A Common Scandal (11 page)

Nate rolled his eyes. “Let me know when you get tired of this farce. I enjoy talking to you. The real you.”

Chapter Nine

Dinner was the usual lengthy, formal affair, followed by tea for the ladies in the parlor and cigars for the men in the library. When the guests combined afterward, things began to get a bit wild. Lord Tewsbury elected to remain in the library with the older gentlemen of the party to discuss some upcoming parliamentary procedure, which was the point of the entire house party, after all. Lady Tewsbury took the wives to view the family portraits in the long gallery upstairs, which Amelia suspected meant they were going to drink sherry and gossip. The young ladies and gentlemen were left on their own in the parlor for games.

Her father stayed in the library, of course, and Amelia thought Nate might have stayed behind with Lord Tewsbury and Lord Hyde, as well. Apparently the charms of Julia were more alluring than ingratiating himself with the earl, because he chose the parlor, along with Radwill and Cheadle. Mr. Cheadle placed himself right at her side from the moment he entered the room, much to her dismay.

The night took a turn for the worse when Evelyn, clearly set on mischief, suggested blind man’s bluff for the first game. Names were put into a hat and Evelyn drew the first one to be “it”—Mr. Cheadle. A scarf was produced and Cheadle was blindfolded. The rest of the party scattered around the room, the young ladies giggling as he groped blindly forward. Amelia ducked to the left as he lurched right, toward a cluster of shrieking young ladies. She planned to stay right where she was, half-hidden by the piano, until Cheadle found some other unfortunate young woman to molest. He spun about and stumbled toward her side of the room, but still nowhere near her. Nate nimbly stepped away from him. Evelyn laughed and ran in front of Amelia. Cheadle followed Evelyn’s laughter. Suddenly Amelia felt herself shoved hard from behind. She yelped and fell forward—directly into Cheadle’s path. Before she could regain her balance and run, his hands closed around her waist.

Blowing out an exasperated breath, she looked back to see who’d pushed her. Kitty stood by the piano, grinning wickedly. Well, fair was fair. She supposed she’d had that coming.

“Well, you’ve caught someone, Cheadle,” Nate called. “Who’s up next, Evelyn?”

“Not so fast!” Evelyn said. “Mr. Cheadle must guess who he’s caught before we choose another.”

“Well, then,” Cheadle murmured, his thin lips curling up with pleasure. Amelia was sure he knew it was her. She’d cried out when she stumbled. He’d heard her. Instead, he made a great show of thinking it over. “Let’s see who I have here.” His hands caressed her waist and Amelia flinched. “Judging from these trim proportions and the presence of...ahem...certain undergarments, I shall guess I’ve captured a young lady.”

Amelia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for this humiliating spectacle to conclude. No doubt Kitty and Evelyn had plotted together to throw her at Cheadle and now they’d succeeded. Nothing to be done now but endure it, let them have their laugh at her expense and move on.

Cheadle raised one hand to her face. To her horror, he ran his fingers over her brow, down her cheek and along her jaw. It was far too familiar for a man who was only an acquaintance, even under the guise of a game. It grew even worse as his thumb swept across her lips. Amelia jerked back, fighting against his hold.

“Cheadle.” Nate’s voice came low and ominous from behind her.

Cheadle released her. “It’s the lovely Miss Wheeler,” he said, pushing up the blindfold. “How could I mistake those perfect lips as belonging to any other young lady?”

A shiver of revulsion ran down her spine and her face flushed with humiliation, but it wouldn’t do to let Evelyn and Kitty see they’d rattled her. “You guessed right, Mr. Cheadle.”

“Now he gets to claim his prize!” Evelyn called.

“What? What prize?”

“He gets to kiss you!”

The room erupted in titters and laughter as Amelia fumed. “I’ve never heard of such a rule.”

“Oh, haven’t you?” Kitty said slyly. “It’s all the rage in our set.”

“This is ridiculous,” Nate snapped.

“You don’t mean to deprive me of my prize, do you, Miss Wheeler?” The smile on Cheadle’s face made her nauseous, but Kitty and Evelyn wouldn’t rest until they’d taken it out of her hide. She resigned herself to the inevitable.

“Of course not.” She smiled sweetly, but when Cheadle made to lean in and kiss her, she raised her hand in front of his face. “There. You may kiss me.”

He scowled, but took her fingers in his. No gloves to protect her skin from his lips this time, which he took advantage of, pressing the kiss to her knuckles for an uncomfortably long time. She would have to scour her hand for an hour to rid herself of the dampness. The instant he released her, she snatched her hand away.

“I think it’s time for you to pick another name, Evelyn,” Nate said.

“Oh, all right. What great fun this is, isn’t it?”

While Evelyn chose another name from the hat, Nate reached out and touched Amelia’s elbow. “Are you all right?”

“Fine. That was Kitty paying me back for her dress. You see? I’m getting what I have coming to me.”

“Amelia...” he began, but Evelyn called out a name and cut him off.

“It’s Lord Radwill! Radwill, come forward to be blindfolded!”

“I’m not sure I’ll be very good at this.” Radwill gave the blindfold a dubious look.

“Oh, nonsense. You just reach out and grab someone. You saw how easy Amelia was.” Behind Evelyn, Kitty gasped and tittered. Evelyn covered her mouth and laughed, too. “Oh, dear. I didn’t mean it like
that
.”

Of course she’d meant it precisely like that. This was exactly what Amelia had expected to come of this invitation, but still, it made it no easier to bear. Radwill was blindfolded and spun around, and once again, everyone scattered. This time Amelia kept the wall at her back and one eye on Evelyn and Kitty. They were across the room, whispering and giggling together. Perhaps she could escape this round unscathed.

Radwill was laughing as he lunged about the room. He nearly caught Julia, who shrieked and ran away. To
Nate
. She stumbled into his arms, laughing and breathless, turning her face up to him as she did. He smiled back down at her, bending his head down to whisper something near her ear. They looked very well together, both fair and attractive. What a lovely couple they would make.

“Who have I caught?”

With a start, Amelia realized she’d been seized around the waist again while she was distracted by Nate and Julia. How stupid of her. But unlike Cheadle, Radwill didn’t use it as an opportunity to grope her inappropriately. Instead, the dear man seemed to be giving the challenge serious thought.

“Let’s see...small in stature. That rules out Miss Sanbourne, as she’s rather tall and robust. Somewhat shapely, which rules out Miss Ponsoy, who is much thinner.” Across the room both Evelyn and Kitty bristled at Radwill’s unintentional insult. His brows knitted together in concentration. There was something rather adorable about his earnest effort. His hands still rested on her waist, but not at all like Cheadle’s had, grasping and caressing. He leaned forward until his face nearly touched her neck. He had no idea he was so close to her, but the effect was rather intimate nonetheless. “Ah...” he murmured. “Honeysuckle. I recognize this lovely fragrance. I believe I have Miss Wheeler in my arms.”

“So you do, Lord Radwill.”

He pushed the blindfold up and grinned, without a hint of Cheadle’s leer. Despite Kitty’s and Evelyn’s attempts to triumph over her, they might have unwittingly handed her a golden opportunity. One close encounter with Radwill might be all it took to prompt a proposal.

Amelia gave him her most inviting smile. “Shall you claim your prize, then?”

Behind his glasses, he blinked as her meaning became clear. This time she didn’t raise her hand to kiss. She held still, his hands still resting on her waist. Never had she wished so hard for something she didn’t really want. But if he would just do it, the whole thing could be settled. Radwill swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing over his shirt collar. Then, slowly, he leaned toward her.

“I think we’ve had about enough of this game,” Nate barked from across the room.

Radwill startled and looked away, dropping his hands from her waist. Blast Nate. She’d nearly had him. Now he looked too flustered to ever attempt such a thing again.

“Come on, Evelyn. Choose a different game,” Nate urged.

“Yes, perhaps something less intimate,” Kitty snapped, eyeing Amelia and Radwill. Since the game had made Amelia the center of attention, and not in the negative way Kitty had intended, she seemed to have soured on it.

“How about sardines?” Will Thistlethwaite suggested.

Oh, no. Sardines was as much of an invitation for trouble as blind man’s bluff. Even more so, as they’d be scattered through the house alone. Apparently this group was set on trouble, though, because the room erupted in approval.

“Yes, sardines would be the very thing,” Robbie Ponsoy called out.

“I agree,” Tony Batchelder murmured from where he was sprawled on the sofa. He gave Evelyn a knowing wink. “Sardines sounds perfect.”

Evelyn laughed, flushing slightly. “Sardines it is!”

“Who should be it?” Kitty asked.

“I’ll pull another name from the hat, shall I?” Evelyn reached in and withdrew a slip of paper. She unfolded it and a smile of unholy glee lit her features. “Amelia Wheeler.”

“That
is
bad luck, Miss Wheeler,” Tony smirked. She scowled at him. Shiftless reprobate.

What did I do to deserve such torment
? But she forced a sunny smile. Maybe Radwill would find her first and she could get that kiss out of him. “Shall I go hide myself?”

There was some general discussion about the rules and it was determined the game should be confined to the ground floor, which meant the bedrooms were off-limits, thankfully. The rest of the party settled themselves in the parlor as Amelia slipped from the room and ran to hide herself in an unfamiliar house.

* * *

Nate stalked down the dimly lit hallway, cursing entitled rich girls and house parties and foolish parlor games. The party had spread out through the ground floor in high spirits. No doubt several people had coupled off into secluded corners for a bit of mischief before continuing on with the game. Meanwhile, Amelia was hiding somewhere in the dark and he would be damned if any other man in that room found her first. Not Cheadle and, after the scene in the parlor, she’d be left alone with Radwill over his dead body. He’d nearly kissed her. She’d nearly let him. Watching it transpire had unleashed feelings in him that didn’t bear close examination.

Unlike the other men hunting her, he
knew
Amelia. Finding her didn’t pose a very great challenge. He headed straight for her favorite spot.

In the empty entry hall of Tewsmere, he stopped and looked around. Facing the front door was the grand main staircase. It rose one story to a landing before branching off at right angles to the upper floors. Nate headed toward the stairs and ducked around to the side. It was dark here, with only two gaslight wall sconces to light the entry hall. He used his hands, running them along the wooden panels of the staircase side. Finally, he felt it—a ridge indicating a door. The hidden door to an understairs storeroom. A handful of times when they were children, Amelia had sneaked him into her house in Portsmouth, and the tiny cupboard under the stairs had been where they’d hidden. She’d called it her secret cave.

There was no doorknob, but when he pressed, he felt the latch release and the door swung inward.

“Who’s there?” Amelia hissed from the black void beyond. Nate said nothing, slipping inside and pressing the door closed behind him. It was so dark he could scarcely see his hand in front of his face. Only tiny slivers of light glowed between cracks in the staircase treads overhead. Where he’d entered he could stand upright...just, but the space shrunk down toward the foot of the staircase, where Amelia’s voice had come from.

“Who are you?” she demanded again.

“Just an old friend come to keep you out of trouble.”

He heard her exhale. “Oh, it’s only you.”

“Waiting for Cheadle to come accost you again?”

“Heaven forbid.”

“Or maybe you’re hoping Radwill will come finish what he started.”

She sniffed. “That’s none of your business.”

“It had better be none of
his
business,” Nate muttered.

“What?”

“Nothing. Where are you?”

“Over here.”

“That’s not entirely helpful, Amelia. I can’t see.”

“In the corner on the—”

“Ouch!”

“—old settee.”

Nate rubbed his shin where it had cracked against the leg of the settee, lurking in the dark. As his eyes began to adjust to the meager light, he could just make out its shape, and perched in its corner, the pale smudge of Amelia’s dress.

“How did you find me so fast?”

He sat down on the settee next to her, hunching forward slightly to avoid hitting his head on the underside of the stairs. “I knew where to look.”

She smiled. Her teeth flashed white in the gloom. “You remembered.”

“Your secret cave? Yes, I remembered. Are you all right?”

“What do you mean?”

“The business with Evelyn and Kitty back in the parlor.”

“Oh, that.” Her voice sounded flat and emotionless. “I’m quite used to it. I knew they’d be after me one way or another when Evelyn invited me.”

“Then why did you come?”

She sighed. He could feel the disturbance in the air, the slight warming of her breath against the side of his face. And he could smell her perfume. The bloody honeysuckle that had enchanted Radwill. Funny how the darkness brought all the other senses into sharp focus. “Radwill’s here, and I need to find a husband. I’m expected to marry.”

Not Radwill again. “But why this instant if you don’t want it? Surely there’s time...”

“This is the end of my third Season. I’m nearly on the shelf. My father is out of patience with me.”

“Hang your father. Don’t do it to please your father.”

“I’m not. I’m doing it for my mother. She—” Amelia stopped, swallowed hard and continued. “She might not see another year. And she asked me—no, she
begged
me—to make a good match, to settle myself. So you see, I have to. I’ve always disappointed her. In this one thing, I can make her happy. It’s the least I can do.”