Janice Preston - Lady Olivia And The Infamous Rake

‘Please. Do not tell Papa. Not for my sake, but for Alex’s.’ Her eyes searched his. ‘Please?’ Her hands tightened their grip.

He locked in the words ‘ persuade me ’. Reined back his sudden urge to seize her mouth, taste her lips. He extricated his hands from hers, suddenly uncomfortable...too viscerally aware of her nearness, the way she gazed up at him with parted lips. And those eyes...

He twisted to look out of the window. Piccadilly. They would soon reach Grosvenor Square.

‘Why should I care about protecting your brother?’

‘Alex...he is difficult, I know. He drinks. He gambles. He fights. But he is unhappy. At least, everyone else thinks he is upset by what happened. I believe he’s angry. But I do not understand why.’

It was the second time she had said that. Curiosity stirred within Hugo...what had happened in the Beauchamps’ past? He made a mental note to quiz his mother.

‘The only thing that takes him away from all those...those vices is horses. He adores horses and they adore him. He has an almost magical connection with them. Give him an untameable horse and he will gentle it until it follows him around like a puppy.’

‘That does not explain why I should not tell your father.’

‘But you cannot. Not when Alex finally has a chance to settle down...when he has the chance to have something of his own that will make him content.’ She chewed at her lip again. ‘It is not yet common knowledge, but Papa has purchased Sir William Rockbeare’s estate in Buckinghamshire. Do you know Sir William?’

‘I know of him.’ Everyone knew Rockbeare’s cattle were the best riding and carriage horses in the country. ‘I heard he’d sold up.’

‘Well, Alex got into trouble while Papa was away in Buckinghamshire. And Papa told him if he could stay out of trouble for the rest of the Season, then he could move to Foxbourne and run the stud and training stables. If he proves himself, in a few years Papa will sign the estate and all the horses over to him. Do you not see?’

She sat forward, her silver gaze intent upon his, sending strange impulses quivering through him. Not the impulse to seize and to take this time, but...the desire to protect. He frowned, dragging his attention away from his feelings and back to her words. Too much thought about his feelings always made him fidgety and out of sorts. That’s why he was usually careful to avoid such namby-pamby nonsense.

‘It is a wonderful chance for Alex and he wants it sooo much, and he has been trying so hard to keep out of trouble and if Papa finds out about tonight...’ She hung her head. ‘It was all my fault.’ He caught the sound of a tiny sniff. ‘I won a bet and Alex lost which meant he had no choice but to take me to Vauxhall. But it was not a fair bet. I knew I could not lose, because Uncle Vernon had already agreed to allow me to drive his blacks in the Park, but Alex didn’t know that, and he thought it a safe bet because Vernon never allows anyone to drive his blacks.’

Hugo frowned, trying to make sense of her jumbled tale. ‘Then why did your uncle allow you to drive his blacks?’

He knew the pair she meant and he knew how proud and protective her uncle, Lord Vernon Beauchamp, was of them.

‘Because I tricked him. He upset Aunt Cecily—he was teasing her and she was in a snit with him, but he needed her to do him a favour because Lady Slough was pursuing him relentlessly, he said—’

‘Lady Slough ?’ An image of the lady in question—short, stout, fifty if she was a day—formed in Hugo’s head. ‘Lady Slough was pursuing your uncle ?’

Lord Vernon Beauchamp was one of the most eligible bachelors in the ton —much sought after and very popular with the ladies.

‘Well, not for herself , of course.’ She tutted. Hugo could barely contain a chuckle. She really was an entertaining miss—an unexpected mixture of naivety and shrewdness. ‘For her daughter . Anyway, Uncle Vernon needed my Aunt Cecily to seat him as far away from Lady Slough and Amelia as possible when they came to dinner—’

‘But...why would they be invited to dinner?’

‘Because Lady Slough is my stepmama’s aunt—even though she used to disown Stepmama but now she is toadying up to Stepmama for all she is worth—and she really believes Uncle Vernon will marry her spotty daughter. Which he won’t, I can tell you, because Uncle Vernon will never get married, he says.’

Hugo had every sympathy with that point of view.

‘Anyway, I was telling you all about my bet with Alex...so, Uncle Vernon begged me to persuade Aunt Cecily not to sit Lady Slough or Amelia next to him—because she threatened to do exactly that—and I said I would persuade her, but that he would owe me a favour. And he said, Anything . And then, the next day, when I reminded him he tried to wriggle out of it, but Papa was a witness and told Uncle Vernon he should be more careful about making such vague promises. So Vernon had already agreed, but Alex didn’t know...and Dominic is right! I am a horrid, manipulative creature.’

‘Dominic?’ It was the second time she had mentioned this Dominic.

‘Avon.’

‘Of course.’ Dominic, Lord Avon, was Olivia’s eldest brother and heir to the Dukedom. ‘So you don’t get on with Avon?’

She pouted. ‘Well, I do. He is nice enough when he’s not teasing me. But he does take himself and his position as Papa’s heir exceedingly serious. He is opposite to Alex. Poor Alex.’ She slumped back into the corner. ‘I shall never forgive myself if he loses the chance to have Foxbourne because of me.’

‘Why do you care so much?’

She stared. ‘He’s my brother . Of course I care. I love him.’

Envy stirred. Everyone knew the Beauchamps were a close family. What must it be like, to have complete and utter faith and trust in your own father? Hugo had never known such security, even though his mother had tried her best to protect him and Lucas, his older brother, from their violent father. Neither of them had returned to Rothley Hall, the family estate up in Northumberland, after they left university. Lucas had made his home in London and Hugo had spent more time with Lucas than at Oxford, finding his elder brother’s life of excess and debauchery much more exciting than a life of study. They had been wild years—until Lucas had been betrayed by the woman he loved and a man he thought his friend and had left London abruptly, a bitter man. Later, following their father’s death, Lucas had become the Marquis of Rothley and led the life of a joyless recluse.

Since then, Hugo had been on his own, continuing with all those same rakish excesses and vices until this past year or so, when that way of life had begun to pall, almost without him realising it. He had even—God help him—invested some of his recent winnings in government bonds. That was the influence of Sir Horace Todmorden, his new stepfather, whose seemingly unshakeable faith in Hugo was beginning to change him.

‘What are you thinking about? You look...sad.’

The soft query jerked him from his thoughts. ‘Nothing.’ Then, at her crestfallen expression, he gentled his voice. ‘I was thinking about my father and how fortunate you are in yours.’

Her hand covered his. ‘You must miss him dreadfully.’

‘Hardly.’ He huffed a laugh. ‘He was a brute.’

‘Oh.’ Her fine, dark brows drew together as she withdrew her hand. ‘But...you still have other family, do you not?’

‘My mother and my brother, Rothley.’

He’d said enough. She could have no real interest in his family. Once he had delivered her home, their paths were unlikely to cross very often. But their conversation had stirred hope within him, for not only had Mama married Sir Horace last year, but Lucas, too, had now wed. He and Mary, his new wife, and Mary’s two young children, would arrive in London very soon for a prolonged visit. And then...pleasure glowed deep inside at the thought that, maybe, he would finally be part of a close-knit family himself.