Scoundrel in the Regency Ballroom: The Rake and the Heiress / Innocent in the Sheikh's Harem

As Serena finally dropped into slumber, Nicholas sat in splendid isolation in the small family dining room of Knightswood Hall, musing on the contentious topic of his father’s will. The table had been cleared and the covers removed. In front of him lay the latest update on the situation from his man of business. Frances Eldon was not optimistic.

The butler placed a decanter of port and a jar of snuff on the table before feeding another log on to the fire and reassuring himself that the curtains were perfectly drawn. ‘Will there be anything else, Mr Nicholas?’

‘No, thank you. Tell my man not to wait up, I’ll get myself to bed. Goodnight, Hughes.’

‘Goodnight, sir.’ The butler bowed and withdrew silently from the room.

Nicholas poured himself a small glass of port, idly swirling it around in the delicate crystal glass. His thoughts, like the wine, circled endlessly. He was tired, and no wonder—it had been a closer contest than usual with Samuel. They had been sparring partners since childhood. Ruefully, he examined his raw knuckles in the glow of the firelight. Hardly the hands of a gentleman. It was high time he stopped such foolishness. And yet—he never could resist a challenge.

But he was twenty-nine now, old enough to know better. In less than three months, as Frances Eldon so needlessly reminded him in his letter, Nicholas would be thirty. If they could not find a way to break the will before that date, his fortune would go to his cousin Jasper—unless Nicholas took Frances’s advice and married.

He had always been so carelessly certain that his lawyers would find a way to overturn the fateful clause, but as the deadline approached and every legal avenue turned into a dead end the decision loomed over him like a menacing black cloud of doom. He should have instructed them sooner. Dammit, there must be a way!

Nicholas rose to stir the fire, carelessly throwing on another log, stepping back hastily as the sparks flew out on to the hearth rug. He was not going to be forced down a path of another’s choosing. He would not be blackmailed into the bonds of matrimony, not even by his own dead father.

His parent had remarried late in life. Melissa was a malleable widgeon, a young woman content to play nursemaid to a man in failing health many years her senior. To the astonishment of all who knew him, Nick Lytton, after a lifetime of raking, settled contentedly into domestic bliss and became an advocate for the institution of marriage into the bargain. The present Nicholas Lytton sighed deeply. He should have seen it coming, after that last uncomfortable interview.

‘I hear you’ve been causing a scandal again, my boy.’ The chill which his father had caught while out hunting had taken hold of his lungs. It was obvious he had not long to live. Nicholas remembered each breath his father took as a painfully sharp intake, a long drawn-out rattling exhale. What he couldn’t remember now were the exact circumstances of the scandal the old man was so upset about. Some bit of muslin Nicholas had tried to pass off as one of the ton at a party, as he recalled. Yes, that was it, a bet, and he had lost when the lady told a rather warm story and had then been recognised by one of her previous protectors.

Before Melissa, his father would have laughed, but with his second marriage the old man had acquired a pompous righteousness. ‘You’ve shamed our name once too often, my boy,’ Nick Lytton wheezed.

‘For pity’s sake, Father,’ Nicholas retorted, ‘you talk as if I was a libertine. As you very well know, I am scrupulous about confining that sort of thing to the muslin company. As you used to,’ he said pointedly. ‘I never raise false expectations. I would have thought that was something more to be proud of than ashamed.’

His refusal to repent served only to bring down the full extent of his father’s wrath on his head. Nick Lytton had stormed, ranted, cursed and finally, when his son showed no signs of remorse, resorted to threats. ‘I’ll see to it that you can’t carry on this life for ever. You’re turning into a damned loose fish, Nicholas, and by God I’ll put a stop to it, you mark my words.’

The interview had ended then. Nicholas thought no more of it until after his father’s death, when he was informed of the significant change to the terms of his will. He’d laughed and refused to take it too seriously. Until now.

Not even in his salad days had Nicholas come close to being in love, finding that passion faded all too quickly once sated. His dashing looks and flamboyant generosity made him a highly sought-after catch, but not once in all his years on the ton had any lady managed to stake a claim. He was far too careful for that, unlike some of his peers. Poor Caroline Lamb’s latest attempt to avenge herself upon Byron, so it was rumoured, was a thinly disguised roman à clef. Nicholas shuddered at the very idea of encountering the spectre of a rejected lover hovering at a society party, never mind the iniquity of the details of any affaire being bandied about in the press.

No, he made a strict point of confining his amours to women from a different sphere who understood the rules of the game perfectly well. Over the years he had been fortunate in his mistresses, all of whom combined beauty with experience. When he grew bored it was a simple thing to pay them off. No sulks. No pain. No regrets. Just a few trinkets, a generous sum, a goodbye. It suited him. It was how he had chosen to live his life, and he enjoyed it. He saw no reason to change.

Dammit to hell, he would not change. Nicholas consigned Frances Eldon’s letter to the fire. When the lawyers had exhausted every possibility, then perhaps he would force himself to contemplate marriage. Right now he had better things to think about. Like the luscious Mademoiselle Serena Stamppe and her preposterous tale of hidden documents and long-lost friendship.

The friendship part could be true—his father had been wild in his youth. The wars with France favoured many a person wishing to hide their dirty laundry in the hustle-bustle of the Continent; no doubt that Serena’s dear papa was one such. An adventurer of some sort, of a certainty. She was obviously an adventuress herself—she had given herself away with that remark of hers—what was it—an itinerant life.

Stamppe. The name was definitely familiar. He would write to Frances in the morning, tell him to crack the whip over the will, and get him to find out what he could about the lovely Serena and her father. Yawning, Nicholas placed the guard over the fire, snuffed out the candles, and headed wearily for his bed.

In the end, Serena decided not to introduce Madame LeClerc to Nicholas unless it became absolutely necessary—and she refused to allow herself to contemplate just what she meant by that. She made an early start the next morning, leaving her lodgings long before her companion surfaced for breakfast. On the assumption that the search would be dusty work, she wore a simple dress of printed cotton and sturdy half-boots of jean. A short woollen cloak protected her from the early chill of the English spring, and her hair was looped on top of her head, a bandeau of the same material as her dress holding it in place.

Charming was the epithet with which Nicholas Lytton greeted her, himself simply attired in fitted buckskins that clung to his muscular legs, teemed with a dark blue waistcoat and plain dark coat. He clasped Serena’s gloved hands between his for a brief moment on greeting, but made no further attempt to touch her. She could not make up her mind whether to be relieved or not.

They sat together in the small morning room over a pot of coffee, discussing how best to tackle the search using the only clue they had. ‘I suppose it’s safe to assume that the hiding place really is here,’ Serena said. ‘You don’t have any other houses with rose panelling, do you?’

‘No. And both the London house and the hunting box post-date the time you said your father gave mine his papers—over twenty years ago, do I have that right?’

Serena nodded. ‘He told me he sent them not long after I was born.’

‘Where was that?’

‘La Bourgogne. Burgundy—it is where my mother comes from.’

‘So that is where you would call home?’

‘No, Maman’s family did not approve of the marriage. My parents would not talk about it. I don’t think there’s anywhere I’d call home, I’ve never stayed in one place long enough to put down roots.’

‘Why not?’

She thought for a moment, her lips pursed, a small frown drawing her fair brows together. ‘It’s strange, but I’ve never really questioned why. Papa said it was expedient for his—his business interests, but I’m not sure that’s wholly true. He just liked to travel. I’ve lived in some beautiful cities, Vienna, Rome, Strasbourg, and Paris of course, but I’ve always considered myself an outsider. We lived so much, my parents and I, in a little world of their making. I have any number of acquaintances, but I don’t really have any friends of my own.’

‘May one ask what precisely Papa’s business interests were?’

‘Oh, he dabbled in lots of things,’ Serena said vaguely. ‘He preferred me not to become involved in such matters.’

‘Whatever your father was involved with, it must have been lucrative. I could not fail to notice the quality, and expense, of that delightful outfit you wore yesterday. Assuming, of course, it was your father who provided the funds.’

He was looking at her with that curling half-smile that made her pulses flutter and raised her hackles at the same time. ‘You think I have a rich protector? A fat, elderly gentleman perhaps, on whom I bestow my affections in return for gifts?’

Nicholas felt a sudden and most unexpected pang of jealousy at the thought of anyone being in receipt of Serena’s affections. His smile hardened.

‘This is a ridiculous conversation,’ Serena said, sensing the change in his mood. ‘There are no skeletons in my closet, I assure you. Now, can we stop wasting time and start looking for my papers?’

Nicholas shrugged. ‘Oh, very well. There are a number of secret panels and a couple of priest holes that I know of, we can start with those. You don’t mind getting a little dusty, do you? Some of the places won’t have been opened for years. At the very least I suspect we’ll find a few spiders. Maybe even some rats.’

‘I’ve encountered much worse, believe me. I’m not fond of them, but they don’t scare me. Papa taught me never to be missish; you needn’t worry that I’ll be fainting into your arms.’ Serena looked up to see surprise writ on Nicholas’s face, and raised her brows. ‘Oh dear, were you wishing me to faint into your arms? I do beg your pardon. I suppose I could pretend to be afraid if you had your mind absolutely set on it?’

He laughed softly. ‘No, thank you. If I wish to have you in my arms, my intrepid Mademoiselle Stamppe, I can think of easier ways of managing it.’

Serena rose from her seat, shaking out her petticoats. ‘You take rather too much for granted, Mr Lytton.’

‘We shall see,’ was all he vouchsafed in return.

Three hours later they were both smudged with dirt, and Serena had a goodly amount of cobwebs trailing from her frilled petticoats, but of the papers they had found no trace.

In the first priest’s hole located beneath a cupboard at the side of a fireplace carved with a number of Tudor roses there had been only some mice droppings.

The second priest’s hole was a cunning little trapdoor in the upstairs drawing room operated by turning yet another rose in a nearby panel. When Nicholas lowered himself into it, he found a squashed shallow-crowned hat from a much earlier age. He emerged from the hiding place wearing it. Serena laughed, not so much at the absurd spectacle he presented—for the hat was much too big—but at the ring of dirt it left around his brow when he removed it. With the dusty halo and those gunmetal eyes he looked, she thought fancifully, like a dark angel. Or maybe a devil. She reached up to brush it away, drawing back immediately at his startled look. ‘I’m sorry, you have—if you look in the mirror, you have dust on your hair.’

In the large formal dining—once more panelled with a design of roses—a concealed door lifted away to reveal a space built into a hollow column. ‘My father was minded to keep his own papers here, until I informed him that the entire household, if not the whole countryside, knew of the place. After that he stuck to the rather more orthodox method of locking them in his desk.’ Once more the space was empty.

In the master bedchamber, where Nicholas pulled back one of the window shutters to reveal yet another ‘secret’ space, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. He handed it to Serena, smiling at the look of anticipation on her face as she opened it, bursting into infectious laughter when it turned out to be an account for three pairs of evening gloves and six ostrich feathers.

‘This was my father’s room. I can only assume it was a bill he didn’t want my mother to see. Before he married my stepmother, my father was rather free with his favours.’

‘Was he? Well, so was my father after my mother died—and before he married her, I presume.’

‘Don’t you find that shocking?’

‘No, why should I? Papa was very much in love with Maman, and it was a long time after she died before he took an interest in any other woman. Why should I grudge him pleasant company?’

‘What a very enlightened attitude.’

Nicholas’s coolly ironic tone irked her. Remembering just in time, however, that it was not in her interests to quarrel with him, Serena took a calming breath before speaking. ‘It’s not enlightened, it’s just—honest. Why pretend the world works one way when it is obvious to anyone who cares to look that it works in quite another? I don’t mean that I approve of such choices, but to deny that they happen would be quite foolish.’

‘Foolish, I agree, but it’s what most of your sex claim to do none the less. And may I ask if Papa had the same enlightened attitude when it came to his daughter?’

‘Of course not. It’s different for a woman, as you very well know. I think you’re making fun of me.’

‘On the contrary, I must commend you for the candour of your outlook.’

Once again she struggled to contain the spark of temper his words ignited, for though he denied it she knew she was being deliberately riled. Biting back the riposte that sprang to her lips, Serena instead executed a mocking curtsy. ‘You are too kind, sir. I would that I could commend you for the same.’

‘Well done, mademoiselle. A hit, I acknowledge it.’

She was forced to laugh. ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, please call me Serena. I can’t bear to be on formal terms. In any case, it’s absurd, to have been grovelling about amongst all this dirt and cobwebs and still to call each other Mr Lytton and Mademoiselle Stamppe, a name I find rather strange, even if it is my own.’

‘I’m honoured. Serena is a beautiful name, and I’d be flattered if you’d call me Nicholas.’

‘Papa named me for serenity, although I’m not sure he got it quite right. But thank you, Nicholas.’

She pronounced it in the French way, leaving off the last consonant, making awareness curl in the pit of his stomach. There was something inherently sensual about her, made more so because he could not make up his mind whether or not she intended it. Nicholas. It was like a caress.

‘I take it you don’t favour this room yourself,’ Serena said, looking around her, oblivious of his stare. ‘I’m not surprised, it’s quite depressing.’

‘I agree,’ Nicholas replied, dragging his mind back to their conversation. ‘To be honest, I’ve never been enamoured of the idea of taking over the room of a dead parent. Rather off-putting, I would imagine, especially if one had company. As if one was being watched at a time when one would particularly wish not to be observed.’

Serena gave a startled gasp. ‘There was no need to be so blunt! I thought only that the room was oppressive. What you do—or don’t do—in your own bedchamber is none of my business.’

‘Not yet.’ Giving her no time to respond to this challenge, Nicholas grasped Serena by the elbow and headed towards the door. ‘That’s the last of the hiding places I remember for the present. It has obviously escaped your notice, but it is long past noon, and I am ravenous. I asked Hughes to set out a luncheon for us downstairs, but before you sit down, my lovely Serena, you should know that you have smut on your nose, so I will direct you to a room where you can clean up, and I will see you as soon as you have done so. Don’t keep me waiting lest I faint from hunger.’

Turning her by the shoulders, he pointed Serena in the direction of a doorway down the long corridor and strode effortlessly down the stairs towards the breakfast parlour.

After lunch they engaged in a few more hours of fruitless searching before Nicholas judged it time to call it a day. ‘There’s always tomorrow,’ he said brightly. ‘Rest assured I’ll rack my brain for more ideas to occupy us then.’

‘You don’t sound overly disappointed by our lack of progress,’ Serena said suspiciously. ‘In fact, you sound quite pleased.’

Nicholas flashed her a seductive smile. ‘The longer it takes, the more grateful you are liable to be.’

‘As I said earlier, Mr Lytton, you take far too much for granted. Right now, what I would be most grateful for is the comfort of my bed. It’s been a long and tiring day, I must return to my lodgings.’

‘Then I insist you let me send a servant to accompany you. After all, we wouldn’t want any aspersions to be cast on your reputation or intentions, now would we?’

‘No, Mr Lytton,’ Serena conceded with a smile, ‘we most certainly would not.’

‘If I never see another Tudor rose before I die I’ll be happy.’ Serena was perched precariously on a window seat in the formal dining room at Knightswood Hall the next day. ‘My fingers are aching from tapping and prodding and poking at panelling. I’m beginning to think this is a wild goose chase.’

After hours of searching they were no further forward, but although she knew she should be concerned, she was finding it very hard to fret. Her father had created this situation, giving her no option but to keep company with a man whom she was almost certain was a rake. The world would surely damn her if it ever found out, but she would make sure it didn’t, and in the meantime, provided the rake continued to behave, she was enjoying herself.

Nicholas smiled lazily up at Serena from the chair from which he had been watching, with relish, her attempts to reach a rose he had suggested—with no foundation whatsoever—looked particularly suspect. She had had to stretch, giving him a delightful view of her shapely ankles and a tantalising glimpse of her even more shapely rear as her dress was pulled tight. ‘Poor Serena, don’t give up yet, I’m sure I can think of lots more places to look.’

She turned round to face him, her hands on her hips. ‘I’m sure you can. And I expect most of them will involve me clambering up on to something or crawling about on my hands and knees.’

He stood to assist her down from the window. ‘It’s your own fault for having such a very charming derrière.’

‘A gentleman wouldn’t have looked.’

‘No, you’re wrong about that. No man, gentleman or other, could have resisted looking, but a gentleman would have pretended he had not.’

‘You told me you were a gentleman.’

‘I lied.’

‘You’re impossible,’ Serena said, trying desperately not to blush, for it only served to encourage him.

And you are adorable, Nicholas thought. A long tendril of hair had escaped its pins and curled down her back over the tender nape of her neck, giving her a charmingly dishevelled air. Not for the first time he found himself imagining what she would look like with all of the pins removed, her hair loosened and allowed to cascade down over her bare shoulders. It would brush teasingly over her breasts, causing the rosy buds of her nipples to stiffen and darken in delicious contrast to the creamy fullness of…

He dragged his eyes away. ‘Let’s go for a walk. We could both do with some fresh air.’ He picked up his coat, which was draped over a chair at the head of the long oak table. Serena was delightful, charming, and fun to be with into the bargain. A very heady and alluring combination. The evidence of that was pressing insistently at the fabric of his breeches. Adjusting the ruffles on his shirt sleeves, he pulled his waistcoat straight. ‘Come on, fetch your hat and shawl. It’s much too nice a day to stay cooped up in here. A stroll in the gardens is what we need. You’ll be relieved to know that it’s too early for the roses to be in bloom.’ Placing a hand firmly on the small of her back, he guided her from the room.

Outside, Serena raised her face towards the sun, luxuriating in the gentle caress of its warm rays on her skin. ‘You’re right…’ she sighed contentedly ‘…this is a lovely idea. Where shall we go?’

‘There’s a pleasant walk down through the gardens to the trout stream at the bottom,’ Nicholas replied. ‘It’s been dry for almost a week now, so the path shouldn’t be too muddy.’

‘I wish you’d tell Madame LeClerc so. According to her, it has been raining non-stop since we arrived.’

‘The good Madame—and how is her heroic snoring?’

Serena giggled. ‘I don’t know, thank goodness. I was so tired last night that I barely noticed. I should inform you, though, that her French sense of propriety is extremely offended at my spending so much time alone with you. She is for ever reminding me that my papa would strongly disapprove.’

‘And would he?’ Nicholas asked curiously.

‘That’s an impossible question since the only reason I am here with you in the first place is to do as he wishes. He would think our acquaintance—unwise.’

‘Perhaps he would be right. Most fathers would think the same way about me, I’ve a dreadful reputation. After all, I’ve already kissed you twice—who knows what else I have planned for you?’

Serena stumbled. ‘You said you would not take liberties.’

‘I said I would not take anything that is not given freely. That’s quite a different matter.’

‘Oh.’ She glanced up at him through her lashes. ‘You know, I considered bringing Madame LeClerc here with me to ensure that nothing improper occurred between us.’

‘Good God, I’m very glad you didn’t. I suspect I’d have resorted to murder.’

‘If I have to put up with her for much longer, I’ll resort to murder myself. Her dresses may be charming, but her disposition is rather less so. I find her company tedious, and she finds our delay here beyond bearing. I can’t wait to be rid of the woman.’

‘When will that be?’

‘When I get to London. Once I have Papa’s papers, I’m to take them to his lawyer there in the city.’

‘And then? Do you have plans?’

Serena frowned. ‘I thought I did, now I’m not so sure. You’ll think me fanciful, but I feel like—oh, I don’t know—a ship. All my life I’ve been safely anchored in a harbour, or becalmed, or tethered to another vessel. And now I’ve been cut free I can go where I want, do whatever I want to do. I don’t really want to make plans just yet. Don’t laugh.’

‘I’m not—far from it. I find the image of you unfurling your sails most distracting.’

She blushed at the intimacy of his tone, but ventured no reply. They were walking side by side along a small path lined with cherry trees, the blossom just beginning to come into flower. Serena’s hand was tucked into Nicholas’s arm, their paces matched, so perfectly in tune that neither had noticed.

The atmosphere over the last two days had been relaxed and lightly flirtatious. Until now, Nicholas had shown no sign of wishing to make more serious advances. Which was a good thing, Serena assured herself, and had indeed almost come to believe. Almost. Part of her was tempted to explore the attraction she felt between them, though it was a complication she could well do without. Every time he touched her, no matter how innocuous the circumstances—to hand her a book or her gloves, to seat her at the table or as now, to lend her an arm while they walked—a tiny shiver of awareness flickered inside her. Did he feel it too?