Regency 03 - Deception (29 page)

His wife nodded, silent, allowing him to tuck her
hand in his elbow and lead her into the press of people.

Once inside, they made their way through the
receiving line, up the stairs to mingle with a few of their
acquaintances and then turned around to find Lord and Lady Connor
waiting patiently to talk to them.

“
Levi,” said the other man, a look
of unease on his face.

Levi greeted him, wary of the strange expression.
Then he bowed over Verena’s hand, murmured something innocuous
about her appearance and turned back to Northwicke, leaving the two
women to chat with false brightness.

“
My sisters are about somewhere,”
remarked Lord Connor distractedly. “Mama could not make it and so
asked me to escort them when she discovered I’d changed my mind
about attending.” He gave Levi a meaningful look. “The odd thing
is, I don’t remember changing my mind.”

Levi cocked one eyebrow. “Adam convinced us to
attend. He said it would be best if we pretended nothing was
wrong.”

“
And he is probably right. But it
has never been like Adam to care what Society thought, even if it
affected someone else. No,” Northwicke murmured softly, “this was
not Adam’s idea.”

Just then, Adam joined them, his wife held in a
grasp so tight Levi saw her wince. He had to steel himself against
tearing his beloved cousin away from her husband.

Comprehension dawned and as he greeted his defiant
cousin, he said lightly to Adam, “Has the little wife been giving
you trouble, Adam?” Chuckling at the anger that settled in Bri’s
eyes, he told him, “Thrash her if you must, but please don’t do it
here. Although,” he said thoughtfully, “if you were to cause such a
scandal, perhaps it would lessen the chances of ours being found
out.”

Bri so far disgraced herself as to try to kick Levi
in the shin. He took a step back, laughing at her mulish
expression.

“
Brianna love, if you do something
like that again, I’ll take Levi’s advice and thrash you,” grated
the baronet. His gray-green eyes were hard as rock as he looked at
her. “Stop behaving like a petulant child. Next time you decide to
snoop into things better left to madmen like Derringer, don’t get
caught.”

Bri sent him a glare, sent a dazzling smile to
Northwicke, a look that promised revenge to her cousin and wrenched
her arm away from her husband’s grasp. She then went in search of
Verena and Aurora.

“
I honestly don’t know how you can
put up with her fits and starts,” Levi told Adam, watching her
leave.

“
I am a bloody saint.”

The gentlemen heard a sharp intake of breath and
turned to see a large dowager of indeterminate years glaring
haughtily at them. Adam glared back, apparently caring little if
she was offended by his speech. Northwicke bowed, taking advantage
of his vast store of charm, made a pretty apology to Lady Bowers,
and sent a look of reproach to his friend as soon as that lady
walked off, only slightly mollified.

“
Really, Adam, that was too bad of
you.”

Adam favored his oldest friend with a charming grin.
“It was, was it not?” he agreed.

“
Have you been taking lessons from
Hart on bad behavior?” inquired Levi, grinning. Then he stopped.
“Where is Hart, anyway? I expected to see him here.”

“
Why would you expect that?” Adam
asked casually. “From what I understand, Derringer shuns
ton
events.”

Northwicke wasn’t fooled. “You know something,” he
accused.

“
Why do you say that?”

“
You clenched your teeth,” the
other man informed him. “You always clench your teeth when you have
a secret you are not at liberty to divulge.”

Levi’s brows rose at this observation, a laugh
forming on his lips.

“
If you so much as snicker, Levi
Greville, I’ll beat you to a pulp,” warned the baronet.

Levi contented himself with an amused smile.
Northwicke did laugh since the threat wasn’t directed at him and
Adam had to smile but he still said nothing about the secret he
supposedly carried.

~~~~~~

“
You did what?” exclaimed Aurora,
wide-eyed with shock. She had already known, but to hear it from
the countess’s own lips made it all the more shocking.

“
Shh,” warned Bri fiercely as
gossipy Miss Grantham watched them with speculative interest. “Do
you want the whole of Society to know?” whispered Bri.

Aurora lowered her voice. “No, of course not. But
how could you?”

“
Very easily, I assure you,” she
replied tartly. A small groan came from Lady Connor’s
direction.

“
But how could you drag Doll
into?”

“
Oh, pish tosh,” remarked the
baronet’s wife. “She has more bottom than looks claim. She was more
fierce in her questioning than I was.”

A fetching blush greeted these words. “Nonsense,
Bri. You exaggerate,” insisted the younger woman with a guilty look
thrown in the direction of her handsome husband.

Bri saw the look and her mouth fell open. “Con is
unaware?” she demanded, incredulous.

“
Indeed.”

“
Well, of all the…! That heartless
devil!” sputtered Bri. “He told Adam about our foray into
Cheapside. That…that…lick-spittle!”

“
Bri!”

She gave each of her friends an unrepentant look,
completely ignoring the four or five persons standing near enough
to hear her slip into cant.

She lowered her voice a bit, not truly wanting to
cause a scandal, even a minor one. “He is. I’ll not call him
anything else when he is nothing more than a bitter talebearer,
determined to make everyone as miserable as him.”

“
Who?” inquired Aurora and Verena
together.

“
Who else? The blasted black duke
with the blacker heart!”

Aurora’s lips twitched ever so slightly. “Hart told
your husband you were in Cheapside?” Bri nodded. “And you are upset
with him? Lord, Bri, you were buffle-headed to go there in the
first place.”

Bri’s face took on an outraged expression. “I go out
of my way to try to help you and this is the thanks I get. Besides,
Cheapside is not dangerous. Just…barely respectable.”

“
When men like Mr. Forester
inhabit a place, it is no longer safe,” Verena commented,
confirming for her listeners that she regretted having ventured
into the City with Bri.

“
Where is Lord Derringer?” asked
Aurora, suddenly anxious to speak with the duke.

Bri shrugged and Verena assured her that she
wouldn’t know. “Perhaps Levi knows,” suggested Bri, her grudging
tone suggesting she was still angry that everyone seemed to be
against her. “He does call that black devil friend, after all.”

Aurora chose to ignore this comment although she
thought it was unfair of Bri to call him that. She made her way
over to her husband and his friends, dimly aware that Bri and
Verena were not with her, having been detained by Lord Connor’s
twin sisters.

Before she could reach the safety of her husband’s
side, she found her path blocked by a familiar figure in black
evening dress—one she’d hoped never to see again.

“
Why, hello, Lady Greville. How
are you this evening?” inquired Desmond Forester smoothly,
executing a graceful bow.

In other circumstances, other times, other places
several years in the past, she would have found his behavior
charming. Now, all she wanted to do was slap his smug face.

“
What are you doing here?” she
asked, repressing the urge to wring her hands in distress. Really,
when had she fallen into a Gothic novel?

“
I was invited, I assure you,” he
said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I wanted to introduce you
to a friend of mine. He, apparently, is a gambling crony of your
husband’s.” The last word was uttered with quiet, but very real,
disdain.

Aurora braced herself for the worst, knowing the
real Desmond Forester as she now did. Forester turned his head,
beckoning to a man of medium height with brown hair. The man was
handsome in a way, she supposed, but there was a ruthlessness in
his eyes that reminded her of Derringer at his worst. The only
difference, and it was of monumental importance, was that where the
duke had the look of a dangerous man, he still had a spark of
humanity in him that anyone with a modicum of sensitivity could
feel. This man, however, had the look of a veritable demon, without
heart or soul or the least bit of fellow feeling. She shivered.

The man bowed before her, taking her hand up to his
lips for a kiss, and Aurora had to steel herself from snatching her
hand away and causing a scene.

“
My dear Lady Greville, it is
indeed a great pleasure to finally make your acquaintance,”
murmured the gentlemen with a smile that Aurora was sure he
intended to be charming.

“
Thank you, Mr. Winters,” she
replied stoically. “I am told you are a friend of my
husband’s?”

“
That I am, my lady,” he assured
her. “In a manner of speaking.”

Unsure how to respond to this cryptic remark, Aurora
gently disengaged her hand, murmured something like “hmm” and
looked around her for escape.

“
I was sorry to hear of your
recent difficulties,” remarked Mr. Winters.

Aurora’s head snapped around. “What difficulties?”
His tone was so benign as to be unthreatening and yet, she sensed
something quite the opposite.

She couldn’t like the hellish gleam that entered her
companion’s eyes. “Why, the news that you are, after all, very
rich.”

“
Excuse me?” Aurora hoped he
couldn’t hear her heart pounding. For a second, she thought he knew
about Rhiannon.

“
Your vast wealth, of course, Lady
Greville,” inserted Forester. “All the gentlemen are commiserating
each other on the loss of your precious…self from the ranks of
available
débutantes
.”

Aurora, in a rare show of cynicism, replied, “Yes, I
am sure you are. Wealth like mine does not come up for…auction
every day.”

Her loathsome companions smiled at her show of
pique, sharing a meaningful glance with one another. She resisted
the urge to kick them in the shins and merely stared back.

“
And how is that adorable da—I
mean, sister of yours?” inquired Forester with feigned
interest.

Becoming suddenly still—she had not missed his slip
and she was sure Mr. Winters hadn’t either—Aurora mentally prepared
herself for battle. This blackguard was not going to discountenance
her!

“
My sister is fine, sir,” she
replied with all the calm she could muster.

“
That is not what I heard,”
inserted Mr. Winters with an evil smile.

Panic flared, the air around her becoming chill
despite the press of bodies and the hear of candles. Where was
everybody? Here she was, surrounded by people and never had she
felt so helpless, so scared. And just where the devil was Levi?

Her fingers sought the pendant around her neck, the
same one Levi had given her the day of their betrothal as a symbol
of his affection. The smooth pearls against her skin brought her a
measure of solace, reminding her that Levi was never far. Just as
the belief wound its comforting way around her heart, her husband’s
large form became visible through a break in the crowd.

“
I am loath to cut our
conversation short, gentlemen”—the biggest falsehood she’d told
yet—“but I see my husband beckoning to me. Please excuse
me.”

~~~~~~

Levi paused in what he was saying, looked down at
his wife, and wondered what had her in such a pucker. Then he
looked over her shoulder.

“
That bloody—!”

“
No, Levi, please don’t!” Aurora
caught his arm as he made to charge across the room and confront
the very man responsible for Rhiannon’s disappearance.

“
Levi,” said Lord Connor softly,
“murdering him before the eyes of the
ton
will only get you
clapped up in gaol. Please refrain from making a scene.” He placed
a comforting hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Believe me when I
say that I know exactly how you feel.” He directed a pointed look
at the man at Forester’s side. “That bastard with whom you used to
play cards has been a thorn in my side since I met my
wife.”

Levi calmed outwardly at these words but inside he
was seething. That either of these men had the gall to appear in
public was nauseating.

“
Actually,” remarked Adam
meditatively, “it is all to the good that Forester is
here.”

Levi glared at the baronet. “How do you determine
that? Unless I am very much mistaken,” he added, his arm slipping
around Aurora’s shoulders and drawing her close, “those bloo…cads
spoke to my wife. I don’t want her upset anymore.”

“
Very noble of you, Levi,” agreed
Northwicke.

“
Trust me, gentlemen,” insisted
Adam, “it is good that Forester is here.”

“
Where is Hart?” Aurora asked
suddenly, staring at all three men.

Lord Greville saw Northwicke glance at Adam, whose
jaw clenched tight. Despite the obvious conclusions he was drawing
from Adam’s actions, Levi could feel a smile tugging at his
lips.

Lord Connor spoke up, treating Aurora to a benign
expression.

“
He was not able to make it. Had
some…business to attend to.” His voice rose at the end, making it
sound like a question rather than the statement it should have
been. His glance passed from Aurora to Adam.