Kasey Michaels - Regency Vows

But it would be more cruel to keep her with a man who viewed the two of them as little more than chattel.

* * *

HALFWAY THROUGH THE fitting at Madame Bouchard’s, Katherine got an idea. It was a perfect, vengeful idea that made her heart race, then ache with satisfaction, then grow strangely numb. James thought he could control her? She would show him he could not.

The moment she parted company with Phil and returned home—flush with success at having arranged a costume that would have everyone from London to Venice talking—she put her plan into action.

“You mentioned that if there was ever a way you could right your wrongs against me, I had only to ask,” she told the Duke of Winston a short time later, seated in the entirely red first floor drawing room of his town house. “I require your assistance.”

One dark brow ticked downward. “A matter with which Croston is unable to assist?”

“Very much unable.”

“You have only to name it, Lady Croston.”

She smiled past the hurt. James and all of London would see exactly how she took to captivity. “I want you to pretend to have an affair with me.”

The duke barked a laugh. “You’re trying to get me killed. My apology wasn’t enough? You hope to lure me in so Croston will cut me down?”

She smiled. “Not at all. If you’ll recall, you did offer to expand my horizons.”

“Then perhaps Croston has done something unforgivable, and I am to be your revenge on him.”

Precisely. Making her point to James by flirting her way outrageously through London might have been ideal, but the chance was too great that someone would take her attentions seriously. As ridiculous as it was, Winston was the only one she could trust. And his reputation made him the perfect partner in revenge.

“So many questions, Your Grace.” She laughed. “I would not have expected you to be so scrupulous.”

“Strictly self-preservation. I’m no match for Croston with a sword. And much as it pains me to say it, I doubt I’m a match for you, either.” He assessed her through those devil eyes. “So you propose what? Dances together in public, walks in the park, carriage rides—”

“No carriage rides.” God save her, carriage rides were the last thing she wanted to think of.

He smiled wickedly. “Must I reassure you that my carriage is very...comfortable? But I believe I’ve conveyed that fact to you already.”

“I’m not interested in the comfort of your carriage. Dances, yes. Walks in the park, certainly. And I suppose you could linger in my box at the theater.”

Now he laughed. “A sham affair, indeed. And my answer, dear Lady Croston, is no.”

“No?” The word shot out with all the sharpness of an on-deck command.

He only smiled. “No,” he repeated.

“Not so much on the blackguard side of things, after all,” she said angrily.

“Not so much on the suicidal side of things. Tell me...” He closed the distance between them and took her chin in his fingers. “What has that arrogant bastard done?”

She chose not to turn her face from his grasp. If James were here now and saw Winston touching her like this, blood would spill.

She smiled. “That, Your Grace, is none of your concern.”

“If you’re asking me to take part in this sham, I daresay it is. Bloody fool hasn’t taken a mistress already, has he?”

“No.”

He lowered his voice. “Is he demanding...eccentricities?”

“No!” Not that she knew precisely what he meant, but—good God.

And then, “The vote.” His eyes narrowed, and she could see he’d finally guessed. “When I came to your house the other night, it was the first you’d heard of the committee’s conclusion.”

Anger flared fresh. “You extricated yourself quite neatly.”

“I’m normally quite adept at escaping conflict,” he said. “He didn’t bother to tell you.”

Stonily she looked a him.

The duke cursed and let his hand fall. “Where is he now?”

“At Croston.”

His lips thinned, but he looked at her askance. “Are you determined that it would be entirely a sham?”

“Entirely and completely.” Her heart beat a little faster. He was about to change his mind. Her thoughts raced ahead to the theater, the park, the Pollards’ grand masquerade. James would get wind of her dalliance through the grapevine, and when he did, it would cut him to the bone—just as he had cut her.

“I’ll do it, then,” he said, with a mix of resignation and relish. “If only to teach Croston a lesson about leaving his property unattended.”

“His property—”

“Now, now, darling.” The duke touched her cheek and smiled. “Any more of those combative looks and I may have to put an end to our torrid affair.”

* * *

HER CAPTIVITY. JAMES slouched in a chair in the library at Croston with his shirttails untucked and his feet propped—shoeless—on a footstool, nursing a glass of cognac while the rest of the world sat down to dinner.

He wasn’t hungry. Perhaps he would eat this evening. Or perhaps he wouldn’t.

Sounds of the crew on the roof drifted in through the windows even though they were closed. His arrival at Croston had opened Pandora’s box. He’d resolved the disagreement between his tenants, only to have a dozen other issues crop up. The two days he’d planned to spend had turned into a week.

A week’s worth of nights alone, remembering Katherine shooting daggers at him with those topaz eyes while she held her blade at his throat.

He took a swallow and leaned his head back, closing his eyes while the liquid slid down his throat. On his lap, the book he’d been trying to read began to feel heavy. He opened his eyes and looked down at it.

A Treatise on Domestic Pigeons: Comprehending All the Species Known in England...

He set his glass aside and searched for the last sentence he’d read. This was the moment he’d been looking forward to for months. Years.

Relaxation was what he really wanted, anyway. Not marriage to a woman who would always make him feel a little bit mad, who would always keep him listing to one side or the other. A woman who saw him as her captor, when all he’d ever done was—

He inhaled sharply and flipped a page. Never mind about that.

He reached for his cognac.

If only she were his captive, he would truss her up like a Christmas goose and keep her in his bed until she gave up her will to fight him.

He felt himself grow hard, and cursed.

“Brother?” Honoria’s voice called from somewhere inside the house. “James! I know you’re here, you ridiculous man.”

Oh, of all the bloody—

She swept through the library door from the morning room. “There you are. La, you look a fright. I realize this is the country, James, but there must be limits.”

He downed another swallow of cognac. “What are you doing here?”

“We’ve lost our polite manners, as well. Excellent. I’ve torn myself away from London in order to save your marriage, brother dear, and convince you to return posthaste.”

“You needn’t have bothered. The marriage is beyond annulment.”

“Of that I have no doubt, but is it beyond adultery?”

He looked up at her.

“Oh, do forgive me. That was much too strong a word.” He recognized that look in her eye too well. “I only meant that Katherine is enjoying the Season, which is as it should be. I’m certain that despite your absence so soon after the wedding, Katherine is confident of your continued love and affection, and would never do anything to cause you a moment’s alarm.”

From the moment he’d landed in a sodden mass on the deck of her ship, she’d caused him nothing but alarm. “Don’t be coy with me, Honoria. Have out with it.”