A Wayward Woman: Diamonds, Deception and the Debutante / Fugitive Countess

‘Be still. If you continue to fight me, I’ll knock you senseless. Do you understand me?’ His captive nodded, in which case he began loosening his grip slightly.

The moment he did, Belle sank her teeth into the fleshy part of his palm and flung herself away from him. He grabbed her before she had taken two steps and held her prisoner in his arms.

‘So, you want to draw my blood, eh?’

The sudden contact of their bodies brought a gasp to Belle’s lips.

Lance continued to hold her, finding the form too slender, too light to be that of a man. A youth, perhaps?

Taking her with him to the door, he turned the key before releasing her and lighting the lamp. Giving all his attention to his captive, who continued to squirm against him, he reached out and tore the hat away, his mind rebelling in disbelief at what he saw—the dark brown hair, with highlights of red and gold, framing a creamy-skinned visage. The lips were soft and sensuous, the eyes a clear, sparkling shade of green.

‘What the hell … Good Lord!’ he cried. ‘Belle!’

Belle turned from him, but he caught her wrist. Blindly, insanely, she fought him, wildly twisting and writhing and clawing at him in an attempt to get away from him.

‘Will you be still?’ he growled, pressing her back against the wall and trying to still her frantic threshing with the weight of his own body. When she wouldn’t he increased the pressure of his grip upon the delicately boned wrist. Stubbornly Belle resisted the pain until Lance finally loosed his hold, not wishing to hurt her unduly. Feeling what little fight she had left drain away, slowly she quieted, breathing heavily, very much aware that his thighs were crushing her own quaking limbs.

‘Stop fighting me, Belle, and I’ll step away. Then I will listen to what you have to say. You owe me that much at least.’

‘I owe you nothing,’ she hissed through clenched teeth, open mutiny in her tone, her eyes hurling daggers at him. She sidled away from him, rubbing her wrist. ‘I swear I’ll break your hands if you dare touch me again.’

Lance stepped away from her. A wave of anger that she could be so reckless, that she had put herself in danger like this, washed over him. ‘Do you realise I could have killed you, you stupid girl?’

Belle tossed her head in defiance, her expression indignant. ‘Desperation leads me to do stupid things.’

‘Desperate? You? Don’t make me laugh,’ he uttered sarcastically. ‘How nice of you to drop in to my party. Do you mind telling how you got past my butler—looking like that?’

‘I came in through a door at the back of the house. It wasn’t difficult.’

‘Are you going to tell me what the hell you think you’re playing at?’

‘Do I really have to tell you—thief?’ she hissed accusingly, looking at him with withering scorn.

He looked at her very calmly now, everything beginning to fall into place. ‘Thief? Now, that’s debatable.’

‘Not to me.’

‘You know, if you’re going to take this defensive attitude, we’re not going to get anywhere. I take it that you have found what you were looking for?’

She nodded.

‘So, you saw behind my disguise.’

‘That wasn’t too difficult when I had time to piece things together. It was your cologne that gave you away.’

His lips twitched with the hint of a smile. ‘How astute of you. Trust a woman to notice that—and it certainly explains your attitude towards me at the party.’

‘What you did, holding up a coach on the King’s highway and forcing—at gunpoint, I might add—a woman to part with her valuables, is a criminal offence—one you could be hanged for.’

‘As you took great pleasure in informing me last night. Please don’t go on,’ Lance drawled in exaggerated horror. ‘You will give me nightmares.’

His ability to mock his fate and ignore his crime was more than Belle could bear. Her voice shook with angry emotion, and she stared at him as if he were something inhuman and beyond her comprehension.

‘And my grandmother? Did you not spare a thought to how your actions might have affected her had she been in the coach? She might have suffered a seizure on being confronted by a violent highwayman.’

‘I doubt it. Your grandmother is made of sterner stuff than that. However, I heard it mentioned that she wasn’t feeling well and was to remain in town with Lady Channing.’

‘And if she had been in the coach?’

‘I would not have held you up.’

‘How perfectly noble of you,’ she scoffed. ‘My grandmother could bring charges against you for what you did.’

‘And who would believe a high-ranking lord of the realm—as well as being a highly respected and decorated officer in Wellington’s army—would stoop so low as to take to the road as a highwayman?’

Belle glowered at him. ‘Is there no limit to what you will dare?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘No limit whatsoever. If you suspected it was me who took your necklace, didn’t it occur to you to simply ask me about it when we met earlier today, instead of taking matters into your own hands and sneaking into my home to look for them?’

Belle shrugged. ‘It’s no worse than what you did to me—you—you wretch. Besides, what was the point in asking you? You would have denied it.’

‘And you know that, do you?’

‘Don’t you feel any guilt at all about stealing the diamonds?’

‘No. Should I?’

‘I don’t suppose you would. One has to have a conscience to feel guilt,’ she said, shrugging out of her coat to examine the tear in the back.

‘If I were guilty of taking something that didn’t belong to me, maybe I would deny it. But I didn’t.’

‘What are you saying?’

‘The diamonds belong to me—to my family. I was merely retrieving them.’

Belle stared at him, surprised by his revelation and clearly shocked. ‘To you? But—they are Ainsley diamonds—my grand mother—’

‘Told you they belonged to your family, I know. Maybe after all these years she has come to believe that. Is the loss of the diamonds the reason why she has taken to her bed?’

‘No. You were right. She wasn’t feeling too well at Carlton House last night and stayed with Lady Channing. She is still not well, so I thought it wise to wait until she is feeling better before I tell her the diamonds were stolen.’

‘One cannot steal something that legitimately belongs to them.’

‘But why go to all that trouble of pretending to be a highwayman?’ Belle demanded.

At that moment Lance preferred not to think about the bet he had made with Rowland. ‘Because I wanted you to think the person who took your valuables was nothing more than an ordinary thief. Would you have given them to me if I’d asked?’

‘Of course not.’

‘There you are, then. You have your answer, but I cannot believe you planned this—to come here dressed as … you are,’ he said, contemplating her attire, thinking that in her white silk blouse, long and shapely legs encased in buff-coloured breeches, she really was a wonderful sight to behold, ‘and that you were foolish enough to come to my house to steal them back.’

Suddenly Belle felt suffocated by his nearness. Her whole being throbbed with an awareness of him, but she knew that if she gave any hint of her weakness, it would only lead to disaster. She saw where his gaze was directed and, glancing down, realised the twin peaks of her breasts were standing taut and high beneath her blouse. Her cheeks grew suddenly hot with embarrassment, and she folded her arms across her chest, glowering at him.

‘I never would have, if not for the fury I was beset with at the time—and there’s a confession for you. I have a temper—I can’t help it, and I’m rarely able to control it once it snaps.’

‘I’d already figured that out for myself,’ Lance said drily. By his actions he had woken a sleeping dragon.

‘Then perhaps you’ll think twice about provoking it in future.’

His eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘I, too, have a temper, Belle. You would do well to remember that.’ He stared at her for a moment, his jaw tight and hard, and then he sauntered to the fireplace, resting his arm on the mantelpiece.

‘If I were a man, I’d call you out for what you did to me last night.’

‘That would not be wise, Belle.’

‘No? After threatening my life and the men whose duty it was to protect me, nothing would satisfy me more that to put a bullet between your eyes.’

‘What? You can use a gun?’

‘Of course I can—I’m a very good shot, as it happens. Where I come from it is not unusual for women to learn how to shoot. I can hit a target with the best of them.’ She smiled wryly. ‘I suppose you will say my vanity is showing itself.’

‘No, I’m impressed. Not one of the ladies of my acquaintance would know which end of a gun to fire.’

‘Then you should become more selective in the ladies you associate with.’

‘I don’t think so,’ he replied drily. ‘To become intimately acquainted with a woman whose skill with any weapon might exceed my own, could prove to be dangerous.’

‘Then that lets me off the hook,’ Belle retorted flippantly.

‘How so?’

‘Last night you let me believe you were as enamoured of me as the rest—just to get your hands on my grandmother’s diamonds. You certainly know how to dent a girl’s pride.’

Lance would like to have told her that she had jumped to the wrong conclusion, and that he was enamoured with both her and the necklace. The truth was that she was too beautiful, too sensational for a man not to be enamoured of her. But he refused to feed her vanity more than it already was by the doting swains who trailed in her wake.

‘I have every confidence that your pride will soon recover.’

Belle was disappointed that he wasn’t attracted by her, but didn’t show it. Why had she to say that? How absolutely embarrassing. He probably thought she’d been making advances toward him, fishing for compliments. She should have known that her remark would be pointless. But damn it all, why did he have to point it out?

Chapter Four

For the first time since the diamonds had been taken, Belle had a feeling of self-doubt. Carrying her jacket, she moved towards Lord Bingham, confused as to what she should do. If the diamonds really did belong to him, then by rights she should give them back.

‘So, Belle. What are we to do? You have the jewels. Will you return them to me?’

‘I think I should wait and see what my grandmother has to say about that.’

‘Belle, they really do belong to me. If you don’t give them to me voluntarily, then I shall have to take them from you. Is that what you want?’

‘What?’ she uttered, her eyes flashing with scorn. ‘Will you threaten to shoot me like you did last night—and I seem to recall there was a moment when you implied that you would. What kind of man are you, Lord Bingham? What was it that drove you to play such a despicable game? Is there some quirk in your nature that you enjoy doing that to people? Why should I believe anything you say?’

‘Because I am a fairly honest person. Trust me. Something happened between our families concerning the diamonds when our grandmothers were in their prime. My grandmother kept a journal. Everything explaining proof of ownership and what happened at that time is written there. I will show it to you if you like, but there isn’t time now. I have to return to my guests.’

Belle turned to the door. ‘I think I should go. I told the coach driver to wait for me at the corner of the street.’

‘Belle …’ She turned and looked at him. His eyes were steadfast. ‘The diamonds.’ Slowly he walked towards her, holding out his hand.

Belle knew he wouldn’t let her out of that room unless she gave them to him. Reluctantly she fumbled in the pocket of her coat and took out the pouch and handed it to Lord Bingham.

‘Thank you,’ he said, taking it.

‘What do you advise me to tell my grandmother?’

‘The truth. She’ll understand. Come, I’ll take you back to the coach—although I can’t think what your driver was thinking of bringing you here, dressed like that, in the first place.’

‘I can be quite persuasive when I want to be—even with coach drivers when I use my best smile on them.’

She didn’t need to elaborate. The effect of her smile was highly predictable. Lance could well imagine the driver’s dilemma, how dumbstruck and willing to do her bidding he had been when she had flashed her pearly white teeth and fluttered her eyelashes.

‘What a truly vain creature you are, Belle Ainsley.’

‘You may see it as a flaw, but at times it can be useful.’

Lance shook his head. The way the female mind worked sometimes was beyond his comprehension. ‘There are some things that would tempt a man beyond good sense. Your smile is one of them. However, the ease with which you have managed to get into my house tells me that I must have a word with my butler about increasing the security. Any miscreant from the street could enter. You encountered no one?’

‘No—and I can find my own way to the coach.’

‘I’ll make sure you leave the house without being seen. I insist. I certainly don’t want any of my guests confronting you looking like that.’ Taking her jacket from her, he held it while she thrust her arms into the sleeves. ‘I apologise for the rip. A good seamstress should be able to repair it.’ Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her round to face him. ‘I would like to apologise for last night,’ he said calmly. ‘I can’t remember the last time I apologised for anything, so you must forgive me if I appear awkward.’

Belle was not to be so easily mollified. ‘What an arrogant man you are to think that after what you did to me last night and the violence that you threatened, I can be placated with a few words of apology. You can apologise all you like, but it still does not absolve you or solve the problem I shall have explaining what you have done to my grandmother.’

His face darkened with annoyance, and Belle could almost feel his struggle to hold his temper in check. ‘I could say that your own behaviour—by coming here tonight and breaking into my home, is not beyond reproach either. However, I am truly sorry if I frightened you last night. Despite how it looked, it was never my intention to hurt you.’

‘You didn’t hurt me. I was simply furious that you should have the audacity to do what you did. And now if you don’t mind I would like to leave.’

Turning on her heel, she went to the door. Lance followed, halting her by catching hold of her arm and speaking close to her ear from behind. ‘Of course you must go, but before you do, Belle, I will give you a warning. Just one,’ he enunciated coldly. ‘Call it advice, if you prefer.’

‘If I wanted advice,’ Belle retorted, spinning round, her eyes sparking green fire, ‘I would not come to you.’

‘I don’t normally receive guests in my bedroom—but then, you are not my guest, are you? If you break into my house again and come to my room and search through my personal belongings, I will lock you in and not release you until you are well and truly ruined. Do you understand me?’

Belle felt a sudden stillness envelope them. Vividly aware of the heat of his body and the spicy scent of his cologne, she was overwhelmingly conscious of the man behind her. She was irritated by the way in which he had skilfully cut through her superior attitude. She knew she had asked for it, but the magnetic attraction still remained beneath all the irritation.

‘I’m sure you would like nothing more, but I will not give you that satisfaction. Now, can we go?’ He was far too close and Belle was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable. The tight tension of regret was beginning to form in her chest that she had dared to come here.

Lance continued to hold her arm. Now the issue of the necklace was out of the way he was reluctant to let her go, and to his way of thinking it was time she received her comeuppance and realised the danger of coming uninvited to a man’s bedroom.

‘Not yet. I have not quite finished with you.’

‘Are you saying I am in danger?’

Black brows arched above gleaming blue eyes. ‘Of the worst kind, I fear. Tell me, Belle, have you ever been kissed?’

The tension in her chest was tightening. ‘No man kisses me except the man I want.’

An almost lecherous smile tempted his lips as his eyes did a slow perusal of her lips before travelling to the slim, erect column of her neck, to the beckoning fullness of her breasts straining beneath her blouse. The all-too-apparent womanliness of her and the heady scent of her perfume evoked a strong stirring of desire, and he felt a familiar stirring in his loins.

‘Then I will have to make you want me, Belle.’

He moved closer, close enough so that she was trapped and could not move without coming into contact with him. He braced his forearms against the door and gazed down at her face. He ached to caress the womanly softness of her, to hold her close, and ease the lusting ache that gnawed at the pit of his belly.

His nearness threatened to destroy Belle’s confidence and composure, but only threatened. This man was far too bold to allow even a small measure of comfort. She lifted her head imperiously, and her eyes glinted as they glared into his.

‘I don’t want you to show me. I don’t want you to touch me, so kindly step back and let me go at once.’

‘Not a chance,’ he drawled. Gripping both her upper arms, he pulled her to him, holding her tightly against his chest, his fingers digging cruelly into her soft flesh.

Resolutely she squirmed against him. She saw his eyes darken in the dim light, his lean and handsome features starkly etched. A strange feeling, until this moment unknown to her, fluttered within her breast, and she was halted for a brief passing of time by the flood of excitement that surged through her. With renewed determination she forced it down.

‘I asked you to release me. I really must go.’

‘What’s the rush?’ he murmured against her ear and brushed warm kisses along her throat. ‘I’d like to show you that I in no way resemble those fancy bucks who dance attendance on you night after night, pouring flatteries and endearments into your ears they do not mean.’

‘Leave me be. And don’t get any high-handed ideas that you are any better than they,’ she stated shortly.

‘Say what you like, Belle, but I suspect that you’d prefer a real man to warm your bed than any of them.’

His statement brought a bright hue creeping into Belle’s cheeks. ‘I find that remark extremely insulting and uncalled for. The conduct of the men I meet at the affairs I attend has been exemplary and I have no complaints. You speak as if you are some great gift to womankind, whereas you could learn a lot from them. And now I wish to leave. Anything is preferable to this. At least they are gentlemen and wouldn’t take advantage of a woman as you are doing.’

‘Don’t you bet on it, but relax, Belle. I’m not going to hurt you.’

An iron-thewed arm slipped about her waist and brought her against that broad chest. Belle thought to remain passive in his embrace and did not struggle as his mouth lowered upon hers, but they flamed with a fiery heat that warmed her whole body. That was when she realised the idea was ludicrous and a gross miscalculation of her power to deny him, for the kiss went through her with the impact of a broadside.

Her eyes closed and the strength of his embrace and the hard pressure of his loins made her all too aware of the danger she was in, that he was a strong, determined man, and that he was treating her as he would any woman he had desire for. Her head swam and she was unable to still the violent tremor of delight that seized her, touching every nerve until they were aflame with desire. Her world began to tilt, and she was lost in a dreamy limbo where nothing mattered but the closeness of his body and the circling protection of his arms.

Moments before she had thought herself knowledgeable about men, but now, as Lance slid one hand down to her buttock and pressed her to him, she became acutely conscious of her innocence.

His lips caressed and clung to hers, finding them moist and honey sweet, and for a slow beat in time, hers responded, parting under his mounting fervour. She leaned against him, melting more closely to him, as though the strength had gone from her. Aware of her weakening, he raised his head and lifted her in his arms.

‘Put me down,’ Belle panted breathlessly, panic rising. ‘This is not at all what I want.’

‘To hell with what you want, lady,’ Lance muttered thickly. ‘I can feel your need, Belle. It is the same as my own.’

‘Please,’ she cried. ‘This game has gone on long enough.’

‘Games are for children. But this is something more between a man and a woman.’ His eyes burned into hers as he strode purposefully to the bed with her. Kneeling on the mattress, he lowered her to its softness and before she could move his arms came down on either side, trapping her between them.

‘You beast,’ she hissed. ‘You filthy beast. How dare you lay your hands on me.?’

He silenced her with his lips, kissing her long and deep and hard. She struggled, but her physical resistance was useless against his strength and his unswerving seduction. Lowering his weight on to her body, he cradled her head between his arms. He was strong, muscular, savage even and very determined, and for a moment Belle felt her insides lurch—she didn’t know why—and in the pit of her stomach flared a spark of something, and again she didn’t know what or why.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ he breathed against her throat. ‘I won’t hurt you. Let yourself enjoy it.’

‘I can’t,’ she argued.

‘Yes, you can.’

Again he found her lips and parted them. Shuddering excitement passed through her, and the strength ebbed from her limbs. Not for a moment did Lance break the kiss that was inciting her. His mouth was hungering, turning to a heated, crushing demand. Her anger had become raw hunger, cindered beneath the white heat of their mutual desires. It was sudden, the awakened fires, the hungering lust, the bittersweet ache of passion such as Belle could never have imagined.

His position gave him full access to her body. Pulling her shirt out of the waistband of her breeches, his hand slowly snaked its way up to the tantalising fullness of her naked breast, cupping it, teasing her nipple until it was a hard bud. She made a sound deep in her throat. She wasn’t sure if it was a protest or merely a sound of pleasure she couldn’t contain, so wonderful did it feel. She was kissing him voraciously as the pleasure swiftly escalated, her entire body trembling with desire. She moaned again and wrapped her arms around his neck, shoving her fingers in his hair without even thinking about it, for she couldn’t seem to help herself and it seemed the most natural thing to do.

Lance closed his eyes, intense desire for this woman torturing him and making him acutely conscious of the celibate life he had led for some time now. As he caressed the sweet, young body, his flesh betrayed his need, rising up against his will. He was hungry for her and could hardly restrain himself to free her from her garments, possibly even tearing them if they resisted his fingers.

His hands slid from her breast and Belle felt him fumbling with the fastenings of her breeches. Instantly her sanity returned and with a horrified gasp, she broke away from him, her whole manner conveying her fury, which reappeared with shocking speed. With a tremendous effort of will she flung herself away from him and rolled off the bed. She stood glaring at him, breathing hard, her hair tangled in disarray about her shoulders, her green eyes burning, completely unaware of the vision she presented to his hungering eyes.

‘How dare you?’ she hissed. ‘How dare you do that to me? I will not be forced.’

Struggling for control, finding it with effort, getting off the bed, Lance straightened his clothes. ‘Come now, Belle,’ he managed to say, smiling, though he himself was shaken by the moment. ‘It was only a kiss—an innocent kiss, nothing more sordid than that.’ But he was not convinced by his words. With her long sleek legs encased in breeches, he was led to think that he had never caressed any that had evoked his imagination as much as those. The lingering impression of those trim thighs entangled with his own had done much to awaken a manly craving that had gone unappeased for some months.