The Wedding Runaway (4 page)

"
I shall call on you at one and take you to my tailor
,
cub
,"
said Mr. Wedmont.

The idea of a tailor measuring her chased gratification right out of her body. Wedmont would learn she was female. Fear and fascination battled within her. Lydia squirmed in her seat. His dark-eyed stare made her insides wiggly on more than one occasion this night. She kept wanting to clamp her knees together
,
but gentlemen
,
boys especially
,
didn
'
t sit like that.
"
That
'
s not necessary.
"

"
Yes
,
it is. I cannot take you to my gentlemen
'
s club if you dress like that.
"

His dark eyes roved over her with a freedom she found far too familiar
,
but he thought he looked at a young man.
"
I don
'
t need a
gentlemen
'
s
club. I just need a place to play hazard.
"

"
You need to go where the players were born into their wealth and only shrug their shoulders when they lose a few thousand pounds. Men who have had to work hard to earn their money are less forgiving when they part with it.
"

Mr. Wedmont leaned over and caught a piece of Lydia
'
s sleeve in his fingers.
"
The material is adequate quality
,
but I can only assume the tailors in Boston leave much to be desired. Be ready for me when I call.
"

Lydia panicked. Then she tried to relax and sprawl in the seat.
"
If you would just give me his direction. I
'
m sure I won
'
t be awake at one.
"

"
Then I shall have to rouse you.
"

The idea of this man shaking her awake in her bed provoked a truly awful image in her head. Heat swirled under her skin. Wayward thoughts about her rescuer invaded her mind.
"
I really don
'
t need new clothes.
"

"
Yes
,
I assure you
,
you do. When one is making one
'
s living at gambling
,
then one must do everything one can to not appear shabby.
"
Wedmont lifted an eyebrow.
"
You must ever look as if you are not in need of winning.
"

Lydia took a stiff breath. He looked wicked and very much a person who knew all about less-than-savory aspects of living
,
but managed to do it with a refined air.
"
Still
,
I have enough clothes to see me through my visit.
"
If she could avoid him
,
maybe he
'
d forget about her.

Wedmont glanced to her burgeoning pockets.
"
You have enough funds to see you into a few decent outfits.
"

"
Not today.
"
She needed to move to new lodgings now that she could afford more rent.
"
I have prior commitments
,
you see.
"

"
Fine
,
I
'
ll come for you tomorrow at one
,
then. We shall see my barber
,
too. That is
,
if you promise to stay out of the hells this evening.
"

Lydia blanched. He would discover her identity if he kept this up. Would she have to insult him to get him to leave her alone?
"
I
'
m mindful of the debt I owe you
,
but really
,
sir. You have no need to immerse yourself in my affairs.
"

Mr. Wedmont folded his arms.
"
Really?
"

Lydia folded her arms too and gave a short nod.

"
You have no family or connections for protection. You have men ready to beat you into a bloody pulp if you so much as walk past that gaming establishment again. You likely have no means of support other than your winnings. You are as lost as a babe in the woods. Without a bit of guidance
,
you shall likely turn up floating in the Thames
,
boy.
"

Resentment welled up in Lydia. He might very well be right
,
but she could not risk exposure as a girl.
"
Why do you want to help me?
"

"
Bloody hell if I know.
"

Shocked by the swear words that normally would be kept from sullying her ears
,
Lydia glared at him.

He glared back.
"
What are you
,
a minister
'
s son?
"

Oh
,
Lordy
,
a boy would not have been shocked.
"
No
,
my father owns a large shipping enterprise. My grandfather started the business years ago.
"

One side of his mouth came up in a lopsided smile.
"
So
,
well-to-do by colonial standards.
"

"
We are not colonists anymore. How many times do we have to whip you Brits in a war
,
before you recognize our country?
"

"
Mayhap a dozen or more times. Mayhap never.
"

He grinned
,
and her heart flip-flopped. Oh boy
,
he was an attractive man. More attractive than her supposed fiancé
,
even if Mr. Wedmont was older than she by perhaps a decade. Or maybe she only liked him because he wasn
'
t treating her as a weak
,
inconsequential woman.

Her anger melted into panic that she would not be rid of this man. Doubt edged in. Perhaps she had made mistakes. Perhaps a young man did need an older man
'
s guidance. And perhaps she really wanted to see him again
,
because his dark eyes and wry sarcasm curled her toes. Which was all for naught
,
because she needed him to think of her as a young man.

"
Damned if I can figure out why I have decided to tutor you. I cannot say I like you much.
"

Fiddlesticks
,
he disliked her?

That was best
,
she told herself.

She could move to different lodgings today and lay low and surely he would forget about her. A misplaced sense of obligation was unlikely to prompt great efforts to find her. A sharp pang of regret stabbed under her breastbone.

She blinked back a sudden wash of sentiment that clouded her eyes. For a moment she missed being female. She would have liked to flirt with this man
,
but then again she really liked his frank roughness with her.

The carriage drew to a stop
,
and Lydia ducked toward the door.
"
I thank you very much for your assistance last night
,
and the pleasure of your gaming.
"

"
We shall make a gentleman of you yet
,
cub.
"

Not expecting him to follow, she stopped close to the step and turned around to bid him good night. He shoved her upper arm
,
pushing her out of his way.

Lydia stumbled
,
although he hadn
'
t shoved hard enough to cause harm. Would he follow her all the way into her lodgings? She had to stop him
,
before Jenny gave her real identity away.

Lydia faced him and gave a ridiculous bow
,
more like a servant than a gentleman. She intended to end things here on the sidewalk.
"
A pleasure to make your acquaintance
,
Mr. Wedmont.
"

"
Just Wedmont
,"
he muttered.

"
Should you like me to walk the horses
,
milord?
"
asked the coachman from the box.

As she raised up from her near genuflection
,
she saw clearly for the first time the crest on the carriage door. Good heavens
,
he was some sort of royalty.

"
No
,
I
'
ll just be a minute
,"
he said to his coachman.

"
My lord?
"
echoed Lydia weakly.

He leaned back against his carriage and cocked one heel up on the step.
"
And I thought from the way you nearly scraped your forehead on the pavement while making a leg
,
you might have realized the error of your way.
"

"
What are you?
"

"
A gentleman. However, I daresay there are those who would disagree with that appellation.
"

"
I mean
,
you have some kind of title?
"

"
Yes
,
I am the Earl of Wedmont.
"
He looked amused.
"
Why
,
I am surprised to find you in awe. I thought you Americans had decided titles are passé and that all men are equal.
"

Lydia straightened.
"
We are equal.
"

"
Not yet
,
cub. You have too much to learn. Although you might be my equal in piquet.
"

"
I
'
m your superior in piquet.
"
She had
,
after all
,
won three of their four games.
"
I
'
d say we were equal in Hazard.
"

She almost melted into a pool of frayed nerves as she stared at him. She had to get away from him and stay away from him. Deceiving a lord was probably a crime. And what had she done, telling him her family was in shipping? Weren
'
t all noblemen part of the government in England? He probably wielded enough power to learn who she was.

She stepped backward.
"
Well
,
good-bye
,
Mist...er
,
my lord.
"

"
Wedmont will do
,
Lenny. Or if you can
'
t manage that
,
you might just call me Victor. Although
,
I daresay as young as you are
,
my friends shall think you impudent. But far be it from me to offend your
American
views of equality.
"

Lydia took another step backward and resisted the urge to turn tail and run. Victor
,
oh my word
,
she would ever forward think of him by his given name. Best if she didn
'
t call him anything.
"
Yes
,
good night.
"

He looked around.
"
You need better lodgings.
"

Realizing how rundown the neighborhood looked
,
Lydia cringed. She
'
d been concerned about cost when she arrived
,
and she had not known if her gambling would be successful.
"
Yes
,
I agree. I
'
ll see to it right away.
"
Today, even.

"
Perhaps
,
you
'
d better get your things and come stay with me.
"

"
No!
"

Victor swung around to stare at her. Lydia cursed her vehement objection. Would a young man from America turn down the opportunity to stay with an English peer? Probably not.

"
Ah well
,
as an American
,
we value liberty above all else.
"

"
Very well
,
cub. If independence means so much to you.
"
He withdrew a card from his pocket.
"
Should you change your mind
,
here is my direction. I bid you good morning then
,
sir.
"

He turned and in one fluid motion opened the carriage door and stepped up into it.

Lydia stared at the nether side he
'
d presented to her. She had never particularly noticed a man
'
s lower portions before
,
but Victor
'
s seemed particularly fine. Long legs
,
slender hips
,
and perhaps she was thinking of a male
'
s special appendages, because there was no way a tailor could mistake her for a male. Not that she had looked
there.
She clenched shut her eyes.

Her thoughts raced down a road she couldn
'
t travel dressed as a man.
Face it
,
Lydia
,
you are just perverse.
Just as her brothers and father said. In all the years since her eighteenth birthday when she
'
d been told to find a man to marry
,
she
'
d never come across one that interested her the way Victor did despite his grudging rescue. But she could never see him again.

Now
,
she had to remove to different lodgings
,
and that left her sad and empty.

~*~

Exhaustion made Lydia
'
s eyes scratchy and her limbs heavy. She traveled to three advertised places before she found furnished lodgings in a better neighborhood
,
just off Bond Street. She paid the exorbitant rent
,
signed a lease for six months
,
and she and Jenny wrestled her trunks up the narrow outside stairs.