A Gentleman and a Scoundrel (The Regency Gentlemen Series) (11 page)

The sentence was torn from her mouth as an ear-splitting cry rent the air followed by an almighty splash. The sounds of more shouts and splashes came to them and the sisters exchanged startled glances as they crouched down against the rocks. On their bellies, they crawled to the edge and peered over into the gorge below.

Diving off a rock into the pool at the foot of the waterfall was a man, stark naked. He came up screaming with the cold, slicking his hair back from his head, the muscles of his shoulders bunching together. Another man swam into view, his arms forming perfect arcs as he glided through the water.

Louisa clapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. “It’s Malvern,” she whispered watching the long muscular curve of his arms as he swam.

“And Mr Ashworth,” said Emma wryly, ducking down quickly as the man slicking back his dark hair looked up to where they were sitting and into the sun. “What are we to do? Our clothes are down there.”

“Then you’ll have to go down and get them,” whispered Louisa.

“
Me
? I’m not going down there dressed like this,” cried Emma, indicating the very visible outline of her breasts through her chemise.

“They are gentleman; they will turn their backs.”

“Of course they will,” agreed Emma sarcastically. “We all know that every man is likely to turn away at the sight of a half naked woman, don’t we? All those spyglasses trained at the bathing machines on Brighton seafront are purely there to watch the seagulls, aren’t they?
You
go down there. Malvern will much rather look at you than me anyway.”

“What? No! I will be ruined!”

“Then we’ll have to wait until they have gone.”

“We’ll be frozen to death by then. The sun is already disappearing behind that cliff.” And she shivered as if to prove the point.

“I don’t believe this,” cried Emma, flinging up her hands. “How long have we been coming here without seeing another soul?”

“Oh…” said Louisa, reddening, her eyes latching on to the sight of Malvern, standing waist deep in the pool, water dripping from his surprisingly well-formed torso. “I didn’t expect him to be so…to be so…beautiful. He’s like a Greek sculpture.” She gulped, blushed and was silent.

“Oh God,” said Emma with feeling, rolling her eyes.

“He
is
beautiful…you must own that he is, Emmy.”

“Spare me your impure thoughts, Lou, and concentrate on how we are to get our clothes back!”

“Where did we leave them?”

They peered over the edge again, their eyes scanning the delta of large flat rocks and rounded pebbles. “That rock down there. Just the other side of where their boots are, do you see? I can just make out the pink ribbon of your bonnet.”

“Oh it’s too far to make a run to it without being seen.”

“And what if they come out of the water…?”

Louisa swallowed on a laugh. “We will go down there together and call to them from behind that big rock at the bottom. It will shield us from their view. They will then bring our clothes to us.”

“They are stark naked!” said Emma, flushing at the thought.

“Then we will close our eyes until they are decent. Come on. You take the picnic basket and hold it in front of you.”

“It’s not big enough.”

Louisa choked on a laugh.

“Not
that
, the picnic basket!” said Emma in exasperation. “For God’s sake Louisa, get a grip on yourself.”

“What would Papa say if he could see us now?”

“Don’t even think it. Come on, follow me. Keep low and try to be as quiet as you can.”

The two girls crept slowly downwards, one rock at a time, sitting down where they could to keep out of sight. Emma kicked a stone that caused a miniature avalanche of pebbles and both of them froze, terrified lest they should be seen by the two men swimming in the pool below them. After what seemed like an age, they negotiated their way down to the big fat rock that marked the start of the upward path. Crouching behind it, Emma peered around the corner, saw one of the men had swam to the far side of the pool, almost behind the waterfall and she settled back against the rock. She looked at her sister, her eyes large with excitement.

“I think I can make a run for our clothes,” she said. “They are swimming around to the back.”

“Be quick then,” whispered Louisa.

In a trice she was gone and Louisa leaned her back thankfully against the cold side of the rock. It was then that she saw him.

The breath was driven from her lungs with shock. Standing directly in front of her was the Duke of Malvern, entirely naked and staring back at her in equal amazement. He hastily moved his hands to cover his modesty but not before Louisa had seen altogether too much for her peace of mind. He had come out of the lake, his hair was wet and slicked back from his forehead, the water had streamlined the hair on his chest into one dark vertical arrow that ran down the centre of his belly.

Louisa felt the colour flame in her cheeks and she rose to her feet, whirled around so fast that she caught her ankle in a hollow between two rocks and she fell, wincing with pain as her foot was twisted beneath her. She let out a cry of dismay, and the Duke, now wearing nothing more than a pair of hastily donned breeches, was coming after her. She hauled herself inelegantly on to a rounded rock and felt wave after wave of stabbing pain pulse through her foot.

“Louisa, are you alright?”

“Your grace, go away… you are not…decent. Come to think of it,
I’m
not decent either!” she said, wrapping her arms across her breasts.

“You’ve hurt yourself. Let me look…dammit woman, let me see.”

“It’s fine…really. I just stumbled, that’s all.”

He picked up her foot and gently pushed the hem of her chemise up above her knees. Louisa flushed and tried to pull it down again. He had one hand on her calf; she felt the cold wet touch of his fingers as if they were red hot.

“I’m fine…really,” she murmured.

“If you will permit me, my lady? I’m trying to see if it’s broken.”

“It’s not broken. I twisted it.”

She carefully arranged her gaze on a distant clump of trees as he examined her foot. He had gooseflesh on his upper arms and water droplets on the muscles of his chest. How did she know that? Had she been looking? She felt suddenly very hot, as if she were sitting inside a furnace. He was so close, his shoulders filled her vision and she had to concentrate very hard on her distant clump of trees.

“No, it’s not broken, at least I don’t think it is but you ought not to put any weight on it. Wait here while I get dressed,” he said, rising to his feet. “My horse is over there, I’ll give you a ride back to Foxhill.”

“And my clothes, sir? My sister has gone to fetch them from that rock over there.”

“Wait here,” he said curtly and strode back to the rock where his and Ashworth’s clothes were laid out. He picked up his coat and came back across the pebbles as if they were using stepping stones and handed it to her.

“You’re cold,” he said softly, his eyes drifting down the length of her damp chemise as she unfolded her arms to put his coat on.

She could not answer him. She knew that he’d gotten quite as good a look at her as she had of him. She shuddered, folding the material about her to shield herself from his gaze.

“I’ll…er…I’ll go and get dressed then,” he said without moving a muscle.

“I’ll go and find Emma.”

“You may not wish to do that at this precise moment in time. Marcus is just coming out of the water.”

“Oh…but what about Emma―?”

They must have heard the shriek three miles away in Netherby.

“I think she has just seen rather more than she bargained for,” said his grace with more than a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Well, don’t just stand there! Do something.”

He spread his hands, half laughing. “Like what? It’s not my fault.”

“Go and take him his clothes, for God’s sake. And while you’re at it, put yours on too.”

“Hark at you, miss, sitting there in nothing more than a shift, which I may tell you does not leave an awful lot to my imagination.”

Colour blistered her face and she tugged his coat closer around her. “Your imagination, sir, can do what it likes!”

“Oh it is. It is running riot, let me assure you,” he replied softly, his eyes warm with amusement and something else, something that made her heart skip a beat.

“Go!”

He turned away grinning, and Louisa struggled to keep the smile from her face.

* * *

Louisa picked up her bonnet and rammed it down over her hair.

She was dressed and decent and her eyes met the Duke’s fully for the first time since he had come out of the water completely naked. Her face burned every time her traitorous mind conjured up the image of his athletic body.

Malvern held his hat in his hands, staring down at it as he rotated it between his fingers. “My lady, allow me to apologise…for earlier, I mean. I had not intended…I mean…I would never have wished for you to have witnessed…such a shock for a young lady.”

Louisa’s unruly bottom lip began to wobble and she clamped her teeth down hard upon it.

“Indeed, I am quite overcome,” she said in an unsteady voice.

“I am mortified that you should have seen me so…so…”

“Exposed?” she managed, a handkerchief to her mouth.

“Er…yes. I…um…hope that I have not ruined the friendship that I have begun to hold so dear.”

Malvern stared at her, worrying that he had grievously offended her, now just when they had become such easy friends. He cursed himself and the rotten misfortune that persuaded him to suggest to Mr Ashworth that they go for a swim to cool off. He frowned, wondering how he would ever win back her respect, when to his surprise, he saw a twinkle of laughter in her eyes. He watched as she lost the battle with her control and burst out laughing.

“Why you little…” he said, grinning.

“Oh Malvern!” she cried, wiping her eyes. “Your face!”

“I should throttle you. I was worried!”

Louisa went off into another peal of giggles.

“Wretch,” he said, laughing himself. “I thought I had mortally wounded your sensibilities!”

“Oh you have. Can you not tell?”

“You are horrible. You see a man completely stark naked and all you can do is laugh at him. My pride will never recover.”

“Oh lord, I haven’t laughed so much since Emma got her head stuck between the railings at Grandmama’s house!”

“Thank you,” said the Duke, dryly.

“I wasn’t laughing at
you
. I was laughing at the situation.”

“You relieve me.”

“Dear sir, how could you think I would laugh at you? Indeed, you need not be so embarrassed. You saw me too, remember?”

“I do indeed remember. In fact I think it will be a long time before I forget it. But that was a very un-gentlemanly thing to say, and not at all the conversation for friends, and now you are blushing and I deserve that you should punish me for such a speech.”

She turned away, embarrassed. “I should, your grace.”

“I apologise then, if you wish me to,” he said, and then more seriously, a frown between his brows: “You were not…offended?”

“Not in the least,” she returned airily. “Now let us go out into the sunshine for it grows chilly.”

He followed her as she limped out from the shade of the trees and walked towards his horse, grazing by the fence.

“Wait there, I shall fetch my horse. I do not think you should try and walk on that ankle. It is already swollen.”

She grasped the branch of a nearby tree, standing on one leg to keep the weight off her sore foot.