Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
A t the outskirts of the garden, Edward kept his eyes fixed on Benedict and the blond woman walking with him—if he judged by her cheekbones and her pouty lips alone, he knew she was the same Alice.
I’ve wanted to kiss her from the moment we met. Will her kiss be that of a shy maiden or the passion I sense inside her?
He watched as the two meandered their way to a group of three women, an older one and two younger—one of them had Alice’s coloring and the other two were dark-haired.
The other girl must be her cousin.
Sidestepping, he followed the two as they came near, and the cousin, clad in white silk, stood and made to walk over to them when she suddenly tripped and lurched forward.
He knew Benedict would catch her—and when his brother did, the girl clung to him like a limpet to a ship. Edward was acutely aware that the trip was manufactured, and he hoped—dearly hoped—that Benedict would not fall for her lackluster performance.
Circling the massive rosebush and the swan statue, he stood perpendicular to the three and watched as the girl’s face was flooded with tears; crocodile tears, he was assured.
Sir John Mandeville was right: these serpents slay men, and they eat them weeping.
Alice went to her sister's side, while the mother fluttered and fussed over her child. From the contemptuous, exasperated look Alice gave her cousin behind her aunt’s back, Edward broke a smile.
“Smart girl,” he murmured.
As if his words had traveled between them and summoned her gaze, Alice looked up and her eyes drifted towards him. Her back snapped straight, face paling.
Her aunt said something to Alice, drawing her attention from him, and he waited until Benedict lifted the damsel and began carrying her to the house beyond. The younger sister touched Alice’s arm, angling her body to the two heading off, but Alice shook her head and said something.
When the sister hurried off, following her aunt, Edward made sure to stay in place until she found his gaze again, and slowly, he backed away, heading to the hedge maze behind him.
He barely noticed the gravel crunching beneath his boots as he hoped she was following him; it was time they made some clarification between them.
Arriving at the center of the thick maze, he sat on the smooth stone bench and gazed at the flowing fountain, the water pitter-pattering into the flower-shaped bowl. He propped his elbows on his thighs and clasped his hands between his knees.
He felt her presence before he saw her and when he rose to his feet, he said, “I see you have met my brother.”
Her brows knit in two. “Pardon?”
“ Benedict ,” Edward continued. “He is my brother—well, half-brother if you want to be pedantic. Our father married his mother after mine passed.”
She blinked, “I am sorry to hear that. But—but what in heaven’s name are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you.”
Alice blinked. “You are waiting for me. In Lady Islington’s garden? Did you come to play croquet?”
Spreading his arms wide, Edward smirked, “Do I look like I am fond of playing silly little games such as knocking balls around with colored sticks? I am here to look after my brother. That, with both of our parents gone, is my responsibility, and I will not let him be taken advantage of.”
Alice notched her chin up, curiosity lodged firmly in her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Do you love him?” He asked plainly.
Her curious expression turned to defiance. “I do not see how that is any of your business.”
“I just told you it is,” Edward stepped closer. “Now, answer me. Are you in love with him?”
“What are you doing here?” She evaded his question. “I don’t think this is your sort of soirée. Isn’t your ambiance more of the sordid gambling hells, canoodling with unscrupulous sort?”
“You think I am friends with Rutledge?” he asked, brows lowered.
“Why not?” her lips pinched, “Men like you flock together.”
He snorted, “Sweet, there are no men like me.”
He meant it too; there was a select sect of men who loved to see their lover sporting a reddened backside from a spanking or seeing her dressed in red rope, a silk blindfold, and nothing else.
She stomped past him and down the steps into the garden and headed into the dense maze of bushes—but she did not get too far. His hand clenched around her arm and with her momentum, he spun her back to him like a fish on a line.
“Let me go or I’ll scream,” she warned him.
“I highly doubt you’ll do that,” he grinned devilishly.
She was about to reply when voices drifted over from the hedge beyond them and before she could react, Edward was yanking her around another bend, into a tight corner of leaves and twigs.
The thick foliage obscured them from the rest and just in time. The voices—male and female—grew louder, twigs crushing under boots and slippers.
“What—”
“Shh,” his eyes cut into hers with a dire warning. “Or do you want to risk discovery?
For a moment, her gaze sharpened with annoyance... but she blew out a breath. He wasn’t the one she was angry at. Edward didn’t care, all he minded was praying the giggling party moved on. He could not dare move, for if he did, his life would be unwaveringly altered and as he’d vowed to not marry, he didn’t want that to change any time soon.
Giggling, a lady said, “My lord, you are so—”
“Handsome, rugged, very well-endowed?” a man laughed drunkenly. “I know, little filly, now come on, I need a stable to mount you.”
Alice’s face went red, and Edward couldn’t help feeling entranced; she pinked so prettily.
For someone who walked into a den of sin with her head held high, she is now blushing like a schoolgirl. She really is untouched, isn’t she?
“There is a bench here,” a second man said. “We can use it.”
Her eyes turned into dinner plates and her whisper was strangled. “ We ?”
Very, very innocent, he deduced.
“It might do for a quick romp…” the first man replied, his words trailing off in contemplation, and Edward ground his teeth to the root.
Not now, he begged. Will the damned three move on or we will be trapped here for longer than we can afford.
“… but this is not what I want for us,” the man said. “Let’s move on.”
When the footsteps faded, only then did Edward pull away and he let out a breath. “They’re gone.”
She still looked rattled. “What were they talking about?”
He cocked his head, “They are lovers, Alice. They were planning a game.”
“Lovers?” Alice craned her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t suppose you do,” Edward replied and wondered how to gently clarify for her. “There are times when the relationships between a man and a woman can take… unusual forms. I should hate to spoil your lovely innocence, little mouse, but sometimes two men or even three can dally with one woman…. intimately . And vice-versa. What you just heard was the making of a ménage à trois .”
When the penny dropped and realization lit her eyes, she stepped away from him, while he secretly smirked inside. Over the years, dissolution and decadence had prodded him to believe that there were no more innocents in Town—now, he was happy to be proven wrong.
“I must return,” she stressed, “My absence must be noticed by now.”
“You still haven’t answered my question,” Edward demanded. “Do you love my brother?”
“I still think that is none of your business.” Her eyes narrowed. “Now, please let me by.”
He wanted to shake the stubbornness out of her. “Are you always this intractable?”
Alice pushed by him—or tried to at least. He was as immovable as a boulder. She glared at him, “It is one of my finest traits.”
“So is foolheartedness,” he replied. “If I had let you follow Rutledge that night, you would not be the same now.”
“I would have found a way out of it,” she countered. “I can defend myself.”
“With what?” He grabbed her hand and cocked a brow. “Can you fight?”
“I have very capable lungs,” she replied.
“That would be smothered in moments,” he snorted. “Unless you had a pistol under those clothes, you were not going to come out of that room unscathed. Admit it, I saved you.”
Mouth-dropping, Alice could not describe his mind-boggling arrogance; he had rendered her speechless. She gaped at him. “You are—you are—”
“Correct.”
“ Unbelievable ,” she retorted. “Arrogant, superior, proud, and utterly mind-boggling.”
“Still doesn’t mean I am wrong,” the Duke grinned.
“I cannot believe you,” Alice pushed past him, unsteady with him being so close. He radiated virile energy, the essence of a man in his prime, and she wanted—needed to leave before she did something foolish. She had to ignore her pounding heart and flush skin. “Leave me alone.”
“Is that really what you want?” His tone changed to rich and smoky.
Her head snapped back to him. “What else could I ever want from you.”
“Your first kiss maybe?” he grinned.
How could he know that?
“You are wrong,” she lied, hoping to put him off. “I have been kissed before.”
“Really, by whom?”
Her mind went blank and while her lips opened and closed three times, he chuckled. “Precisely what I thought. When I kiss you, consider it payment for my help with Rutledge.”
She bit her lip. “How do you plan to help?”
“Leave that to me,” Edward smiled, “Do you accept my deal?”
Debating with herself, Alice wondered if it was the right thing to do—admittedly, she needed help with Rutledge, and the Duke had a social and financial cache she had no hope of holding. But why did she feel as if she were making a deal with the devil?
“It is to be one kiss and one kiss only. No touching or anything else of the sort. And it ends when I say it ends,” Alice said suddenly.
“Agreed.”
He lifted his hands to her jaw, tipping her head slightly back and anticipation pummeled through her like a herd of bison. This was truly going to happen, her first kiss; she could read the intent in his eyes.
Worry pounded through her breastbone—was she going to do this right? How was one supposed to kiss?
With his thumb on her cheekbone, his lips descended, landing on hers so gently he stole her breath for a second time. His kiss was warm and firm, but her anticipation clogged her throat.
She shivered when his tongue swept against her bottom lip. On a tremulous sigh, her lips parted and senses spinning, he let his tongue plunge boldly inside. The taste of him was foreign, deliciously male.
He kissed the way he did everything else: with absolute authority… and she felt ground-shifting pleasure.
Somewhere in the far recesses of her mind, she registered that her first kiss was unlike anything she could have imagined. Instinctively, she followed his lead, letting him in deeper, meeting his tongue with her own.
The shivers that ran through her scared Alice to her core and she had to pull away, terrified about her reaction to him. Her woman’s place was uncomfortably damp.
“Enough,” she gasped. “Enough, I need to go. Please let me go.”
He stepped away, “There is nothing keeping you here, Alice.”
Gathering her skirts, she ran.
Pressing a hand to his mouth, Edward wondered what had just happened—what was this sudden burn under his breastbone?
He’d kissed many women before, de rigueur acts of an unrepentant rake, but hardly had any woman managed to evoke any other emotion than lust; Alice though, Alice had his chest twisted in knots.
If she had not run, I know I was going to take her so hard we might not even remember our own names, let alone the conflict with Benedict and Rutledge . She would have been screaming so loudly, we’d be married by tomorrow.
Rubbing his face, Edward left the leafy nook and headed back to the garden party, but took a circuitous route, giving Alice enough time to return to her family.
He stepped into the garden at the same time as the hostess’s footmen called everyone for dinner. He drifted to the back porch as Benedict ducked out under the threshold and jerked to a stop at seeing him.
“Edward?” His brows shot to his hairline. “What are you doing here?”
“I’d come to see you play croquet, but evidently, I was too late,” Edward fibbed. “I suppose I should leave.”
“No, no,” Benedict shook his head. “Come in. I am sure the lady of the house will be happy to have the most elusive Duke in London as her guest.”
Holding back an exasperated eye-roll, Edward inclined his head. “Did you come out here for something?”
“Miss Penelope, Alice’s sister, asked me to find her a bangle she believed she’d dropped when she was out here,” Benedict said, “You can head inside.”
“No, I’ll look with you,” Edward replied, suddenly wanting a reprieve from seeing Alice again.
Five minutes later—conversations about Alice, her family, and her injured cousin in passing—with the retrieved bangle in hand, they entered the manor home and strode to a drawing room where Alice’s cousin was lying on a chaise, her ‘injured’ ankle up on an ottoman.
The older lady turned a curious eye to him while he forced himself to not look at Alice at all.
“My lord?” She asked while rising to her feet.
“Mrs. Agatha Thorpe, it is my pleasure to introduce you to my brother, Edward Landon, the Duke of Valhaven.”
Audible gasps emanated from three women while Alice’s lips tightened; they got to their feet and Edward was not surprised to see the injured girl move so smoothly. Of course it was deception and he hoped his brother saw right through it.
“Eliza,” the mother squawked. “You shouldn’t be on your feet. You are hurt.”
The girl blinked and the belated wince of pain came three solid seconds after the pointed comment. “I know, mother,” she grimaced. “But I cannot be discourteous to a Duke. Especially the brother of the lord my dear cousin has brought into our lives.”
“It is all right,” Edward replied. “I appreciate the intention.”
“Let me introduce you,” Benedict was eagerly bouncing on his feet as he made the round of personalized introductions. When he came to Alice, he felt proud that she did look him in the eye this time.
She inclined her head. “Welcome, Your Grace.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Edward shoved away the duplicitous feeling crawling under his skin. “Has my brother mentioned me at all? You all seem a touch overwhelmed at knowing who I am.”
Hopping from one foot to the other, Benedict sheepishly said, “I haven’t yet. I thought it prudent to not pander with names or titles.”
“Meaning that you mean you didn’t want me to outshine you,” he laughed. “Pardon us, my ladies. My brother and I have a long-standing tradition of trying to outdo each other.”
The aunt was fanning herself, smiling widely at his and Benedict’s presence. “Oh no, no,” she chuckled. “We don’t mind the lovely banter.”
Edward’s attention shifted to the younger sister. “Miss Penelope, is it?” The girl's head shot up, shocked to hear him call her by name. “Would you like to be my partner for dinner this evening, and make a lovely evening of it?”
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Eliza’s mouth drop and her face darken, while her mother looked as if the heavens had opened and an angel had descended to shower them with rays of light.
The girl looked to her sister, shock painted right over her face, before she stood and curtsied. “I am honored, Your Grace. Yes, I would be delighted to be your partner.”
“Lovely,” Edward trained his gaze on Alice while he extended his arm. “Shall we then?”