Regency 03 - Deception (13 page)

Lady Connor sat on her other side and took her hand.
“Do not despair, my dear,” she said very softly. Her own violet
eyes glimmered with sympathetic tears. “He will do the honorable
thing, I am sure of it.”

Verena had meant her words to be comforting. It was
a complete shock when her friend erupted from her seat with a growl
of frustrated rage.

“
Why does everyone believe a
simple wedding ceremony will solve everything? Besides, I doubt I
could get permission to marry a gambling wastrel such as Levi
Greville!” She started pacing, her angry steps taking her from the
settee to the fireplace and back.

Verena glanced from Aurora to Miss Ellison, her brow
knit with confusion. “Permission? Are you not in place as a sort of
guardian?” she asked the latter.

“
Indeed I am,” the older woman
assured her. “However, the trustees would want more than just my
word that Lord Greville is a suitable match. His reputation for
gambling is a decided mark in his disfavor.”

Verena shared a significant look with her husband,
who inserted calmly, “Surely they cannot deny him, under the
circumstances?”

Aurora stopped before the fireplace, throwing over
her shoulder, “Oh, they’ll let me marry him, as I am old enough to
decide for myself. They just won’t…never mind.” Her shoulders
tensed as she turned around to face her friends. “None of that
matters. I will not marry him.”

Closing her eyes, Aurora forced herself to calm. Her
anger was accomplishing nothing. When she had her emotions under
control, she continued.

“
I am so sorry. This is not your
problem,” she told the small group as one. “I have to take
responsibility for my actions and as much as I would like to simply
pretend none of this has happened, I can’t. I cannot marry Lord
Greville even if he does do the honorable thing and asks me. I
simply can’t do that to him.”

She smiled sadly at the idea of how wonderful her
future could be with Levi’s love to warm her and carry her through
the difficult life that she had created for herself. If only she
had never met the handsome earl. “If only I did not love him so
very much,” she whispered.

~~~~~~

The resultant scandal was of epic proportions.
Aurora hid in her little house in Mayfair and refused to leave. She
refused to see anyone and rarely left her bed. The only person who
managed to get anywhere near her was her maid and Rhiannon.

She barely noticed when her invitations to balls,
routs, breakfasts, and any other gathering planned were rescinded
with the bare minimum of civility. She’d lost her vouchers for
Almack’s after the duke’s interference and Aurora had felt the
social sting of having lost them. She didn’t even blink when Ellie
informed her of the loss of all the other invitations. Aurora did
not care for the ways of the Ton, so what did she care if they
didn’t want her anymore?

What a scandal it would be to reveal the extent of
her wealth! Some of Society would fall over themselves to regain
her favor. They could all go to the devil, Aurora thought. She no
longer wanted their good opinion.

The only invitations that were not taken back was a
dinner party given by Lady Connor Northwicke and a picnic in Surrey
held by the Countess of Rothsmere. These, Aurora declined.

~~~~~~

It was with some considerable interest that the Duke
of Derringer embarked on a whole new mystery. He was becoming bored
in his passive role of nanny to his harebrained friend and looking
into Aurora Glendenning’s past was proving far more intriguing than
he’d ever imagined.

Tracking down his favorite bully-boy, the duke made
his way into London’s East End. After questioning several unsavory
characters the like of which Derringer’s companions would be
shocked to see, he’d learned enough to know that Aurora Glendenning
had far more to fear than she realized.

The duke was returning home when he decided to visit
a certain bird and tie up that loose end as well. He couldn’t have
wronged mistresses going around making trouble for honest
citizens.

He entered Mayfair, finding it a rather ironic
coincidence that Levi’s mistress and his would-be bride lived so
near each other.

Did they know?

Derringer thought not. If Raven Emerson had realized
how close her nemesis lay her head, there was no knowing what might
have befallen Aurora.

He murmured something to that effect to his horse.
Satan whinnied in response, making Derringer’s companion grunt.

“
What?” he asked Bruiser. “Don’t
you find it rather an odd occurrence that the mistress and the
fiancée reside in the same street and have never met in that
street?”

“
Odd,” Bruiser grunted in
agreement.

“
Exceedingly.”

Satan chose that moment to rear up, neighing in
anger. Derringer brought him under control, cursing at whatever
twit had spooked the beast.

As Satan eased his tension, Derringer caught a
glimpse of a man, blond hair gleaming in the sun, darting between
horses in a bid for freedom. Derringer considered reaching for the
pistol he kept ready and decided against it. There was time enough
to deal with Aurora’s sinister watcher.

Being a duke did have some benefits, he thought
moments later as he was ushered into Raven’s pretty front
parlor.

The Ebony Swan stood with her back to the window,
her exotic features blanked of all expression.

“
Lord Derringer. What brings you
by?”

“
Simple curiosity, Miss Emerson.”
He sauntered in, his easy movements misleading to the ignorant. He
studied her carefully, moving until the light from the window was
on her face instead of shrouding it in glare. He saw wariness in
her gaze, something that never would have been visible if she
hadn’t been so confused by her feelings for Lord
Greville.

“
You are not the actress you once
were, I think.”

One exquisitely elegant brow arched at his comment.
“You have come to insult me?” Her voice came out a throaty purr, a
tone he knew she’d practiced.

Derringer chuckled lowly. “Don’t try to use your
wiles on me, my dear girl.”

A very Gallic shrug was Raven’s only response.

Finding a chair, the duke lowered himself into it,
showing her with just one action how little he considered her a
lady.

She smiled. “I don’t need an ill-bred duke to show
me how far beneath him I am,” she informed him stoically.

“
Would you like to be beneath
me?”

A very slight, very secretive smile was her only
response to his provocative query. “What the devil do you
want?”

He cocked his head to one side, studying her. He
noted the determinedly relaxed set of her shoulders, the carefully
uninterested air and, as the seconds passed, the dawning anxiety in
her black eyes.

“
What business does Desmond
Forester have with you?”

*

While Aurora avoided Society and Derringer played
sleuth, Levi was trying to see Aurora—only to be turned away at the
door—and avoiding the various traps planted by his mother to get
him leg-shackled, with or without his willingness. The persistence
of the woman was admirable but to be the recipient of her demented
plottings was maddening.

After a grueling day of squiring his mother about
town, Levi was obliged to escort her to a few parties. He did his
duty by depositing her on the doorstep of Lord and Lady Sheffield’s
residence in Berkley Square. He would have made his excuses and
walked to Brooks’s for what he considered a well-deserved hand of
cards but Lady Greville stopped him before he’d made it two
steps.

“
Son, I will have need of you
tonight.”

Levi eyed his parent with suspicion. He never
trusted her when she called him
son
. It usually meant she
either wanted something or was planning something.

“
Yes, Mother,” he returned
dutifully.

The brightly arrayed countess swept regally into the
mansion ahead of her son to greet the Sheffield family. Levi
performed all the social niceties, proclaiming Lady Sheffield to be
stunning and assuring the buck-toothed Lady Esmeralda Sheffield
that she was enchantingly lovely, then escorted his mother into the
overcrowded ballroom.

The heat from so many candles and bodies was
stifling. Levi wondered how his mother could withstand it draped as
she was in the heaviest materials man could produce.

Lady Greville requested that he lead her to the row
of dowagers at the back of the room. The earl did so with alacrity,
hoping against hope that he might then at least be able to escape
to the card room.

She let him escape but he only made it part of the
way to his destination. Lady Marigold Danvers blocked his path.

Controlling his expression to hide his
disappointment, Levi inquired with a bow, “How do you do, Lady
Marigold?”

The expected giggle broke free from the young lady’s
pink lips as she answered. “I am quite well, Lord Greville.”

He wanted to say something to make her leave and he
found himself envying Derringer’s ability to just be rude and walk
away. Why must he bow to Society’s whims just because he was only
an earl instead of a duke?

Because he was a gentleman, he thought. Derringer
made no such claims.

Lady Marigold was speaking again. Levi started
listening only to realize who it was she slandered with malicious
glee.

“
So naughty of you not to do right
by her but who can blame you. Rumor declares her to be quite free
with her favors. It has even been noted that her sister resembles
her far more than a mere sister ought.”

The horror of that statement washed over him before
he could tell himself it was utter nonsense. A moment later, he’d
managed to tamp down the panic and favor Lady Marigold with a look
of reproach. How he wished he could give her a proper setdown.

It was at such times that Derringer proved himself
to be the very best sort of friend. Before Levi could form so much
as a reply to her infuriating comment, the duke’s voice cut in.

“
Mari,” he said in a lazy drawl
underscored with steel, “refresh my memory. Do you recall that
night…?” A sardonic glimmer entered his eyes as understanding
dawned in Lady Marigold’s. “Remember Suzanne Weatherby, my dear
girl. Flee now, while you have the chance.”

She bobbed a curtsy fit for royalty and fled.

Levi watched her go, his brow furrowed. “Did you
really…?”

“
Good Gad, no! Give me more credit
than that.” The smile that curved his lips made Levi distinctly
nervous. “All it takes in Society is for someone to make the
claim.”

“
Well, I do appreciate the
help.”

Derringer shrugged nonchalantly. “What are friends
for if not to scare off importuning hussies and their militant
mamas?”

Levi gave the only answer he could to such an
outrageous remark. “Of course. I must have missed that somewhere in
the rule book.”

The two gentlemen continued on their way to the room
set aside for those ladies and gentlemen who preferred to forgo the
dancing in favor of cards.

“
Why is your mama looking at us as
though she were planning a truly horrendous scandal?” inquired the
duke casually as they skirted around a group of gentlemen near the
card room.

Levi didn’t bother to turn around. “Probably because
she is.” He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I am already believed
to be a rake of the first order since my engagement to Rory has not
been announced so I doubt she can do any further harm.”

The duke stopped in his tracks, turning to his
friend. “That has to be the single most unintelligent thing you
have ever said.”

The earl nudged his friend forward and the two sat
down across from each other at a hitherto empty table near the back
of the card room. “How so?” Levi asked as they were joined by the
unprepossessing Eden Farnsworth.

“
I believe Hart is referring to
underestimating the machinations of a desperate woman, Vi,” offered
Farnsworth. “Your mama wants her allowance reinstated and that will
only occur when you marry a fortune to support her habit for
eye-catching raiment.”

“
What are we talking about?” asked
the young Earl of Holt. He settled his lanky form into a vacant
chair, casting a sleepy-eyed glance around the table.

Derringer gave him an almost-amused look. “Vi wants
to believe his mama cannot create more of a scandal than that in
which he is already embroiled. I pointed out his stupidity in
believing her harmless and Eden informed him as to why. Now what do
you think, Lord Witless?”

Lord Holt—who as a child had been plain Lord Gideon
de Witt—leveled his hooded gaze on the duke at the other man’s use
of his boyhood appellation. “I think someone should call you out,
Hart,” he replied with dull seriousness. He looked at Levi. “And I
agree with Eden, Vi. Your mama is dangerous.”

“
Just how the devil do you all
know my business?”

Derringer waved away the servant offering them cards
and pulled out a set of dice. “Hazard, anyone?”

“
Is that a good idea with Eden
sitting right here, Hart? He may feel it is his duty to turn us
over to the proper authorities for illegal dicing,” Holt asked with
what appeared to be nothing more than weary boredom.

The duke smiled at Lord Holt. “The last time I
checked, all gambling in England was illegal. So I don’t think a
paltry game of hazard among friends at a ball will constitute a
parliamentary debate.”

Eden grinned and reached for the dice. “I agree,
gentlemen. Let us play.”