Chapter 5 #2
Darius came over and took the necklace from the box. He placed it around her neck and fastened the clasp.
“There…now you are perfection itself.”
She reached up to caress the diamonds that lay against her collarbone.
Her eyes met his through the mirror. She drew in a sharp breath as she saw the lust in those bright blue eyes of his.
Her bedchamber was far too dark, as night had fallen and the muted lamplight only heightened her awareness of him and the fact that they were alone.
“Thank you for the jewels,” she said. “Nell said they belonged to your mother?”
“Yes. She had a great many pieces which are sitting unworn and unloved in a safe in my study. I believe it is time they are brought out and shared with the world again.” He handed her the earrings and watched as she clasped them onto her ears.
“Meredith,” he said, his gaze dropping to her lips. “We must talk.”
“About?” Her own voice grew faint. She couldn’t help but look at his mouth as well. Lord, she wanted him to kiss her.
“About…that look you just gave me.” His expression turned almost hungry. “It makes me want to toss you on this bed and ravish you senseless.”
Meredith made a soft sound as his words created a splendid flash of erotic visions in her mind.
“You must stop begging me with those beautiful eyes, or I fear I shall kiss you again.”
“Again?” She clung to that word, her heart racing. Surely it had been a dream?
“You don’t remember?” Darius asked in a low, seductive voice. “Because I do, love. The taste of you haunts me still. It has turned me mad with hunger for you.”
He moved a step closer to her until her breasts rubbed against his chest. “Close your eyes,” Darius warned, “or I’ll do what you are begging me to do.”
She tried. She tried to shut her eyes, but Darius St. John had such a power to bewitch her.
“Blast—” he snarled, and lowered his head toward hers, all control seemingly gone.
A sudden crash and a shriek in the distance had them both jerking apart.
Meredith gasped. “What on earth was that?”
“I believe it came from outside.” Darius strode to the window that faced the back gardens. The window sash was up and he leaned over the sill. Meredith joined him, her shoulder touching his as they stared out at the house behind Darius’s.
Through the distant windows of the other house, they could see a woman lying in bed as she screamed at someone that they could not see.
When the woman had argued with her husband previously, Meredith could not make out the words.
But now the woman shouted loud enough to carry in the still night air.
“You think to replace me?”
Another crash. A vase hit the wall by the woman’s head and shattered.
Meredith sucked in a breath and drew closer to Darius who put an arm around her as though wishing to shield her from the ugliness of what they were witnessing.
The woman’s husband came to view as he stopped past the window. “You’ll regret this, Minerva!” Then he stormed out of the room.
Minerva got out of bed, wrapped herself in a shawl and hobbled over to an invalid chair, and once she was seated, she rolled after her husband, disappearing from sight.
“They fight quite a lot,” Meredith told Darius quietly. “It’s such a shame.”
“That’s Louis Crell and his wife, Minerva. I barely know them. I believe Minerva was a rich heiress, and she married Louis for love. But it seems that that love has soured.”
“I met Mrs. Crell in the gardens today. We spoke through that small heart-shaped hole in the garden walls. She seemed very lonely. I hope you don’t mind that I invited her to tea when she feels up to it.”
“That’s very kind of you. She is most welcome here. It has been a while since I have seen her.”
“She seems to be ill. She was in an invalid chair,” Meredith added.
“Yes, she is. I remember hearing she was unwell several years ago.” He cleared his throat.
“Darius…” she hesitated a moment. “I am a little worried about her. She mentioned she was clumsy and that she had bruises…and now that I’ve seen them fighting…you don’t believe he’s hurt her, do you?”
Darius’s eyes narrowed. “If he has…it is hard to convict a man of that crime unless she’s terribly injured.
It’s a failing in our laws to be sure, but short of murder, a man can beat his wife for almost any reason.
” He scowled. “We will watch her, and if I see him touch her, I will intervene, regardless of the law.”
At Darius’s promise, she relaxed somewhat. At least they agreed on the right course of action, that someone like Darius who had power and influence, should intervene if abuse was indeed present in the Crell household.
“We should go or we’ll be late to Lady Hazlitt’s ball.”
Meredith allowed him to put her shawl about her shoulders. Then she slid her gloves on before they went down to meet the coach. Once inside, the coach started to move when Darius put a hand to his thighs and cursed before he called for the driver to halt.
“I forgot my blasted cane. I believe I shall need it tonight.” He leapt out of the coach, leaving her alone as he hastened back toward the house. “I will be back in a moment.”
Meredith toyed with the tasseled ends of her silk shawl while she waited.
Just then, sharp screams cut through the night, and Meredith lurched toward the carriage window, peering out to see what had happened.
The alley next to the mews which stabled Darius’s horses and carriage was lit by only a thin strip of moonlight.
She glimpsed a figure thrashing about in the shadows. No…it was two figures…and they were fighting. There was a flash of a blade in the moonlight before it vanished. Meredith flung the coach door open and scrambled down.
“Miss?” Leigh Johnson, one of Darius’s footmen, hopped from his perch on the coach to assist her. She pushed him away as she peered into the alley again. The figures she glimpsed were gone.
“Leigh, would you run down into the alley and see if anyone is hurt? I thought I saw two people fighting.”
“I heard the scream as well. I shall have a look, miss.” The footman trotted down the alley, vanishing briefly before he emerged from the shadows and returned to her.
“I’m sorry, Miss Montague, but no one was there.”
“That mew does belong to His Grace, doesn’t it?” She was certain it was, but wanted confirmation.
“Yes, miss, but the Crells share it with him sometimes. I believe they pay a small fee to stable their horses there, but they don’t own a coach.”
“The Crells, you’re sure?”
“Yes, miss,” Leigh replied. “Are you well? You’ve turned quite pale, miss.” The footman took her hand to steady her. She felt ill hearing that scream echo in her head.
“I swore I saw two people fighting.” She closed her eyes, trying to recall what she’d seen. A tall figure grappling with a shorter figure. The taller one had a blade, most certainly. And that scream, high-pitched, full of terror, and cut off so quickly.
“I didn’t see anything, miss, but I did hear a scream.” Leigh assured her. “Perhaps it was a trick of the light? It’s easy to see things that aren’t there in the dark. And these alleys can carry an echo in odd ways on cold nights. Might it have happened somewhere else?”
As if to prove that point, they heard a steady tap-tap-tap grow louder, only there was no one to be seen. Then the source of the sound shifted, back towards the house.
“Leigh? What’s all this about?” Darius demanded, his cane tapping lightly on the ground as he appeared out of the night before them.
“I saw something in the mews, I’m sure of it,” Meredith said. “Two people were fighting, and we both heard a scream. Oh Darius, please, will you go look with me just to be sure?”
Darius glanced at the footman.
“I already looked, Your Grace. I did not see anyone.”
“Stay here,” he ordered Meredith. “I shall go.” He was in the mews for a good minute or two before he returned, a slight frown upon his lips.
“You say you heard a scream?” he asked.
She nodded.
“It was possible it was a horse. They can scream quite loud, especially if startled.”
“It was human. A woman. I’m certain of it,” Meredith insisted.
Darius’s gaze softened. “Whatever it was, it must’ve been nothing serious. Now, we really must go. The Prince Regent is allowed to be late, but not us, and I’ve called in all of my favors to ensure you will meet him this evening.”
Meredith glanced toward the dark alley once more before she allowed Darius to help her back into his coach. She had seen something. Something terrible, she was certain. What had happened there?
Darius would think her mad if she continued to obsess with this matter, so she focused instead on what should frighten her, the fact that she was going to meet the Prince Regent tonight.
* * *
“Well, well,” a voice chuckled. Darius’s friend Warren Burville had joined him at the refreshment table. “You’ve created a stir tonight with the little gem you’ve brought to the ball.”
Warren’s jade green eyes fixed on Meredith as she spun in a circle while dancing with a young man.
She was on her seventh dance already, and her card was completely full.
If Darius hadn’t claimed the final waltz before he had set her loose in the ballroom, he would have had no chance of dancing with her tonight.
“What are they saying about her?” He trusted Warren to be honest with him.
“That she is far too pretty to remain unchaperoned under your roof. There is much speculation about that. Some say that she must be someone special, an orphan with a gilded pedigree or some such thing. Why else would the illustrious Duke of Tiverton parade about such a treasure? More than a few of the matrons remember your mother and those diamonds your father gave her on their wedding day, and how those very diamonds now rest on Miss Montague’s skin as if they belong there.
” He grinned devilishly at Darius over his glass of punch.