A Gentleman's Wager (32 page)

Bella turned on her crossly. ‘What did you do that for?’ she snapped.

‘Because we shouldn’t be here –’

‘Why not? We’re guests here, we can walk wherever we wish.’

Louisa formed her thoughts before replying. She didn’t fancy a battle of wills with Bella. ‘We don’t have permission to pry. It isn’t right to spy on people when they think they’re alone. You wouldn’t like it.’

Much to her amazement, Bella nodded in reluctant agreement. ‘You’re right, I suppose,’ she mumbled.

They started back towards the house. The wind had changed direction and now held the distinct smell of coming snow. It whipped about their skirts and sent the fallen, decaying leaves scuttling over the cobblestones of the courtyard like gangly spiders.

‘They’re very close,’ commented Louisa of the two men as they neared the French doors. ‘I suppose you realise you’ll never have one without the other. Not that I suppose you’d want them any other way.’

Bella turned sharply and gave her a threatening glare. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ she demanded.

Somewhat cowed, Louisa took a pace back. ‘Nothing. I was just saying that I don’t think you’ll ever be satisfied with just Lucerne –’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I just never get him to myself. I’d be perfectly happy with just Lucerne.’

‘Whatever you say, Bella,’ said Louisa, backing down. ‘I don’t believe you, though; I think you want both, and you’re going to end up with neither if you don’t accept it,’ she added, under her breath but loud enough for her friend to hear.

Was Louisa right? Bella asked herself later as she sat alone in the upstairs parlour. Did she want Vaughan as well? If she was honest with herself, she missed his attention. She liked fighting with him. Since the night that Charles had fled and Lucerne had carried her to his room, Vaughan had never come near her. They still argued frequently, but these days he rarely started it and he never touched her, however much she provoked him. She assumed it was because she was no longer a challenge to him. After all, he had won his wager with Charles, he spent most nights with Lucerne, and she was just some passing fancy of Lucerne’s that he no longer considered a threat.

Louisa was right. She did want them both. She wanted Lucerne’s care and gentleness, and Vaughan’s sexual dominance. The problem was that Vaughan had lost interest in her, and she didn’t know how to rekindle the flame.

BELLA NUZZLED INTO
the warmth of Lucerne’s shoulder as they sat roasting chestnuts over the drawing room fire. He was wearing a thick wool coat, the pile of which was soft against her cheek. The heavy brocade curtains were drawn to keep out the cold white light, and it could have passed for late evening. It was a pleasant diversion, away from the others. Vaughan had confessed to hating the taste the night before and had consequentially been responsible for planting the idea in Bella’s head.

‘I don’t think we’re doing this right,’ Lucerne confessed as he handed her the charred remains of one shell. The nut inside had been reduced to ash.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ mumbled Bella. ‘I wasn’t hungry anyway. It’s only an hour since breakfast.’

‘Shocking. That’s rather late for you.’

Bella snorted. She now had a rather clearer idea of why Lucerne rose so late. He had a rather flattering affliction in the mornings that seemed to demand immediate attention, and she certainly hadn’t refused. ‘I’ll be able to pass for a city dweller before long,’ she said.

Lucerne thoughtfully prodded the fire with the poker. ‘How would you like practical experience?’ Bella craned her neck up to meet his eyes, unsure she’d heard him right. ‘Come to London with me for the rest of the winter. I’ll take you to all the best parties, and buy you a whole new wardrobe if you want it.’

Bella’s heart did a peculiar fluttery dance. ‘I thought you were sick of the debauchery.’

His face creased into an easy smile that went straight to his blue eyes. ‘I’m also sick of the cold. Say yes.’

‘Yes.’

Lucerne hugged her tighter, and placed a kiss in the centre of her forehead. ‘That’s settled, then,’ he said as his lips grazed her skin. ‘You, me and Vaughan.’

‘Wait a minute.’ Bella pushed him away, a feeling of betrayal building inside her chest. ‘You never mentioned Vaughan. I never agreed to that. I suppose you’ve already invited him.’

Lucerne shook his head. ‘I haven’t, actually. I was hoping you’d do it.’

Incensed, Bella felt the colour drain from her lips. ‘I will not,’ she snarled. Why did they need Vaughan, anyway? Things were far calmer without him.

Lucerne’s elegant brow furrowed. ‘And why is that?’

‘You need to ask?’

‘He’s the best person to have around in the city.’

‘He’s also a son of a bitch. In case you’ve forgotten, he gambled on me like some fairground sideshow. Why the hell would I want to spend time with him out of choice?’

‘Bella, please.’

‘No, Lucerne. I won’t do it. I’ve no desire to spend time with him in London or anywhere else, and I’m sure he feels the same. If you must invite him, do so yourself, because I won’t.’

Lucerne got to his feet, so that he towered over her. ‘If that’s your attitude, I think you’d better stay behind.’ His expression had hardened so that his high cheekbones stood out and his blue eyes had turned to ice. She’d never seen him look so angry or cold, but his reaction didn’t chill her own fury. There was no way she was backing down. It was bad enough sharing Lucerne here at Lau-wine; it was unthinkable to expect her to do it in public.

‘Fine!’ she shouted. ‘I’ll leave you and Ganymede to your perverted love. I hope you both hang for it.’

Bella slammed the drawing room door closed behind her and fled across the courtyard. Her footsteps crushed the crisp, frosted grass, leaving a clear trail, but she was barely aware of it. Her own angry tears blinded her to everything. One stupid argument and it was all over between her and Lucerne. Blast! She hadn’t even told him the truth, but she was damned if she was going to stand there like an idiot while Vaughan told her they’d all rot in hell before he’d share Lucerne again.

‘I didn’t mean it,’ she said to the empty air. A tear splashed on the cracked paving stones at her feet. Stubbornly, she wiped her eyes and then threw her back against a quiet, leafless tree.

‘Annabella!’ Vaughan dodged between the trees to reach her, while his coat tails flapped in the wind behind him.

‘Not now,’ she muttered under her breath, but it didn’t stop him. He slowed to a walk a few yards from her. She realised that he must have been next door to them in the billiards room and had probably overheard them shouting. Bella held her head up straight and faced him defiantly. ‘Have you come to gloat?’ she spat.

‘Hardly. You just threw Lucerne over. Why?’

Bella looked into his eyes. She expected to see mockery or triumph, but neither was particularly evident in his expression. He grasped her arm and she tried to shake him off, while the sharp prickle of tears throbbed at the corners of her eyes. She blinked very slowly, determined that he wouldn’t see her cry.

‘Why?’

‘Let go of me!’

‘Not until you explain. I can’t believe you’re just going to give up. Where is all your fury?’

Bella couldn’t answer; all at once, her throat was as dry as a riverbed in a drought. Vaughan studied her carefully. He tilted her face up with the edge of his index finger and looked at her as though the secret of her actions was written on her face. ‘Won’t you talk to me?’ he asked more gently.

Bella held his gaze for a moment and then looked away. She turned her back on him and walked down to the stream alone.

Bella locked herself in the yellow morning room, out of sight and, she hoped, out of mind of everyone. Since her argument with Lucerne, life at Lauwine Hall had turned sour. In the end she had not immediately quit the hall as she had first intended, but had agreed to stay and keep Louisa company until the wedding. It had made life very hard. This was the last day before the wedding; she had spent three hours alone in her room, packing her trunk as the endless minutes ticked by, and she tried to summon enough courage to propel herself through the rest of the day. She was terrified of seeing Lucerne. They had not exchanged a single word or masochistic glance since he’d told her it was over, and she feared that if she saw him now she would cause a scene.

The sound of a key turning in the lock broke into her thoughts. She turned towards it in resignation. Vaughan entered without waiting for her invitation, closed the door and locked it behind him. ‘I had a suspicion that I might find you here,’ he said.

Bella turned her back to him and stared at the window. The outside world was completely obscured by frost, so she watched a spider scuttle along the ledge. She
heard
Vaughan’s soft footfalls, and pictured him drawing his jewelled fingers through the locks of his hair as he moved towards her. His scent ran through the musty air, herbal with a musky base. She stiffened as she felt his presence immediately behind her.

‘Who exactly are you hiding from?’ he asked.

‘Who’s hiding?’

‘You are.’ He exhaled forcefully, and took another step towards her. She watched him as he watched her in the frost-glazed glass. ‘I think you owe me an explanation and Lucerne an apology.’

‘Is that right,’ she snapped, the hairs rising on the back of her neck. ‘What for, precisely? Letting you win?’

Instead of rising to the argument, Vaughan sighed wearily and rested his hands upon her shoulders, but his touch was too disturbing to Bella and she quickly shrugged him off.

‘If you must put it like that, yes,’ he said. ‘Why did you refuse his request?’

‘Perhaps I outgrew my infatuation of him.’

Vaughan shook his head of dark locks. ‘Infatuation? I think not. That would be Louisa’s province, well, at one time, anyway. Why don’t you tell me the real reason?’

‘Go to hell.’ Bella stepped away from him. She didn’t want the reminders of his scent and heat addling her thoughts. She noticed him turn to watch her as she fidgeted with the front lacing of her dress. ‘Just leave me alone,’ she pleaded in a much softer voice.

‘As you wish.’

Too easy, she thought, as he turned towards the locked door. He paused and held her gaze.

‘You did it because of me,’ he guessed.

‘My arse. I did it for me.’

‘I said because of me, not for me, Bella.’ He reached
out
then and gripped her firmly about the arm. Bella struggled and tried to pull away, but his grip was steely. She kicked him, but he still didn’t let go.

‘Stop it!’

Bella continued to struggle and kicked him again. This time he released her, and like a cat she lashed at his face with her nails. The scratches drew blood.

‘Hellion!’

Vaughan caught her hands and pinned them to her sides, then walked her back three paces to the wall, where he forced their bodies into contact from hip to shin. ‘Just this once, will you listen to me?’

Bella opened her mouth to scream, but before the cry left her mouth, his lips were against hers, and his body pressed against her laced bodice and imprisoned breasts. She panted. Her heart beat wildly as she met his eyes. He bent to kiss her again, pausing just before their lips met. ‘Why?’

‘He wanted you in London with us. I was to invite you.’

‘So?’

‘You’d have laughed in my face.’

‘Not true. I would have been offended, but I might have come round to the idea.’

Bella shook her head. ‘You bet on me like a horse. You made it clear that you were unwilling to share Lucerne.’

Vaughan sighed. He brushed a loose curl back from her face. ‘Perhaps I was equally unwilling to share you.’ As if to confirm this he pressed his solid erection against her. Bella wasn’t fooled. She knew he was lying, but she didn’t want to reject the gesture, although if she denied him he’d probably take what he wanted anyway. She turned her face to the side.

‘Damn it all, Bella! Don’t be so bloody obstinate.’ His lips met hers and she felt the nip of his teeth. She gave
in
, clasped his buttocks as he pulled up her skirts, and wrenched open his breeches.

Vaughan lifted her against the wall, and lowered her onto his shaft. As he slid easily into her, she gasped and struggled to get him deeper, then she twined her calves around his thighs and clawed his back, while he dug his fingers into her bottom. This might be my last chance, she realised, as Vaughan snarled his passion. She twisted his hair around her fingers and pulled to stop him biting her lips. In response, he drove her powerfully and repeatedly against the wall until they gasped and sobbed out their orgasms. As they came down, Bella buried her face in his rosemary-scented hair and clung to him as tightly as she could.

She never wanted to let go.

Bella lay in a daze, contented providing she didn’t think too hard, happy for the moment just to lie in Vaughan’s arms and be warmed by his body. Vaughan lay with his head on her stomach with one arm circling her thigh, while his fingers lightly combed through her pubic hair. ‘Behave, Vaughan,’ she said half-heartedly, before attempting to swat him away. ‘It’s cruel.’

‘I know.’ And he did it some more.

‘Behave, you’ll drive me wild.’

‘That is the plan.’ He drew a pattern on her belly with a fingertip, and seemed greatly pleased with himself when her body arched upwards in response.

‘Vaughan,’ she gasped. He kissed her navel and sat up to straddle her hips. ‘Oh!’ She saw his renewed erection rear above her stomach as he pinned her down. A jewel of pre-come glistened at the tip. Vaughan smeared it over the head of his cock then, taking himself in hand, he pressed his glans to her body and began to move it slowly across her skin, leaving behind a silvery trail.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked, deeply suspicious.

‘Writing your name. W … H … O … R …’

‘No!’ she shrieked in outrage, and tried to wipe it off. The glistening trail smeared over her skin. ‘Urgh, you’ve made me all sticky,’ she protested, and wrinkled her nose.

Vaughan shuffled up her body until his cock stood poised above her bosom. ‘Bella, I’ve barely begun.’ To her indignation, he lifted one breast in each hand and moulded her cleavage around himself. Then he began to slide his prick back and forth within the soft prison.