A Regency Lady's Scandal: The Lady Gambles / The Lady Forfeits

Her startled gaze moved to the chair where she had placed her green gown earlier, only to find that chair now empty apart from her underclothes. And if the earl had indeed sent all her other gowns to be burned, then he must have included the three fashionable gowns Caro had brought to London with her two weeks ago. She turned back to him accusingly. ‘You had no right to touch my things!’

‘You were refusing to replace them.’ Dominic gave an unapologetic shrug. ‘It seemed easier to leave you with no choice in the matter rather than continue to argue the point.’

Her eyes sparkled indignantly. ‘And I suppose I am now expected to go down to the seamstress dressed only in my shift?’

It was a pleasant thought, if an impractical one, Dominic accepted. ‘She will come up here to you, of course. With, I might add, two gowns at least that you should be able to wear immediately.’ He had personally instructed the dressmaker to bring a gown of sea-green and another of deep rose, the one reminding him of Caro’s eyes, the other the tips of her breasts when they were aroused.

‘Have you received word on how Lord Thorne fares?’

Dominic’s thoughts of the anticipated changes to Caro’s appearance completely dissipated at this reminder of the attack on one of his two closest friends. Not that he would ever forget that first moment of seeing Osbourne covered in blood in the early hours of this morning.

How could he, when it was such a stark reminder of the last memories Dominic had of his mother sixteen years ago?

He moved away from the bed to stand in front of one of the picture windows, his back to the room, his hands clasped tightly together behind his back as he fought back those memories. Memories that had returned all too vividly after Caro had questioned him concerning his family …

He breathed in deeply before answering. ‘I have done better than that; I have been to see him.’ He went on to explain that Nathaniel’s aunt, Mrs Gertrude Wilson, having learnt that her nephew had suffered injuries and was confined to his bed, had wasted no time in having her own physician visit him, and fully intended removing Osbourne to her own home in St

James’s Square later this afternoon. An occurrence that aided Dominic’s determination to ensure the future protection of his friend.

Dominic hoped to have some news later today concerning the enquiries into last night’s attack, but if those enquiries should prove unhelpful, then he had plans of his own for later this evening that may give him some of the answers, if not all of them.

‘And?’ Caro prompted with concern as Dominic fell broodingly silent.

‘And the physician has discovered he has two cracked ribs to go with his many cuts and bruises.’

Caro knew by the harshness of the Dominic’s tone that he was far from happy at this news of his friend’s condition. ‘I am sure that he will recover fully, my lord.’

He did not look in the least comforted by her reassurances. ‘Are you?’

‘He is otherwise young and healthy,’ Caro nodded. ‘Now if—if you would not mind, I should like to get out of bed now.’ She had not had time to deal with her morning ablutions before her bedchamber was invaded, first by the maid, and then Dominic Vaughn, and that need was becoming more pressing by the moment.

He raised dark brows. ‘I was not aware I was preventing you from doing so?’

‘You know very well that your very presence here is preventing me from getting out of bed.’

He gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘You have flaunted yourself in a gambling club for this past week, in front of dozens of men, but now take exception to my seeing you clothed in one of my own shirts?’

Caro gave a pained frown. ‘The gown I wore at those performances covered me from neck to toe.’

‘And titillated and aroused the interest of your audience all the more because of it!’

Had it titillated and aroused this man’s interest? she wondered breathlessly. Obviously something had, if his passion earlier this morning was any indication. A passion she had responded to in a way that still made her blush. ‘Then it would seem the sooner I am clothed in one of my new gowns, the better it will be for everyone.’

His gorgeous mouth curved into a pleased smile. ‘You are sufficiently recovered from your previous outrage to now accept the new gowns?’

Caro bristled. ‘I believe it is more a case of having little choice in the matter when you have had all of my own gowns burned. I should become a prisoner of this bedchamber rather than just the house if I did not accept the new gowns, would I not?’

He winced. ‘You are not to be a prisoner here, Caro, only to take the precaution of being accompanied if you should decide to go about.’

‘I do not even know where “here” is!’ she snapped caustically.

‘Blackstone House is in Mayfair,’ he elaborated. ‘And as soon as you are dressed, and the seamstress has gone about her business, I will be only too happy to take you out for a drive in my carriage.’

‘Accompanied by the maid I do not have?’ she came back derisively.

‘We are believed to be cousins, Caro,’ he reminded her drily. ‘Making such a fuss about the proprieties would be a nonsense.’

‘In that case, if you would send the dressmaker up to me now I should very much like to go out for a drive.’

Her tone, Dominic noted ruefully, was almost as imperious as Osbourne’s Aunt Gertrude’s. Further evidence, if he should need it, that Caro Morton was a woman used to instructing her own servants and having those instructions obeyed. Because she was, in fact, a lady of quality?

He crossed the room to once again stand beside the bed. ‘Have you considered the possibility, Caro, that I might be more … amenable, if you did not constantly challenge me?’

‘I have considered it, my lord—and as quickly dismissed it.’ Her expression was defiant as she glanced up at him. ‘It goes completely against my nature, you see.’

Dominic could not prevent his throaty chuckle as he looked down at her admiringly. No, he never found himself bored in Caro’s company, even when he was not making love to her! ‘I will arrange for the carriage to be brought round in an hour’s time.’ He gave her a brief bow before taking his leave.

Caro did not move for several minutes after he had left the bedchamber, still slightly breathless from the transformation that had overcome his austere features when he laughed. Those silver eyes had glowed warmly, with laughter lines fanning out at their sides, the curve of those sculptured lips revealing the white evenness of his teeth. Even that savage scar upon his cheek had softened. The whole rendered him so devastatingly handsome that just looking at him had stolen her breath away …

‘Relax, Caro,’ Dominic drawled softly as she sat tensely beside him as he controlled the reins of his curricle, his two favourite greys stepping out lively in the sun-dappled park. ‘By this time tomorrow, all of society will be agog to know who was the beautiful young lady riding in the park with Blackstone in his curricle.’ And she looked every inch a lady of quality in her rose-coloured gown and matching bonnet, with several golden curls framing the delicate beauty of her face, and her hands covered in pale cream gloves.

‘How disappointed they will be when they learn it is only your impoverished and widowed cousin up from the country,’ she came back tartly. ‘And the last thing I desire is to become the talk of London society,’ she added with a delicate shudder.

It was rather late for that, when to Dominic’s certain knowledge the male members of the ton, at least, had been avidly discussing the masked woman who had sung at Nick’s for the past week! Not that any of those men would recognise the blonde woman sitting so demurely beside him in his curricle as the same masked and ebony-haired siren who had entertained them so prettily at Nick’s; several of those gentlemen had already greeted Dominic as they passed in their own carriages, with no hint of recognition in their gazes as they’d glanced admiringly at the golden-haired beauty at his side.

‘A beautiful woman, impoverished or otherwise, is always a source of gossip amongst the members of the ton,’ he said.

Caro glanced at him beneath long golden lashes, noting how easily he kept the two feisty greys to a demure trot as he drove his elegant curricle through the park. She had also noted the admiring glances sent his way by all of the ladies in the passing carriages, before those covetous glances had shifted coldly on to Caro, no doubt due to the fact she was the one sitting beside the eligible Earl of Blackstone in his carriage.

Wearing a beautiful gown, and being driven through a London park in a fashionable carriage, with a wickedly handsome man at her side, had long been one of Caro’s dreams. But in those girlish dreams the man had been totally besotted with her, something she knew Dominic would never be with regard to her.

Admittedly, the circumstances under which they had first met had been less than ideal, but if Lady Caroline Copeland and Lord Dominic Vaughn, Earl of Blackstone, had met in a fashionable London drawing room, he would certainly have behaved more circumspectly towards her.

Except she was not, at this moment, Lady Caroline Copeland, and the earl’s casualness of manner towards her was reflective of that fact. ‘I believe I would like to return to Blackstone House now, if you please,’ she said stiffly.

Dominic glanced down at Caro, frowning slightly as he saw the way her lashes were uncharacteristically cast down. ‘There is a blanket beside you if you are becoming chilled?’

‘I am not in the least chilled; I would just prefer to leave now.’ Her voice was huskily soft, but determined.

Dominic transferred both reins to his right hand before reaching down with his left to lift Caro’s chin so that he might look into her face. Far from invigorating her, she seemed to have grown paler during the drive, and, unless he was mistaken, the glitter in her eyes was not due to her usual rebellion. ‘Are you about to cry?’ His voice sounded as incredulous as he felt.

‘Certainly not!’ She wrenched her chin out of his grasp and turned away. ‘I merely wish to return home, that is all. To Blackstone House, I meant, of course,’ she added awkwardly.

Dominic had known exactly what Caro meant. Strange, in all the years he had been the Earl of Blackstone, he had never particularly regarded any of his houses or estates as being his home—how could he, when all of them were a reminder of the parents who had both died when he was but twelve years old?

Or how, along with those memories, came the nightmare reminder of the part he had played in their deaths! Memories that were usually kept firmly at bay, but had haunted him this past few hours …

‘Of course.’ Dominic gave a curt nod before turning the greys in front of the curricle back towards Blackstone House. ‘Perhaps you should go to your bedchamber and rest before dinner?’