made the tenuous control she held over herself break. Warm tears seeped out of her closed lids and trickled down her face and off her chin.

“
There now,” her aunt soothed and wiped at Audrey’s face with a soft cloth. Every moment of the terrible night played repeatedly as she cried softly. After a bit, the front of her dress was soaked, her nose stuffy, and her body felt as if it weighed a hundred stone. She could not make herself move, all she could muster was to open her eyes into mere slits.

She turned her head on the cushion of the settee and glanced at her aunt, who peered intently at her, her brow puckered and her bottom lip between her teeth. Her aunt released her lip and squeezed Audrey’s hands. “Are you able to tell me what happened? The note from Lady Gillian said your father died suddenly on the balcony and there seemed to be something wrong with his heart as he was clutching his chest.”

Audrey let out a shuddering sigh. “He and Mr. Shelton happened upon Lord Davenport and me while we were kissing.”

“
Oh, dear.” Aunt Hillie pressed a hand to her chest.

“
Yes, oh dear is correct. It was not pretty. He screamed and yelled. Mr. Shelton, of course, declared he no longer wished to marry me, and once he departed Father demanded Lord Davenport marry me.”

Aunt Hillie’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “And Lord Davenport agreed?”

Heat singed Audrey’s cheeks and she darted her glance to her lap. “No,” she choked out in a hoarse whisper. “He told Father he would not.” Anguish threatened to close her throat. She gulped hard, desperately wanting to finish the explanation, race to her room and be alone. She turned to meet her aunt’s sorrow-filled gaze. “They fought. Father fell in the midst of it, clutched his chest and…and he…he died.” Her voice cracked on the last word and consumed by guilt she tugged her hands free of her aunt’s and covered her face.

“
Dearest. Dearest.” Her aunt pressed a soothing hand to Audrey’s forehead but Audrey moved away and lowered her hands.

She did not deserve to be soothed. “Please do not,” she said, feeling as if she wanted to crawl out of her skin.

Aunt Hillie narrowed her eyes. “His death is not your fault,” she said in a stern tone.

Audrey bunched her hands into fists. She refused to fight with another member of her family, so she simply stared silently at her aunt.

After a moment, her aunt heaved a sigh and shook her head. “We’ll talk more on it tomorrow.”

“
Yes, thank you,” Audrey murmured and pressed a hand against her aunt’s arm before dropping it away and rising on legs that felt like pudding. She locked her knees and glanced down at her aunt. “I’m going to bed now.”

“
Yes, of course.” Aunt Hillie rose as well. “Dearest, where is Richard?”

“
I’m not sure. He would not talk to me after it happened. He came onto the terrace as Father was dying. I think he must have been looking for us.”

“
Yes, of course. I’m sure Richard does not blame you, dearest.”

Audrey was sure he did, but she kept her silence on that matter. “There is more, Aunt Hillie.” Audrey wrapped her arms around her mid-section, feeling as if she was coming undone. “I was so upset about Father that I blurted to Richard what had happened with Lord Davenport and Richard demanded Lord Davenport marry me. He denied Richard’s request as well.” Hysterical laughter threatened to spill out. She bit her lip, breathed deeply and continued. “Richard demanded restitution for me by a duel with Lord Davenport. It’s all so senseless! No one knows of my folly and the damage to my pride and heart is mine alone to be concerned with.”

“
My gracious, yes, it’s senseless, but I’m afraid Richard is correct in that the man should marry you. He took liberties no gentleman should without the intention of marrying the woman. I can hardly believe I’m saying this, but I agree with Richard’s inclination to protect your honor, but I daresay there is a better way to settle this. Perhaps Lord Davenport felt it was somehow a trap gone wrong?”

Audrey shrugged, though she had considered that too. Trent was not the sort of man to allow himself to be forced into anything, but if he loved her what did it matter how they ended up betrothed? She ground her teeth, considering the notion, but wariness blanketed her mind in fuzziness and made it hard to think properly. “I don’t know. I’m very tired.”

“
Of course you are, dearest. Go to bed. I’ll wait up for Richard and we will somehow set everything straight tomorrow.”

Audrey nodded, though she did not possibly see how this could ever be set straight.

The next morning, after a humiliating hour of trying unsuccessfully to talk Richard into calling off the duel, Audrey retreated into her drape-drawn darkened room and huddled under her covers. Richard’s merciless berating continued to ring in her ears. She needed to think and plan but it was desperately hard to quiet the noise in her head. She longed for her mother and realized with sickening awareness that she didn’t long for her father. If she had an ounce of decency and true compassion, she would.

It didn’t matter he’d only been dead since last night. She should have desperately wanted to see him again. The fact that she didn’t sent her scrambling out of her bed and to her chamber pot, where she retched up whatever was left in her stomach from lunch yesterday.

After she was certain her sickness had passed, she collapsed against the hardwood floor and welcomed the early-winter chill from the bare wood that seeped into her cheek. The tiredness she’d felt on the balcony last night and then in the parlor was nothing compared to the bone-deep weariness that gripped her now.

She squeezed her eyes shut as the door to her bedroom creaked.

“
Audrey, dear, are you in here?” her aunt called.

Oh, thank heavens it wasn’t Richard. “Down here,” Audrey replied, too tired to move just yet.

Her aunt’s footsteps padded across the floor and stopped just above Audrey. Skirts swished and her aunt’s knees cracked and popped as she knelt. She pressed a warm hand to Audrey’s forehead. “Oh, dearest,” her aunt murmured. “I was afraid your brother’s ghastly behavior would send you back into your bedchamber.”

Audrey cracked her eyes open, her vision blurry from crying and lack of sleep. Slowly, she turned her head to take in her aunt’s concerned face. “Richard is right in saying I make him ill. I make myself ill.”

“
No, dearest. Richard is wrong and angry. You did not kill your father.”

Audrey swallowed. “My actions did.” When her aunt inhaled sharply as if she would argue, Audrey shook her head. “Please do not try to convince me otherwise. My actions killed him, and what is worse, I don’t miss him,” she whispered. “I’m wicked.”

Her aunt leaned over her and hugged her. “You are not wicked.”

Audrey’s body sagged with relief and she blinked in surprise, not realizing how afraid she had been that her aunt might agree with her. “I don’t wish him dead,” Audrey rushed out, wanting to confess all, “but I can’t say there isn’t the smallest part of me that isn’t relieved he won’t be throwing me from the house today because of last night.” Warm tears trickled out of her eyes and down the sides of her face to trail along her neck and pool at the back of her hair.

“
Oh, my, you poor dear,” her aunt soothed and gathered Audrey into a tighter hug. Audrey grasped Aunt Hillie’s back and allowed herself to be pulled into a sitting position. Shame heated her face and clenched her belly. She buried her head in her aunt’s fragrant hair. “He was right,” she blurted. “There’s something wrong with me.”

“
No, shush. He was wrong. He just had a hard time appreciating you. You are kind and intelligent and independent. The independence scared him, I do believe.” Aunt Hillie rocked her while patting her hair.

Audrey hiccupped with tears. “Maybe if I hadn’t been so opinionated and headstrong?”

“
I do not think so, dear. Your mother was neither of those things and he never could relate to her either. We must not be harsh. Who knows why he was the way he was.”

Audrey’s heart constricted. She untangled herself from her aunt’s warm embrace, pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin there. “I never understood him and he never understood me. And now it’s too late.” Her eyes suddenly stung once again. She would not cry anymore. There was no time.
Blast it all
. Tears began to leak, despite her furious blinking and willing herself to be strong.

The look of pity on her Aunt Hillie’s face made matters worse. Audrey struggled to breathe deeply but her efforts turned to racking sobs that went on so long her head pounded in time with her heart, and her nose became so stuffed she had to breathe through her mouth. All the while, Aunt Hillie ran her hand up and down Audrey’s arm and made soothing sounds. Once the tears stopped and her breathing returned to normal she forced herself to focus, as well as she could in her state. “The time for crying is over.”

Aunt Hillie nodded, the seven feathers secured in her hair bobbing as she patted at her own moist eyes.

Audrey sat up straight. “I need a plan to repair the damage I’ve created.”

“
A stich in time saves nine,” Aunt Hillie said.

Audrey smiled. “Who said that?”

“
Thomas Fueller. I do believe he meant if you act immediately when a problem occurs the problem will require fewer actions to fix.”

“
Yes.” Audrey nodded as her belly clenched. “I need to stop the duel between Richard and Lord Davenport.”

“
And get Lord Davenport to offer for you.”

“
Aunt Hillie,”Audrey said in a dark warning voice.

Her aunt frowned. “All right. Let us work on what we agree on, which is stopping the duel. I think you should go to Lord Davenport and ask him to try to reason with your brother and get him to call off the duel.”

“
Yes.” Audrey nodded. “I was thinking the same thing, though I doubt he will have any effect. He already tried to reason with Richard. If that does not work, then perhaps Lord Davenport can simply not show for the duel. I would rather Richard feel I am dishonored by Lord Davenport than Richard be dead. He is a terrible shot and I happen to know from Lord Davenport’s cousin that he is a renowned shot with a pistol.”

She met her aunt’s gaze. “I wish Richard would come to his senses. I truly do not wish to see Lord Davenport.”

“
Quite understandable, dear. The man has wounded your pride by not offering marriage.”

He’d done more than that, but Audrey remained quiet. Her broken heart paled in comparison to her father’s death and Richard’s impending duel. “How will I escape the house? Richard will never let me visit Lord Davenport. For one thing, we’re in mourning. Beyond that is the obvious reason that an unmarried woman has no business calling on a bachelor like Lord Davenport.”

Her aunt looked contemplative for one moment. “If your brother’s drunkenness last night is any indication of how he plans to handle your father’s death, then slipping away unnoticed tonight shouldn’t be that difficult.”

Audrey sighed. “You’re right. Richard will likely be in his cups not long after dinner.”