Almost Heaven Part 27

It was all sweetly, poignantly familiar; they'd played this same scene two years ago, only then it had ended wrong. Tonight Elizabeth intended that it would end as it should have, and she didn't care a whit about any other reason for being here. The things he had said to her yesterday, the husky sound of his voice, the way he held her-they were like sweet music playing through her heart. He was daring and bold and pa.s.sionate-he had always been those things -and Elizabeth was mightily tired of being fearful and prim and logical.

Ian's thoughts were also on the last time he'd watched her enter a ballroom-that is, they had been until he got a clear look at her and logical thinking fled his mind. The Elizabeth Cameron coming down the steps and pa.s.sing within a few yards of him was not the beautiful girl in blue of two years ago.

A breathtaking vision in emerald silk, she was too exquisite to be flesh and blood; too regal and aloof to have ever let. him touch her. He drew a long, strangled breath and realized he hadn't been breathing as he watched her. Neither had the four men beside him. "Good Lord," Count Dillard breathed, turning clear around and staring at her, "she cannot possibly be real."

"Exactly my thoughts when I first saw her," Roddy Carstairs averred, walking up behind them.

"I don't care what gossip says," Dillard continued, so besotted with her face that he forgot that one of the men in their circle was a part of that gossip. "I want an introduction."

He handed his gla.s.s to Roddy instead of the servant beside him and went off to seek an introduction from Jordan Townsende.

Watching him, it took a physical effort for Ian to maintain his carefully bland expression, tear his gaze from Dillard's back, and pay attention to Roddy Carstairs, who'd just greeted him. In fact, it took several moments before Ian could even remember his name. "How are you, Carstairs?" Ian said, finally recollecting it.

"Besotted, like half the males in here, it would seem," Roddy replied, tipping his head toward Elizabeth but scrutinizing Ian's bland face and annoyed eyes. "In fact, I'm so besotted that for the second time in my jaded career I've done the gallant for a damsel in distress. Your damsel, unless my intuition deceives me, and it never does, actually."

Ian lifted his gla.s.s to his lips, watching Dillard bow to Elizabeth. "You'll have to be more specific," he said impatiently.

"Specifically, I've been saying that in my august opinion no one, but no one, has ever besmirched that exquisite creature. Including you." Hearing him talk about Elizabeth as if she were a morsel for public delectation sent a blaze of fury through Ian.

He was spared having to form a reply to Carstairs's remark by the arrival of yet another group of people eager to be introduced to him, and he endured, as he had been enduring all night, a flurry of curtsies, flirtatious smiles, inviting glances, and overeager handshakes and bows.

"How does it feel," Roddy inquired as that group departed and another bore down on Ian, "to have become, overnight, England's most eligible bachelor?"

Ian answered him and abruptly walked off, and in so doing dashed the hopes of the new group that had been heading toward him. The gentleman beside Roddy, who'd been admiring Ian's magnificently tailored claret jacket and trousers, leaned closer to Roddy and raised his voice to be heard above the din. "I say, Roddy, how did Kensington say it feels to be our most eligible?"

Roddy lowered his gla.s.s, a sardonic smile twisting his lips. "He said it is a pain in the a.s.s." He slid a sideways glance at his staggered companion and added wryly, "With Hawthorne wed and Kensington soon to be-in my opinion the only remaining bachelor with a dukedom to offer is Clayton Westmoreland. Given the uproar Hawthorne and Kensington have both created with their courtships, one can only look forward with glee to observing Westmoreland's."

It took Ian twenty minutes to walk ten yards to his grandfather because he was interrupted at every step by someone else curtsying to him or insisting on a friendly word.

He spent the next hour on the same dance floor where Elizabeth danced with her own partners, and Ian realized she was now nearly as sought-after as he was. As the evening wore on, and he watched her laughing with her partners or listening to the compliments they lavished on her, he noted that while he found b.a.l.l.s occasionally amusing but usually boring, Elizabeth thrived in their setting. She belonged here, he realized; this was the world, the setting where Elizabeth glowed and sparkled and reigned like a young queen. It was the world she obviously loved. Not once since she'd arrived had he seen her so much as glance his way, even though his gaze had constantly strayed to her. Which, he realized grimly as the time finally came to claim her for his waltz, put him among the majority of the men in the room. Like him, they were watching her, their eyes acquisitive, thoughtful.

In keeping with the farce he was forced to play, Ian approached the group around the Townsendes and went to Jordan first, who was standing between his wife and Elizabeth. After giving Ian a look of amused understanding Jordan dutifully turned aside to draw Elizabeth from her crowd of admirers into their own circle. "Lady Cameron," he said, playing his role with elan as he nodded toward Ian. "You recall our friend Lord Thornton, Marquess of Kensington, I hope?"

The radiant smile Elizabeth bestowed on Ian was not at all what the dowager had insisted ought to be "polite but impartial." It wasn't quite like any smile she'd ever given him. "Of course I remember you, my lord," Elizabeth said to Ian, graciously offering him her hand.

"I believe this waltz is mine," he said for the benefit of Elizabeth's avidly interested admirers. He waited until they were near the dancers, then he tried to sound more pleasant. "You seem to be enjoying yourself tonight."

"I am," she said idly, but when she looked up at his face she saw the coolness in his eyes; with her new understanding of her own feelings, she understood his more easily. A soft, knowing smile touched her lips as the musicians struck up a waltz; it stayed in her heart as Ian's arm slid around her waist, and his left hand closed around her fingers, engulfing them.

Overhead" hundred thousand candles burned in crystal chandeliers, but Elizabeth was back in a moonlit arbor long ago. Then as now, Ian moved to the music with effortless ease. That lovely waltz had begun something that had ended wrong, terribly wrong. Now, as she danced in his arms, she could make this waltz end much differently, and she knew it; the knowledge filled her with pride and a twinge of nervousness. She waited, expecting him to say something tender, as he had the last time.

"Belhaven's been devouring you with his eyes all night," Ian said instead. "So have half the men in this ballroom. For a country that prides itself on its delicate manners. they sure as h.e.l.l don't extend to admiring beautiful women."

That, Elizabeth thought with a startled inner smile, was not the opening she'd been waiting for. With his current mood, Elizabeth realized, she was going to have to make her own opening. Lifting her eyes to his enigmatic golden ones, she said quietly, "Ian, have you ever wanted something very badly-something that was within your grasp-and yet you were afraid to reach out for it?"

Surprised by her grave question and her use of his name, Ian tried to ignore the jealousy that had been eating at him all night. "No," he said, scrupulously keeping the curtness from his voice as he gazed down at her alluring face. "Why do you ask? Is there something you want?"

Her gaze fell from his, and she nodded at his frilled white shirtfront.

"What is it you want?" "You."

Ian's breath froze in his chest, and he stared down at her l.u.s.trous hair. "What did you just say?"

She raised her eyes to his. "I said I want you, only I'm afraid that I-"

Ian's heart slammed into his chest, and his fingers dug reflexively into her back, starting to pull her to him. "Elizabeth." he said in a strained voice, glancing a little wildly at their avidly curious audience and resisting the impossible impulse to take her out onto the balcony, "why in G.o.d's name would you say a thing like that to me when we're in the middle of a d.a.m.ned dance floor in a crowded ballroom?"

Her radiant smile widened. "I thought it seemed like exactly the right place," she told him, watching his eyes darken with desire.

"Because it's safer?" Ian asked in disbelief, meaning safer from his ardent reaction.

"No, because this is how it all began two years ago. We were in the arbor, and a waltz was playing," she reminded him needlessly. "And you came up behind me and said, 'Dance with me, Elizabeth'. And-and I did," she said, her voice trailing off at the odd expression darkening his eyes. "Remember?" she added shakily when he said absolutely nothing.

His gaze held hers, and his voice was tender and rough. "Love me, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth felt a tremor run through her entire body, but she looked at him without flinching. "I do."

The waltz was dwindling away, and with a supreme effort he let her go. They walked through the crowd together, smiling politely at people who intercepted them without the slightest idea of anything that was said. When they neared the Townsendes' group Ian delayed her with a touch of his hand. "There's something I've wanted to tell you," he said. Scrupulously keeping up appearances, he reached out to take a drink from a tray being pa.s.sed by a servant, using that to cover their having stopped. "I would have told you before, but until now you would have questioned my motives and not believed me."

Elizabeth nodded graciously to a woman who greeted her, then she slowly reached for the gla.s.s, listening to him as he quietly said, "I never told your brother I didn't want to wed you."

Her hand stayed, then she took the gla.s.s from him and walked beside him as they made their slowest possible way back to their friends. "Thank you," she said softly, pausing to sip from her gla.s.s in another delaying tactic. "There's one more thing," he added irritably. "What's that?" she asked.

"I hate this d.a.m.n ball. I'd give half what I own to be anywhere else with you."

To his surprise, his thrifty fiancee nodded complete agreement. "So would I."

"Half!" he chided, grinning at her in complete defiance of the rules of propriety. "Really?"

"Well-at least a fourth," she amended helplessly, giving him her hand for the obligatory kiss as she reached for her skirts, preparing to curtsy.

"Don't you dare curtsy to me," he warned in a laughing underbreath, kissing her gloved fingers. "Everywhere I go women are falling to the floor like collapsing rigging on a ship."

Elizabeth's shoulders shook with mirth as she disobediently sank into a deep throne-room curtsy that was a miracle of grace and exaggeration. Above her she heard his throaty chuckle.

In an utter turnabout of his earlier feelings, Ian suddenly decided this ball was immensely enjoyable. With perfect equanimity he danced with enough old and respected pillars of the ton to ensure that he was guaranteed to be regarded as a perfectly acceptable escort for Elizabeth later on. In the entire endless evening his serenity received a jolt only a few times. The first was when someone who didn't know who he was confided that only two months ago Lady Elizabeth's uncle had sent out invitations to all her former suitors offering her hand in marriage.

Suppressing his shock and loathing for her uncle, Ian had pinned an amused smile on his face and confided, "I'm acquainted with the lady's uncle, and I regret to say he's a little mad. As you know, that sort of thing runs," Ian had finished smoothly, "in our finest families." The reference to England's hopeless King George was unmistakable, and the man had laughed uproariously at the joke. "True," he agreed. "Lamentably true." Then he went off to spread the word that Elizabeth's uncle was a confirmed loose screw.

Ian's method of dealing with Sir Francis Belhaven-who, his grandfather had discovered, was boasting that Elizabeth had spent several days with him-was less subtle and even more effective. "Belhaven," Ian said after spending a half hour searching for the repulsive knight.

The stout man had whirled around in surprise, leaving his acquaintances straining to hear Ian's low conversation with him. "I find your presence repugnant," Ian had said in a dangerously quiet voice. "I dislike your coat, I dislike your shirt, and I dislike the knot in your neckcloth. In fact, I dislike you. Have I offended you enough yet, or shall I continue?"

Belhaven's mouth dropped open, his pasty face turning a deathly gray. "Are-are you trying to force a-duel?"

"Normally one doesn't bother shooting a repulsive toad, but in this instance I'm prepared to make an exception, since this toad doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut'"

"A duel, with you?" he gasped. "Why, it would be no contest-none at all. Everyone knows what sort of marks-man you are. It would be murder."

Ian leaned close, speaking between his clenched teeth. "It's going to be murder. you miserable little opium-eater, unless you suddenly remember very vocally that you've been joking about Elizabeth Cameron's visit."

At the mention of opium the gla.s.s slid from his fingers and crashed to the floor. "I have just realized I was joking."

"Good," Ian said, restraining the urge to strangle him. "Now start remembering it allover this ballroom'"

"Now that, Thornton," said an amused voice from Ian's shoulder as Belhaven scurried off to begin doing as bidden. "makes me hesitate to say that he is not lying." Still angry with Belhaven, Ian turned in surprise to see John Marchman standing there. "She was with me as well," Marchman said "All aboveboard, for G.o.d's sake, so don't look at me like I'm Belhaven. Her aunt Berta was there every moment."

"Her what?" Ian said. caught between fury and amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Her Aunt Berta. Stout little woman who doesn't say much."

"See that you follow her example," Ian warned darkly. John Marchman, who had been privileged to fish at Ian's marvelous stream in Scotland. gave his friend an offended look. "I daresay you've no business challenging my honor. I was considering marrying Elizabeth to keep her out of Belhaven's clutches; you were only going to shoot him. It seems to me that my sacrifice was-"

"You were what?" Ian said, feeling as if he'd walked in on a play in the middle of the second act and couldn't seem to hold onto the thread of the plot or the ident.i.ty of the players.

"Her uncle turned me down. Got a better offer." "Your life will be more peaceful. believe me," Ian said dryly, and he left to find a footman with a tray of drinks.

The last encounter was one Ian enjoyed, because Elizabeth was with him after they'd had their second-and last permissible-dance. Viscount Mondevale had approached them with Valerie hanging on his arm, and the rest of their group fanned around them. The sight of the young woman who'd caused them both so much pain evoked almost as much ire in Ian as the sight of Mondevale watching Elizabeth like a lovelorn swain.

"Mondevale," Ian had said curtly, feeling the tension in Elizabeth's fingers when she looked at Valerie, "I applaud your taste. I'm certain Miss Jamison will make you a fine wife, if you ever get up the spine to ask her. If you do, however, take my advice, and hire her a tutor, because she can't write and she can't spell." Transferring his blistering gaze to the gaping young woman, Ian clipped, "'Greenhouse' has a 'u' in it. Shall I spell 'malice' for you as well?"

"Ian," Elizabeth chided gently as they walked away. "It doesn't matter anymore." She looked up at him and smiled, and Ian grinned back at her. Suddenly he felt completely in harmony with the world.

The feeling was so lasting that he managed to endure the remaining three weeks-with all the requisite social and courtship rituals and betrothal formalities-with equanimity while he mentally marked off each day before he could make her his and join his starving body with hers.

With a polite smile on his face Ian appeared at teas and mentally composed letters to his secretary; he sat through the opera and slowly undressed her in his mind; he endured eleven Venetian breakfasts where he mentally designed an entirely new kind of mast for his fleet of ships; he escorted her to eighteen b.a.l.l.s and politely refrained from acting out his recurring fantasy of dismembering the fops who cl.u.s.tered around her, eyeing her lush curves and mouthing plat.i.tudes to her.

It was the longest three weeks of his life. It was the shortest three weeks of hers.

Chapter 28.

Nervous and happy, Elizabeth stood before the full-length mirror in her bedchamber on Promenade Street while Alexandra sat upon the bed" smiling at her and at four of the maids Ian had sent over to help her dress and do her packing. "Excuse me, milady," another maid said from the doorway, "Bentner said to tell you that Mr. Wordsworth is here and insists he must see you at once, even though we explained it is your wedding day."

"I'll be right down," Elizabeth said, already looking around for a dressing robe that would be acceptable apparel for greeting a male caller.

"Who is Wordsworth?" Alex asked, frowning a little at the idea of Elizabeth being interrupted in her bridal preparations.

"The investigator I hired to try to discover what has happened to Robert."

Wordsworth was prowling anxiously across the carpet, his hat in his hand, when Elizabeth stepped into the little salon. "I'm sorry to disturb you on your wedding day," he began, "but in truth, that is the very reason for my urgency. I think you ought to close the door," he added.

Elizabeth reached out a hand that was suddenly shaking and closed the door.

"Lady Cameron." he said in a worried voice, "I have reason to think your future husband could be involved in your brother's disappearance."

Elizabeth sank down on the sofa. "That is-is preposterous. " she stated shakily. "Why would you say such a thing?"

He turned from the window and faced her. "Are you aware that Ian Thornton dueled with your brother only a week before Robert disappeared?"

"Oh, that!" Elizabeth said with relief. "Yes, I am. But no real harm was done."

"On the contrary, Thornton-er...Kensington-took a ball in the arm."

"Yes, I know."

"Did you also know your brother fired before the call to fire was given?"

"Yes. "

"For now, it is important that you consider the mood that must have put Kensington in. He was caused pain by a dishonest act on your brother's part, and that in itself could be reason for him to seek retribution."

"Mr. Wordsworth," Elizabeth said with a faint smile, "if Ian-Lord Kensington-had wanted some sort of violent retribution, which I think is what you're implying. he'd have gotten it on that dueling field. He is an extraordinary marksman. He didn't, however," she continued, carried away with her loyal defense of Ian, "because he does not believe in dueling to the death over personal disagreements'"

"Really," said Wordsworth with unhidden sarcasm. "Really," Elizabeth averred implacably. "Lord Thornton told me that himself, and I have reason to know it's true," she added, thinking of the way he'd declined Lord Everly's challenge when Everly called Ian a card cheat.

"And I have reason to know," Wordsworth said with equal implacability, '"that the Scotsman you're marrying" -he loaded the word with all the scathing scorn many English felt for their "inferior" counterparts-"hasn't a qualm about taking a man's life in a duel."

"I don't-"

"He's killed at least five that I know of for certain."

Elizabeth swallowed. "I'm certain he had-had just cause, and that-that the duel was fair."

"If that is what you wish to believe. . . however, there is more."

Elizabeth felt her palms grow moist. Half of her wanted to get up and leave. and the other half was paralyzed. "What do you mean?"

"Let us remember, if you please, what we already know. Thornton was wounded and undoubtedly-even justifiably -furious at your brother's jumping the call to fire."

"I know that. . . at least, I'm willing to accept it. It makes sense."

"And did you also know, my lady, that three days after your brother's unsuccessful attempt to kill Thornton in a duel your brother tried again-this time on Marblemarle Road?"

Elizabeth slowly stood up. "You're wrong! How could you know such a thing? Why would Robert suddenly decide to . . ." Her voice trailed off. Three days after their duel Viscount Mondevale had withdrawn his offer, and with it all hope of financial reprieve for Robert and herself, and her brother had vanished.

"I know it because with the information you gave me I have been systematically re-creating every move your brother made during the week of his disappearance. It is standard procedure to go backward in time in order to pick up the threads that lead us forward through the mystery. Three days after his duel your brother spent the afternoon in the Knightbridge Club, where he became foxed and began talking about wanting to kill Thornton. He borrowed a carriage from an acquaintance and said he was going looking for his prey. I was able to ascertain that his 'prey' was in London that day, and that he left in the late afternoon for Derbyshire, which would have meant he took Marblemarle Road. Since he would have had to change horses somewhere on the road, we began checking with the posting houses to discover if anyone meeting Thornton's or your brother's description could be recalled. We had luck at the Black Boar; the posting boy there remembered Thornton well because he gave him half a crown. What he also remembered. very fully, was a hole near the window of Thornton's coach and his conversation with Thornton's coachman, who was shaken up enough to talk about how the hole came to be there. It seems there had been an altercation a few miles back in which a man bearing Robert's description-a man Thornton told him was Robert Cameron-had ridden out on the road and tried to shoot Thornton through the window.

"Two days later your brother spoke of what he had done to cronies of his at the Knightbridge. He claimed that Thornton had ruined you and him, and that he would die before Thornton got away with it. According to one of Thornton's grooms, that very night your brother again rode out of the darkness and accosted Thornton on the road to London. This time, your brother shot him in the shoulder. Thornton managed to subdue him with his fists, but your brother fled on horseback. Since Thornton couldn't pursue him through the woods in his coach, your brother made good his escape. The next day, however, after leaving his club, your brother abruptly disappeared. He left everything behind in his rooms, you said. His clothes, his personal effects, everything. What does all this say to you, Lady Cameron?" he asked abruptly.

Elizabeth swallowed again, refusing to let herself think beyond what she knew. "It says that Robert was obsessed with avenging me, and that his methods were-were not exactly-well, aboveboard."

"Has Thornton never mentioned this to you?" Shaking her head, Elizabeth added defensively, "Robert is something of a sore subject between us. We don't discuss him."