Stolen Kisses (31 page)

The door shuddered with another blow. Once more something pounded against it, and it rattled and burst open. Her nerves frayed, Lilith shrieked as Richard Hutton and a half dozen Bow Street Runners charged into the room. It was the nightmare she’d had for the past few nights—Jack, trapped and arrested, and nothing that she could do.

“Dansbury, that’s enough!” Richard bellowed. He threw an arm around Jack’s neck to haul him backward off Dolph’s limp body.

The duke shuddered and coughed, then began crawling slowly for the door. Blood dripped from an ugly gash in his forehead and trailed onto the wooden floor.

“Just one more minute, Richard.” Jack gasped, pulling free and going after Dolph again.

“Jack, please don’t,” Lilith sobbed. “Please don’t.”

“I let it go too long already, Jack,” Richard said forcefully.

The marquis slowed, then stopped. He ignored his brother-in-law, slowly turning to look at Lilith. “All right,” he murmured. “It’s over. For you.”

“Thank God,” Richard muttered, taking a deep breath. “You’ll have to come with me.”

“No, he won’t.” Lilith leaned down and picked up Dolph’s discarded pistol. Her hands shaking, she pointed it at Richard. “We’re leaving.”

“Lil? Lil, put the gun down,” Jack said quietly, moving toward her.

She shook her head, keeping her eyes on Lord Hutton and the stunned Runners. “I have some money with me. We can be in Spain by nightfall.”

Jack began to grin.

“Miss Benton,” Richard said, eyeing the wavering pistol uneasily, “you may not believe me, but I’m on your side.”

“You came to arrest Jack.”

“Lil,” Jack said, stopping beside her, “it’s all right. They’re here with me.”

She glanced over at him. “What?”

“I lost Wenford about an hour ago. I ran across Richard, and we all caught up to you at the last moment—saw him drag you off. They were in the other room, listening. I climbed out the window so I could see what was going on. I didn’t want him to hurt you again.”

“They heard him?” she repeated, slowly lowering the pistol. “They heard him say he killed his uncle?”

“Yes, we did,” Richard nodded, breathing a sigh of relief as Jack gently took the weapon from her fingers.

“But Alison said you were unhappy when you left her this morning.”

“You’d be unhappy, too, if a damned nine-fingered butler dragged you out of a nice, warm breakfast room and tossed you into Dansbury’s stables to ‘interview’ some other blasted butler he had tied up there.”

Lilith looked at Jack again. He was smiling, his lip cut, and his hair and clothes disheveled. “You found him?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Peese found him. I wasn’t home, so he went to get Richard. Frawley reluctantly verified that old Wenford stopped to see his nephew and shared a brandy before he headed off to propose to you.” Jack glanced at Richard. “That’s the reason I wasn’t hauled off to prison. I’d hire him, if he wasn’t so stuffy.”

For a moment Lilith shut her eyes. “Thank goodness.” Then she snapped them open again, looking suspiciously at the men hauling Dolph to his feet. “But what about them?”

One of the Runners stepped forward and doffed his hat. “There’re still some questions we need answered, but if Lord Dansbury’s willing to come with us, I don’t think there’ll be much more trouble.”

Jack nodded. “I’ll go, so long as Lord Hutton accompanies me.”

“Try to keep me away,” Richard muttered.

Two of the Runners headed with Dolph down the stairs. Jack handed over the pistol he’d taken from Lilith, then turned to face her. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

There was so much she wanted to say to him, but with Richard and the other men standing about, she was suddenly shy. “You’re welcome, Jack,” she returned.

He looked at her for another moment, something she was almost afraid to put words to in his eyes, then visibly shook himself. “We need to see Miss Benton home,” he told Richard, who nodded.

“It’s on the way. We’d best get moving, before Prince
George sends the Royal Grenadiers after you.”

“Jack?” Lilith whispered.

He gave another slight smile. “We’ll talk later,” he returned in the same tone. “After I get this straightened out.”

His words were reassuring, but Lilith was not calmed. She had seen the expression on his face—he was feeling noble. And abruptly she was worried. He had never said that he loved her, and Jack being noble could deny her the one thing she truly wanted for herself. Him.

I
t was, William decided, the moral thing to do. After all, Lilith had spent her entire life making sacrifices that caused her unhappiness, for the sake of pleasing their family. He could make a small sacrifice for her.

He ran his fingers through his light hair to tousle it, and marched up the front stairs of Antonia St. Gerard’s townhouse. What she’d done to Jack was inexcusable. If Dansbury hanged because of her lies, William would be to blame for it, as well.

He pounded on the door, then rushed in as Linden pulled it open. “Where’s Antonia?” he barked, heading for the stairs.

“In her bed chamber, Mr. Benton,” the butler answered calmly, shutting the door again. “I was instructed to allow no one but you entry.”

“My thanks, Linden.”

William charged up the stairs, and without knocking first, barged into Antonia’s bed chamber. As usual, it gave him pause, because try as he might, he had never been able to get used to the black decor she favored. Previously he had thought it exotic, but for the first time, it seemed a bit absurd. Antonia was seated at her writing
desk, and looked up from a letter she was composing.

“William,
mon amour
. Whatever is the matter?”

“We have to get you out of here,” William rushed, striding over to her wardrobe and pulling out several gowns suitable for traveling.

Antonia came over to stand beside him. “Are we eloping?” She smiled, running her hand along his shoulder, then reaching into the wardrobe to select a blue muslin.

“Haven’t you heard?” He shook his head, continuing to throw clothes out onto the bed. “No, of course not, you’ve just risen, haven’t you?”

“I do stay up rather late,” she continued, her sharp eyes watching him closely. “So what has happened?”

“They found a note. Old Hatchet Face killed himself.”

For a moment she stared at him, her sensuous mouth opening and then closing again. “The Duke of Wenford? That’s absurd, Will—”

He shook his head. “The writing’s been verified by Dolph Remdale. Dansbury’s been cleared, and he’s apparently in a black fury about what you told the law.” William clutched her hand over his heart. “I’m worried he’ll come after you, Antonia. You know how he gets when someone crosses him.”

“Yes, I know.” Antonia freed her hand and turned away to walk slowly toward the window. For a moment she stood looking outside, until finally she turned to face him again. “Are you certain of this, William?”

He nodded. “Got it from Price.”

“Jack wouldn’t dare do anything to me,” she said, mostly to herself.

“You came within a whisper of getting him arrested and hanged, Antonia! And he killed that woman in Paris for less than that. Now, please—get your things to
gether! Once you’re gone, I’ll try to reason with him, tell him it’s my fault, or something.”

“You should come with me. William, we could live in Paris.” She stretched out her hand and smiled. “It would be
merveilleux
.”

This was going to be the difficult part. He nodded distractedly, then jumped at an imagined sound and glanced toward the door. “I could join you there, after I talk to Dansbury and convince my father not to cut me off.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Whyever would he cut you off?”

He shrugged, glancing toward the door again. “Oh, I spoke out against Dolph Remdale, told him the new duke was an old bore and Lil could do better. Put that on top of my gambling debts and my running off to the Continent with you, and I don’t have a chance.” William sighed, then grinned. “I suppose we could open a faro parlor in Paris. Then we wouldn’t need my income.”

Antonia spent a moment looking at him, then walked to the chamber door and pulled it open. “Linden!” she called. “I need my traveling trunks,
immediatement
.” She closed the door again, and leaned back against it. “You are right,
mon amour
. I will go ahead, and will send you word when I have found a residence. Jack can be reasoned with, but your odds of pacifying him are better than mine right now.”

William was just barely able to keep the triumphant grin from his face. He nodded solemnly. “I’ll attempt to reason with him,” he agreed, then scowled. “Devil take it, Antonia, I’ll miss you.”

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him. “I shall count the days.”

“So shall I.”

William lifted her hand and kissed her fingers, then backed from the room as Linden descended from the third floor with another footman, a wardrobe trunk between them. With a nod to the butler, William headed downstairs and out the front door. Outside he swung up on Thor and turned for home. It hadn’t been as difficult as he’d thought. Though he was disappointed that Antonia was everything that Jack had hinted she was, he was relieved to have escaped her clutches uninjured. And now, one less witness would be available to testify against Dansbury if it came to a trial. He smiled. Perhaps the pupil had learned something from the master, after all.

Bevins pulled open the front door, and Lilith stepped inside. “Is Papa here?” she asked, listening as the carriage bearing Jack, Lord Hutton, and Wenford pulled out of the drive.

“He and your aunt went to luncheon with Lord and Lady Neuland, Miss Benton. I expect them to return within the hour.”

She nodded. “And William?”

“He has not returned either, Miss Benton.”

“Thank you, Bevins. I’ll be in the library.”

“Very good, my lady.”

Lilith was relieved that no one was home. It gave her time to consider how she would tell them the news. She imagined her father would be angry and embarrassed—after all, he’d forced her into a betrothal with a murderer; it was hardly the type of upstanding match he had sought for her. And then she would finally tell him that someone else had caught her heart. Someone who had risked a great deal to protect her reputation, and her life.

She sighed and sat in one of the comfortable chairs before the hearth. Jack had been in such an odd mood
after he’d stopped Wenford. He’d barely spoken to her and had seemed anxious to go off with Richard and swear out a statement of his own against Dolph. When she had offered to do the same, he had adamantly refused and told her she needn’t be involved any longer.

His game was over, and he’d won. And she had to wonder if he’d decided he no longer had any use for her. That hurt—a deep, hollow ache in her chest that made it hard to breathe. Still, though, she could hope that he was trying to be noble and proper, that he did care for her as much as she cared for him. She had to hope, because it was too painful to consider anything else. He had done so much for her, and for her heart. He’d shown her how to be free.

The front door opened, and she stiffened. She did not relish the conversation that the next few minutes would bring. Hurriedly she grabbed a book off the table and opened it, pretending to read.

“Lil?”

Lilith sighed in relief and lowered the book. “William. Where have you been?”

He shrugged and dropped into the chair beside her. “Taking care of things. Why are you home? I thought you were staying with the Huttons.”

She ignored his question, focusing instead on his answer. “What things, brother? You didn’t do something foolish, did you?”

Lifting his hand to his chest, her brother lifted both eyebrows. “Me? Foolish?” Seeing the suspicious expression on her face, he grinned and shook his head. “No. I…saw the error of my ways with Antonia. She’s taking a trip to France. Be gone for quite a while, I imagine. Any news from Dansbury?”

Lilith looked at him. “I heard that she’d spoken out
against Jack,” she said slowly. “You knew that, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes, I suppose I did.” He leaned forward and took the book from her. “Johnson’s
Dictionary of the English Language?
” he asked, glancing up at her. “Jack told you to stay with Lady Hutton until you received word that it was all clear. What’s happened?”

It seemed that William was not quite so lightheaded as she thought. He’d done Jack a great service. “Wenford confessed.”

William shot to his feet. “What?”

The front door opened again, this time with greater speed. “Lilith!”

“In here, Papa,” she called, scowling at the strident bellow. He’d heard something.

Stephen Benton shoved the library door open and strode into the room, Aunt Eugenia, white-faced and tight-lipped, on his heels. “That damned Dansbury!” he snarled, then caught sight of William. “You encouraged his friendship. I can’t believe it!”

Lilith took a deep breath. “Papa, I—”

“This is a disaster!” he ranted. “No way to escape the scandal. Everyone knows you were engaged. Damn Dansbury!”

“But Papa,” Lilith broke in, unwilling to hear Jack’s name further disparaged, “Dolph Remdale is a murderer.”

He stopped his pacing and turned to look at her. “So you
have
heard. How did you know?”

Lilith remained seated, her hands folded on her lap so they wouldn’t shake. “I assisted Lord Dansbury and the Bow Street Runners in stopping His Grace,” she said quietly.

The other three occupants in the room stood frozen,
staring at her. “You…you did what?” her father finally rasped.

“From what he’d said to me, and the way he acted toward me, I was certain that Lord Dansbury was correct, and that it was His Grace, and not the marquis, who killed old Wenford.”

“You were certain,” the viscount repeated. “You weren’t even to speak with Dansbury!”

Lilith frowned. He didn’t even seem to care that Dolph Remdale had killed his uncle to gain the title. “Well, I did speak with him,” she responded. “And I wouldn’t be married to a man who would kill for a title, or a man who would hit a woman.”

“He hit you?” William asked, his light green eyes indignant and angry.

“William, silence!” Lord Hamble, his face flushed and furious, stalked over to stand directly before Lilith. “I am speaking to your sister. By God, girl, do you think I’m a fool? You didn’t want to marry Wenford, so you conspired to ruin him.” He slammed one fist against the other palm. “Only now you’ve ruined your best—ha—your only—chance for a respectable marriage. No one will touch you now!”

Lilith shot to her feet. “Papa, he hit me! He threatened to kill me! He killed his own uncle! How can you be angry that I won’t be marrying him?”

He jabbed a finger at her. “You are selfish, girl! Selfish! You knew how much our family needed this match, and you went and destroyed it because you were displeased with the husband I chose for you. And now you’ve ruined everything! We’ll have to go back to Northamptonshire, and we’ll never be able to show our faces in London again.”

Lilith took a deep breath, trying to calm her outrage
at his continued abuse. She had done nothing wrong. “Papa—”

“By God, I should disown you for this. Just like your bedamned mother, thinking of nothing but yourself.”

Aunt Eugenia sniffed in agreement, while William looked as though he wanted badly to throw something.

“For six years, I have done nothing but think of you, and of this family,” Lilith said quietly, her voice shaking with fury. He didn’t care for her. He didn’t care at all. “You have given me nothing in return but your contempt. So I agree. I should be disowned, because I no longer wish to be your daughter.” She turned to her brother. “William, will you help me transport my things to Penelope’s home? I will not spend another night under this roof.”

William stared at her for another moment, astounded, then shook himself and nodded. “Yes, of course I will.”

Her father sputtered, his complexion growing alarmingly red. “If you leave this house, you will never be allowed to return! You’ll have no money, no friends, no home. Nothing!”

Lilith turned her back so he wouldn’t see that he was still able to hurt her. “I will become a governess, if necessary,” she said coolly, though she couldn’t help the tremble that touched her voice. She walked toward the door, William following close behind her. Abruptly she stopped and turned around again. “And I would like the portrait of Mama you hid in the attic. If you had been kinder to her, I don’t think she would have left you. Now you’ve lost us both.”

Aunt Eugenia gasped. “Insolent girl!”

Viscount Hamble turned his back. “Good riddance,” he growled toward the fireplace. “Bevins! Gather the staff. Inform them that we’re closing up the house, and we’ll be returning to Northamptonshire tomorrow!”

Lilith left the library and headed up to her room, summoning Emily to help her gather her essentials. A harried-looking Bevins and William appeared with one of her traveling trunks, and another pair of footmen with a second.

“You don’t have to go, Lil,” her brother said, seating himself on the edge of her bed. “Father’ll be ready to pretend nothing happened if you lie low for a day or so.” He forced a grin. “After all, you’re still his best chance at respectability.”

Lilith shook her head, surprised that she wasn’t more upset about the whole thing. Mostly what she felt was relief. She would never again have to listen to her father or her aunt ranting about how ill-mannered she was, or what a disappointment she was, or how much they relied on her not to shame them. “I can’t do this anymore, William. I just can’t.”

He sighed, and nodded. “Truth be told, I’m surprised you’ve put up with as much as you have.”

“I would appreciate it if you would put my books into storage somewhere, so Papa won’t burn them. And my things back at home.”

Her brother nodded. “Anything else?”

Lilith thought about it. She had friends back in Northamptonshire, but with the scandal that would break over her departure, they likely wouldn’t want to have anything further to do with her, anyway. “No. When I find a position, I’ll write you and let you know where I am.”

“What about Jack?” he asked quietly, his eyes searching her face.

Finally tears gathered in her eyes. “I don’t know, William.”

He stood. “Well, I do. Perhaps I’ll have a word with the old boy.”

“Don’t you dare,” she protested, embarrassed. She’d had enough of matchmaking to last her a lifetime. “I won’t have him prodded into anything.”

Her brother snorted. “Doubt I could sway him about anything, anyway.” He headed for the door. “I’ll have Milgrew bring up the coach.”