Chapter Fourteen
Alice walked back into the ball feeling as if she were floating on clouds. Her body felt heavy, full, sleepy, and yet more awake than it ever had before.
A shiver stole over her as she strolled into the supper room. She took a glass of champagne, downed it quickly, before grabbing another. Her body purred with pleasure still, and the thought of Callum’s lips against her breast, the roughness of his unshaven jaw, left her wondering if he’d marked her.
Because he’d certainly marked her in a lot of other ways, ways that deep down in her soul, she wanted to be marked again and again.
Arndel entered the ballroom from the terrace doors, his hair back in place after her hands had messed it up. He pinned her with a hot, intoxicating glance, before moving through the throng and she lost sight of him.
“Lord Arndel seems upset. Did you have a falling out?”
Alice tried to calm her heartbeat that had nothing to do with her mama coming up beside her and startling her. “I don’t believe anything I’ve done has upset his lordship.” If anything, she’d left him in a state of uncomfortable need. For if the hard-as-stone bulge against her sex was anything to go by, he’d not found his own pleasure, only given her hers.
And what a marvelous thing she’d found tonight. After shattering in Callum’s arms, Alice could see why her sisters had been so keen to marry their husbands, especially if one could find such bliss every night. You would be a simpleton indeed, if you remained a spinster for all of your days, having never experienced such resounding, incandescent sensation.
Her mama pulled her toward a group of old cronies who sat watching the dancing, which had recommenced after supper, the lot of them reminding Alice of a pack of wolves watching the lambs at play.
“No, Mama, Lord Arndel and I are not at odds.” Alice looked about the room but could not see him, but she did spy Victoria again, back from checking on her dog and her impending litter of puppies. “I see Victoria is dancing. I did not think she would return to the ball.”
“I had a servant go fetch her. You two are my last unmarried daughters, and I’m determined to find you matches this year.”
Alice didn’t think her sister would find love with her current dance partner. In fact, the grimace on her face that was only thinly veiled by her good breeding, said a lot as to what she thought of her companion.
“Ah, see, Sir Liam is dancing with her now. Doesn’t she look happy, my dear? Maybe she will marry the gentleman. He does seem more enamored of her than he was with you.”
Alice choked a little on her drink. “Such praise, Mama, I’m sure I’m thankful, in any case. I do not wish to pursue Sir Liam. His character reminds me of Lord Riddledale, and look how mad that man turned out to be.”
“No one can be as evil as Riddledale.” Her mama studied her a moment and frowned. “You do look a little flushed, though, my dear. Are you well?”
“I’m perfectly well.” Even if her mind refused to cooperate and calm itself after what Callum had done to her not a half hour before. Alice caught sight of him as the throng shifted and swayed about the room. A horde of young women followed his coattails like a raft of ducklings following their mama. He sipped a glass of champagne, laughing and smiling at their jokes, but even she could not fail to notice his attention kept snapping back to her. They may have been standing right beside one another with the effect his gaze had on her senses. Nerves skittered across her skin, and she longed to return to their veiled garden seat to finish what they’d started.
“Your bodice is all askew,” her mama said, turning her so her back was to the room, and righting the garment. “And your skin is a little blotchy above your breasts. Have you been eating strawberries again? You know they don’t react well with your complexion.”
“I only had one. Cook made them look so delicious dusted with sugar, I couldn’t go past them. I’m sorry.” Thankfully, her mama accepted her fib. Her sister finished her dance and walked away from Sir Liam without a second glance. “I’m going to join Victoria. I will see you later, Mama.”
Her mother’s parting words to have fun met her ears as she made her way across the room. That she could feel Callum’s heated stare also left her steps light and her body singing with new wisdom, and now she had to decide what to do with that insight.
To use it for good or wicked…
…
Callum allowed the chatter of the young ladies, daughters of his neighbors, to wash over him. It was a welcome reprieve to hear the mindless chatter, as it seemed to dissipate his need for Alice Worthingham quite quickly. The little minx currently stood talking with her sister, her sporadic glances his way sending his ardor to rise with each heated glance.
“The Worthingham daughters are beautiful, are they not? You never told me your neighbor the duke had such delectable siblings. I should visit my estate in Surrey more often, if only to bask in their glory.”
Arndel leveled his cousin with a lethal stare. “Pity that the ladies looked less than enthused by your presence, Liam. I hope the observation does not deflate your overly inflated ego. We should hate to see you forlorn.” Sarcasm laced Callum’s words and he turned back to the dancing, hoping his cousin would disappear.
“Do not be fooled by a woman’s tricks, both of them loved the attention I bestowed upon their heads.” The lout brushed off a piece of nonexistent lint from his suit. “Are you opening the London house this Season? The family expects it.”
Arndel could care less what the family expected or what they wished. They had never tended for him or his family, after his mother had married beneath her station. As far as he was concerned, they could hire their own London house and be damned their hope. “I must admit, I’m surprised by such a question. I did not think they paid attention to what I did with either Kester House or the London abode. And, if I remember quite correctly, Grandmother stated I was a blight upon the family name—one she wished she could erase.” Should he even wish to open the house he could not. He paused mid-sip of his whisky. He could rent it out for the Season, though…
Liam smirked and Callum had the urge to knock him onto his pompous ass. If it were not for where they were, it was exactly where the high-handed miscreant would’ve ended. “Grandmother wanted me to ask, and so I have. I can see you still harbor bad feelings toward them all.”
A simmering anger sparked into a flaming temper and Callum fought not to hit him and be dammed where they were. “Grandmother made it perfectly clear, when I came into the title, what they thought of me and my family.” Arndel procured another glass of whisky from a passing footman, downing it in one swallow. “Why are you here, Liam? I certainly do not care for your presence, nor do Lady Alice or Lady Victoria, whom you seem so overwhelmed with. Why don’t you go back to Yorkshire and work on our family kissing your nether regions some more. You’re wasting your time here with me.”
Liam quirked his lips, laughing, and Callum gnashed his teeth. “I shall return soon enough. Perhaps with the delectable Lady Alice on my arm. She is a pretty one, if I may be so bold. Victoria is comely, too, but there is a wildness about Lady Alice that I find most pleasing. I believe she would be a bed mate to rival the best courtesans in London.”
“Watch your bloody mouth. I won’t have you speaking about either woman in such a disrespectful manner.” He looked about, thankful no one was listening. The two ladies were the best of women, always looking out for those less fortunate than themselves. God damn it, they had saved his neck from meeting the hangman’s noose. They had not had to, but had done so, if only for his daughter.
“Ho. Ho. Ho,” Liam said, holding up his hands in surrender. “Why so protective?” The man studied him a moment, before his face cleared with enlightenment. “Ah, so it would seem my older cousin likes one of the Worthingham girls. Oh, how jolly this will make Grandmother. It actually may make her view you more favorably, if you were to marry a woman of such high rank.”
“I will do no such thing, and I would appreciate you not speaking about my life, or those around me, to a family I care nothing about.” And never would, not after how they had cut his mother off without a penny to her name. A woman without family had not an easy life.
Liam grinned. “Give over and tell me what’s going on between you and Lady Alice. I would hate to impinge on your understanding, if there is one.”
Arndel fisted his hands at his sides. “I can assure you there is nothing going on, or ever will be, between Lady Alice Worthingham and myself.” Not that he didn’t wish for there to be. Already, not an hour since he’d held her in his arms, he again wished to hold her, watch her eyes darken with need, whisper his name on her lips. Alice had haunted his dreams for months, and now, after what they’d done tonight, his dreams would be nightmares. With every waking moment, she heated his blood in more ways than he ever thought possible, and that he respected and admired her made the emotion all the more fierce.
“Really,” Liam replied, disbelief painting his tone. “From the impassioned looks that are passing between the two of you, something is.” His cousin tapped his chin. “I wonder if it has anything to do with when you disappeared at supper, along with the delectable Lady Alice. I hope you’ve been behaving yourself, my lord. The family would dislike it very much if you fathered another child out of wedlock.”
“Amelia is no bastard, and should you state such a fact again, I’ll bloody your nose here and now.”
Liam shrugged. “Does Lady Alice even know you’re a father, that you were married before? That you killed your wife?”
Callum shook his head, unable to comprehend how vindictive his cousin was. “Maria’s death was no one’s fault, not mine or hers. How dare you insinuate such a thing to me, and not even in the privacy of my home, but at a ball being hosted in my honor. But then,” he said, scoffing, “I know why you’re being such an ass here and not at Kester House. You’re a coward. A man who prefers to hide behind the skirts of the women present, in the hopes that I will not strike you down for such insolence. Don’t be fooled, Cousin. Push me far enough, and I will hit you no matter where I stand.”
“As I said, I was merely curious as to what lies you’ve spread across the county.”
Callum took a calming breath, thankful the bastard standing beside him did not know of the Surrey Bandit and his association with the criminal.
“I must admit, I’m looking forward to the Season now. To think I shall be able to court the Worthingham women in London in only a few weeks makes the long journey from Yorkshire worth it.”
“I’m sure they’ll look upon the opportunity differently.”
“They are getting up in age, though, don’t you agree? There are certainly smile lines at the edge of both their eyes, but what’s that, when such a large dowry comes associated with the chits.”
“Neither woman would ever marry you. You’re a fool, if you think otherwise.” Callum tried to breathe through the simmering anger that roiled inside him. His cousin was baiting him on purpose, had done so for as long as he’d known him.
Due to the fact they had both grown up in the north, Callum had known his relatives who lived in the great house only five miles from home. He’d gone there as a boy once when his mama’s sister had married the Baronet Sledmere, and he’d never forgotten the cruelty of the baronet, or the nasty son from the man’s first wife, who had looked down on them as beggars in the street. The pain inflicted on his dear mama that day had made Callum realize he’d never seek out the family or fight for their acceptance. And when, as fate would have it, he’d unexpectedly inherited the estate, he’d taken what was theirs and never looked back.
“They would, if I charmed them. There are not many who would not. You’re the fool, if you think otherwise.”
“Why are you here, Sledmere? Cut the veritable dribble and tell me, so I may end this conversation and get the hell away from you.” His cousin grinned and Arndel wanted to smash the smile off his face.
“I hear the gentlemen you’re acquainted with in London grow impatient.”
Callum frowned. “Who grows impatient?” Dread pooled in his gut, and Callum had an inkling that what he was about to hear would not be to his liking. How did his cousin know?
“The debt our late cousin left the estate in is also partly mine.” Liam chuckled. “Poor old Robert, he really was a simpleton, always putting his finances on too high a regard than he ought. He offered to pick up some debts of mine from the moneylenders in the East End, had it added to his own. Stupid fool.”
“You bastard. I highly doubt you had the decency to pay back your debt before he died. I know I’ve never received a dime from you in relation to paying what is owed, so tell me, are you going to cough up the blunt, or leave it for me to pay back?”
Sir Liam took a sip of wine, nodding to a passing debutante who blushed furiously at the attention. “Our cousin was a fool and I never intended to pay back the debt. He owed me money and never paid it back. I merely thought it a means to equal the playing field.”
“But you’re happy to saddle me with your debt, along with his.”
“You inherited the estate and what was Robert’s is now yours, but I thought I should warn you, since we’re family, after all, that the men expect their payment by month’s end or they may visit you and your precious daughter in Surrey.”
A red haze dropped like a curtain before Callum and he sneered. “I have spoken to the gentleman you so kindly warn me of, and I informed them, as I will inform you, they shall have their blunt, but should they step one foot in my house, they will not be leaving it again, if you comprehend my meaning.”
His cousin bowed. “I comprehend you very well.”
“Ensure you do.” Callum walked away, lest he do something he would regret. He headed for the house’s main entrance, calling for his carriage as a footman came out to greet him. He would not stay and listen to another word from Liam, not under any circumstances. On the morrow, he would apologize to Her Grace for leaving early.
Watching as the carriage came to a halt before the doors, he stepped up into the vehicle and sighed in relief as he sank into the leather squabs. Restless fury coursed through him and the need to hit something, or do something strenuous and hard, consumed him.
The thought of the cottages entered his mind and he yelled out to the driver to head toward Ashford. There were a few chores that he could finish by the light of a candle, and it was well past midnight. In any case, morning would soon be here.
Callum leaned back against the seat, taking a deep calming breath, knowing that if he ever met with his cousin again, it would be too soon. The thought that Liam was somewhat responsible for the debt he now carried left him shaking with fury. How dare he come here and demand Callum pay the money as soon as may be, or else. Especially, when none of the financial woes he’d inherited were of his own doing.
It wasn’t to be borne, and he would die first before either of the Worthingham girls married anyone remotely similar to his bastard family member. After the reprieve they’d bestowed upon him, it was the least he could do.