How To Build The Perfect Rake (22 page)

There was a rather heavy pause, then Jasper
shook his head. ‘You’re an idiot!’

‘I am aware of that, thank you.’

‘Why the devil did you anything of the
kind?’

‘It was very spur of the moment,’ Luc
replied bitterly, ‘possibly prompted by blind panic. Her mother was
lurking and she seemed to be rather expecting something of the
kind. Carisse had rather maneuvered me into this position -’

‘Had it planned out, did they? Bad
luck.’

‘Extremely bad luck,’ Luc agreed
wearily.

Jasper shook his head. ‘Well you’ll simply
have to get out of it, that’s all.’

‘All well and good, but how? I can’t just
make an offer for a girl and then recant the next day.’

‘You can if you don’t want to marry her.
Trust me… girls like Carisse Houghton merely transfer their
affections to the next fellow in line. I’m sure that I heard
somewhere that there is a duke interested. Just go and renege on
the deal before they spread it around town.’

Jasper made it all sound so simple. But
really, he had a point. Luc didn’t want to be engaged to Carisse.
Even before Olympia had enchanted him with that kiss he had known
that it hadn’t felt right.

‘She’ll be furious,’ he said doubtfully.

‘It’s the mother that’s the issue. I’ve met
the woman and she’s got that calculating gleam in her eye that
indicates a mercenary soul. But I daresay Carisse herself won’t
really care.’

It was true. Even when Miss Houghton had
been laying her golden head on his shoulder, batting those big blue
eyes at him it had all felt rather superficial, completely lacking
in any real warmth. Carisse did not genuinely care for him, he was
sure of it. She would probably make an amiable enough wife for she
would lack for nothing and her emotions did not run deep enough to
make life difficult with tears and tantrums. But there would be no
emotional depth, no commitment. Not like it would be with Ollie. He
could imagine them only growing closer as the years went by.

‘I’m going to have to do it, aren’t I?’ he
said softly. It was that imagine of Olympia sharing his life that
made the most convincing argument of all. He did not deserve her
but he was very sure he could not live without her.

‘You really are. If it would help I could go
around with you and say that you are already promised to my sister.
Some arrangement of long standing. I can be very good when I want
to.’

‘I know you can,’ Luc returned dryly, ‘I was
pulled in to more ‘theatrical’ productions at Pennimore than I care
to remember. But I think I must do this myself. A story will not
do. I got myself in to this mess and now I must get out of it. I am
sure… well, I am almost sure… that the Houghton’s will forgive me,
given time.’

‘And a favorable marriage,’ Jasper agreed,
clapping him on the shoulder. ‘Tomorrow morning, kill off this
ridiculous engagement and then you may come and ask me for my
sister’s hand in marriage.’

‘Ask
you
?’

‘In the absence of my father it is up to me
to bestow my permission,’ Jasper returned piously. ‘Come along.
Let’s find Olympia. Knowing her, she’s gone and worked herself up
into a state of high drama.’

‘She isn’t best pleased with me. Perhaps I
shouldn’t try and see her until tomorrow.’

‘When she’s cooled down?’
Jasper sounded amused. ‘How long have you known her? She
isn’t
going
to
cool down. By morning she will be a spitting cat. Stop being a
coward and take the bull by the horns.’

‘Yes, all very well
but
you’re
not
the one she’s likely to gore.’ But he said it with genuine humor
because really, now he had had a chance to think it over, there was
no other course of action. He had been a fool to make an offer for
Carisse but they were not yet married. And nothing short of
marriage to another was going to stop him from taking Olympia as
his bride. ‘I depend on you to defend me from attack.’

‘If you’re marrying the girl you’re going to
have to deal with the less appealing aspects of her personality.
Besides, you’re a big boy and she’s just a little thing.’

‘She has a big personality,’ Luc murmured,
but his heart lifted at the prospect of putting things right
between them.

After tomorrow morning – when he would
undoubtedly undergo the most uncomfortable interview of his life –
he intended to try again with the girl he really wanted to marry.
And the prospect of sealing their intended union with another kiss
was enough to make him feel warm all over. It was such an alluring
thought that even the propsect of running into Carisse and her
mother lost some of its terror. Thank God he had encountered
Jasper. It had certainly knocked some much needed sense into his
head.

They searched the party, looking for
Olympia. Luc even asked Miss Gaffney to take a peek in the ladies
retiring room to see if she were there but Olympia was not to be
found.

‘Do you think she might have decided to walk
home?’ Luc said doubtfully after they had exhausted the
possibilities.

‘It seems likely. Although it’s a stupid
thing to do when she could simply have come and found me for an
escort. She knows I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about being
here tonight.’

‘Well then… let’s go and find her in Martin
Street.’

They were about to go and tell Aunt Flora
what they intended when Helena Monkhouse intercepted them. Beside
her stood Miss Gaffney. Both girls were looking perturbed.

‘Mr. Grayson,’ Miss Monkhouse said with some
relief, ‘I’ve been looking for you. Well, actually, we have been
looking for you for Evangeline said I must come and find Mr.
Grayson immediately and -’

‘Miss Monkhouse saw your sister,’ Evangeline
interjected, breaking into what promised to be a confused
monologue, ‘half an hour ago, more or less.’

‘Oh good,’ Jasper smiled at Helena who
momentarily forgot what she had to say and smiled back, suddenly
starry eyed. Such was the power of those warm dark eyes. ‘Where is
she?’

‘Well that’s just it,’ Miss Monkhouse said,
remembering her news with a start. ‘She was with Lord Howe -’

‘What?’ Luc interjected sharply.

The girl gave him an uncertain look.
‘Indeed. I noticed in particular because Miss Grayson looked angry
– and she is never usually ill-tempered, you know, she has the
sweetest outlook – and Lord Howe looked… well, he looked
peculiar.’

‘In what way, peculiar?’ Luc demanded.

Miss Monkhouse hesitated. ‘He looked rather
like he did not want to be seen.’

Jasper frowned. ‘Are they still here?’

‘No. I am almost sure I saw Lord Howe
leading Olympia away. Towards a side door,’ her hands fluttered
like moths. ‘Perhaps,’ she added doubtfully, ‘they have gone
outside?’

Jasper and Luc exchanged glances. Jasper had
not been in London all that long but it had been long enough to
understand that Lord Howe was a wrong ‘un. An uneasy lurch of the
heart told Luc that this was not good news. Lord Howe leading
Olympia anywhere was a disturbing occurrence.

‘St James?’ Jasper murmured, voice
tense.

‘Excuse us!’ Luc said to both young ladies,
then looked at Miss Gaffney in particular. ‘Please… I would take it
as a particular favor if this did not go any further.’

‘As would I,’ Jasper agreed tightly.

Evangeline nodded her immediate
comprehension. ‘Of course. You may rest assured it will not. Will
it Helena?’

‘No. Oh no!’ Helena Monkhouse was looking
from one to the other unhappily. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ Miss Gaffney took her friend’s
arm and patted it soothingly. ‘Come along. We’re going to go and
find somebody to dance with us now.’

‘Oh. Are we?’

‘Yes indeed,’ and with a final look over her
shoulder, she led the easily distractible Helena Monkhouse
away.

‘Tell me,’ Jasper said abruptly.

‘He is in need of a wealthy wife. And
Olympia is going back to Warwickshire the day after tomorrow. He
would know that he wouldn’t have a hope when she was with her
family.’

‘Gretna, then?’

‘It seems likely. He wouldn’t have had time
to secure a special license.’

Neither of them acknowledged the other
option out loud; that Howe might forgo the marriage completely and
just run away with Olympia, thereby ensuring a ceremony would
follow. For she must marry him if she were to spend a night alone
in his company.

While he did not say the words out loud,
this thought was upmost in Luc’s mind and he felt something he had
never experienced before come to life inside. Dark, murderous rage.
He knew that Howe was an unprincipled swine but he hadn’t for a
moment considered that he would do anything so rash as to kidnap
Olympia. It seemed completely out of character for the rake was far
too fond of his own skin to take rash risks with it.

Unless, of course, he was
very drunk or very desperate. But drunk
or
desperate, what would have
prompted such an uncharacteristic act?

Panic
, Luc thought, trying to repress his own. He must have seen
his chance of securing Olympia slipping through his grasp. Then
opportunity had cast her in his way and he had taken it. He let out
a long breath.

‘What’s the fastest route to Gretna?’ Jasper
demanded.

‘Never mind that. He won’t have taken her
there. He knows that we would follow him.’

‘Then where?’

‘Tell Aunt Flora that we are taking Olympia
home. She does not need to come.’

‘Very well. And then?’

‘Then we visit Howe’s lodgings.’

‘Is he any more likely to have taken her
there? Knowing he might have been seen?’

‘He won’t be there,’ Luc said impatiently,
‘but his manservant will. I want him to give me an address.’

‘You
know
where they are
going?’

‘I do.’ He had not spent three weeks in the
man’s company without learning a great deal about Lord Howe’s life.
The man had been drunk as a wheelbarrow most evenings and had
rattled on forever. Fortunately for Olympia. But they must
hurry!

‘I am going to kill that man,’ Jasper
observed pleasantly as he went to search out Flora.

‘Oh no, my friend,’ Luc replied softly,
‘believe me when I say that pleasure belongs entirely to me!’

Chapter Ten

From the moment Olympia had opened her eyes
to discover that all was most assuredly not as it should be, she
had grappled with a mixture of anger and alarm.

She was in a room she had never seen before,
lying on a couch she had never sat upon before and plagued by a
truly wicked headache. Despite the surge of panic that immediately
tried to take hold when she opened her eyes, Olympia had forced
herself to remain calm while attempting to go over the events that
had led her here. It took a few moments to piece things together
for her throbbing temples intruded, but after a time she understood
her situation.

She was in a fine mess. And the worst of it
was, her current predicament was her own foolish fault. Lord Howe
might have been the engineer, but her idiocy had been the driving
force. But she had been so discomposed by her meeting with Luc that
the oily charms of Howe just minutes later had barely
registered.

‘Miss Grayson! How charming.’

‘Lord Howe. Please excuse me, I am afraid I
must… I must find my brother.’

‘But wait just a moment, if you please. I
have heard the most dreadful rumor.’

She had looked at him
impatiently, hardly seeing him, her head too full of Luc and his
wretched news. All of her plans for tonight in ashes and it was an
especially bitter pill to swallow, knowing that he really did share
her feelings.
The fool
…

‘What rumor, sir?’

‘Why that you are returning to Warwickshire
in only a few short days,’ he had tilted his head, looking at her
enquiringly. ‘Say it is not so?’

‘It is,’ she had returned shortly. ‘I find
that London is no longer to my liking. Now… if you will excuse me
-’

‘But why are you returning home so soon? The
Season is not yet finished.’

‘So everybody keeps telling me. I shall
undoubtedly survive, however, as will the Season.’

‘Dear me,’ he murmured, ‘you do seem to be
out of sorts.’

‘I am,’ she told him
baldly. ‘Which is why it would be so much better if you did not try
and converse with me just now. I daresay that in a week or so… no,
make that a
month
or so, I shall be quite restored to good spirits.’

‘But what has distressed you so?’

Olympia huffed out a breath. How she hated
this part of social interaction, the polite conversation when all
one wanted to do was stomp off and nurse one’s broken heart in
private. But that was the worst of Society. It demanded behaviors
that were occasionally beyond one’s abilities to provide.

‘I have had a falling out with a… with a
friend. I am sure all will be well but it has left me feeling out
of sorts.’ She managed a smile. ‘So you see, it is far better to
say goodbye Lord Howe. I am sure no man likes to have his ear
scorched with a female’s discontent.’

‘On the contrary. I would be delighted to be
privy to your woes. I am an excellent listener if you need a
sympathetic ear.’ And he gave her a slow smile, nodding his head
sagely.

It had occurred to her then that his
lordship might very well be foxed. There was nothing in particular
to give it away, but he held himself in a manner that reminded her
of an elderly footman at Pennimore who consumed an inordinate
amount of ale on a daily basis. Apparently her father and Trotter,
their butler, had known about his little habit but the Grayson
siblings had not, not until the man had fallen face first onto the
floor while he was taking Lysander’s coat one morning.