Seducing the Rake (Mad, Bad and Dangerous Heroes) (45 page)

“Happily.”

Chessy gripped Morland’s shoulder. “Don’t, Tony. You mustn’t—” She looked across the room. What was it about the man that caught at her? “Who—who are you?”

A low, almost hoarse laugh.

Tony pushed to his feet. “Forget it, Chessy. Don’t concern yourself. The stable yard will do well enough for our brief business. I doubt that the fellow fights as well as he hurls insults.”

“Well enough to toss the likes of you.”

Morland’s hands curled to fists. “Lead on then.”

Chessy caught at his hand. “No—I
forbid
it! Your feet are still raw, and your arm is bleeding. This is madness!”

“Five minutes will be enough to dispose of this arrogant fellow.” Morland said harshly.

“But your—” Chessy hesitated, uncertain about whether to mention his weak knee.

He turned, his face suddenly expressionless. He was waiting, she knew, to hear what she would say next.

Chessy went totally still. She realized that she was perched on the edge of a perilous abyss.

What she said next would be terribly important. One mistake, one slip, and she would lose him.

“—your shoulder,” she finished breathlessly. “It is only beginning to heal, after all. And considering that I invested a great deal of effort in seeing that you did not die, I take your cavalier attitude as a personal insult.”

She saw the earl relax fractionally. “My shoulder will be no obstacle, I assure you.”

“Oh, you are
impossible
! Totally arrogant, completely foolish. In short, exactly what I would expect in a male.”

Morland’s bronze brow rose. “Hardly surprising,” he said dryly. “I
am
male, after all.”

“Well, you needn’t act like it all the time! Nor go about blustering like—like—”

“Like an ill-tempered water buffalo?” the man in the doorway suggested. “Or a sulky schoolboy?”

Chessy stiffened. There it was again, something about the voice. “What is it to you?”

Morland saw her frown, saw the sudden stiffening of her shoulders. “I am forced to second her question. What business is it of yours?”

“What business? Everything, I should think.” The tall man tugged at his dusty greatcoat and flung it from his shoulders. “Because, you damned importunate rake,
I
am her
father
!”

As he spoke, the traveler tugged off his battered hat, revealing a quantity of shaggy silver and black hair. He crossed his arms before his chest, glaring at Morland. “And
you
were to take care of her. To protect her from harm. Bah! Instead you’ve been seducing her! Taking ruthless advantage of my daughter’s vulnerability.”

But he was interrupted in his diatribe. “
Father
? Is it really you?” With a wild cry Chessy wobbled to her feet, wincing when she let go of the armchair.

“Chessy, don’t!” Morland reached out for her.

But it was too late. She swayed, then began to slip sideways.

Morland caught her just before she struck the arm of the chair. Holding her tightly, he glared at a now-stupefied James Cameron. “Haven’t you anything better to do than destroy your daughter’s life, Cameron? Don’t you have some dirt to paw at in the name of scientific advancement? Some pompous merchant to fawn over in a bid for financing some new and incredible venture? Can’t you see she’s in pain?”

The older man’s wild eyebrows knitted in a frown. “Chessy, my girl—” He looked at Morland. “Exactly what’s been going on here?”

“It’s about time you took some interest in your daughter’s welfare! Fine sort of father you are, traipsing off and leaving her to manage everything, then expecting her to rescue you from your own folly when—”

“Enough, man! I’m itching to put a bullet through someone right now, and it might as well be you.”

“Just try it!”

“Fine! The stable yard, it is. After you.”

Chessy wavered between tears of joy and profound irritation. “Stop it, you two! You’re—you’re worse than those two children!”

“What two children?” her father demanded. “Don’t tell me the bounder is trying to foist his by-blows off on you. Exactly what I’d expect of such a scoundrel! By heaven, I’ll teach you to—”

He pulled out a pistol and leveled it at Morland’s chest. “Put her down and step aside, rogue. Then prepare to meet your Maker.”

“Father,
don’t!
”

“Now, you cur!”

Morland set Chessy down in a nearby side chair and crossed his arms. “Go ahead and shoot.”

“No!” Chessy managed to wobble toward her father, tears gleaming on her cheeks. “Stop this idiocy!” Wildly she reached out and seized his free arm.

Cameron blinked and then looked down. He seemed to shudder when he saw the tears glinting on her face. “Chessy, girl,” he said softly, raggedly. “What have I done? You—you love him?”

“Vastly. Deliriously.”

Cameron thrust his pistol into his pocket and caught her up in a fierce embrace. “I didn’t know. I thought he was forcing you to—”

“Of course you didn’t know. But you’re really all right? They didn’t hurt you?”

“Not a scrape,” Cameron lied smoothly.

“But how did you manage to escape? It
was
the Triads, wasn’t it?”

“Later,” he said gruffly. “I’m far more interested in what has been happening to you.”

“It’s rather—” She shot a look at the grim-faced earl. “Well, it’s rather a long story. And I think you both could do with some tea before we embark on it.”

At that moment scuffling came from the hallway. Two small figures poked their heads through the doorway.

“Oh, look, Je’emy. She’s kissing
him
now. I thought you said—”

“Hush, Elspeth.”

“Won’t! You said she was going to marry our uncle Tony!”

“Uncle Tony?” James Cameron echoed in surprise. “Marry my Chessy?” He looked across at the earl. Suddenly his craggy features creased in a smile. “Well, why didn’t you just say so, blackguard? All this time I’ve been thinking you had something a great deal more irregular in mind!”

Because you didn’t give us time to say anything,” Chessy said, with a watery chuckle.

“Jumped the gun, did I?” He gave Chessy a rueful smile.

“You always do,” his daughter said softly. Lovingly.

“Ah, girl, you know me too well.” He studied the earl, who was still standing rigid across the room. “Well, don’t hang back there! Come here, my boy. Come here and shake my bloody hand! Not that I deserve it, fool that I’ve been. But you’ve known me long enough to know I’ve a temper second to none.” He looked down at the two wide-eyed figures in the doorway. “Your niece and nephew, are they?”

“My wards. They are my brother’s children,” Morland said, unbending slightly.

“Look like a smart enough pair. Ever seen an old English coin, young fellow? A gold
solidus
of Magnus Maximus, the great usurper who wrested England from Rome’s control and then attacked the heart of the empire itself. Pure gold they are and very beautiful, with winged Victory blazing in the background. And what about you, young miss? Ever pulled a flint arrowhead from the dirt, dropped straight from the hand of a hunter ten thousand years dead?”

“
Nooooooo
,” the children whispered as one, totally mesmerized.

“Indeed? Then tell your uncle he’s been seriously neglecting your education.”

The two were working up their courage to set upon this vastly curious man with the wild silver-black hair when the duchess appeared. “So there you two are! What have you done with the frog I captured for you, Elspeth?”

“You?” Morland couldn’t hold back a startled laugh. “A frog. Not one with lots of those ugly brown warts, I hope?

“Just so. But what business it is of
yours,
I’m sure I couldn’t say!” the duchess said crisply.

Chessy’s father nodded appreciatively. “That’s telling him.”

“And who, may I ask, are
you?”

“James Edward Harris Cameron.” He swept his battered hat low. “At your service.”

The duchess went very still. “Cameron? You mean—” She looked at Chessy for confirmation.

“My father. He managed to escape. Heaven knows how he found us here.”

“When I couldn’t find you at Dorrington Street, I went to see Tony. That man Whitby told me how to find you here.”

“I’m beginning to wish he hadn’t,” Morland muttered. And then his eyes began to gleam. “You truly are unharmed? Did you get a look at any of them?”

“Not now, my boy. Not now.” Chessy’s father frowned. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Chessy needs to rest now.”

“That’s the first
sensible
thing you’ve said.”

“Will you two
please
stop fighting?” Chessy swayed, and Elspeth ran to her side and caught her arm. Chessy clasped the girl close and glared at both Morland and her father. “When are you going to start acting your age?”

“Never, I should hope,” her father muttered.

“That’s the truth of it,” Morland growled. “And you never
have.
All your life you’ve run from responsibility, leaving everything to Chessy.” Morland glared at Cameron. “But I mean to see that all change. I’m going to make her safe from you and your—”

Chessy sighed. As the two continued to argue, she turned and looked down at a wide-eyed Elspeth. She shrugged. “Men!”

After a moment Elspeth tossed her shoulders in a perfect imitation, then sighed grandly. “Men!”

~ ~ ~

Chessy stood at the window, watching a village boy herd his black-faced sheep through a lane gaudy with bluebells. She smiled, feeling a warmth and sense of belonging that she had never experienced before.

So this was the England she had heard travelers talk about with such nostalgia and joy. Seeing it now, all green hills and luminous mist, Chessy could understand their pain at being so far away from its beauty.

Across the room her father rambled on, describing a particularly perilous adventure in the wilds of Baluchistan, where warring nomads had nearly beheaded him. Before him the children sat wide-eyed, mute with awe.

Slender fingers patted her shoulder. “Thinking of Macao, my dear?”

Chessy looked up at the duchess. She pointed toward the window. “I’m thinking of this, actually. It’s all so … beautiful.”

“You’re not homesick, I hope?”

Chessy shook her head. “And I feel almost ungrateful for that. After all, I barely know anything about England, and yet…” She shook her head. “Somehow I feel entirely at home here.”

“Perhaps that sense of comfort has something to do with Tony Morland.”

“I expect it does.” A shadow crossed her face. “If only…”

“If only what, my dear girl?”

Chessy tugged at the lace trim on her bodice.

“Go on. You can tell me.”

“It’s just that—that I know he’s giving up so much. There must be other women much more the thing for him. And I can bring him neither wealth nor title.”

“Nonsense.” The duchess squeezed her shoulder. “Have you ever stopped to think that you might be bringing him
other
things … things like light and laughter and a sense of belonging that he has never known before? For you do all that, Francesca Cameron. I have seen the change in him in the last week. It is all because of you, my dear girl.”

Chessy covered the duchess’s fingers with her own, feeling a lump grow in her throat. “Oh, thank you. You’ve all been so k-kind to me.”

The duchess sniffed. “Nonsense. It’s you who—” Footsteps sounded behind them.

“Spinning new schemes, I see.” The earl looked from one female face to the other. “Allies against me already?”

“And a good thing too,” the duchess said crisply. “You need taking in hand, my boy. From all I can see, Miss Cameron is precisely the one to do it. I’ve just been telling her about all your bad habits.”