Sweetest Little Sin (40 page)

Oh, not the valet, again.
Rastmoor rolled his eyes. “I don’t see how you abide the man. From what you say, he sounds like a ruddy tyrant.”

Lindley smiled. “That he is, but I assure you I’d never make it without him. Which reminds me.”

He left Rastmoor with the horses and went around to the back of the carriage. He dug through a box stowed there.

“Ahem, but we unharness the horses up at this end,” Rastmoor called.

“Yes, but the weapons are back here.”

“Weapons?”

“Here, take this,” Lindley called out, tossing Rastmoor a lethal little pistol.

“What’s this?” Rastmoor asked.

“It’s a pistol,” Lindley informed him.

“I know it’s a pistol. What in God’s name is it for?”

“For shooting anyone who might come out of those trees after us.” Lindley glanced at said trees and shuddered. “You never know what sort of persons are about these days, and it’s very nearly dark out.”

“Good grief. Is it loaded?”

“Of course. What bloody use would it be empty?”

Rastmoor shook his head, but he accepted the pistol and slipped it into his pocket. He was a bit taken aback when Lindley casually tucked his own pistol into the front of his trousers. This image of the always elegant Lindley with a pistol wedged at his waist was more than a bit humorous.

“What is it?” Lindley asked.

“Aren’t you worried that will ruin the lines of your tailoring?” Rastmoor asked, not bothering to hide his smirk. “Whatever will your valet think?”

“Should a highwayman leap out after us, I would prefer to have my weapon where I can get at it,” Lindley said, stepping up to help with the horses. “A few wrinkles can always be ironed out. Blood, my valet tells me, is a bit more dicey.”

“I’m sure it is,” Rastmoor had to agree.

No highwaymen did leap out, though, and they pushed and pulled until the phaeton was safely out of the roadway. Leading Lindley’s fine horses, the men headed off to the posting house. The evening was dreary and still, yet not nearly so dreary as the day two months ago when Rastmoor had traveled this same road.

He’d been traveling with his friend Dashford, on the way to what was supposed to have been a quiet house party. Some house party, though. There were floods and fiancées and fiascos until the bloody thing ended with Dashford’s wedding. Rastmoor still wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

The whole concept of matrimony hadn’t exactly worked out very well for him and, to be honest, he was still not convinced any man ought to put much stock in the institution. From what Rastmoor had seen so far, women were an untrustworthy lot. He hoped Dash wouldn’t have to learn that the hard way.

Rastmoor sighed as they plodded along. Damn, but with Dashford trussed up and married now, Rastmoor would likely have to settle for Lindley’s persnickety company more often. Oh well. For a game here or there at the club or a visit to the races, no one could fault Lindley’s sportsmanship or his overall entertainment value. But if Rastmoor had to have one more discussion about where to find the best gloves or which bloody knot would look best in his cravat . . . Honestly, what could Dashford have been thinking to go and get leg shackled?

“You know what I’m thinking?” Lindley said after they’d walked in silence quite a while, the horses plodding nervously along behind them.

He hated to imagine. “No. What?”

“There’ll likely be women at this posting house.”

“Probably so.”

“That suits me just fine. With luck, there’ll be a couple for both of us. Which do you prefer, the blonds or the brunettes?”

“The ones who do their job and disappear before daylight.”

“I reckon that’ll be all of them,” Lindley declared with a hopeful laugh. “I think I’d favor a blond tonight. Unless of course there’s only one available, and blond is your preference, then naturally I would—”

“No, thank you. Have any woman you want. I think I’ll just sleep tonight.”

“What? But you’ve been stuck up there at Hartwood for nearly two months, and I saw the sort of guests they had—not exactly fresh and accommodating, as they say. Surely now that you’re getting out and about again, you’d want to prime the old pump handle, if you know what I mean.”

“I know what you mean, damn it,” Rastmoor grumbled.

“But I’m not interested, all right? Good luck to you and your pump handle, but I’d rather sleep. Alone.”

Lindley frowned as if that was a foreign concept. “Alone? But you’re not ill, are you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine. You sound—blue deviled. My God, but you can’t possibly still be pining after that girl? That little French actress of yours—St. Clem, or something, wasn’t it?”

“St. Clement,” Rastmoor corrected before he caught himself. The last thing in the world he wanted was to discuss Julia right now. “And I’m not pining. I’m just not interested in some dirty whore at a posting house, all right?”

Lindley gave a slow whistle. “You
are
still pining! Dash it all, Rastmoor, that was years ago. And didn’t she end up marrying your cousin, or something?”

“Yes.” By God, what would it take to not have this conversation?

“That’s right, and then she died in childbed, didn’t she?” Lindley went on.

Rastmoor gritted his teeth. “That’s what I heard.”

Oh, he’d heard the story, all right. Then he’d gone and gotten roaring drunk. Dashford’s father had taken ill and died some short time thereafter, and the two of them were roaring drunk together. Things hadn’t gone so well for them after that, as he recalled.

Eventually, Dashford pulled himself together, and Rastmoor had simply learned to pretend. He supposed, in a way, it had been easier for Dash. He’d been mourning a devoted father, a man who left behind fond memories and warm emotions. Rastmoor, however, had been grieving something altogether different.

When Julia St. Clement died, all she left behind were bitter wounds and heartbreak. It was hard enough knowing she’d left him for another man, but with time he might have recovered. It cut deeper than that, though. Julia left him a scar that would never go away. The whore may have died in Fitzgelder’s bed, but the child she’d taken to the grave with her had been Rastmoor’s. She’d carried
his
child and still left him for another, passing the child off as Fitzgelder’s.

How did a man ever recover from that?

^“
I can’t wait to see this Lord Rastmoor’s face when he meets you again,” Sophie was saying as they finished their supper.

Julia cringed. “Hopefully that will never happen. With luck, we’ll find he’s safely at Lord Dashford’s home, and I can simply send a warning message. He’ll find out what Fitzgelder is about, and you and I can be off to meet Papa.”

“You don’t want to see him again?”

“Heavens no!”

“We’ve come all this way, and you’re not even going to see the man?”

“Exactly.”

Sophie was downcast. “That’s so sad. I was hoping the two of you might . . .”

“Sorry, Sophie. That only happens in novels.”

It was a shame to disappoint the poor girl, but better she get such foolishness out of her mind now before she started expecting grand romance for her own life. Indeed, women like them should harbor no such hopes—Julia had learned that the hard way. Perhaps the truth would come easier for Sophie.

“We’ll be done with this before you know it,” Julia went on, hoping her light tone and warm smile would both encourage and distract her young friend. “Then we’ll find Papa, and you’ll become a part of our troupe. You’re quite a hand at sewing, but perhaps we can coax you into acting, as well.”

“Acting? Oh, I’m sure I could never be so very good at that. All those lines I’d have to memorize!”

“You’ve been playacting the part of a blushing bride for three days now, and so far, the audience seems quite enthralled,” Julia said, sweeping her arm wide to indicate the patrons of the posting house, a few of whom had traveled this last leg of the journey on the mail coach with them.

Sophie looked around the dim room and frowned. “I believe our audience would be no less enthralled were I simply a chicken tucked under your arm. They’ve hardly taken note of us at all.”

“There, you see? You’ve played your part to perfection. Who’s to say you might not make a memorable Juliet or Ophelia or—”

“Lord Lindley!” Sophie said suddenly.

“Lord Lindley? I don’t believe we have any scripts with Lor—”

And then Julia glanced up to realize what Sophie meant. The doorway was filled with the elegant form of a man they had briefly met in London just as they were making their hasty escape. Lord Lindley—a good friend and confidante of the evil Fitzgelder.

Sophie’s eyes were huge and terrified, and Julia wanted to slide under the table. Good heavens, if Lindley recognized them, he’d notify Fitzgelder of their whereabouts! They had to hide, to get out of here this very instant.

But there was nowhere they could go, nowhere in the room to hide. They were trapped. Julia’s pulse pounded, and she struggled to think up some scheme to protect them. What could she do? Where could they . . . ?

Suddenly all coherent thought ceased.

A familiar broad-shouldered form appeared behind Lindley. Julia’s lungs contracted, the air squeezed out of them in a whimper. Around her, the world disappeared, and she was aware of only one thing: Anthony Rastmoor was still alive.

Thank God she wasn’t too late! Fitzgelder’s men hadn’t succeeded in their plan. Anthony still lived and breathed and wore that smile of half amusement, half boredom she’d come to know so well three years ago. Three long, painful years ago.

He was alive, and he was beautiful. And he was cold. When his gaze fell on her, she recoiled, both inwardly and out. The chill that emanated in his hazel eyes was as unfamiliar as the image that had been greeting her in the mirror since she and Sophie had taken up this masquerade. Indeed, the Anthony Rastmoor who followed Lindley into the poorly lit common room was a man much changed from the man who had taken Julia’s virtue—as well as her heart.

His gaze didn’t last long on her, though. Quickly it moved on, as if she were of little importance to anyone. This surprised her more than even the fact that she was seeing him again. How could she be struggling for air, feeling as if the universe itself would collapse around her, and yet his gaze simply swept over her as if she’d been nothing more than furniture? It was unthinkably hurtful.

Then his gaze did linger, but not on her. She had to physically turn her head to see what he was seeing. The air swept back into her lungs and burned like fire.

He was gazing at Sophie.

Her brain began functioning again. Mostly her thoughts were torn, though. Should she gouge out the man’s eyes or grab up a dull knife and castrate him here? God, but how he was staring at Sophie! The nerve of him!

Funny, Julia had never contemplated how fetching the girl must appear to those of the male persuasion. Yes, Sophie was pretty, she supposed. Gentlemen would notice that, of course. But, by God, what was that charming expression forming on Sophie’s fresh, youthful face? Why, the little tart was actually smiling at Anthony Rastmoor!

“Why, Mr. and Mrs. Clemmons,” Lindley said, noticing them and coming their way.

Julia had given the false name at the spur of the moment as they were leaving London. It had seemed convenient to use as they’d traveled, and now she was glad they had. No one would think it amiss to see the quiet Clemmons couple being greeted by an old acquaintance here, and no awkward explanations would have to be given at mistaken names.

Anthony, too, would likely not recognize the name.

Or maybe it didn’t really matter. He’d likely forgotten her altogether, judging by the way his attention was now given entirely to her companion. Indeed, why should he so much as spare a second glance to Julia’s severe haircut and soupy mustache, while Sophie was sitting there in front of him, all blond and dreamy and feminine? Damn his eyes.

“How odd to run into you here,” Lord Lindley said when he reached their table. “I had no idea you were traveling this way, else I would have invited you to share my carriage.”

He, too, had his eye on Sophie. What pigs these men were. Didn’t they realize Sophie was supposed to be a married woman? How dare they stare like this! If it kept on, Julia feared she’d end up having to call at least one of them out or risk exposing herself as a fraud. What husband could sit calmly while virtual strangers drooled over his wife? Shame on them. How on earth had Julia ever thought Anthony Rastmoor to be a decent, worthwhile human being?

“We had a rather sudden change of plan,” Sophie was saying. “Didn’t we, Mr. Clemmons?”

Julia cleared her throat. “Er, yes. We came this way rather spur of the moment.” She worked at keeping her voice low and hoped Anthony might not recognize it.