Never Trust a Scoundrel (19 page)

Grace felt suddenly hot and wondered if her face was on fire. Surely her smile was frozen; surely everyone was looking between Daniel and her, knowing that they'd spent three days together. She'd just begun to relax among Society, and now her self-respect, the only thing that was hers, might be damaged.

“Mrs. Walker,” she began gravely, not even sure what she was going to say.

“Miss Banbury,” Daniel interrupted, “I told Viscount Wade that his small house party was too exclusive, did I not?”

Grace blinked at him. “Yes, you did.”

“You were at Lord Wade's home?” Mrs. Walker asked in surprise.

“His grandmother's home,” Grace was able to say.

“Miss Banbury and I were guests of Lady Wade's. We had good weather. You did some riding, did you not, Miss Banbury?”

Grace smiled. “Miss Shelby, Lord Wade's betrothed, was kind enough to show me about.”

The conversation veered to the surprise of Lord Wade's engagement, and Daniel began telling the guests in detail about Lord Wade's rowing challenges. Daniel seemed…perfectly fine.

Grace felt like throwing up.

How was she supposed to keep track of so many secrets? And what would she say if people had heard they'd visited Madingley Court as well? She could only pray that the duke's servants were too loyal to spread gossip.

But Baxter Wells had been there, too! She could barely stop herself from frantically staring around the drawing room to see if he was here, spreading rumors of his own. And if Edward came across him, there might well be bloodshed. She looked around for her brother and saw that he was standing alone, staring pensively out the window, before he gave a smile to a gentleman who came to speak to him.

During dinner, Grace realized how Lady Hammersmith viewed her relationship with Daniel when she had him escort Grace in and sit beside her. The table was long and wide, with high centerpieces of flowers blocking much conversation. The man on Grace's right was talking to the woman on his right, leaving her to turn to Daniel on her left.

He was looking at the framed menu between them, but he glanced her way.

“You have to learn to be a quick thinker,” he said softly.

She wanted to groan. The room was noisy enough that no one could hear them, but still…

She wanted to ignore him, but as she put her napkin in her lap, she murmured, “I haven't had as much practice as you. And the journey was a terrible risk to take. Of course people would wonder if we were together.”

“But we deflected their questions with the truth.”

She spoke between gritted teeth. “And what about our next stop? What if Mr. Wells decides to tell everyone that I've been to Madingley Court with you?”

Daniel nodded to the footman who set before him a plate of “Fried Smelts with Dutch Sauce,” according to the menu. When everyone was preoccupied with their food, he softly said, “He will say nothing, or the blow I landed in his stomach will be followed by more.”

Grace quickly turned her wide eyes back to her own plate. “You
hit
him?”

“He deserved it after how he treated you.”

She blinked in disbelief. “Oh. I didn't realize you knew he was the man in my past.”

He tapped the side of his head. “I'm smart.”

Had Daniel Throckmorten appointed himself her defender now?

Throughout dinner, Grace spoke to the man on her right, smiled at the people on the opposite side of the table, and did everything to prove she was not focused on Daniel. Afterward, when the men rejoined the ladies in the drawing room, she saw her brother once again standing alone.

She went over to him and smiled. “We have not had much chance to talk since my return.”

“And we didn't talk before you left either, or I'd have talked you out of taking that melancholy trip to Maran Park.”

“I needed to speak with the staff, Edward. You know they are like family to me.”

“And he's keeping them all?”

She nodded and quickly changed the subject. “What have you been doing while I was gone?”

“Not gambling, if that's what you're implying,” he said darkly.

She winced and touched his arm. “Edward, you know me better than that. If I thought you were gambling, I would ask about it.”

He heaved a sigh. “I apologize. I have been…on edge. I attended a breakfast and a ball.”

“And how were they?”

“Since my newest goal is to marry, it did not go well.”

“Oh, Edward,” she murmured with sympathy.

“These women still think I have property to bring to marriage—which is now a lie, of course—but that does not sway them into staying long enough to even speak about the weather.”

“You'll have property again, Edward, I promise. And your investments will surely begin to grow.”

He shrugged and put on a false smile when their host, Lord Hammersmith, came to say hello.

 

Daniel watched the Banbury siblings from across the room. He'd always been good at reading faces—it was part of what made him a talented gambler and businessman—but he didn't need skill to understand Banbury's frustration and Grace's worry. Banbury's being Grace's brother had somehow made him part of Daniel's presence in the family.

Daniel had seen the cool reactions to Banbury's presence among the young marriage-minded ladies. He found that he cared about the younger man, who hadn't had the guidance of decent adults when his father died, like Daniel had. Daniel wanted to help Banbury meet the appropriate marriageable women, but he first had to trust that Banbury could control his old demons.

When Grace left her brother, Daniel approached him.

“Throckmorten,” Banbury said with a nod. “Did you see all you needed to at Maran Park?”

There wasn't even a trace of bitterness in Ban
bury's voice. He must be hiding it well. “The estate is flourishing. It has been well managed.”

Banbury shrugged. “The steward is excellent. I hope you keep him on.”

“All the staff will be retained.”

“Good.” His stiff shoulders relaxed.

“I have a proposal for you.”

Banbury glanced at him curiously. “A business proposal?”

“It's personal. I know you've been trying to earn back money to buy the violin from me.”

Banbury's expression turned wary. “Yes.”

“What if I give it back to you in exchange for complete access to Grace?”

The man didn't even take a moment to think. “No,” he said flatly.

Something inside Daniel eased. “No?” he repeated lightly.

“I am only Grace's brother, and what she chooses to do with her life is up to her. But she has my guidance and my protection, and I would never give that up to any man.” He didn't bother to hide his glare. “Do you understand me?”

“I understand.” Daniel took a sip of his brandy, and said mildly, “Are you still coming to Southern Railway tomorrow for our next meeting?”

Banbury gave him a surprised look. “I—don't know.”

“You should come. It's a meeting of all the directors. You'll learn much.”

“I'll be there.”

 

When the dinner was over, Daniel went to his carriage, where his coachman waited for instructions. The night was dark, with a mist of rain blurring the view of the gas lamps lining the streets. It was still early; normally he would have gone for a game of hazard.

But he thought of Grace, going home alone. Gambling had altered the very course of her life in so many ways, and to Daniel's dismay, he almost couldn't enjoy it anymore. Certainly the lure wasn't there for him.

The only lure that drew him lately was the thought of Grace alone in a bedroom, waiting for him.

Even though he knew he was having her house guarded, and that Jenkins seemed to be in retreat, he told himself he had to watch over her personally. After all, there were only three days left in his seduction, and he certainly hadn't given up. In fact, he thought he was closer than ever to achieving his goal.

Long after midnight, he let himself in the rear door of the town house and crept quietly upstairs. He went to Grace's bedroom first, silently opened the door—and found an empty bed. A cold, unfamiliar feeling swept through him, and it took him a moment to recognize it as fear. Had Jenkins somehow breached the security of the house?

He almost went to Banbury next, but decided to search the house first, finishing with the other bedrooms on the floor. He found her sound asleep in the big bed in the master bedroom, as if she
were waiting for him. The tight knot in his chest eased as he looked at her lovely face, so innocent and vulnerable in sleep. Her nightclothes were covered by a dressing gown that was tucked clear up under her chin. But her small, bare feet were exposed, and he did not resist the urge to run his fingertips from her ankle to her toes. She twitched in her sleep and rolled over, exposing flesh up to her calves. This could be interesting.

But she'd been waiting for him, he thought, slinging an arm around the bedpost as he looked down at her. It was getting more and more difficult to seduce her with abandon, when he was thinking about her too much, caring too much. He was already protecting her reputation at parties while at the same time trying to take it for his own.

He carefully sat down beside her, resting against the headboard. There was a peacefulness in being with her that he'd never felt with anyone before. He was almost…content, and he didn't know how to analyze that.

Grace rolled again, this time right up against his outstretched legs. She stirred and lifted her head, eyes still half-closed with slumber.

“Daniel?” she murmured.

The sweet, softness of her voice did something strange to him that he couldn't name.

He brushed back the hair from her eyes. “I'm here.”

She came up on her elbow, a small smile playing about her lips, and tugged on his shirt. Sur
prised, he came down over her, and she reached up to kiss him. He wasn't even sure she realized what she was doing. Her lips were soft and gentle, caressing his mouth with a quiet, simple passion that moved him, confused him.

At last he pulled away and she sank back against the pillow, closing her eyes. “Luncheon tomorrow,” she murmured. “You and me.”

She fell back asleep before he could even respond, as if she knew what his answer would be. So he'd be a little late for his railway meeting. With a sigh, he sank down a bit in the pillows, she snuggled against him, and he lay awake, for the first time the recipient of some part of a woman's trust.

D
aniel pulled up outside Grace's door in an open carriage, jumped lightly to the ground and up the steps. Woodley, the butler, was waiting to open the door, and the man gave Daniel a quick wide-eyed stare before settling into his usual bland, pleasant expression. Daniel didn't understand—until he saw Grace.

She was standing just beyond the butler, hands on her hips, her glare full of disapproval. He couldn't imagine what he'd done; he was punctual this morning, and last night, he hadn't attempted to ravish her in her sleep, though it had pained him to return to his own cold, lonely bed before dawn.

“I take it I should not come in,” Daniel said dryly.

“If I had not promised Beverly that I would attend this charity event, I would have had Woodley slam the door in your face,” she said, obviously fuming.

But instead she marched past him, opened her parasol so quickly that he had to duck to avoid
having his eye pierced, and stepped briskly down the stairs to the street. He thought she might vault into the seat to avoid touching him, but she disdainfully held her hand to him for assistance.

Only when he had the reins in his hands and was guiding the two-horse team away from the curb, did he say, “So, are you going to tell me what's wrong?”

“My brother told me what you asked for in exchange for the violin,” she said in a tight voice.

“I see.” He hadn't demanded Banbury's promise of secrecy, of course, but he hadn't thought the man would want to hurt his sister.

“He didn't want to tell me,” she continued as if she could read his mind.

A frightening prospect, that.

“But I saw the two of you talking, and I demanded to know if it was about me. Edward is a terrible liar where I'm concerned. I can read his face like a book.”

“I'll keep that in mind.” He didn't look at her as he paid attention to the crowded city street.

Was it over now, the challenge that had consumed most of the last two weeks? He couldn't imagine not seeing Grace every day, pursuing her every night. But she would take his offer to Banbury in the worst possible light and had obviously condemned him without even questioning his motives. He shouldn't be surprised, but he was.

“How could you test Edward like that?” she demanded, throwing up her hands and almost losing her parasol in the process.

Daniel almost took a turn too fast in his confusion. “Test?”

“Of course I understood immediately what you were doing, and I told Edward as much. You were testing him to see if he could control his impulse to gamble. A true feverish compulsion would make him offer up even his own sister to help himself, and you'd know he was untrustworthy.”

He opened his mouth, but she plowed on ahead.

“I can help Edward by myself, you know, if you feel you can't trust him. He's changed, and I can see that. I thought you could, too.”

“I needed proof,” he said slowly, “before I took the next step with him.”

“And what's that?” she demanded, eyeing him like a mother hen protecting her chick.

“I thought I would invite him to the ball celebrating the new directors of Southern Railway. He'll meet educated, refined, and wealthy young ladies, not of the
ton,
it's true, but eager to wed a gentleman, regardless of his financial status. Their fathers are my friends and business associates, and I had to make sure I was entrusting their daughters to a man in control of his impulses.”

She stared up at him, he stared down at her, and he saw again the soft tenderness sweep over her face.

“Hey, guv'nor, watch it!” came a shout from the street.

Daniel returned his attention to driving before they had an accident.

“Daniel,” she said in a quieter voice, “that is sweet of you.”

“Sweet?” he scoffed. “Give me credit for understanding a good business venture when I see one. When your brother begins to succeed, I will certainly take my share of the profit.”

“Of course,” she said, her face too expressionless.

He had the annoyed feeling she was fighting a smile.

 

When Grace entered Lady Fogge's spacious drawing room, she came up short. Men and women mingled as usual, but they did so amidst small tables and chairs set up all about the room.

She felt Daniel at her back. “Miss Banbury?”

She knew she had to say something about why she'd come to a dead stop. “Just looking to see who I knew.”

But she couldn't focus on that because she was looking at the deck of cards at each table.

You're being silly,
she told herself. There were often card games available for guests who wanted to amuse themselves. She had always made her excuses and conversed with others who didn't enjoy playing.

But this was an event to benefit babies in the worst districts of London. She had thought guests would be offering money for blankets, or hearing a speaker who would encourage them to donate to the cause. When she'd first come up with the redemption idea for Daniel, she had thought this would be the perfect event to exhibit his good qualities.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Lady Fogge, the round-faced hostess who stood beside her blushing daughter. “We have decided to try something different to raise funds today. We can all enjoy ourselves—and benefit a worthy cause. So today we play Speculation, and I encourage you to bet freely, for the winnings will all go to the Ladies' Benevolence for Babies Fund.”

Grace had spent her life avoiding what had been her mother's downfall—her family's downfall. Even playing for charity made her feel ill inside.

Beverly came toward her, smiling. “You'll play with me, of course, Grace.”

If Beverly didn't understand that she had never played cards, how would Grace convince Lady Fogge and the rest without looking like a fool?

“She's a terrible cardplayer,” Daniel said, coming from behind to stand at her side. “Why else would she bring me, except to win as much as possible for those poor babies?”

Grace felt something come unfrozen inside her. Daniel understood without her even explaining.

Beverly looked between them, and Grace thought her friend's face reddened in belated understanding.

“Of course, what a marvelous idea,” Beverly quickly said. “Mr. Throckmorten, come sit at my table. Grace, you can encourage us.”

Grace ended up standing behind Daniel, and rather than behave like his usual cool, enigmatic self, he charmed the ladies and made the men forget that he was beating them. At times she
stood to the side so that she could watch his face, but never once did his expression reveal anything but joviality. But of course, she knew he was a master at keeping his emotions under control. It had obviously made him a successful gambler; she could not imagine him as a man who went past his limits.

Yet on the way there, when she'd confronted him about testing Edward, she had seen far too much in his face, from resignation to surprise to confusion. It was as if he could no longer hide what he was feeling from her. Was she more than a conquest to him? Was Beverly right—should she consider pursuing marriage to him?

At luncheon, Lady Putnam, a friend of Beverly's, looked at Daniel over the centerpiece. “And how is your mother, Mr. Throckmorten?”

Grace listened with interest, for she'd never heard anyone mention his mother to him.

“She is well, ma'am. I was able to visit her recently, and hear all about the charities she's sponsoring in Cambridge.”

“It's a shame she does not visit London.” The old woman leaned forward and spoke in what she must have thought a whisper, but was heard at the end of the table. “Surely everyone has forgotten the scandal.”

There was an expectant hush, and Grace wished she could somehow rescue Daniel from this awkwardness, as he'd rescued her today.

“Thank you, Lady Putnam. I am sure she knows that.”

Did he know how much he'd truly changed himself after what happened to his father? If only she could help him regain his music, return to a time when its pursuit soothed him, but she didn't have the first idea how to go about it.

She was getting too involved, falling deeper and deeper into Daniel's problems, Daniel's life.

And she couldn't stop—didn't want to stop. His feelings mattered to her. The way he cared about her seemed more important than anything else.

Oh God, she really
had
fallen in love with him. And it might be the biggest mistake of her life.

 

That evening, as Grace listened to the next well-meaning young lady attempt to play the piano at her doting mother's musicale, she thought of how Edward had whistled as he'd left the house to join Daniel at the Southern Railway ball. His optimism had returned, and she could only be grateful to Daniel for that. Daniel hadn't had to help her brother, but he had done so. She kept telling herself that it was only a means to woo her, but she couldn't believe that of him. He was a good man. He'd spent his life helping people in trouble though he would not think that.

When the music portion of the evening was over, Grace went to help herself to iced cakes in the refreshment area set up in a small drawing room. She smiled at a man who came in behind her. He was of average height and build, and his black hair was beginning to thin on top.

He stopped in front of her and cleared his throat. “Miss Banbury?”

“Yes?” It was strange of him to speak to her when they hadn't been introduced, but perhaps he was new to Society. And suddenly she realized that she hadn't seen him at dinner.

“My name is Mr. Horace Jenkins.”

When he paused awkwardly, she smiled. “I hope your evening has been pleasant, sir.”

He smiled back, and for a moment she thought he was nervous, but he only took a deep breath.

“It has, now that I've met you. You see, I've wanted to be introduced for a long time.”

She blinked in surprise. “I'm…flattered, Mr. Jenkins. I have not been in London long, but—”

“I know. In fact, I know all about you. I, too, live in Hertfordshire.”

“Oh.” She felt the first hint of uneasiness. “I am surprised we have not met.”

“I have seen you, of course, but I was not sure how a visit from me might be accepted.”

What could she say to that? “I am a friendly person, Mr. Jenkins.”

“You're kind and sweet, and I know you'd understand why I—” He broke off.

Kind and sweet? How could he know that? “You what, Mr. Jenkins?” she asked, trying unsuccessfully to hide the nervous edge in her voice.

“Why I played in a card game to win your hand in marriage.”

Grace inhaled swiftly, and all her focus sharpened on this one man. Thank heavens, there was
no one else in the drawing room but the two of them. “I—so you were one of
them.
”

“I was the one most eager to win your hand, Miss Banbury,” he said sincerely. “The others wanted the property, or even the violin, like that fool Throckmorten. I would have done anything simply for
you.
But I lost.”

“What would you have me say, Mr. Jenkins?” she asked softly. “I wish that card game had never taken place.”

“That's because Throckmorten won,” he said coldly.

Grace felt a jolt of awareness and certainty. Jenkins had to be the man who'd been watching her house.

“You didn't marry him,” Mr. Jenkins said, when she didn't reply.

“No, I didn't.”

“Good. He's a bounder with no morals. You should have rejected him outright, but instead I see you with him at every event.”

He was no longer bothering to hide the thread of angry jealousy. Another man came into the room and perused the refreshment table. Mr. Jenkins looked at Grace in a knowing manner, as if daring her to say something.

And what could she say that wouldn't reveal the whole sordid scandal?

And then what would Daniel's family think of her?

Oh God, she was worried about marriage with him more than the harm to her own reputation
and family. How had this happened to her?

When they were alone again, Grace tried conciliation. “Mr. Jenkins, due to that card game, Mr. Throckmorten feels he has certain…rights toward me. I resist him at every turn, but I cannot show that in public.”

“Is he going to marry you?”

“No.” What else could she say? It was probably the truth. And she thought even the possibility would make Jenkins angrier.

Instead he began to fidget, and perspiration broke out on his forehead. She'd made a mistake.

In a low, heated voice, he said, “Then why are you consorting with him? If he is not going to hold to the terms of the bet, then you should be with me.”

She eyed the door, but he was between her and it. “Mr. Jenkins, he won the bet, and I don't know what the future holds in regards to marriage with him.”

“I would marry you, Miss Banbury. Say you will.”

“I—I cannot, in good conscience, Mr. Jenkins. Please understand that I—”

“I don't understand anything! It is not fair! And I've seen the way you look at him. You've probably already given yourself to him!”

She gasped. “Mr. Jenkins! Such crudity doesn't even deserve the decency of a reply!”

“I would overlook your faults, Miss Banbury.”

Angry and too reckless, she drew herself up. “If you had hoped to sway me, insults will not help.”

“I am always willing to overlook a woman's faults,” he continued, as if he hadn't heard her. “I told that just last year to Miss Wadsworth, but she still refused me. And Miss Sutton the year before that.”

Grace simply gaped at him as he rambled.

“I am done waiting, Miss Banbury. I need a wife, and this time I shall have the woman I've chosen.”

Coldly, she said, “Good day, Mr. Jenkins.”

His eyes glittered as he looked down her body. “This isn't over.”