Rapturous Rakes Bundle (15 page)

poster bed and many gilt mirrors.

‘This will do. There are pins in my reticule.’

Rebecca obediently knelt on the thick carpet and

pinned up the torn hem of Nan’s peacock dress. The

rent was only small and took barely any time at all to

mend. When she had done, Nan twirled in front of the

mirror in self-satisfied admiration.

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‘Divine,’ she said. ‘Wait a moment for me here,

Becca. I shall be back directly.’

She slipped out of the room and Rebecca hesitated,

then sat down on the edge of the four-poster bed. It

was draped in red damask that was slightly rough to

the touch. Everything in the house was rich and fine,

but Rebecca thought that there was nothing personal

about it. Her artist’s eye appreciated the colours and

textures, but there was no stamp of personality.

A faint but unmistakable click from the door at-

tracted her attention. She waited, expecting Nan to be

coming back, but nothing happened. Puzzled, she got

up and walked slowly over to the door, turning the

knob. The door remained obstinately closed. Rebecca

tugged on the handle, then pushed. Neither result elic-

ited any response. The door was shut and she was

locked within.

Rebecca was quick to understand then. There had

been Nan’s anxiety that she attend the ball, her delib-

erate dismissal of it as a small, private function, Lord

Fremantle’s anger when she had turned him down out

of preference for Lucas, Nan’s intervention and Fre-

mantle watching them climb the stairs with his cold,

zealous eyes.

Rebecca stood still with one hand resting on the

panels and the doorknob cold against her palm. So

Nan had betrayed her. She would never have expected

it. She had thought that some loyalty bound her friend.

She rattled the lock. It looked flimsy, but it was too

strong for her to break without some kind of weapon,

and there was none. There was nothing at all in the

room that could be used to aid her escape. She would

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The
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Mistress

have given a great deal to have brought her diamond

engraving scribe with her.

She stood there, shivering in the red silk dress de-

spite the heat of the room.

And then there was the sound of the key turning

and Alexander Fremantle, stripped of mask and gown,

stepped inside. He stood and looked at her, his greedy

gaze drinking in every inch of her trembling body.

‘Well, my dear,’ he said, ‘at last I have you where

I want you.’

‘My lord,’ Rebecca said, attempting to eradicate the

tremor from her voice, ‘I do suggest that you recon-

sider—’

Fremantle was turning to close the door. He paused,

looked over his shoulder at her with a gesture of dis-

dain.

‘And why should I wish to do that, Miss Raleigh?’

‘Because once again, I fear that the lady is waiting

for me and you are damnably
de
trop,
old fellow.’

Lucas Kestrel pushed the door open from the outside

and strolled into the room. He had discarded the mask,

but still wore the black domino. His lazy, incisive

tones held just enough hint of amusement to make

Fremantle flush angrily. He looked from Lucas’s sar-

donic face to Rebecca’s blank one and his mouth tight-

ened into a thin line.

‘That is impossible! I arranged—’

‘You arranged for Miss Astley to entrap her friend

on your behalf?’ Lucas questioned, all amusement

suddenly fled from his expression. ‘I know. I saw you.

Shame on you, Fremantle, that you cannot find a will-

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ing woman to take to your bed and have to resort to

tricking a reluctant one.’

The bright red indignation mottled Alexander Fre-

mantle’s throat. ‘It seems you have some need to play

the knight errant, my lord. I assure you this lady has

no need of your services.’

Lucas moved with predatory precision to stand be-

hind Rebecca. Even before he touched her she could

feel his presence, feel the tiny hairs stand up on the

back of her neck, feel the goose pimples that tiptoed

down her spine. His hands came to rest on her bare

arms above the elbow and he drew her back against

his body until they were touching. She could feel his

chest against her back and the curve of his hip against

her buttocks. He held her hard. She felt weak with

relief and faint with anticipation.

‘My apologies, Miss Raleigh,’ he murmured, his

breath tickling her ear. ‘Once again it appears that you

must convince his lordship that you prefer my com-

pany to his.’

Rebecca made an incoherent noise that, fortunately,

sounded like assent. She could not have spoken had

she tried. Lucas had bent his head and was feathering

tiny kisses down the side of her neck. His lips drifted

across her collarbone, igniting a fierce heat within her.

But Fremantle was still watching. Lucas raised his

head and his eyes were cold and inimical.

‘Need I remind you to go?’ he asked coldly.

Fremantle was leaving, scarlet with repressed fury,

muttering under his breath, but definitely leaving. The

door closed behind him.

Lucas stepped away from Rebecca with exaggerated

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The
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Mistress

care, as though he needed to make it clear that there

was no price for his assistance. For a long moment

they simply stared at each other whilst Rebecca felt a

tumult of emotion batter her. She knew that if he had

carried on making love to her she would not have

resisted. Even here, even now, she wanted him. She

could not deny it.

But there was no desire in the look that Lucas had

turned on her now. She felt her own passion die be-

neath his scathing contempt and felt as though she was

withering inside.

‘You fool! What the
hell
are you doing here?’ He

snatched off her mask, the red ribbons coming loose

and tangling in her hair, wrenching a small gasp of

pain from her. The strength of his fury shocked her.

His eyes glittered with rage. He looked murderous

and, though he stopped short of touching her again,

his fists were clenched as though he wanted to shake

the life out of her.

‘I cannot work out,’ he said, ‘whether you are wan-

ton, stupid, or just plain mad.’

Rebecca’s fury and misery balled in her chest. ‘I

was going to thank you, my lord,’ she said coldly, ‘but

that was before I realised I had to endure your insults

as well as your attentions.’

Lucas made a derisive noise. ‘Make no complaints,

Miss Raleigh. You have no idea what I
want
to inflict

on you.’ His gaze narrowed on her. ‘Or perhaps you

do, if you are the wanton you appear to be!’

Rebecca took a step back and he followed her, stalk-

ing her across the floor. His furious gaze held hers,

and behind the anger she could see the unslaked desire

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115

and it scalded her hot and cold. She raised her chin

proudly.

‘You know that is not true,’ she said, ‘or you would

not have stepped in to rescue me.’

Lucas made a repudiating gesture. ‘I do not know

why I did.’

The truth hung in the air between them. Rebecca

did not need him to put it into words:
You
did
it
because
you
were
jealous...
You
did
it
because
you
wanted
me
for
yourself...

She swallowed hard. ‘I should go home,’ she said.

Lucas was looking at her moodily. ‘I will take you

back.’

Rebecca’s heart jumped. ‘No.’

This time he did grab her. His hands bit into her

shoulders and she flinched. ‘You still do not under-

stand, do you?’ He ground out savagely. ‘They are out

there—Fremantle and your so-called friend Miss Ast-

ley. If you simply walk away, they will know for sure

that this was a sham and then how much chance do

you think you will have of reaching Clerkenwell un-

protected?’

Rebecca’s humiliation made her cheeks burn. ‘I had

not thought—’

‘Of course not. I do not believe you have done any

thinking tonight.’

Rebecca gave him a look of intense dislike. ‘You

mistake, my lord. I thought enough about turning you

down!’

For a moment she thought she had gone too far. She

had wanted to explain to Lucas that the only reason

she was at the masquerade at all was because she had

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Mistress

been lonely. She had had a craving for light and com-

pany. She wanted to forget, for one evening only, that

her life was so constrained and full of struggle. The

desire to escape had overcome her common sense and

she had ignored the warnings that her tired mind was

trying to send her. Now she was richly rewarded, for

she had lost Nan’s friendship, if friendship it had been,

and she had lost Lucas Kestrel’s good opinion. She

stared at him for a moment of frozen apprehension,

wondering what on earth he was going to do, and then

he laughed.

‘So you did, Miss Raleigh. Upon which note we

should end this charade.’

Rebecca scarcely saw the opulent gold-and-scarlet

staircase as he swept her down to the front door. Lu-

cas’s arm was tight about her waist and he did not

stop to speak to anyone. The music still played and

the guests still danced, their behaviour even more un-

bridled than before.

In the hackney carriage she shrank within her cloak

and curled up in the corner as far away from Lucas as

she could. They did not speak. Rebecca watched the

light flicker past the windows and listened to the re-

assuring beat of the horse’s hooves on the road and

wondered how matters could possibly get worse. For

a few brief hours she had imagined herself as Cinder-

ella, only to find herself banished back to the garret,

her dreams in shreds. She could feel Lucas’s gaze rest-

ing on her unfathomably. She could still sense his an-

ger and frustration and beneath that something deep

and elemental that made her shiver. She turned away

and looked out into the dark, but she knew that his

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117

scrutiny had not wavered from her face. She could feel

it and it stirred emotions that were barely beneath the

surface.

Lucas had recognised Rebecca as soon as she

stepped into the room. He had only attended the

masque on a whim, for he was bored with the prospect

of another night teaching Stephen to play snooker, or

a gambling session at White’s. Even worse was the

thought of another dinner with Cory and Rachel New-

lyn, glowing with happiness, making him feel like a

frustrated outcast from a very exclusive club.

So he had gone to the masque and had felt the bore-

dom and dissatisfaction grip him afresh at the sight of

all that exotic and erotic excess, and then Rebecca

Raleigh had walked into the room in her sinfully tight

red silk dress and his heart had almost stalled. For a

split second he had thought her to be the wanton she

had always denied, and the hot disillusion and anger

threatened to swamp all other feelings. Yet as he

watched her he realised that there was something

shocked and innocent in her demeanour as she stared

at the licentious throng. And when he had seen her

trying to refuse Fremantle’s attentions, he had been

sure of it.

He had not intended to see Rebecca again, for both

their sakes. He had resolved that Justin should take

over the investigation into the engraving. Yet the min-

ute he laid eyes on her it had made mockery of his

good intentions. He had forgotten his honourable re-

solve, his determination to disengage before matters

spiralled out of control. Instead he had flirted with her

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Mistress

and pushed her hard with a desire that was entirely