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Authors: G.G. Vandagriff

Tags: #Regency Romance

The Duke's Undoing (Three Rogues and Their Ladies) (9 page)

BOOK: The Duke's Undoing (Three Rogues and Their Ladies)
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As soon as the door closed after the couple, Aunt Clarice gave Elise a mighty hug. “My darling girl! Thank Providence that dear Ruisdell has taken you under his wing. I still can scarcely credit it from all I know of him. Now, I’ll just go look for some fresh lavender for your bath to calm you. I crushed a fresh batch just yesterday.”

“Thank you, Aunt.” She turned to the butler. “Bates, I believe this incident calls for a pistol, in case Lord Waterford should make a second attempt. Do you own one?”

“Yes, Miss. Shall I fetch it?”

“Yes. Make certain it is loaded. If by any chance Lord Waterford tries to enter this house, shoot his kneecap. Nothing else. I don’t want him murdered, only disabled. And Bates?”

“Yes, Miss?”

“Do you know how to make a hot rum punch?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“See that one is made for the duke upon his return. He is likely to be quite chilled, and I do not wish him to fall victim to inflammation of the lungs.”

Bates went off to perform his assigned duties.

Turning to her housekeeper, she said, “Please have the fire laid and lit in the library for the duke. He will be able to observe the front entrance from that window.”

Without further word, Elise ascended the stairs, feeling a bit like a general who has dispatched his forces. Discovering a rip in her gown wrought by Robert’s clumsy handling, she sent a silent prayer of gratitude that the duke had come to her box last night and, for whatever reason, had taken her under his wing this morning. Like her aunt, however, she knew not what to make of it.

As soon as her bath was ready, she stepped into the lavender scented waters and slid down so as much of her body was covered with sweetly scented warmth as possible. Dismissing Kitty, she began to soap herself diligently. However, she couldn’t scrub hard enough to rid herself of the feeling of Robert’s steel-like arms carrying her off. The “general” disappeared, and Elise brought her hands up to her face and began to sob the great frightened sobs she had been holding back, picturing herself in the demented Robert’s power, pitching over the choppy waves of the Channel. Never one to go at things by halves, her sobs were loud and heartbreaking.

After perhaps quarter of an hour, there was a brisk knock at her dressing room door. Swallowing her tears with an effort, she called out, “What is it, Kitty?”

Ruisdell answered through the door. “I know this is most improper, but I must know if you are harmed in any way, Miss Edwards.”

“No. Thank you for asking. And thank you for your timely rescue. I’m afraid he had some plan to take me out of the country. In case you haven’t guessed, I live a life of high drama.” She hiccoughed. “Every once in a while, I have to enjoy a good cry. I’m not terribly heroic.”

“That is a relief to hear. Perhaps your fear will keep you safe and you won’t do anything silly to put yourself in danger.”

In a small voice, she said, “Heroines are supposed to be brave.”

“This is real life, Elise. Not one of your romances.” His voice boomed sternly through the door. “You might have been raped. That’s an ugly word and an ugly reality. Unfortunately, your former fiancé was released on his own recognizance. He came to his more rational self, and our stories conflicted. We’re to meet with the magistrate tomorrow afternoon. You are to be there to settle the question of whether you were kidnapped or just being taken on an afternoon’s ride to the East End to buy violets and perhaps a few peas.”

“What?”

“Your former fiancé’s explanation.”

“You dare not kill him in a duel, then,” Elise said.

“Don’t worry. My honor does not require me to duel with a madman on no grounds whatever.”

“Perhaps he will turn up at the dinner or the ball tonight!”

“Don’t worry, Sunshine. You will be on my arm the entire evening.” His voice had dropped and was a near match for Joshua’s.

She broke out in goose bumps. “Why do you call me that?”

Listening to him clearing his throat, Elise waited for an answer. How did the duke know Joshua’s pet name for her? Not only that, but he had sounded very like Joshua just then.

“Just an endearment, brought on, no doubt, by your desperate wailing.” He sounded censorious. “I’m off to get into dry clothing and treat myself to the hot rum punch you so thoughtfully ordered. Richards is bringing my evening togs. Shall we leave at eight o’clock for our descent upon the Harrisons’? Don’t take a chill now.”

He was gone. And though the rescue could have been singularly romantic, the duke’s concern for her now seemed merely perfunctory. Even though he had called her Sunshine. And Elise.

Kitty knocked on the opposite door, “Is everything all right, Miss?”

“Perfectly fine, Kitty,” Elise said. It was time to look forward. She would spend a long session at her dressing table getting ready for the dinner and ball that evening. She would wear her red Chinese silk ball gown with the cunningly stitched frog buttons down the front. It was a bit daring and meant to display cleavage between the fastenings, but she wore a special nude colored silk chemise under the bodice. The neckline extended to the very outermost part of her shoulders where the gown was capped with the tiniest tulip petal of a sleeve. It was the most beautiful gown she owned. She felt like a woman of the world in it as it displayed her shape to wonderful advantage.

Elise decided she would wear her hair half up and half down tonight, instructing Kitty to use the iron to curl ringlets along the sides of her face and maybe a few in the back to rest on her bared shoulder. She quite hated fashion’s restrictions on the dressing of hair. How dramatic she would look with hers wild and curling down her back! That would probably induce Gregory to some inappropriate behavior, however.

Grinning, she pictured the duke’s face like thunder if Gregory tried to tempt her to a private room this evening during the ball. For some reason, she longed to get a rise out of his grace. Why was she playing the coquette? With such a man it was dangerous, and she would be wise to remember that.

Elise could not help but know that the dinner at Lady Harrison’s house was considerably enlivened by her escort, who rarely attended such gatherings. And never as companion to a woman as unpretentious as Elise. When Viscount Chessingden arrived, she heard whispers in the drawing room where they were drinking Madeira prior to the dinner gong. “The duke’s attention must be the explanation for her broken engagement!”

“But does poor Elise know what a dangerous man Ruisdell is?”

My lady had close on fifty guests. In the corners of her vast red and mahogany drawing room, many bets were made concerning a possible engagement before they sat down to dinner. Those who knew the duke laughed and called it an impossibility. He would never bind himself up in matrimony. Elise could barely contain her amusement.

As the duke handed her a glass of Madeira, he said with a bark of laughter, “I just heard Westfield say, ‘Every pot has its lid.”‘

Elise giggled. “Do you suspect you will go through life ‘lidless,’ Your Grace?”

“I think the question is rather ‘will the charming Miss Edward’s ever settle on a pot?’”

The duke had a gleam in his eye, and whispered in her ear as he led her to the dining room on his arm. “What the devil possessed you to choose that dress? How am I supposed to resist that delectable neck?”

At his raised eyebrow, some devil prompted her. “I think a discreet kiss on my nape might lend verisimilitude to our charade.”

“Minx! Would you have me treat you as my mistress?”

“I suppose not. Only I’ve never had the nape of my neck kissed. I would only count it as research.”

“And us not even properly engaged yet. Contain those desires, my dear. You know not with whom you are trifling. It is a pity, however. I may never see you in this dress again.”

When the repast was nearly over and the guests were helping themselves to a savory Stilton, before the women left the men to their brandy and cigars, the duke tapped his glass with a spoon and rose, holding his wineglass before him. Talk stopped instantly. Elise noticed his knuckles white on his wine glass and hoped it wouldn’t snap. Was the cool duke actually nervous? Whatever for?

“Ladies and gentlemen. Prepare yourselves for some grave news. I, the Duke of Ruisdell, a rake of great renown, would like to propose a toast to this magnificent lady, Miss Elise Edwards, who, after many importunings has agreed to be my wife.”

The uproar that ensued was almost beyond the limits of what was acceptable among the
ton
. A ravishing redhead walked from her place at the long mahogany table, splashed her claret into Ruisdell’s face, and walked away. Calmly patting his face and clothing dry, he said with a chuckle, “Come along, Sunshine. I think that if we are to go to the ball this evening, I must obtain a change of clothing.”

“Who was that woman?” Elise asked as they waited for their wraps in the front hall.

“A person whom I refused to marry . . . let me recall, was it two or three days ago?”

A suspicion that should have occurred to her before now finally surfaced. “I suppose rakes are dreadful cads, aren’t they?”

“I can only speak for myself, but when a woman tries to heckle me to the altar, I become a bit uncooperative, to put it nicely.”

“Then I feel dreadfully sorry for the poor woman,” Elise pronounced.

“You needn’t. She knew what I was from the beginning, just as you do.”

“But I’m not hopelessly in love with you, even if I did ask you to kiss my neck.”

Before he put her cape over her bare shoulders, Ruisdell placed a row of warm, smooth kisses, light as butterfly wings, down one side of her neck all the way out to her shoulder. Corresponding wings fluttered in her breast, and for a moment she suspended breathing. Oh, good heavens!

Composing herself with difficulty, she turned and rapped his knuckles with her fan. “How dare you! You forget yourself. I am not your mistress, Your Grace!”

“Was that sufficiently thrilling for your research?” he inquired close to her ear.

“Most satisfying, thank you.” As she felt tender stirrings within, Elise berated herself. How could I fall so low that I should welcome and even be moved by the tiniest of kisses from the worst rogue in England? Conversions of his type into suitable husbands only worked in romances written by silly spinsters like herself. In real life, didn’t rogues continue to be rogues? If there was to be no duel in the morning, she must set her wits to discover how to be rid of Waterford, so her temporary fiancé could remove himself from her home and life.

Elise could see herself scorning society and dowsing the Duke of Ruisdell with a full bottle of wine, not only a glass, if ever he treated her as he had the redhead. The image cheered her immeasurably.

CHAPTER NINE

IN WHICH THE DUKE APPEARS AT HIS FIRST BALL IN TEN YEARS

Lady Sumner might be forgiven for raising her eyebrows and dropping her mouth open, the duke thought. She probably felt the devil himself had entered her palatial townhouse. When she saw Elise on his arm, she actually ignored the guest she was greeting and raised her quizzing glass, looking down the stairs where he and his fiancée patiently awaited their turn to be greeted. Ruisdell hadn’t enjoyed himself this much in years.

Living up to his role, he gently moved one of her blue-black curls over Elise’s ear and whispered, “Let’s be the adoring couple, dearest. What fun to hoax the
ton
.”

“You realize, of course, that it will take a tremendous cad-ism to make me part with such a conquest,” Elise said.

“Cad-ism? Have you invented a new word, my dear?”

“I think I have. Gregory has been annoying me so much with his advances when he is supposed to be courting Violet that cad-ism has been much on my mind.”

“Ah, but I am engaged to you, so none of my advances will be caddish.”

His fiancée looked at him, trying to repress a grin. “Remember I am a gently reared, virtuous young lady, and you won’t transgress. I think the kiss on the neck, which I realize was my rash suggestion, is quite enough for this evening.”

Truly disappointed, he managed to keep a straight face. They had reached Lord and Lady Sumner after their long climb up the stairs.

“My darling Elise,” Lady Sumner said, taking both her hands in hers. “I had no idea you knew this reprobate! Where did you meet?”

“At Ascot,” she lied.

“How peculiar! And what does Lady . . . uh, your mother think of your attachment?”

“’Tis more than an attachment,” Elise said. “We have just become engaged this evening. You will see it in the
Morning Post
tomorrow. As for Lady Hatchet, she dare not reject a duke. You realize his noble rank stands at the pinnacle of her ambitions for me.”

“There is that, of course. Which brings me to the man himself. How have you been keeping all these years, Peter?” Since he had been at school with her son and a frequent guest in her house, it was not surprising that she addressed him by his first name. Many sins and misdeeds passed before him in a flash.

He indicated his cane. “I took a ball in the leg for merry old England.”

She looked from his cane to his face, where she apparently read something that changed her attitude. “Oh, I am sorry! How long were you on the Peninsula?”

BOOK: The Duke's Undoing (Three Rogues and Their Ladies)
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