Regency: Rakes & Reputations: A Rake by Midnight / The Rake's Final Conquest

“Charlie?” Devlin laughed. “If you turn a woman like Miss Eugenia over to your brother, you’re not the man I thought you were.”

The next night, Jamie blessed his sister and her penchant for writing things down. Taking Devlin’s suggestion to heart, all he’d had to do was call on her this afternoon, ask her for a cough tonic, and then take a quick look through the papers on her little desk while she was in the kitchen concocting the brew. His hunch had been right. Sarah was easing Eugenia’s way into society, using the Thayer twins as her companions for meeting the “right” people.

Now, there in the midst of the Albermarle ballroom, shining brighter than any crystal chandelier, and right where his sister’s notes said she would be, was Miss Eugenia. Despite the crush of people, he had spotted her within seconds of entering.

Yes, he had Eugenia’s complete schedule for the next fortnight. Convenient. And it barely troubled his conscience at all. Sarah would never know. And it wasn’t as if he wanted the information for nefarious purposes. Quite the opposite. He could not keep her at home, nor could he let her wander into disaster, so following her was the only way to safeguard her. And there was no sense in hiding it since she would soon suspect something of the sort. He might as well throw down the gauntlet.

As he approached her group, peopled by the crème de la crème of the ton, he noted that she was even more stunning tonight than last night. Her gown was of a deep violet watered silk. A row of tiny leaves had been embroidered at the hem and décolletage. A matching neck band displaying a perfect oval amethyst hid her scar, and she looked as untouched and serene as a Madonna. How was it possible that she grew lovelier each time he saw her?

As if she could feel the weight of his eyes, she turned to him. A fleeting smile curved her lips, then died as if she had remembered something unpleasant. He hid his disappointment as he approached the group.

Harriett Thayer was the first to acknowledge him. “Mr. Hunter! How delightful. We so rarely see you, and here, two nights in a row, we are fortunate enough to encounter you. To what do we owe this rare pleasure?” Her smile was coy and her eyes slid toward Miss Eugenia. Harriett, at least, suspected the real reason for his being there.

He smiled as a few of the young men bowed and wandered away, unsure which of his varied reputations was responsible. “Why, to your charming company, ladies. What else could lure a gentleman out on a cold night?”

“Then we shall require you to warm yourself by dancing with all of us,” Hortense teased. “There is a scandalous lack of eligible men here tonight.”

“Then you first, Miss…Hortense?”

She took his offered hand. “How very clever of you, Mr. Hunter. Most people cannot tell us apart.”

“I am observant, m’dear. Under ordinary circumstances, I cannot tell you apart, but I know, for instance, that you have a charming little quirk of raising your right eyebrow. When Miss Harriett attempts it, her left eyebrow raises.”

“The mirror effect,” she said with a little laugh. “Drat! We have been found out, Harri.”

He led her to the dance floor where a lively reel was in progress. Both Misses Thayer were excellent partners, quick, supple and skilled. The pace kept them apart quite a bit and spared him the necessity of making mundane conversation. When he returned her to her friends, he claimed Miss Harriett for a stately march.

“I conceive you have an interest in our Miss O’Rourke, do you not?” she asked when they met for a bow.

“I own it. She is family now, you know.”

“I mean beyond that, Mr. Hunter. You do not look at her as a brother would.”

Denial was useless, but perhaps he could manage her suspicions of his reasons. “Your perception astounds me, Miss Harriett. Will you expose me?”

“Tout au contraire!” She gave him a saucy wink. “I shall do all I can to encourage her. Not for your sake, Mr. Hunter, but for the good of all womankind.”

“How would such a suit serve the good of all womankind?”

“Cupid’s arrow has already brought your brothers Lockwood and Andrew down. Should you follow, I vow that women of the ton would be vastly encouraged. Yes, women everywhere would take heart that any man can be caught.”

He laughed at her outrageous analysis of the situation, though he realized there was a grain of truth in it. He and his brothers had all been single far too long, and he was apt to remain so for a good deal longer than Miss Harriett suspected.

When he returned Miss Harriett to her companions, there was another young lady he had not met. Miss Hortense performed the introduction to Miss Christina Race. She was a darkly ethereal woman, as quiet and composed as the deep green gown she wore. When he bowed over her hand, she returned his smile.

He watched Miss Eugenia from the corner of his eye, noting that she looked anxious. Was she concerned that he would not mind his manners? No. She knew him well enough by now to know he would not embarrass Miss Race.

He led her onto the dance floor for a quadrille and attempted polite conversation as they met, parted and met again. “I believe we have been previously introduced, Miss Race?”

“I do not think so, Mr. Hunter. I am certain I would have remembered.”

“Then how is your face familiar?”

“‘Twould not be so odd, sir, as we frequent the same events. Perhaps you have seen me across a room? Perhaps at the punch bowl? Or perhaps we have passed in the street?”

He conceded the point, though he still suspected they knew each other in some manner or another. “How have you fallen into such bad company as the Thayers and Miss O’Rourke?”

She laughed softly and he was enchanted by the sound. “I have known Hortense and Harriett for quite some time. Our families are connected. I have only just met Miss O’Rourke.”

“Tell me what you think of her.”

He sensed a slight stiffening in her frame as he passed her beneath his arm. “She is quite agreeable. In fact, she has requested that I join their group tonight. I think we shall get along famously.”

Miss Eugenia requested? An innocent enough way to meet and become acquainted with new people, though he could not help but think she was up to something. Miss Eugenia was not random in her actions.

The dance ended and Jamie’s anger rose when he returned Miss Race only to find that Miss Eugenia had disappeared. She’d known she was next and had tried to subvert him. How little she knew of his determination! It would take more than she was capable of to keep him from his purpose.

“Miss O’Rourke offers her apologies, but she was…ah, fatigued and has gone to the ladies’ retiring room,” Miss Harriett explained.

Harriett Thayer was not a good liar. He smiled, offered a bow, and excused himself to take up station at the corridor leading to the ladies’ retiring room.

Before long, and thinking she was now safe, Miss Eugenia rounded the corner on her way back to her friends. He fell into step beside her and took her arm, guiding her back toward the ballroom. “Ah, my patience has rewarded me. How could I possibly leave without our dance?”

Gina covered her astonishment as best she could. She’d been so sure she’d evaded him. He was more patient than she had thought. “I confess to a certain curiosity, Mr. Hunter. Have you always been quite this…social? Or is this a new habit?”

He laughed. “You have me there, although I do tend to be more social than my brothers. And, when there is something to interest me, I am positively unshakable.”

“Hmm. So then am I to gather that you are testing the boundaries of our truce? Or are you sweet on someone here?”

“Both, if I am to be honest. And, since it is my fate to dote upon someone who hates me, if you refuse me I shall be quite inconsolable.”

He led her into the strains of a waltz and Gina sighed. She was glad he had saved their dance for last. Oh, she had dreaded it, and had even tried to avoid it, but now that the inevitable had happened, she found her excitement rising. James Hunter always made her feel as if she were about to embark on an exciting adventure.

“So thoughtful, Miss O’Rourke? Or are you anxious to return to your friends?”

“They are quite diverting,” she allowed, but she was more concerned with keeping him away from Miss Race. If he made the connection between the girl and the Brotherhood, he would instantly know what she was doing. And yet, she could not help but ask, “Had you not met Miss Race before?”

A brief look of uncertainty passed over his features. “I had not had that pleasure. I must say she is quite lovely. I find it difficult to believe I managed to miss her before.”

“Connoisseur of lovely women that you are?”

He laughed and swung her in a wide circle. “Are you calling me conceited, Miss O’Rourke?”

“Heaven forbid! Fickle, perhaps …”

“For what it is worth, I rank you among the loveliest to grace the ton, Miss O’Rourke. And by my reckoning, you are generating a good deal of interest.”

The hair raised on the back of Gina’s neck. She had felt the stares, but she suspected they were for a different reason, and likely from men who had seen her naked on a stone altar. And interest was not what she wanted to generate. She’d rather blend into the background—the better to overhear snippets of conversation that could be of help to her.

“There is that look again,” Mr. Hunter said. “The one that tells me I’ve said something wrong.”

“Not wrong, Mr. Hunter. It is just that…well, I do not want to generate interest.”

“Then why have you come out in society?”

“I…I thought I should experience London before returning to Ireland.”

His eyes narrowed and he drew her off the dance floor. “That is a bare-faced lie, Miss O’Rourke. It was a lie the first time you told it, and it is now. I would hazard you have experienced more than enough of London.”

She gasped at his sudden fierceness. “The wrong London. I wanted to take a happier memory home with me.”

He took her hand and led her into the famed Albermarle gardens among dozens of strolling couples. Still, it was more private than the ballroom. He found them a bench surrounded by sculpted evergreens and gestured for her to sit. As much as she would have liked to return to the ballroom, she followed his direction.

“Now, Miss O’Rourke,” he began as he stood in front of her, one foot propped on the bench next to her hip, as if to keep her from bolting. “I know you are up to something. Do not bother to deny it.”

“Really, sir. I needn’t explain myself to you.”

“You are going to explain to someone. Me or Andrew. Or better yet, your mother.”

Gina shuddered. Her mother would have hysterics followed by locking Gina in her room until their return to Ireland. “I’ve told you the truth before. I am tired of hiding in fear. I will not live the rest of my life locked away or shunning society. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Apart from sneaking out and joining in fast company to go places no decently brought-up young woman should ever go? Apart from keeping company with the likes of Henley? Apart, even, from nearly getting yourself killed?”

She had underestimated his anger. And he had misjudged hers. He had backed her into a corner, and he was going to pay the consequences of that. “Are you saying that I am to blame for what happened to me? “

“Only in that you made a series of wrong decisions for all the right reasons. But you cannot ignore the fact that you are a female, with all the vulnerabilities of that sex.”

“I am not ignoring it, but I will not allow it to prevent me from doing what I must.”

“And what is that, Miss O’Rourke?”

“Talk to people, discover if anyone knows what has become of Mr. Henley. See to it that he is captured and punished.”

“Even if that means exposing your …”

Gina’s stomach turned. Exposing her shame? The fact that she had been splayed on a stone altar? That she was to have been raped and killed for the titillation of dissolute men? No! Dear Lord, no. She did not want any of it made public. But if she was not willing to risk that, Henley was sure to get away with what he’d done to her and countless others. “Even then,” she confirmed, keeping her voice steady and determined.

He looked into her eyes, measuring her determination. “Miss O’Rourke, the Home Office is doing all it can. How can you think you will succeed where they have not?”

“For precisely that reason. They have not succeeded. How can I possibly do worse? And how can I return to Ireland knowing that vile man is still free? Free to come after me. Free to debauch other innocent women.”

“You think we failed you.” Anger coupled with something darker crossed his handsome features. “Then surely you can see the folly in putting yourself in harm’s way.”

“Mr. Henley is in hiding. He is no threat to me as long as I am in society because he will not risk being seen. I only want to discover if anyone knows where he can be found. I promise you, Mr. Hunter, I will give you that information the moment I have it.”

“You will …” He looked at her in disbelief and raked his fingers through his dark hair. “Damn it, the only thing you should do is go home to Ireland!”

She stood and turned toward the terrace doors and the ballroom. She hadn’t taken more than a single step when he seized her arm and spun her around as he stepped forward. The momentum landed her squarely against his chest and she was forced to look up to see his expression—fury and frustration. “I don’t give a fig where you think I should go!” she exclaimed.

“Don’t you see the danger? Don’t you know what the mere sight of you does to a man? “

She opened her mouth to ask what he meant, but it was too late. His left arm went around her to hold her captive while his right hand cupped the back of her head, preventing her from turning away.

His mouth came down on hers with desperation she could feel in every line of his body. His lips were challenging, not punishing. They were firm, warm and tinged with sweet wine. His tongue slipped along the seam of her lips, urging hers to open. Not knowing why, she did, and his moan was the answer. She brought her fists up, intending to push him away, but her hands opened and slipped around his neck. She had never felt anything as exciting as this before and she was dizzy with the heady sensation.

Surer now, more confident, he softened his assault to coax an answering moan from her. She scarcely recognized her own voice in that sigh. He pulled her closer, pressing her along the length of him until she could feel something as firm and unyielding as his chest pressing against her lower abdomen. Oh, how she wanted more of that feeling! Encouraged, he deepened the kiss and Gina knew she was being branded, claimed, owned entirely by this man. Only James Hunter could have robbed her of the will to resist.

Heavenly and wicked at the same time. Now she understood. She couldn’t move, couldn’t break the spell of his arms, and she didn’t want to. No, she never wanted this kiss to end. She was breathless at the way her breasts tingled as they pressed against his chest and at the way a needful ache bloomed where his erection burned into her. She wanted him. She needed him.

He released her with a choked groan and stepped back, leaving her to stagger without his support. “You…you have my apologies, Miss O’Rourke.”

She spun around and ran for the terrace door. He must never know what that kiss had done to her. Never see it in her eyes or read it on her face. She’d been ready to surrender everything to him when he’d only kissed her to shut her up or teach her a lesson. Well, he’d never have that opportunity again!

Chapter Six

Gina was certain there was some trace of that kiss visible to the guests in the ballroom. She was changed somehow, and there would have to be a sign of that. She glanced toward Hortense and Harriett, who were laughing and fanning themselves flirtatiously while engaged in conversation with at least five young men. How could she join them when her heart was still racing so?

She glanced around for a familiar face, someone she could talk to. Where had Miss Race gone? She’d promised to bring Mr. Metcalfe. A quick glance around the ballroom revealed that the girl was not dancing. In fact, she could find no trace of her. Surely she wouldn’t have left without a word?

A flash of green caught her attention and she watched as Miss Race entered the ballroom from a terrace door. She paused to pat her hair into place and sweep a gaze about the room. When she saw Gina, she gave a small smile and a nod as she came toward her.

She was flushed when she took Gina’s hand and led her into the corridor. “I looked for you, Gina, but you disappeared. Stanley was here, but he could not stay.”

She tried to hide her dismay. “I…I have missed him?”

“He said he knew who you were and was willing to help you, but he does not like to stay too long in any place.”

“Has he always been like that, Christina?”

The girl frowned. “Only since…the middle of summer. It is as if he is afraid something will happen if he stays too long.”

Could Mr. Metcalfe be trying to avoid Mr. Henley, too? But Mr. Henley would never attend a ball—too brazen, and too many people knew him. Or did Mr. Metcalfe fear the authorities were after him? What a hopeless muddle.

Gina squeezed Christina’s hands. “Did he say how he could help me? “

“Oh, yes.” She rummaged in her little beaded reticule, pulled a small object out and pressed it into Gina’s hand. “I was to give you this, and tell you that he will find you at a more opportune time. I took the liberty of telling him I have been invited to attend the Morris masquerade three days hence, and that you will be there with Hortense and Harriett. He said we should look for a leper.”

Leper? That would mean a black hooded robe and bell about his neck. He should be easy enough to find. “Three days? Could I not speak to him sooner?”

“I am afraid not. He said he had much to do. Now, you must excuse me. I should return to my party.”

Gina tried to hide her impatience as Christina hurried away to join a group of young people who were preparing to leave. Almost forgotten in her disappointment, she looked down and opened her hand. A key? Pray, what did it open?

Throw down the gauntlet? What a bloody good idea that turned out to be! Instead of basking in triumph with little Miss Eugenia packing for home, Jamie was the one who’d been defeated with a kiss and at the mercy of a sweet-smelling nymph who gave as good as she got. Gave better, actually. And the accusation that the Home Office—he—had failed her ripped through his heart. It was bad enough to fear it himself, but to hear her say it was a confirmation of all his worst fears.

He riffled through the papers on his desk at the Home Office looking for his notes, certain there would be something to either bolster his case or tell him where Henley was hiding. Fast. He had to end this before Henley came after Eugenia. There had to be something he had overlooked. Something so subtle that it had escaped him.

“Good Lord! You take to abandoning me at balls and I find you working into the wee hours! What has happened to you, Jamie? All work and no play is not like you.”

He glanced up to see Charlie leaning against the doorjamb, his arms folded over his chest and looking for all the world as if he’d just slept twelve hours. “Not like you,” Jamie corrected. “What are you are doing here—and do not tell me you were trying to find me.”

Charlie shrugged and came to sit in the chair across the desk from him. “My mind wanders. You know how easily bored I am. And I’m looking for company. I hate to carouse alone.”

Jamie finally pushed his papers aside and gave his brother his attention. “You haven’t been carousing, Charlie. You’re far too fresh for that. Come clean.”

He grinned. “Not precisely carousing. But I’ve certainly been in that part of town. I met Devlin at the Crown and Bear.”

“Lilly will not thank you for leading him astray.”

“Me? Perish the thought. I am merely learning from the master.”

“Master of what? Are you taking up a life of crime?”

His grin faded as he sat forward in his chair. “I am trying to decipher Devlin’s sources, his network of informants. Alas, I lack his reputation to give strength to my requests, but I am gaining ground there.”

“I wonder if I should ask what is required to become credible to that lot of scoundrels.”

“I wouldn’t. Not for the squeamish.” Charlie quirked an eyebrow.

“I should also warn you to be prepared for rumors concerning Miss O’Rourke and me.”

Charlie blinked, then shook his head. “You had me there for a minute. I almost thought you, of all people, had found the ‘one.’ Well, never mind. So you want society to think you’re courting? Is Miss O’Rourke going along with this?”

“She will likely be quite distressed when she learns of it. But my requests that she stay at home and be protected have fallen on deaf ears. She intends to ask her own questions and meddle in Home Office business. Henley will be looking for a way to get at her. She is one of the last who could testify against him—that he drugged and kidnapped her.”

“So you intend to hang on her every word? Discourage any other suitors? Make it impossible for her to locate Henley?”

“Precisely.”

“And if she sends you away?”

“I shall stand fast.”

“You know what society will say about this affair, do you not? That you are beyond smitten, and that the O’Rourke girl has made a jackanapes of you.”

Jamie laughed. “Not to my face, they won’t.”

“Ah,” Charlie said, “and this will work well into your usual scheme, will it not? In seasons to come, it will be whispered that your heart is broken and no marriage-minded chit should set her cap for you. Damn clever.”

“My usual scheme?”

“Your reputation in the ton, Jamie. Nary an ingenue nor a courtesan has held your attention long. ‘Tis just a matter of time before you move along to the next entertainment.”

He forced a grin and a shrug. “You will not give me away? “

“Never! Furthermore, I shall join you in your game. I do not intend to let you go about alone at night again. Whoever wants you dead will not have an easy time of it.”

“Or Henley will get two Hunters for the price of one.”

“I am so pleased that you let the gentlemen go off to their club after church,” Mama announced as they sat down to the table and shook her napkin out to lay it across her lap. “Now it is just me and all my girls. Well, the ones I have left.” She sniffled and touched her handkerchief to the corners of her eyes.

Gina shot a quick glance at her sisters and noted that both Bella and Lilly did the same. By their tense expressions, she realized they all feared that Mama was winding up for a bout of hysteria.

“But enough of that,” Mama continued, laying their fears to rest. “We all miss Cora dreadfully, but we must accept God’s will. I am simply grateful for the opportunity to have my little family all to myself. There are things we must discuss. Plans to form and decisions to be made.”

“There is time for that, Mama,” Bella said as a maid served a platter of cold sliced meat.

“Not much time at all, dear. Less than a fortnight. ‘Twould be sooner if I could arrange it.”

Ten days, by Gina’s reckoning, counting this one. Yes, she was painfully aware of the ticking of the clock. Ten days to find Henley. Ten days to avenge Cora and reclaim her own future.

“And we must look to the future. I will scarce be settled at home when I will have to come back here. March, will it not be, Bella?”

“M-March?” Her sister colored a most interesting shade of fuchsia.

“Oh, do not deny it,” their mother smirked. “I know my daughters. Your husband did not waste much time getting an heir on you. You shall have an early spring babe. And I know a girl wants her mother at such a time. Never fear, Bella. I shall be here for you.”