Wicked Wager (28 page)

Celeste wished she could be immune to the tingling desire his words and the gentle caressing of her hands was having on her. She drew in a laboured breath, expelling it in a tone that did not hide her hurt.

‘You were quick to believe I was guilty of … having an affair with Harry.'

Lord Peregrine made a noise somewhere between a snort and a sigh of exasperation. ‘It was difficult to immediately discount what was in front of my very eyes, Celeste.'

Celeste acknowledged this with a brief nod.

He went on, ‘Lady Busselton knew that Raphael and Harry had a terrible secret they needed to hide from the world. She also saw I was becoming exceedingly interested in you, so when Harry was conveniently discovered just after she'd learned of my plans to marry you, she blackmailed Harry to tarnish you.'

‘And you believed what you saw.'

‘Of course I did! What other explanation was I offered?'

‘My assurances of innocence were not good enough?'

Lord Peregrine rolled his eyes. ‘Lady Busselton had thought of every contingency—'

‘Including sending me to a watery grave if I didn't go quietly to Jamaica with Raphael.' She gasped as a sudden flood of memory overtook her. ‘Dear Lord, Lady Busselton tried to kill me! She pushed me into the river.' Celeste stared wildly at Lord Peregrine. ‘
You
fished me out of the river?' She shook her head. ‘It's all coming back to me. Forgive me for being so stupid, but a great deal has happened to me over the past few days and there's a lot I'm trying to come to terms with. Not least that my intended has deserted me and I have no idea what's to become of me.' She ended on a sigh of despair as she collapsed back onto the pillows.

‘That's one of the reasons I'm here now—'

‘Yes, I know,' Celeste responded on a note of resignation. ‘I suppose Aunt Branwell sees it's the only way I shan't be a burden on her limited resources. She was remarkably civil to you, I thought.'

Lord Peregrine gripped her hand tighter. ‘I was hoping that—'

‘Hoping? When you've called the shots from the start, my lord?' She shook her head. ‘Just as long as you choose a bower for me that's not a tiresomely long walk from the debating societies and the galleries. I shall have to go veiled, of course, for fear of my former friends throwing stones at me.'

‘Good God, Celeste, please don't talk like this. What if your aunt should hear you?' Then his mouth dropped open. ‘Why, you really believe it, don't you?'

‘Believe what?'

‘That I'm here to make you my mistress.'

She blinked at him in an attempt to clear her head. ‘Why else would you be here?'

It was his turn to blink at her. Stupidly. ‘Do you consider me so beyond redemption that I'd even consider suggesting such a thing to … a paragon like you, Celeste?'

She snorted. ‘Paragon? Go outside and quiz any bystander and they'll give you a different epithet to describe the poor, fallen Miss Rosington.'

Outraged, Lord Peregrine rose, and without ceremony hauled Celeste to her feet, dragging her, shocked and protesting, to the window. ‘Is that what you really think, Miss Rosington?' he asked, an edge to his voice as he forced up the sash and thrust his head outside.

‘Lord Peregrine! Stop!' she cried, as he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted into the street. ‘Ahoy there! Yes, you madam! And you, too, sir! Pray attend to me a moment. Do you recognise me? Yes? And this is Miss Rosington!'

Cringing with embarrassment, Celeste tried to withdraw, for a small group of people, both well dressed as well as street urchins, had gathered below. About a dozen from all walks of life were staring up at her, and she with her hair about her shoulders and barely respectable with a shawl wrapped about her.

But Lord Peregrine wouldn't let her go, and was about to address the crowd when a young woman in a simple homespun dress called out, ‘Lor' is that really you, Miss Rosington? You survived yer dunkin' ‘an all?'

The young woman beside her grew excited as she added her voice, ‘So that evil Lady Busselton's wicked wager came right back to bite her on the bum, eh, Miss?'

Celeste turned a shocked and enquiring look upon the viscount beside her, swinging back when she heard a familiar voice. Focusing her gaze, she identified young Mr Danvers in the crowd. He doffed his derby hat and bowed deeply. ‘I can't tell you how glad I am to see you've made a full recovery,' he declared upon rising. ‘Lady Busselton got everything she deserved, and I'm only ashamed to have once considered her my friend.'

‘Got what she deserved—?' Celeste began, turning again to Lord Peregrine, but one of the younger, rowdier men in the small crowd pushed his way forward, making a rude gesture as he snorted, ‘She and her father, both! The slimy captain put a bullet through his head and seems like his daughter went and throwed hersel' in the river, just like she'd a gone an' done to you. Gone to hell, the two of ‘em, wiv respect. Not that what the cunning plan they hatched weren't worth the entertainment it brought, an all—beggin' yer pardon, Miss.'

‘Lady Busselton's dead?'

‘Hardly a tragedy you'd shed tears over, considerin' how she used you to shift the blame from her own doin's,' the young man called up. This was endorsed by a chorus of voices.

Celeste could barely formulate a coherent sentence. ‘All of London knows … everything?' she whispered to Lord Peregrine.

‘Bar a few minor details,' he murmured. ‘As you know, Lady Busselton was very desirous of locating Harry Carstairs and she'd hoped to use you to flush him out of his hiding place, since he'd witnessed a shocking event aboard the
Batavia
.'

‘I knew he was in danger but I wasn't sure what he'd witnessed,' Celeste whispered quickly. ‘Raphael said something about a murder.'

‘The murder of over a hundred slaves, in fact. The captain had them thrown overboard so he could claim the insurance.'

Celeste's mouth dropped open. ‘Captain Higgins killed them all?'

‘He ordered his crew to do the evil deed, not knowing Carstairs had witnessed it, until one of Lord Ogilvy's servants told one of Lady Busselton's servants that Carstairs had been overheard telling Lord Ogilvy.'

Celeste liked the low timbre of Lord Peregrine's intimate murmur, but another shout from the crowd recalled their attention.

‘So have yer asked Miss Rosington to be yer bride yet?' A young lad with carroty hair sticking up from his ears beamed at them from below. ‘Considerin' you saved ‘er an all, an' that you was the one wot made all them declarations in the papers and in the street ‘bout her bein' innocent of everyfink wot evil Lady Busselton were in fact guilty of?'

Celeste drew back from the window to face Lord Peregrine, barely able to contain her astonishment. ‘I can't imagine what he's talking about?' Her voice sounded choked with embarrassment to her own ears.

With a brief caress of her cheek, Lord Peregrine leaned further out of the window to address the young man. ‘Miss Rosington is a little behind the news, my good people. She's only just regained consciousness, so I haven't in fact yet asked her the question that brought me to her bedside.' He turned and fixed Celeste with a level gaze, adding in a murmur, ‘The question that I intended to ask shortly and with all due ceremony.'

‘Well, ain't no time like the present!' the redheaded urchin called out, his thumbs jammed in his waistband, while the tow-headed lad beside him shouted, ‘Go on then, ask ‘er! Yer made enough noise all about London Town yesterday when you were singing ‘er praises and shouting down them wicked creatures that wanted her to look bad.'

Celeste stared. There were no words to coherently address the myriad of questions she had for Lord Peregrine. But as he angled his face towards hers, the softening of his aesthetic features a prelude to what she knew was coming, she was more than ready for the words that followed: ‘Celeste, my darling, in case you haven't already realised it, the entire reason for my coming here today was to ask you to marry me.'

She closed her eyes to receive his kiss, her lips forming the only answer she knew would make her happy, while her ears thrilled to hear the cheer of the crowd outside shout their approval.

Thanks for reading
Wicked Wager
. I hope you enjoyed it.

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