The Last Riders: Winter's Touch Part 26

"You had better not kick, either, Pembridge. How she does anything is none of your affair, but she is not what you are intimating. I suggest you abandon your misguided suspicions of Lady Dumonte."

The clear warning had Nick pausing to study his friend. "Sound advice, Your Grace. I do believe I shall keep my feet under me at all times." Nick smiled, then bent in a slight bow. "If you will excuse me, I am off to lay our investigation and hard work at Lady Dumonte's feet... gentlemanly."

Nick wasn't sure if the duke was protecting him or Lady Dumonte with that threat. Bearn was a good friend to both, which was how Nick a.s.sumed he had received an invitation and why Bearn refused to take no for an answer. The duke was a royal pain in the a.r.s.e when it came to savoir vivre, and apparently, if Nick had refused the invitation, he would have been doing it wrong.

Nick had taken his fair share of risks. He had spent some years at war and a decade spying for the good of England, not to mention his own pockets. He knew he was close to solving this b.l.o.o.d.y case, but he must stay close to the target, which was undoubtedly a member of the ton. If she decided to give him the boot, though, the case might very well be lost. It was a risk he would not choose to take.

Nick swallowed a frustrated growl. He would make it quick, like jumping in a cold pond to save a clumsy puppy. Jump in, rescue his last five years' worth of work, and get the h.e.l.l out.

The ballroom was double the size of the sports field at Eton. At least, it felt that way to Nick. Guests mingled along the walls, and a group of quite enthusiastic dancers pranced in the middle. It caused Nick to take twice as long as he had antic.i.p.ated to get to where Lady Dumonte stood, speaking to Lady Juliette. Or rather, she was speaking to Lady Juliette.

By the time Nick arrived, Lady Juliette had gone.

"Lady Dumonte." Nick smiled as he bowed over her hand and left a kiss in the air above her knuckles.

"Welcome, my lord," she greeted, then gestured onwards. "Shall we?"

Nick managed a smile and a nod, expertly hiding his inward groan as he offered his arm.

They silently began a slow migration through the throng. He usually enjoyed social engagements, but this was an absolute crush. There were multiple times already when he had narrowly avoided a collision with a stray dancer.

Within seconds of their stroll, the first strokes of a waltz picked up. Two by two, the outside ring they were sluggishly weaving through cleared as the couples were eager to take part in the intimate dance.

Nick felt the air from the terraces now for the first time. The walkway, created by the line of chairs against the wall to one side and a row of drapes and pillars to the other, was now an open path for them to leisurely stroll.

Nick's lips twitched as he turned to the lady ambling confidently at his side. "Lady Dumonte, I had not thought you one to render punishment on the unsuspecting, but I dare to say you knew our walk would be unimpeded yet thought to make me agonize."

She was silent, but he could see her lips turn up.

"Well, I forgive you," he went on. "My suffering was great, but I forgive you, if only because I expect you to do the same for me should I require forgiveness."

"That sounds reasonable," she demurred, graciously going along with his ridiculous logic.

Now that the air had cleared with most of the bodies gliding across the dance floor, Nick began to catch the scent of her perfume. It took him a moment to identify it or, more aptly, to realize he couldn't. It was like a spring garden after a rain: fresh and floral, but not overpoweringly so. The scents that filled the ballroom-other than sweat and fabric-were rose, jasmine, sandalwood, and the occasional clove. Hers was a refreshing change.

"Your eye for design is remarkable," Nick complimented as they pa.s.sed one of the pillars.

He meant it. Her skill rivaled his own.

"Thank you," she answered simply.

"Did you study the skill?" he asked, determined to get her talking.

"No, I merely have taste."

"Undoubtedly," he muttered.

Nick had used those very words when asked the same question. It was usually punctuated with a veiled insult to the inquirer's mother, because the question itself was more often than not a jab at his masculinity or an accusation of the lack thereof.

"In fact," Nick went on, undaunted, "some may be here solely to observe your talent. It is known you set the trend for all of Europe. Gad, there must be over two hundred gawking in this room alone."

Lady Dumonte continued her leisurely gait beside him in silence. She had not looked at him since they had started walking, and it was strangely unnerving.

"It must be rather embarra.s.sing," he went on with raised brows, "to smile at one's beloved. The poor lad might receive several propositions by the end of the evening." Nick chuckled quietly. "One could only hope the lady would be forgiving."

Nick slanted an a.s.sessing glance at her, but her expression was stoic. Today was not his day for getting people to talk, it seemed.

"Speaking of misinterpretations and forgiveness, I am afraid I was a lad who was too cautious. I certainly did not intend to slight you. Naturally, I a.s.sumed your attention was for the duke."

"So, you wish to be certain I was not offended by your accidental slight," she confirmed.

"Just so. How was I to believe such a lovely creature would notice me?" he asked, the glint of amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes belying his beseeching expression. "Had I realized, I might have fallen instantly in love with you, and what a scandal that would cause! Then where would we be?"

One ebony brow winged up. "You were obviously on the guest list," she reminded him coolly. "Tell me, do you think me a woman of poor manners or poor memory?"

Nick's amus.e.m.e.nt faded. "Neither, I a.s.sure you," he answered. "I am a good friend of the Duc de Bearn as well as his business a.s.sociate. I a.s.sumed he procured my invitation. A plus one, you might say. I cannot imagine you writing my name on an invitation."

"Perhaps you think me prejudiced against the English? Is that why you think I would not have invited you?" Now both brows were furrowed in the most delicate of black looks. "Even had I lost someone in the war, my lord, I could not very well blame you. I doubt you have ever stepped foot on a battlefield, and politics is a tricky skill to master."

Nick's brow knit as the insult hit its mark. "You do me an injustice. I meant only that, because of my reputation, I am not a popular guest to some moral and principled crowds." At least one or two had refused to extend him invitations in Paris, believing him a veritable Sade.

They obviously had never met either him or Sade.

"No, you are not," she agreed. She stopped, turning to face him fully as they entered the alcove behind one of the large pillars. "I doubt anyone would be with your social inept.i.tude and complete lack of morals."

Apparently, Lady Dumonte was one of those who confused him with Sade.

Nick took a deep breath and stepped toward her. "My social habits were accepted just swimmingly before you decided to crusade against living, my lady."

"You call ruining a woman's life living? I call it dishonorable, despicable, and completely unacceptable for society." Her eyes flashed behind the calm faade, but still, she stepped back when he advanced, keeping at least two steps between them until she was backed against the pillar.

He had apologized, spouted ridiculous compliments, and nearly walked a marathon around the ballroom with her. What more did the woman want? Should he beg on one knee and recite poetry?

Nick leaned to look around the three-foot wide pillar. She had inadvertently stepped back between the drapes. Now she was cornered between the pillar, the drapes, and him. If anyone happened to walk behind the pillar, it would look as though he had trapped her there. If it hit the papers, he would either be run out of Paris or locked up in an asylum.

Nick had never been fond of asylums. They were cold and dark, and they always smelled as atrocious as their century-old decor. Along with all that, one must not forget the lunatics who might stick a knitting needle in one's neck at any moment.

Nick shuddered.

He wanted to turn around and never step foot in this house again, but if he did, he would be leaving much more than this ballroom. He would be leaving Paris, his mission. She would destroy any chance he had at gaining entrance into Parisian high society, and his investigation would be over.

It was worth a short stint in an asylum to keep any more children from being taken.

He took another step, closing in what little s.p.a.ce was left and completely disappearing behind the drapes.

Little wrinkles appeared between her eyebrows.

"Ruining a woman's life is dishonorable, despicable, and completely unacceptable for society," he repeated her words back to her. "I agree with you on that point. I have never left any woman ruined, only satisfied."

Nick waited for her to reply, but she turned her face away from him.

He c.o.c.ked his head to catch her attention again, and let out a frustrated breath when she still wouldn't face him.

Back to the silent treatment, was she?

"Is it such a crime to have cared for the natural hungers women are forced by society to ignore?"

He appreciated a well-behaved lady as much as the next gentleman, but the cost of one liaison was too harsh and wholly unfair. He had always taken great pains to keep his mistresses a secret for that very reason unless she had no reputation to lose, or the entire point of the affair was to create a scandal.

"Love is as natural as breath," he muttered. He wished he could capture the feeling and implant it into her frozen heart so she could understand. "If anything is right in this world, it is lying in a tangle of sheets, hot and perspiring from exertion, satisfied and spent from hours of pleasure. Bodies still tingling and trembling, drifting off to the most tranquil slumber you have ever known with a lover in your arms, languid and content. Ah, my lady. None hath lived who hath not yet loved."

Her eyes widened and focused on him, her lips pressed in a thin line.

He couldn't make her understand a feeling. He would have to appeal to her intellect.

"How many of your ladies dancing in this very room do you suppose have lovers? Ten? Twenty?" His brows lifted in inquiry. "I would say fifty, at least. I wonder what they would think if their lovers were suddenly absent from their boudoirs. How quickly would they turn on the one who chased them away?"

She glanced away again, but not before he saw her mind working. He was getting to her.

Bracing his hand on the pillar behind her, he leaned in, his breath stirring the small hairs curling around her ear that had somehow gotten free from their pins. "Think of yourself, love.

"This decorous ballroom's a chessboard, 'Tis naught but a game we play.

Your guests, being pieces you strike with, Could easily win this day.

But know this battleground's a crossfire, Both parties will suffer pain.

You will worry your pieces conspire, And I shall ne'er be seen again.

Still, there is time for amity, Aye, a chance for peace, For this sinner seeks your pity, and your soul begs release."

His lips brushed her ear to whisper the last line before moving away. Gad, but she smelled marvelous.

The touch was made to seem like an accident, but nothing Nick did was an accident. Usually.

Obviously, he was not great at pulling sonnets out of thin air. Though, the sonnet being subpar was more an unfortunate side effect of poor planning than an accident.

He stepped back a few inches and tilted his head to see her eyes, which were squinting at the floor-not exactly the reaction he had been expecting. That heady, half-sleeping look was probably too much to ask for, and a slap to the face, while most probable, would be highly undesirable.

The expression he received when she finally did look up at him was more of utter shock and incredulity.

Good Lord, he had charmed her stupid. Perhaps a sonnet had been a bad idea, even a poorly thought-out one. All he had wanted to do was explain that he wasn't her enemy, and she was more than likely upsetting a fair amount of her fellow Parisian elite.

He studied the wide eyes looking up at him, noticing the specks of green in their honey-brown depths. They were intelligent eyes, framed by long, dark lashes, settled perfectly over a small, refined nose and a set of full lips.

His eyes dropped to her lips. How easy it would be to sneak a kiss in this little alcove. He could wrap his arms around those slender curves and feel her pressed against him. The only person to know would be Lady Dumonte.

That thought was like taking a much-needed bucket of ice water to the groin, bucket and all.

He straightened and took a full step back. Twice. He was now completely viewable by at least a small portion of the room.

"The only reputation I have ever ruined is my own," Nick said, hoping to snap her out of it so he could save himself and get the h.e.l.l out of there. "Your innocent lambs are safe from me."

"That-that was a poem," she stated, watching him with that disturbing expression.

"Are you not fond of poems, Lady Dumonte?"

Had he truly just waxed poetic to Lady Dumonte, the woman bent on destroying every rake in Paris? Had he completely lost his mind?

"You called me 'love.'"

Oh, dear.

"Part of the poem," he lied casually. "If I were truly a devil, I would call you 'my sweet' and 'blossom.'"

She shook her head slightly. "It was not a full sonnet. You are missing the last two lines," she pointed out matter-of-factly. "Though your voice rumbles so smoothly at that volume one almost forgets to count."

"Is that so?" he asked with a knit brow, unwilling to believe his ears.

"Mm." She nodded. "And when your breath warms the ear, it is extremely difficult to concentrate."

"Uh-huh." Now it was Nick's turn for incredulousness. At least he managed to cover it with a wobbly smile as he took another step away from her.

Scoundrel or no, being alone with that woman for too long would drive any man to deplorable acts of depravity... or homicide.

Perhaps he could just make her disappear. Surely, she had done something heinous in her lifetime. Starved helpless children. Trampled old men with her carriage. Drowned puppies whilst laughing maniacally. Or who knew, maybe she was the blackguard he had been looking for this whole time. He doubted it, though.

The waltz ended seconds after he had stepped away from her, and the guests were now shuffling back. They filed in around the pillars, chairs, and refreshments, brushing by him on their way.

With a sizable audience now at hand, he managed the few steps required for a normal speaking distance with the woman who, for some strange reason, was still standing between the confounded drapes.

"I am afraid I must go." He smiled apologetically. Before stress drives me to strangle either you or myself. "'Twas lovely, Lady Dumonte. Good evening." He bowed over her hand.

"What? You have given up so soon?"

His jaw tensed. "Pardon?"

"What a cream puff," she muttered, a half smile pulling at one side of her lips.

"A cream-" He blinked, surprised. By gad, the lady was toying with him. "You are, indeed, a cruel woman, my lady."

"How am I to know what kind of a man you are if I do not see how you act under pressure?"

He still couldn't quite believe it, but it was true. The lady had played him for a fool.

"Did I disappoint you?" Nick asked, his brows rising with a reluctant hint of amus.e.m.e.nt.

"No, not really," she mused with a blush so slight Nick almost missed it. "I thought you might try to seduce your way out. Although, I certainly did not expect the desperate attempt at a sonnet."