Seduced by a Scoundrel - By Barbara Dawson Smith Page 0,53
his social-climbing ambitions. Besides, she had sworn to deny him his rights as a husband, and for a reason aside from his unsuitable character. It was best that she never bear children. No matter how much she craved a son or daughter to love, she must not risk having a child who might inherit Mama’s weakness of mind.
And yet as they left for the party, her heart still ached for the girl who had dreamed of love and a family of her own.
* * *
“Gerald?” Alicia said in astonishment.
Stopping with Drake and Sarah on the steps to the Cuthberts’ stone mansion, she stared at her brother. He rode on horseback, bypassing the long procession of carriages waiting to discharge their noble occupants. Strains of music drifted from inside the house, and the torches along the drive cast a golden glow over the young earl. Looking uncommonly smart in a peacock-green coat and yellow knee breeches, he swung down from his mount and handed the reins to a waiting groom.
“Let’s hope no one tosses a tomato at me for cutting in line,” he said, grinning as he made a bow to the ladies. “Ali. And Your Grace of Featherstone, is it?”
“Why, is this the little brat who dared to spy on his sister and her friend?” Sarah said, her eyes glinting in the torchlight. “I daresay you’ve grown a bit since then.”
“Tell that to Ali,” Gerald said on a dramatic sigh. “She would have me still confined to the nursery, well away from this glorious event.”
Alicia barely heard their exchange. Her gaze was fixed on the sleek reddish mare that a groom led away by the reins.
Heedless of the scandalous stares from the arriving guests, she picked up her hem and dashed after the groom. She took hold of the bridle and stroked the horse’s neck. Those liquid brown eyes held a spark of recognition, and the velvety mouth nuzzled her, looking for a treat. “Pet,” Alicia murmured. “I’m so happy to see you again.”
Dazed with delight, she returned to her party. “Oh, Ger. You didn’t tell me about Pet. However did you manage to get her back?”
Her brother shrugged. “The feisty old girl kept tossing Chesterfield. So I persuaded him to give her up.”
“You returned the two hundred guineas?”
“More or less.”
The answer might have satisfied her had she not intercepted a telling glance between the two men. Then Drake turned to her. “Come,” he said. “There’ll be time later to chat.”
Prodded by suspicion, Alicia took his arm as they joined the elegant throng gliding up the steps. Gerald and Sarah led the way through the opened front doors, past the poker-stiff footmen standing at attention, and into an enormous entrance hall crowded with guests. They joined a receiving line wending toward their host and hostess, who were stationed by the grand staircase.
A multifacted crystal chandelier sparkled like a thousand stars. Enormous vases of lilies perfumed the air. The hum of genteel conversation echoed to the vaulted ceiling. Sarah and Gerald walked ahead, engrossed in teasing each other like brother and sister.
Alicia seized the chance to interrogate her husband. “Tell me,” she murmured for his ears alone. “Have you encouraged Gerald to gamble again?”
He raised an eyebrow in the perfect imitation of innocence. “Of course I haven’t.”
“Well, I don’t believe for a moment that Viscount Chesterfield would give up Pet unless it was worth his while. He’s coveted the mare for years. So where did Gerald procure the additional funds?”
Drake shrugged. “I heard he found employment.”
“Fiddle-faddle,” she said under her breath, fixing a smile on her face for the benefit of anyone who might be watching. Gerald claimed to have procured a post in a financial institution, but he had refused to elaborate. She suspected he was too proud to admit he labored for a pittance as a lowly bank clerk. “He cannot squander two hundred guineas on a horse. How will he pay his bills?”
“You needn’t mollycoddle him. That is his concern, not yours.”
“It is my concern,” she hissed. “He’s my brother. Not that you could ever understand the close ties of family.”
The moment the words were out, she regretted that last remark. It was unkind and uncivil. Regardless of Drake’s provocation.
An unreadable darkness flickered in his eyes. “I’ll tell you, then,” he said, crowding closer to her, “if only to cease your badgering. I gave him the funds.” He bared his teeth in a smile. “So that no one would think ill of me for allowing my brother-in-law to