The Wicked Game (A Wicked Game Novel) (7 page)

Angela turned her head in the direction of her father at the end of the table. If it hadn’t been for him saying grace before the meal she would not have even noticed his presence. His eyes flicked in his daughter’s direction and then quickly moved away again when he saw that she was watching. His eyes were red and he was upset. This was probably the first time in her life that her father had ever shown emotion for her, and her body ached knowing the circumstances of the situation.

When they were finally done with the meal after what felt like the passage of many days, the group retreated to the sitting room for drinks and a more casual atmosphere. Angela nearly laughed out loud at the thought. The only way the atmosphere would be more casual was if they all got drunk and wasn’t that how they got here in the first place?

While walking to the sitting room the Duke slipped in a couple more squeezes of her bottom. She winced each time but accepted it as a necessary struggle. She knew now that the Duke truly was interested in her as a wife and she was absolutely frightened. The marriage was as good as done. If this had been any other man in any other circumstance, she would have gone to her father and begged him to change his mind. Before today that might have worked. Before today she might have had a real chance at getting out of it. But it was all done now. It was too late and all of it was her own bloody fault.

The sitting room was just down the hall from the dining room and everyone hurried to get there. As usual a few servants were in the hallway. Angela paid no real attention until her eyes landed on Andrew. A chill went through her body and the Duke thought she was responding to him. He gave Angela a pleased look and she shook again.

Andrew. It was as much his fault as her own that she was in this situation. If only she had not been fantasizing about him then she wouldn’t be here on the arm of the smelly Duke at this very moment. But she sighed.

Who was she trying to kid? This wasn’t Andrew’s fault. She couldn’t blame him for her own wicked thoughts. But she wanted to. She wanted to so much! She had a fleeting thought of grabbing him and screaming at the top of her lungs, then punishing him mercilessly. But she stopped herself right there. Fantasies of Andrew had gotten her in enough trouble for one lifetime.

***

It appeared it would not be as easy to avoid Miss Bennett as he first thought. He did work in her father’s house after all! Of course he should have expected that he would pass by her occasionally.

What he had not expected was to see her with the Duke. What he had not expected even more was to feel angry. When Andrew saw the old Duke touching Miss Bennett on the arm as he escorted her down the hallway, he had absolutely wanted to burst. No forget that, he had wanted to pound the Duke for touching her. Of course the Duke had not been doing anything inappropriate but in Andrew’s eyes the Duke might as well have been taking her right there in the hallway. If he watched them any longer he didn’t know what he might do. He was angry at the Duke when he had reason to be angry with Miss Bennett.

But he couldn’t be angry with her, he just couldn’t. There was something in her eyes that was so sad his heart broke. She looked at him, fleeting, but that single moment was enough for him to see her. She had messed up and she knew it and all she wanted was for someone to save her. In his mind she was begging
him
to save her.

He prayed that one day he could

***

Just as Angela predicted, the conversation in the sitting room became much more casual once the alcohol was brought in. Soon everyone was laughing and having a merry time. Everyone that is, besides her.

Angela had only just been drawn back into reality as the Duke was gloating about the new shipping company that he was entering into with his cousin. Mother squealed with excitement.

“Well that sounds absolutely wonderful! Does it not, Angela dear?” asserted Lady Cheston.

Angela smiled modestly as she thought.

Yes. Wonderful. Perhaps he would be captured by pirates.

“What was that, dear?” Lady Cheston asked sounding slightly shocked. “Did you just say something about
pirates
?”

Apparently Angela was thinking out loud.

“Oh,” she acknowledged. “Yes. I was just contemplating the dangers of the open seas these days what with pirates and such. I would be quite,” she chose her words carefully, “
affected
if something were to happen to the Duke.”

Angela was very pleased with herself. Of course she would be affected if the Duke were to never return. She just left out the fact that the affect would be pleasing.

And then as quickly as she had entered, Angela left the conversation again and by the time she had reentered it, they had moved onto the subject of the Duke’s childhood. How long ago must that have been? It hurt her head to think of it.

After deciding that she had sufficiently paid her dues for the night, Angela excused herself from the room and fled down the hallway as fast as she could. She needed to get away from that horrible man. He was old enough to be her grandfather for God’s sake! Well, maybe he wasn’t old enough to be her grandfather but he was most definitely old enough to be her father and that was just too much for her. And if he had cupped her bottom one more time she might have thrashed him. No, there was no might. She would have thrashed him right there on her mother’s table and then destroyed a very important part of his anatomy.

She needed to get outside and take in some fresh air before she got sick again. Her stomach had not yet healed from the night before, and being forced to spend the last several hours acting smitten with the Duke had not made anything better. In fact it may have made things worse.

He had stood so close to her that she could smell every breath he took. She could smell all of him and it wasn’t pleasant. Had she been
that
drunk last night? That was the only conclusion she could come to as to how she hadn’t noticed that smell. And his teeth were rotten, literally. He had been close enough for her to see that too. Thank God he had refused her that kiss! There was no way she would marry him. They could not make her!

But she knew very well that they could. Her future was not up to her. It never had been and though she had always known this, somewhere in the back of her mind, it never really sunk in until now. How powerless she was and how out of control. Before the night was over she would be engaged to that man and then they would be married. Well, they might be able to make her marry him but they couldn’t force her to kiss him. A marriage wouldn’t be official without a kiss to seal the deal would it?

Of course it would be.

She was out of options now. The only thing keeping her sane at this moment was knowing that a contract had not been drawn up and a dowry had not yet been exchanged. Yes, there might still be a chance. As small of a flicker of hope that it was she grasped onto it and held with all her might. But so enticed in her own little world, she didn’t see the man step out from the darkness into her path. She shrieked.

It was the Duke.

She shrieked again.

“Your grace! You startled me so!”

He reached for her hand and planted a kiss on her gloved fingers. She momentarily wondered whether it would stain the fabric but his shrill voice brought her back.

“Forgive me my lady. It was not my intention to scare you. I saw you step out of the room and I thought I would join you. I could use some air myself.”

The Duke reached for her arm but she quickly pulled away. “Your Grace? That would be quite inappropriate. We would not be chaperoned!”

The Duke grabbed her arm again but this time she was unable to pull free.

“I beg your pardon your Grace but you’re hurting me.” Angela tried again to break her arm free but she was still unsuccessful. He tightened his grip, driving his nails deep into her skin.

“What am I doing wrong?” he asked coyly. “You were sending me signals all of last night and you have kept rather close with me today. And besides, you family wants us married. It is only a matter of time.”

She lost her breath. Yes, she had been rather close to him tonight but that was only to please her family. She had done nothing other than treat him with courtesy. None of that mattered right now though. All that mattered was that he was now clutching both of her arms and his grip was growing tighter.

She tried to scream but before a sound came out of her mouth, the Duke’s lips were on hers, moving fiercely. She struggled to break free but Corning pushed her up against the wall and used the weight of his body to hold her in place. The movement of his lips was becoming more intense and without warning he forced his rancid tongue into her mouth, flicking it around sloppily. Angela tried screaming again but it was no use. All the sound was being muffled by the kiss.

And then suddenly she realized. He was going to try to take her. Right here in the hallway of her father’s home this abominable man was going to try to steal her innocence. It couldn’t get worse than this. It really couldn’t.

But she was wrong and she knew it. It could get much, much worse.

As long as no one saw them, she might be safe. As long as there were no witnesses…

But if there was a witness…

If someone were to come down the hall right now and catch them in this incriminating position she would have no choice but to marry him. It wouldn’t matter that she was being held against her will. She would have to marry him.

This abominable man could steal her freedom.

That
was the worst thing that could happen.

And she would not allow it.

She felt his hands slip behind her back. He was holding her tighter now and his hands were slipping lower down her body. It was making her absolutely nauseated. She had to get away. She had to stop this before someone saw them, before he conquered her. She mustered up all her strength and with one determined shove she tried to free herself.

But the Duke was much stronger than she had imagined.

Her spirit crumbled as she suddenly realized that getting away might not be so easy.

This was it. The end of her life. Her heart was breaking.

No. No! She had to get away. She had to try. No matter what, she could not give up.

She pushed him again, with all of her might, and the Duke felt it. But he misunderstood.

“Oh Angela. My Angie. This is—oh—I—”

Angela cringed at the use of her given name. He was babbling now and she tried to block her mind of what was happening but she just couldn’t. He had taken his lips off of hers now and Angela had the sudden urge to scream. But she stopped herself. It was too late for that. To draw attention now would be disastrous.

Corning leaned back just a bit so he could get a better look at her. And then in one sudden movement he grabbed the neckline of her dress and pulled it down all the way to her waist. Angela stiffened and gazed at him in horror, momentarily in shock. Her breasts were now fully exposed.

She could see him go weak at the knees and she wondered if at his age he had somehow never seen a woman's chest before. He began kissing her neck and her collar bone, or at least he was trying to. His breath was becoming deeper and heavier. He was panting so hard that for a moment she thought he might just pass out. When he didn’t, she gripped his shoulders instead and heaved into him, but to no avail. He just clutched her tighter and continued his savage attempt at kissing, his jagged teeth tearing at her skin.

Angela felt her stomach rise up inside of her. Maybe retching on him would end this, or maybe it would just make him angry. She didn’t want to take that chance. She swallowed, desperately trying to keep everything down. It wasn’t working. She could still taste the sourness of her stomach and she didn’t know how much longer she could hold it in.

Slowly the Duke moved his left hand from her neck and slipped it down lower, and then still lower, down the front of her body. She slapped him and immediately regretted it. He shot his eyes up at hers, full of anger. With one hand firmly pressed into her shoulder, he slid his other hand all the way to the hem of her dress and then began to slide it up inside.

She struggled, and pushed him, and kicked at him savagely and this time her dress tore.

Now more determined than ever, he grabbed her leg and shot his hand up her thigh as far as he could reach. Angela could see a look of satisfaction on his face as he almost reached his mark.

She poised herself to attack again. If she could just—

And then she heard footsteps. Someone was coming and they were going to be found. A figure hurried around the corner and stared straight at her.

The worst had happened. They had been caught.

***

Andrew had been in the hallway hanging paintings when he heard what sounded like a struggle happening around the corner. He set down his tools and quietly crept to the corner to peer around. It was most likely a couple having a secret tryst but Andrew wanted to be sure. There at the end of the hall was a woman with her dress around her waist and a man with his mouth on her neck. He had been right, of course, and turned away. Occurrences such as this were common in large households and it was always best to look the other way. But his curiosity got the better of him and he turned back. If they were going to do it in public, he really couldn’t be begrudged to watch.

Then he looked closer and realized exactly who made up this couple.

The man was the Duke of Corning and the woman was Miss Bennett.

What was going on? She couldn’t possibly be participating willingly. At least he hoped not. Andrew had thought more of her than that and he was certain she was level headed enough not to agree to let a man take her, out in the open, in her father’s house nonetheless. What kind of woman would agree to that anyway?

She was the daughter of a Baron for God’s Sake!

That was it. He was going to intervene. He didn’t care if she wanted this or not though the more he saw of it he became convinced she was trapped. Maybe it wasn’t any of his business, for all he knew they were celebrating their impending marriage but he just couldn’t take that chance. Andrew picked up his speed and was only within a few feet of the couple when Angela looked up at him and caught his eyes. And that’s when he knew.