My Three Masters (10 page)

“You might know him, but it’s not likely. He doesn’t travel
to London. He maintains a respectable reputation by keeping his vices hidden in
the northern country.”

“Northern country…” The Marquis mentally sorted through the
Hamptons he could think of, but none of them dwelled in the north.

“Please don’t attempt to guess.” Miranda rose to her knees
and rested her hands on her thighs. The flush on her lovely face gave him a
sense of deep satisfaction. He’d been the first to touch her silky quim, the
first to make her shudder with pleasure.

Now all he could think about was hunting down the evil man
who would have prostituted his girl.

His girl?

The thought made him uncomfortable. He didn’t become
attached. That’s why his arrangement with the Countess, the Duke and the Earl
was so perfect for him. But he couldn’t deny the strange new feelings Miranda
brought out in him.

“How did you know that’s what your guardian intended?”

“My maid told me. Servants know everything, as I can now
attest.” One corner of her delectable mouth quirked upward, causing her scar to
slide up her face. He realized, with a start, that he’d forgotten about the
scar until that slight movement. Now it was part of the landscape of her face.

He decided to push his luck. “Did she help you escape?”

“Yes. She took me to her mother, a healer in a nearby
village. Her sweetheart hid me under the straw in his cart. I was…still
bleeding.”

That intense rage passed through him again. “Sixteen?” he
said in a choked voice.

“It was my sixteenth birthday.”

“Miranda…”

For a moment she didn’t answer, and he wondered if she had a
different given name. Perhaps she’d changed everything when she left home. But
her gaze immediately swung to meet his, and in those big, tea-colored eyes he
saw no hint of hesitation or prevarication.

“Did you know you have the right to change guardians?” he
asked gently.

Her eyes widened. “But my parents named him as guardian
until I’m twenty-one. That’s two more years.”

“Yes, but any minor over the age of thirteen can petition
the Chancery Court for a new guardian. Do you have any other close relatives or
friends of the family?”

She caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I don’t believe
so. Surely my parents would have selected someone else if anyone were
available. Lord— That is to say, my guardian was first cousin to my father.”

Lord
.
She’d said lord. A Hampton. The North.
If he could find a
Debrett’s
, perhaps he could solve the puzzle.

* * * * *

Sweetbriar library—that night

“My darling Marquis, you’ve become utterly obsessed.”

“Don’t exaggerate,
chérie
.”

The Marquis bent over the thick text of
Debrett’s Guide
to the British Peerage
. He ran his hand up and down the entries. “The
Hamptons claim a good twenty pages of this thing. My family barely rates a
mention.”

“They allow the deLaValles into
Debrett’s
?” Alicia
clucked her tongue, moving behind the Marquis to rub the tense tendons of his
neck.

“Shocking, isn’t it? I’m surprised they don’t have a black
border around our discreet little mention. But the Hamptons—why, the family
dates back to the War of the Roses. The title’s been in the same family since
then. Fertile bunch too. Multiple sons in every generation, each of them
sprouting new twigs on the family tree. I wonder what Angelique would have
thought if she knew a member of one our most illustrious families was emptying
her bedpan.”

“And now changing Rose’s nappy. Should we relieve her of her
duties, do you think? Explain to her that we can’t possibly allow someone so
blue-blooded to tend our child?” She moved her hands to his shoulders, covered
in a burgundy velvet jacket. She found it both amusing and disturbing to see
the Marquis so caught up in the fate of one young woman. Although, she reminded
herself, Miranda was no ordinary young woman. A gently bred girl who’d fled her
home and managed to fend for herself—highly unusual, not to mention admirable.

“No. That will only alarm her. Her disguise brings her
security. She’s terrified of this mystery guardian. I suppose that if he did
find her again, he’d be within his right to whisk her back to the North and do
what he liked with her.”

“Women have so little choice in what happens to them. It’s
disgraceful. But now that she has friends, he won’t be able to act so
precipitously, even if he should manage to find her.”

“I doubt he’s looking anymore. She’s nineteen, and she left
her home at age sixteen.”

“Good Lord. What an extraordinary girl she is.”

“Indeed.” He peered closer at the page. “Here’s an obscure
branch that resides in Northumberland.”

“My dear, are you planning to continue your research all
night? I’ve come to rescue you from the books and spirit you away to bed. I’m
feeling particularly naughty tonight. I found an old corset in a trunk and
immediately thought of all sorts of erotic possibilities. We think of the
previous generations as so much more stuffy, but perhaps they had the right
idea. Confinement can be so inspiring.”

“I do love a corset.” He leaned back so his head rested
between Alicia’s breasts. “It leaves the buttocks accessible for all sorts of
mischief.”

But she could tell his heart wasn’t in it. “I suppose you’re
picturing Miranda in one at this very moment,” she said, without any rancor.

“She has the most delectable nipples. Ripe plums on a field
of sweet cream,” murmured the Marquis.

Alicia glanced down at the front of his breeches and noted
the unmistakable hardening there. “I see things have progressed.”

“In some very interesting directions. She’s a constant
surprise. A kindred spirit, you might say.”

“Do you wish she weren’t more than she seems?”

“I wish her to be exactly as she is,” he demurred. “I
wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Not even her mark?”

“I rarely notice it anymore. I’m so captured by the depth of
her eyes and the shapeliness of her lips. A bit of hardened skin makes no
difference to me. No, I’ll rephrase that. It’s proof positive of her triumph
over suffering. It makes me respect her all the more. And it inspires the most
inconvenient desire to shield her from harm.”

“I always knew you were a man of honor. Besides, she’s
Rose’s nursemaid and I won’t stand for anything occurring against her will.”

“Fair enough.”

“And…” She glanced again at his breeches. “You can always
find relief for your frustration with us. Perhaps a good spanking is what you
need? I imagine corsets and spanking might go very well together.” The image
inflamed her and she bent down to whisper in the Marquis’ ear. “I’d hold tight
to the bedpost, clinging to it like a damsel in distress, my buttocks bared to
your perusal and to the paddle. Or would you prefer your hand this time? I do
love the feel of your warm hand stinging my bare buttocks. And I know how you
love to see the pink rise to the surface. You love to see me dancing to avoid
the blow, then sighing in delight as it hits its mark.”

He leaped to his feet. “Damn you, woman. You would tempt the
Pope himself.”

She smiled affectionately at the man who’d become her lover
and friend. Despite his voracious sexuality, she knew the Marquis to be one of
the loneliest people of her acquaintance. It was high time he found someone to
call his own, someone who wouldn’t gut him the way his wife had. “But why is it
a question of temptation? We’re all of the same mind when it comes to our
bedroom activities.”

“Because…” He stopped short, then ran a distracted hand
through his hair. “I can’t. I’m busy at the moment.”

“It’s late at night. Most everyone’s asleep.”

“Most everyone?”

“Well, the baby’s been fretting, so Miranda’s probably
awake. I’m guessing she wouldn’t mind some company in the nursery. You can
always tell her I asked you to stop in and check on Rose.”

His eyes narrowed as he scalded her with a glance. “That’s
why you came here? You don’t have designs on me after all?”

“Dearest, you know you’re always welcome. But your happiness
means the world to me. Something tells me that in Miranda you might have found
your match.”

He gave a disgusted snort. “My match?”

“Yes, your sensual soul mate. And before you get all
condescending, remember me and the Duke.”

“Not everyone is destined for such bliss.”

“No. But who is to say that you are not? I believe you are.
It’s a possibility worth exploring, don’t you think?”

She cupped his cheek tenderly, then glided to the door. “At
any rate, the Duke and I will be playing maiden and ravager, so if you lose
your courage, don a pirate’s sword and join us.”

“I have my sword at the ready, milady,” he said with an
ironic bow.

She clucked at him, then disappeared out the door.

For several nights I stole into the Marquis’ bedchamber and
we made love until the wee hours of the morning. I learned so many things. I
learned about the sweet stab of a cock in my bottom hole. I learned to allow
him to lick and suck my clitoris. I learned to welcome the sting of a hard palm
on my rear. I’d never imagined such bliss. It seemed impossible that I, Miranda
Hampton/Brown, could be granted such happiness.

I was right.

One night, a noise from outside caught our attention. It
sounded like wheels on gravel. We’d just finished making love, and we were
floating in that delicious haze I craved. The Marquis swung his legs from the
bed and strolled to the window. He had a view of the entire grounds. I had a
wonderful view of his sculpted buttocks and strong back muscles. He didn’t
bother to cover himself, so neither did I. I jumped up to join him at the
window, snuggling against his warm hardness. He put an arm around me.

“It looks like the Earl’s curricle. Only an expert whip such
as the Earl would consider driving such a dangerous vehicle at night. And he
has a passenger too.”

I peered out the window. Indeed it looked like the Earl of
Dorchester, his strong, stocky body cloaked in a many-layered greatcoat against
the chill. I couldn’t see the other man, who sat on the far side of the
curricle.

I shivered. The Earl was home. He might go to the nursery to
check on Rose—unlikely, but one never knew. I ought to be safe in my own
chambers, not here with the Marquis. “I must go.”

He didn’t argue. I hurriedly dressed and combed my fingers
through my hair. From outside came the Earl’s booming voice and the sleepy one
of the groom. I scurried to the door.

“Miranda,” said the Marquis, “you have nothing to worry
about with me. Nothing.”

I nodded, filled with a sort of peace I’d never known, and
slipped into the dark corridor.

* * * * *

Breakfast room—the next morning

The Marquis strode into the breakfast room the next morning
with a sense of being at one with the world. Not even the sight of the stranger
sitting with the Earl of Dorchester could destroy his mood.

“Beaumont!” The Earl jumped to his feet and pumped Gerard’s
hand. “Good to see you, my friend. Let me make you known to Viscount Smythe. I
ran into him at the hunting party and talked him into coming this way for some
fishing. How’s the trout stream holding up?”

The Marquis had a flash of Miranda’s plump breasts in the
sunshine. “Very satisfactory. Smythe.” He nodded to the man, who didn’t, at
first glance, have much to recommend him. Small, piggish eyes set in a hard
face. But the Earl judged his friends mostly by their taste in horseflesh, so
chances were he had a magnificent mount.

“How do you find Hampshire?” he asked politely.

“Charming. Quite welcoming. Magnificent stables. I’m looking
for a mare just like that dainty filly the Earl’s got.”

The Marquis, amused, hid a smile. His old friend was so easy
to predict. Horseflesh was such a powerful bond. The Duke and Countess arrived,
separately, of course, since a stranger was present. More niceties were
exchanged, but the Marquis’ thoughts kept straying back to the night before, to
those transcendent moments with Miranda bent over his bed, taking his strong
thrusts into her lovely cunt, achieving her peak with sweet cries that pierced
his soul. Oh the things he looked forward to doing to her—with her. There was
no limit to the ways he intended to use her.

But would using her body for their combined pleasure be
enough for him? He suspected not. He was no stranger to the softer feelings,
having fallen passionately in love with Angelique as a naïve young man. But
she’d ruthlessly drummed them out of him until he’d thought they were gone.

Until now. Until Miranda.

“Miranda,” he heard the Countess say. He came to attention
so he could follow the conversation. She was speaking to a footman. “The Earl
would like to see the baby. Please ask Miranda to join us in the breakfast
room.”

“Miranda?” The Viscount looked up with an expression of mild
curiosity.

“Our nursemaid,” explained the Countess. “She’s a gem.”

But alarm bells were now clanging in the Marquis’ head. Time
seemed to slow as the Viscount frowned thoughtfully, and names from
Debrett’s
came flitting back from last night’s library session.
Viscount, Viscount.
Wasn’t there a Viscount S something from somewhere up north?

The Marquis was just opening his mouth to form a question
about the Viscount’s family seat—“Are you part of the Hampton family whose seat
is in Northumberland?”—when Miranda appeared in the doorway. She held Rose
cradled in her arms and was looking down at her, shushing the restless babe.
She looked utterly beautiful to the Marquis, her round face serene and
Madonna-like, her shapely body instantly putting his cock on alert.

Then she looked up, saw the group at the breakfast table,
and the blood left her face. Against the sudden stark white of her skin, her
scar shone angry red. The sound of a chair crashing to the floor interrupted
the Countess. The Marquis turned to see the Viscount on his feet, his face as
red as Miranda’s scar.

“You wretched girl, how dare you fool these people? Hand
over that child and come here immediately.”

Miranda stood paralyzed, clutching the baby. Color flooded
in and out of her cheeks.

“What’s the meaning of this?” asked the Duke, also surging
to his feet.

The Viscount aimed a shaking finger at Miranda.

“That girl is Miss Miranda Hampton, my ward. She’s been
missing for three years. I searched high and low for her, but never did I think
she’d lower herself to take employment as a nursemaid. That she would allow a
fine family such as yourselves to put their child in danger. Have you no
conscience, girl?”

With a roar, the Marquis launched himself in the Viscount’s
direction. “You! You’re the one who took a whip to her face. I swore I’d kill you
and I will.”

But strong arms were holding him back. The Earl clamped him
in a bear hug. “What are you doing, man? This is my guest.”

The Marquis struggled against his grip. “Release me, damn it
all!”

“I will not. Not until you explain what the hellfire is
going on.”

The Marquis glanced over his shoulder at Miranda, who stood
as still as Lot’s wife turned into a pillar of salt. The Countess stepped to
her side and coaxed the babe from her arms. Miranda let her go with a helpless
gesture that tore at the Marquis’ heart.

“We’ll never let her go back to you,” the Marquis spat at
the Viscount. “No man who whips a girl has the right to care of her.”

“I was well within my rights!” the Viscount shouted. “I’m
her legal guardian. Not only that, I’m her victim.”

“
What?
”

“That’s right. I’m not the only one looking for her. I hired
a Bow Street Runner who’s about to get fired. That girl, my dear Countess, is a
viper in your nest.”

The Countess held her baby tight to her bosom. “Please stop
ranting, dear sir, and tell us what you have to say.”

“Very well. That girl, Miranda Hampton, is a thief.”

I stood as though planted in the doorway, as if my entire
life had been lived in that spot, with that accusation ringing in my ears. I
couldn’t move, even to speak. My arms hung limply at my side; I realized
vaguely that the Countess had snatched the baby from my arms. Of course. I was
a thief and a liar, and had no right to hold her child.

Amid the chaos—the Earl holding the struggling Marquis in a
bear hug, the Countess soothing Rose, who had begun to cry—the Duke strode
forward and took command of the situation.

“Explain yourself, if you please. That’s a serious
accusation.”

“Nothing but the truth. She fled from my home in the middle
of the night with pearl earrings she had no right to touch. They belonged to my
late wife and were worth quite a pretty penny.”

In truth, they hadn’t been worth much in monetary terms. But
when it came to giving me just enough to keep me afloat until I could make my
own wages, they’d been priceless.

“Does she look like someone who has a penny to her name?”
the Marquis growled. He wrenched himself free from the Earl. “When she left
your house, what did her face look like? How much was she bleeding from your
whip?”

I trembled, afraid that I would crumple to the ground in a
heap. My scar burned as though it had just been inflicted mere moments earlier.
He sprang at the Viscount, who stumbled backward. The Marquis landed one blow,
right on his cheek, before the Earl muscled him off my guardian’s fallen body.

“I’ll sue all of you!” the Viscount snarled, holding his
bruised cheek. I admit to some satisfaction that he felt a tiny bit of what I’d
suffered.

“That’s it,” shouted the Earl. “You assaulted my friend.
Outside!” And he dragged the Marquis, still shaking with passionate rage, out
the French doors that let onto the terrace.

“Let me guess.” The Viscount shot me an evil glance. “You’ve
sold your favors to the most deviant lord in London. I would have done much
better by you.”

I buried my face in my hands, sure my humiliation couldn’t
possibly get any worse.

“Sir, this is the outside of enough! You have women and
children here. How dare you?” the Countess cried. “Come, Miranda, let us retire
to the drawing room.”

In that moment, I loved her.

“She doesn’t leave this room.” the Viscount struck out with
his harsh voice. It snapped through the air like a whip made of sound. “She’s a
thief. I have sworn testimony from witnesses. She’s coming with me. I’m her
legal guardian and anyone who interferes will be going against the law of the
land. I won’t stand for it. Miranda, come here. Your friends can’t help you.
The law is the law. Theft is a serious matter in this country.”

The Duke narrowed his green eyes. He didn’t look happy to
have this mess land in his breakfast room. “Calm yourself, man. Let’s talk
about this in a reasonable manner. We know Miss Brown to be a fine person and
reliable caretaker of our…of Lady Rose. If it’s a question of repaying the cost
of the earrings, perhaps something can be worked out.”

“No,” he said flatly. “It’s been three years. No repayment
is possible now. Her only choice is to come with me. I’m her guardian for
another two years and I intend to fulfill my duty to my late cousin, as
difficult as she makes it. Come, Miranda.”

The Countess cast me a desperate glance. But how could I
expect them to come to my aid, when I’d never even told them my true name? I
saw only two choices. Go with the Vicious Viscount or…

I spun on my heel and ran.

I ran and ran, out the front door, where a footman goggled
at me in confusion, over a hedgerow that scratched my arms and legs, through
the waving grasses of a barley field, never stopping until I reached a road
that appeared blessedly empty. I didn’t know where I was or where the road led,
but I couldn’t move anymore and so I sat on a tree stump and closed my eyes,
praying for a kind farmer in a wagon who wouldn’t be too surprised by the sight
of a girl with a scar, a nursemaid’s uniform and nothing else.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew,
wheels were squeaking to a halt in front of me and a voice awakened my from my
exhausted slumber.

“Get in. Unless you want your other cheek scarred.”

* * * * *

“What do you mean, she’s gone?” The Marquis swung in a wild
circle as if he might spot the missing Miranda behind a curtain in the drawing
room. The Earl had taken him to the stables, where they’d engaged in a bit of
fisticuffs, the only language the Earl understood, and the Marquis had finally
been able to get a true sense of the situation through his thick skull.

Then they’d hurried back to the main house, only to find it
empty of everyone save the Duke and the Countess, who paced fretfully with the
now-sleeping Rose.

“She ran off and we went to look for her. The Viscount left
in a huff. We don’t know where either of them are,” explained Lady Alicia.

“He’s got her. I know it. I can feel it. I’m going after
her, and when I find that—”

“I don’t understand,” interrupted the Earl. “How did he
leave? I brought him in my curricle. He didn’t even have a horse here.”

The Duke clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m not quite sure
how to tell you this, but he’s in your curricle. Fine vehicle, by the way.
Didn’t get a chance to tell you earlier.”

A slow wave of red spread from the Earl’s neck to his forehead.
“
He took my curricle?
Why, the rotten swine. And to think I defended
him. What sort of a man takes another man’s curricle? What about my horses?”

“Those too, I’m afraid. I doubt the rig would get far
without them.”

“The dirty bastard. Of course we’re going after him.”

The Marquis couldn’t help a sense of indignation. He aimed a
deathly stare in the younger man’s direction. “Ah, now that you know your
horses are at stake, you see things differently.”

“Yes I do. Any man who would take another man’s carriage
without so much as a word of warning is a blackguard and not to be trusted. Who
knows what he’ll do to the wench now that he’s got her?” He strode to the
terrace doors once again. “Who’s with me?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” The Countess rang the
bell. “Tell Graham I need her in the breakfast room,” she told the footman who
instantly appeared. “What about you, my love?” she asked the Duke as she
planted one last kiss on Rose’s soft curls.

“No. I want to write some letters. I’m intrigued by this
story of the pearls. I want to get to the bottom of it.”

“If you think—” the Marquis began.

“I don’t think anything,” the Duke said sharply. “But I
advise you to. It won’t do to play the raging primitive with Viscount Smythe.
You’d best spend the carriage ride searching for a better method. Dorchester,
you keep your head too. No more fisticuffs. My dear, you’ll keep a weather eye
on them both, won’t you?”