Читать книгу Rebellious Rakes - Bronwyn Scott - Страница 17

Chapter Nine

Haviland’s head snapped back, taking the force of the blow. He vaguely registered Alyssandra’s scream, but he was too enraged to heed it. He charged like a bull, burying his head into the midsection of the Frenchman. Julian went down, Haviland on top of him, delivering a few equalising punches.

‘Haviland! Enough!’ He was aware of hands tugging at him, trying to pull him off Julian Anjou. Alyssandra’s hands. Some of the rage ebbed out of him at the realisation she was safe. There was no need for more violence unless Anjou chose to jump him again. He rose, straddling Anjou and dragging him to his feet. From the look on Anjou’s face, Haviland wasn’t so sure Anjou wasn’t going to do just that.

‘What do you mean by attacking a man without warning?’ Haviland barked.

‘That is hardly the greater crime here! You were all over her!’ Julian roared. Haviland released him with a shake. It was a mistake to let Julian go. It gave the man a chance to focus on Alyssandra. ‘And you!’ He jabbed a finger her direction. ‘You let him. That makes you a—’

Haviland stepped between Julian and his view of Alyssandra. ‘I’d advise you to stop before you say something you regret.’ His voice held unmistakable steel. He wouldn’t mind punching Julian again—the slightest provocation would justify it.

Julian backed away, throwing one last threat at Alyssandra. ‘Your brother will hear of this and he won’t be pleased.’

With Julian gone, he could focus on Alyssandra. Haviland turned towards her. She was pale, but not entirely from fear or shock. There was anger in her eyes. ‘Alyssandra, I am sorry—’

She cut him off sharply. ‘Do not apologise. Neither one of us is sorry about what happened, only that we got caught. An apology makes at least one of us a hypocrite.’

True as that was, he knew better and to carry on so in a public place was unconscionable. One moment he’d been stealing a kiss, the next, things had progressed far beyond what he’d intended, but not beyond what he minded. Although perhaps he should mind if the consequence was getting hit in the face. His cheek was starting to throb now that the adrenaline had receded, and his lip was split.

‘Julian had no right,’ Alyssandra insisted, still fuming as she gathered up their picnic.

‘Doesn’t he?’ Haviland crossed his arms and leaned against the tree trunk, watching her, thinking. He knew so little about her and yet he’d risked so much in those unguarded moments. ‘It seems to me that he felt he did. Is there an understanding between the two of you?’ He’d not considered that. Up until now, he’d been focused on her as merely the sister of his fencing instructor. He’d not thought of her as belonging to another. An Englishwoman would never have invited his attentions the way Alyssandra had if she was claimed by another. Maybe that was his mistake. This was France, after all, the country where husbands begged guests to flirt atrociously with their wives.

She stood and faced him, hands on hips, looking gorgeously defiant. Her hair had come down and now it hung in a long chestnut skein over one shoulder. ‘There is an understanding between Julian and me, but not the sort you think.’ She slid the basket on to her arm and handed him his discarded coat. ‘Thank you for the afternoon.’ Her tone was terse, perfunctory. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse me? I have to go home and clean up this mess.’

‘I’ll come with you. Perhaps I can explain.’ Haviland shrugged into his coat. His split lip and bruised cheek could wait. He owed her this much. A gentleman didn’t let a lady face scandal alone even if the scandal wasn’t likely to leave the house.

She gave a harsh laugh. ‘What do you think you’ll explain, exactly? It’s not as if Julian misunderstood what he saw. No, I don’t think an explanation would improve the situation.’ She stepped away from him, her voice quieter now, but no less sharp. ‘It would be best if I did this alone. I am sorry if that thwarts your plans yet again to meet my brother. Au revoir.’

It didn’t occur to Haviland until after she’d disappeared from sight that he might not see her again. Ever.

* * *

‘She doesn’t trust me,’ he groused to his friends in the common room of their apartments, a cold rag held to his cheek.

‘And you don’t trust her. She hid her identity from you on purpose,’ Archer reminded him, handing over another cold rag to replace the one he held. ‘It seems you have something in common.’

‘She thinks I am using her to meet her brother. Even today when I offered to walk her home and explain, she refused on the grounds that I was manipulating the situation into a meeting.’ Lucifer’s stones, he’d made a mess of things. He’d never been so ham-handed with a woman before. Usually, he was discreet, masterful, charming. His affaires were smooth associations. Women could and did trust his lead.

Brennan snorted from his corner of the room where he lounged casually in a chair, his shirt open, his waistcoat undone. It was nearing evening and he looked as if he’d just risen. ‘What did you think you were going to explain? The angle of your tongue in her throat?’

Haviland threw him a quelling look and winced. It hurt his face to move. ‘Don’t be crass. It’s not funny.’

‘I disagree.’ Brennan laughed. ‘It’s hilarious. It’s the sort of the thing that happens to me, not you. I am going to enjoy the shoe being on the other foot. Thoroughly.’ He pushed himself out of the chair. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I have to get dressed. I’m anticipating a busy night at Madame Ravenelle’s.’

‘Stay in the Marais, Bren,’ Haviland cautioned out of habit. He couldn’t go with Brennan tonight, and Brennan was in the routine of slumming in the more dangerous parts of the city. At least in their more aristocratic neighbourhood, Brennan would be safer. Although ‘safe’ was always a relative term when it came to him.

Brennan clapped him on the shoulder as he passed. ‘I can take care of myself, old man. Don’t worry. Take care of you. You’ll have quite a bruise in the morning. I’m an expert at these things.’ Then he grinned. ‘Was she worth it?’

Haviland chuckled even though it hurt. ‘Yes.’ God, yes, she’d been worth Julian’s fist in his face. Julian would look worse, though. It was a male sort of consolation.

Nolan raised his head from his book. ‘She was worth it? Truly? I find it interesting you would say that about a woman you don’t trust. It is as if you are saying “I trust whatever you are keeping hidden from me will not be damaging to me”.’

‘This is exactly why I like horses.’ Archer sighed. ‘Horses don’t require cynicism. Your thoughts on human nature are so uplifting.’

Nolan shrugged. ‘I’m sorry if the truth offends you. Humans require more cynicism than others in the animal kingdom.’

‘More than wolves? I would have thought...’ Archer began.

Haviland stood, grabbing a spare rag to take with him. He didn’t particularly want to hear what Archer thought. He wasn’t up to listening to Nolan and Archer debate wolves, horses and humans. He wanted to retreat, nurse his cheek and think in the privacy of his room where his friends couldn’t voice their well-meant opinions.

Alyssandra Leodegrance had him spinning. She was beautiful and intriguing. It was the latter that concerned him most. What drew him to her? Where did the intrigue come from? Some women could naturally affect an air of mystery. Was she one of them or was there truly a mystery about her?

Haviland lay on his bed, eyes closed, his thoughts turning inward. He suspected the mystery had to do with what she wanted with him. She wanted him and yet she didn’t. It was as if she was afraid to get too close. Her actions where he was concerned were things of contradictions. She’d signalled him to approach at the musicale, she’d gone into the garden with him knowing who he was. She’d kissed him knowing that, too, and yet she was reluctant to accept his offer for pleasure in full.

Today had followed much the same pattern. She’d spent the afternoon with him and then pushed him away when they had to confront the consequences of their brief indulgence.

He knew what Brennan would say. She’s using you for sex, reeling you in nice and slow until you’re mad for her and nothing more. That’s every man’s dream. Embrace it. It wasn’t quite his dream, particularly. His dream was freedom. His dream was choosing his own destiny. A thought came to him. Haviland’s eyes opened slowly, as if opening them too quickly would cause the idea to evaporate. Suddenly, he knew why she intrigued him. She’d not been selected for him by someone else. He’d chosen her. She was his choice alone.

* * *

Julian Anjou chose to remain near the long windows in the main foyer of the Leodegrance hôtel while he waited for Alyssandra to return. He schooled his anger, focusing instead on the green expanse of the back garden. Perhaps a nobler man would contain his emotions better, but he was not that man. He was a man who had pulled himself up the social ladder rung by painstaking rung with the talent of his sword. He might look like a gentleman on the outside after years of cultivation, but inside he was a scrapper from the streets and a desperate one at that.

So close and yet so far as the expression went. He had free access to the elegant, generations-old hôtel of the noble Leodegrances, he worked side by side with the vicomte himself. His own mother had been a washerwoman. She would have been beside herself with her son’s success. But it was not enough for him. He understood how fragile his elevated status was, how precarious. He was not permanently bound to Antoine Leodegrance in any way and yet all his own status rested on Antoine’s. Should the salle fail, should Antoine be exposed, Antoine would survive it in some fashion, reduced though it might be. But he would not. No one would care where he landed. Fencing instructors without references were cheaply come by.

Behind him he could hear the front door open and Alyssandra’s voice as she passed her pelisse to a waiting footman. He turned from the window and watched her face pale when she saw him, but she did not try to evade him or his reason for being there.

‘He will be gone in six weeks, what harm can come of it? I’ll never see him again,’ she said baldly, her dark eyes meeting his in challenge. She joined him at the window, unafraid. She was far too bold. If he was Antoine, he would have taken a strap to her and demanded obedience. This latest adventure of hers could ruin them all and for what? For a roll in the grass with an Englishman? For momentary pleasure? There were far safer ways to achieve those ends.

Julian exhaled, letting his mind clear. Anger would not endear him to her and that’s what he needed— endearment, and if not that, at least tolerance. ‘When I suggested we use feminine wiles to keep him from asking questions, I was not suggesting we use yours.’

Images from the park began to stir in his mind where he’d trapped them. He’d rather not think of her as he’d seen her this afternoon, her hair loose, her face flushed, her eyes closed, savouring her pleasure, the Englishman pressed against her. And that sound she’d made, that mewl of unmistakable delight. He wanted to be the one who offered her those pleasures. He could, too. If it was pleasure she was after, he had more than one talent to his repertoire. It might be time to remind her, get her to reconsider what he’d once offered her.

‘I’m surprised you’re here.’ Alyssandra ignored his remark. Her tone was cool, but not entirely. There was concern beneath it. ‘I didn’t think you’d really tell Antoine.’

‘And hurt him like that?’ he queried. Alyssandra was a loyal creature. It would be worthwhile to stir that particular pot with a little guilt. ‘Do you know what that would do to him?’ Julian replied. ‘He will not hear it from me that his sister was playing the harlot in the park.’

‘Of course not.’ Her words were filled with acid. ‘It hardly suits your purposes.’ She made to move past him, but Julian wasn’t done. His hand shot out and gripped her arm. She was not going to walk away from him as if he were a servant, as if he didn’t wager his fate every day on the twins Leodegrance. He deserved her respect.

‘What are you running from? Are you afraid of what I’m going to say? Are you afraid I’m right? Only a coward would walk away and leave things unsettled.’ Julian knew just where to poke her. She was a temperamental one, any dare would spark her tenacity. She wouldn’t walk out of a room where her courage was in doubt.

She wrenched her arm free. It was the only defiance she could afford and he knew it. ‘There is nothing you can say that would frighten me.’

‘I hope so.’ Julian softened his tone. He didn’t want her angry, he wanted her confused, wanted her to doubt her attraction to the Englishman. ‘It’s not my intention to hurt you, Alyssandra. We are family, the three of us, we’re all each other has. We all guard the same secret for the same reasons. The truth is, the Englishman is just using you. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already suspect. He wants to get to your brother and you’re his best chance.’ He reached for her chin, trapping it between his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to meet his eyes. ‘In your heart, you know this is true. He tried to follow you out of the salon today, thinking to speak to your brother. He was waiting in the alley for your brother today, not you. You were a surprise.’

‘How did you know he was out there?’ Alyssandra jerked her chin away, the answer coming to her before he could supply one. ‘You followed me.’ Her eyes flashed with accusation.

‘I followed him,’ Julian corrected. ‘He left his lesson early, walked out on me, in fact. I suspected what he was up to and I was worried.’ They were standing toe to toe now. The world had narrowed to just the two of them. He was conscious of the rise and fall of her breasts, of the scent of her. He had not been this close to her in ages. It was arousing even to fight with her. But he had to be careful. He didn’t want to engender danger or she would never come to him.

‘And you kept following us. You spied on us the entire afternoon! It’s the only way you could have known where we were at.’

She was making him look obsessed. That was not the image he was going for. ‘I was protecting you,’ Julian answered swiftly. He dropped his gaze to the floor as if to appear humble, perhaps momentarily vulnerable before he dissembled. ‘Your brother is not the only one who cares for you.’ It had the desired effect. She closed her eyes and gave a tired sigh.

‘Julian, we’ve been through this—’ she began.

He held up a hand to stall her words. ‘Don’t say it, Alyssandra. I cannot stand by and let you throw yourself away on an Englishman who will offer you nothing. You are too fine, you deserve better than that and I know it. I doubt your Englishman does.’ He left her then by the windows to ponder his warning, his offer, and strode off down the hall.

It was time to make his next move. He needed to speak with Antoine and start laying his groundwork. He just needed Antoine to take up his suit with Alyssandra once more—perhaps this time it would succeed. When he’d approached her before, it had been three years ago, during the early stages of Antoine’s accident. In hindsight he could see it had been too soon. She hadn’t been nearly desperate enough. She was full of hope that Antoine would recover. Frankly, so was he. But those hopeful days were long past. He wondered if Alyssandra had admitted her brother would never walk again. There would be no miracle. She needed to start planning the rest of her life. He needed to convince her he was part of that plan. Together, they could keep the charade up, the salon running until a son of their own could take over.

Who better to leave the salle to than Alyssandra’s husband, his very own brother-in-law? If that happened, Julian needn’t wait for a son to establish his claims. He could claim it outright. Truly, how long would Antoine last? Cripples didn’t live long healthy lives and he’d already put in three years.

He knocked on the door to Antoine’s study and stepped inside. ‘I need to speak with you. It’s about Alyssandra.’

Marriage to Alyssandra would solidify his dreams. He was so close and one damn Englishman wasn’t going to get in his way.