To Wager the Marquis of Wolverstone (3 page)

“I have always considered you devious after
what happened but this…. I’m truly lost for words. Not very
honorable is an understatement but, really, I shouldn’t be so
surprised.”

She took a deep breath. Her eyes glinted
with anger and he saw her hands were shaking; her fury was
glaringly obvious. They sat staring at each other for what seemed
like hours but was, in reality, merely minutes.

As he expected, she gave in. “This man is
using my father’s money to stake his bets. He is using blood money
to try and make a fortune. I
won’t
allow it to happen. It is
pure and simple revenge. He left my parents to die in abject
poverty….”

Marcus watched her closely. Her face was
deathly pale and it was clear she was not lying.

“Why did your father not ask for help?”

“He thought the law would help him. He also
thought he could deal with this man himself. He was sorely
mistaken. I don’t intend to make that mistake. By using you, by you
putting up your stake for the game, this man will have no idea I am
behind his impending demise. For who would believe you’d ever help
me?”

His conscience then came knocking loud and
clear. He remembered her father’s letters. Had they been a cry for
help? Guilt made him ask, “Who was the man?”

She shook her head. “I don’t want you
involved. I simply want you to win the game.”

His mouth firmed but her chin took on a
stubborn tilt. She would not tell him. Well, he would not push at
this moment, but he would learn his name.

He let out a harsh laugh. “And what happens
when I win?”

“You’ll win a very large sum of money, plus
I’ll give you a bonus of one-hundred thousand pounds. I’m a very
wealthy woman and money is no object.” she said in a haughty
voice.

The bloody nerve of the woman—money! She
thought money interested him! He had more money than he knew what
to do with. Making sound investments was an innate talent of his
and he’d more than prospered over the years. He managed his
friends, Harlow’s and Henry’s, finances, as well as his own.

No. Winning more money did not excite him.
He knew exactly what would excite him. He wanted her, in every
which way a man could take a woman, until he’d had his fill.

God damn her to hell! He shouldn’t want her
like this. He blamed her for re-entering his life unbidden, and his
anger at how alluring she still was, grew until he felt white-hot
fury that she still had the power to make him feel so much.

His eyes drank her in thirstily. Sabine was
no longer the innocent girl he’d fallen in love with, if indeed she
ever had been innocent. He wanted her with a man’s relentless
desire. Ten years ago his desire for her was mixed with tenderness.
Now, he simply wanted her with a raw, naked hunger. How much he
wanted her, frightened him and rendered him vulnerable.

Agreeing to help her would be a mistake.
Every honed instinct screamed for him to deny her and stand and
leave. But part of him still wanted what had been ripped away from
him all those years ago. He craved what she’d dangled before him so
temptingly and then so callously cut away.

This time, he would make her fall in love
with him and then
he
’d be the one to walk away.

“You’re obviously under some misconception
that I care about money,” he finally proffered.

“Then, if not money, what is it that you do
care about?” she queried in a manner that was faintly taunting.

“Pleasure—and then some more,” Marcus
responded, , observing with satisfaction her horrified expression.
“Come, don’t act so surprised. If you have taken the time to learn
about me, then you must have learned of
all
my favorite
pursuits.”

Involuntarily, she glanced at her hands and
he saw her swallow nervously. “You are one of the most notorious
rakehells in all of England. The minute I returned to England I
could hardly avoid learning that.” She raised her eyes to meet his.
“Perhaps I had a lucky escape.”

Calling on all his willpower, Marcus reined
in his violent irritation at her provocative words. “I used to be
exceedingly discriminating about the women I pursued. However,
after you… after
you
taught me how ridiculous that sentiment
was, I didn’t much care who I bedded. I simply buried my pain in
pleasure.”

Her lack of response at his proclamation
needled him further.

“Fucking, in another word. Actually, I have
become rather good at it. I’m sure, given your lack of
particularity about who shares your bed, that you’ve become quite
the expert too.”

Some emotion flickered in her eyes in
response, something vulnerable and too fleeting for him to
identify. Then she lowered her eyelids as if to shield the secrets
she hid within.

He leaned forward in his chair. “In fact,
you can take the blame for turning me into, as you so succinctly
put it, a notorious rakehell.”

Finally, a reaction! With her mouth turned
down in sharp disapproval and her eyes dark with anger, she
ferociously defended herself. “I’m sure you were already well on
the path to depravity and wickedness before I met you. You
certainly didn’t behave like a proper gentleman, especially with
me.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “You
think what
we
did was wicked? Hop on that bed and I’ll show
you the true definition of wicked!”

“I don’t think that will be necessary”

“And why not? Unless, of course, you still
enjoy teasing the men in your life. Do you dangle your body
temptingly like a piece of heaven before them and then watch them
writhe in pain when you deprive them of the physical satisfaction
you so falsely promised them?”

Chapter Three

Sabine hissed at him through clenched teeth,
trying to protect herself from his cruel taunt. “That, I believe,
is none of your concern.”

“That’s where you are wrong, siren. If you
wish me to help you with your distasteful plan, then who you may be
bedding is very much my concern. I won’t be cuckolded again.”

“I don’t understand? How can I have ever
cuckolded you? We were never lovers, nor are we likely to be”- She
gasped in sudden comprehension and a shudder ripped through her.
“Oh, no! Absolutely not.”

He laughed, a rich sound that skittered down
her spine, reminding her of a more pleasant time, long ago.

“Haven’t you ever thought about us and how
it would have been in my bed? I’m considered quite the expert. I
must admit”- he ran his eyes insolently over her until she felt as
if she were naked under his gaze. “I’ve often fantasized about what
I’d do to you—with you—if you were ever mine.”

“I haven’t thought of you much at all,” she
retorted, praying he’d believe the lie. She’d thought about him
almost every lonely day over the past ten years.

“Well, my lovely, if you want my help that
is all about to change. I want you thinking about me every second
of the day and night and me only, if you can manage that?”

Hearing his bitterness, Sabine stared down
at the carpet. Tension constricted her throat. Marcus would never
forgive her, that much was obvious. Her plan to avenge her
father—as well as herself would fall apart without Marcus’s
support.

Worse, she didn’t deserve his derision or
his hatred. She’d suffered more than he knew. But if Marcus learned
the truth, he’d be more than eager for revenge. That had been why
she’d done what she’d had to do, all those years ago. She knew the
revenge he’d then insist upon taking and that would put his very
life in danger. She couldn’t live with the guilt should something
happen to him.

“I’m not asking you to do this for me. I’m
asking you to help me extract revenge for my father and
mother.”

His face softened slightly at the mention of
her parents. “Tell me what happened.”

“My father was a proud man. As he got older,
his work began to dry up and he looked around for an investment
which would keep them both in their old age. He was introduced to a
man who had a sure fire investment.”

Marcus interrupted. “Let me guess, Gower
suggested investing in Northern Mining.”

Blast! She hadn’t wished to reveal her
target quite so soon. Reluctantly, she confirmed his guess. “Yes,
yes.” She opened her palms wide, willing the tears not to come.
“They lost everything. They died of malnutrition and disease in a
poorhouse.” She held back a sob at the memory of the letter that
had arrived too late in Milan. Her father had written telling her
of their plight. By the time she’d returned to England, they were
both dead. “I’ve done some investigating. Northern Mining was a
paper company with no assets. Gower knew what he was doing, yet the
law won’t touch him.”

Marcus nodded his head, understanding. “The
men behind the investment were clever. It all looks legitimate on
paper.” He looked grim. “You are proposing your own brand of
punishment. You’ve learned of Gower’s weakness—gambling. I’ve heard
he’s in dun territory.”

“Yes, I’ve learned a lot about Lord Gower.
He is not a very good card player. He doesn’t ever enter the
Gentleman’s Annual Whist Tournament but he wagers on the outcome. I
believe he’s placed a very large bet on Lord Prendergast with the
field. He’s positive the bet is a sure thing. The odds are in his
favor, Prendergast has won the last five years.”

“Gower thinks he’ll clear his debts from
this one tournament. Everyone at Whites has heard of his exorbitant
wager.”

She lifted her gaze to Marcus, and as their
eyes locked, the painful past was a chasm between them. “Will you
help me?”

It was all the pleading she’d do. Pain
lashed her at the cold expression on his handsome face. Having met
with Marcus, even after ten years, Sabine realized that time had
not mitigated the raw hurt of her necessary betrayal. She was mud
under his boot.

“If you want my help, I have a wager of my
own.”

The hairs on her arms rose and her stomach
began to churn. What was coming could not be good.

He continued. “If I win, I want more than
money. I want flesh and blood. If I help you obtain your revenge,
then you must help me gain mine.”

She wasn’t stupid. There was no point in
pretending she didn’t know exactly what he was implying. He wanted
his revenge against her.

He spoke huskily but firmly. “We shall have
our own wager, you and I. If I win the tournament for you, you must
become my paramour for as long as I desire.” He glanced at her with
his glinting amber eyes, the dark lashes shielding his true
thoughts. “And I have ferocious desires.”

Even though Sabine had known what he was
going to demand, the shock made her give a choked cry. “I thought
you many things once, but never petty.”

“I’m a changed man.
You
changed me
when you used me to capture another’s affections, hopping from one
bed to another…”

She couldn’t resist her own taunt. “We never
shared a bed.”

Her words made his mouth snap shut in
remembered pain. He tried not to clench his fists. He let his hands
lay flat against his thighs. He’d never let on how much her words
cut him to the quick. Sabine had taken great pains to keep his
passions subdued, nothing more than a few dizzying kisses. He’d
behaved like a gentleman, while all along she was playing him false
and for a fool.

“Were you sharing his bed while teasing me?
Did you laugh at my chasing after you like a whipped puppy?”

Sabine’s eyes narrowed on his. “I did not
share a bed until I married.”

“So Orsini was the man you eloped with. Your
father would not tell me his name.”

Sabine looked at the floor. She brushed her
brow with delicate gloved fingers and sighed. She slowly raised her
head and looked directly at him. “What good does it do to rake over
the past? I cannot change it, nor can you.” She looked up at him,
the blue of her eyes flashing dark as if a storm was approaching.
“I can’t make up for the hurt I caused you, but I can avenge my
father with your help. Will you do it? If you cannot do it for me,
then at least for him”

He couldn’t look away from the appeal in her
eyes. Tension gripped him. For some reason, he knew this decision
would be a turning point in his life. He should say no and deny her
what she so badly wanted, just as she had denied him all those
years ago. But he was a man who wasn’t used to denying himself
anything. And right now, he desperately wanted her.

Keeping his voice even he said, “I’ve
explained the terms of my wager. Do you think I was joking? If I
win the tournament, you must agree to become my lover for as long
as I desire it of you.”

Before she could bat it away, a rush of
excitement flared and skittered through her body. His lover!
Something she’d forever longed to become. Her heart thudding,
Sabine swallowed the urge to willingly agree to his request. She
had others to think of, her son for one. One of the reasons she had
sought out Marcus was she’d thought he’d not want anything from
her. She had hoped he’d agree to help her because of her father.
However, she’d never dreamed he’d want her in his bed as he had no
trouble finding willing lovers.

It truly appeared he was a man who did not
overlook slights and she’d more than slighted him. She’d cut him to
the bone.

“Well?” he asked the menace evident in his
tone. It was a challenge of sorts and one that would reveal just
how desperate for his help she was.

“I thought you despised me. I cannot believe
you want me in your bed?”

He held her stare and his mouth curved into
a cruel smile. “I do despise you, but…” and he let his eyes roam
insolently over her clothing as if stripping her bare, “I’m also a
man and as I said, I want what you dangled before me and teased me
with all those years ago. I’m sure once I’ve had you I’ll soon
forget you. As easily as I forget every other woman I’ve ever slept
with.”