When the carriage jerked to a halt at last, Alexa gave a heartfelt sigh of relief. She was home at last, and at this time of the night even he would not dare to force his way in as he had done before when he’d taken her unawares. This time, if he tried to use the same forceful tactics she would scream for help as loudly as she could.
As she gathered up her skirts to descend from the carriage, Lord Embry, who had come around to her side, put his hands on either side of her waist to lift her down; and it was only while she was in midair, so to speak, that Alexa realized with a sickening jolt that this was not Belgrave Square that he had brought her to after all.
Continuing to hold her before him, a stunned, unwilling captive, Nicholas said in the same dangerously soft voice that Alexa had already heard him use earlier: “If you have any idea of making a fuss I hope you will be wise enough to put the notion out of your head at once. I would be sorry if you forced me to leave ugly scars on that lovely golden body of yours. Comprende, mi dulce amor?‘”
No doubt he would do exactly as he threatened without a qualm. Alexa had to force herself to stand still and tilt her face up to meet his unreadable look with a semblance, at least, of courageous defiance. “Am I permitted at least to ask where you have brought me? And why?” Despite her efforts her voice emerged as a husky whisper, but at least it did not shake.
“Why, I thought we might visit one of the establishments managed by your aunt! The two houses sit side by side. Or had you already noticed? One caters to what you might call the regular trade, and the other is for special purposes. And privacy of course. There are suites that are rented out—I keep one rented myself for occasions when I might find such accommodations useful. And I can assure you, my sweet, that you’ll find these quarters much cleaner and more tastefully done up than the sleazy little chambres de convenance at Cremorne Gardens, or even those above certain little boutiques in Burlington Arcade. But you will be able to see for yourself in a few minutes and draw your own comparisons, won’t you?”
Chapter 38
Adelina, the Dowager Marchioness of Newbury, was in the habit of keeping late hours, as everyone in the family knew; and so, when her grandson Deering was announced by a sleepy-looking butler at well past eleven o’clock, she merely waved an impatient hand and said that the Viscount should be directed to come upstairs to her rooms. So, had Charles finally got up enough courage to tell her something that she already knew? She had only agreed to see him in case he happened to have learned something she was not yet aware of, and she would soon find out if that was the case or not.
“Obviously, my dear Charles, you were not successful. Oh, for heaven’s sake, sit down! There— on the divan. And now you shall relate everything to me in detail, omitting nothing, if you please.”
All through Charles’s rather jerky recital and even for some time after he had stopped speaking, his grandmother continued to watch him in the rather unnerving fashion he remembered all too well from his childhood. Soul-searching, he had heard it called, and although he had always despised himself for being afraid of her and in fact almost hated her, he was unable to prevent himself from wanting her approval and fearing her disapproval. “I...what could I have done, after all? Embry of all people! Perhaps I took too much for granted, but, Belle-Mere, you said...”
“Ah yes, I know exactly what I said, Charles. That I would tell him some things that should change his mind about this ridiculous ‘engagement’ to our rich widow.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Perhaps that’s what is behind the rather forceful manner in which he took her away. Perhaps if you still want this particular wealthy bride— you should be more forceful yourself. That is probably why she allows Embry to control her! Hmm...I wonder?” The Dowager chuckled to herself, as if something had just occurred to her, and her grandson stiffened before leaning forward to say in a voice that held suppressed anger:
“Her carriage was sent back home by Embry some hours ago, as I understand it. And she went with him! If I thought, by God, that...”
In an exaggeratedly patient manner that managed to convey impatience as well, the Dowager Marchioness raised her eyebrows and said: “My dear boy! Even if Embry is bold enough to take her, and even if she managed to keep herself a virgin after poor Sir John passed away—or even before, for that matter, he could never have accomplished such a feat, poor man, as I’ve told you! For God’s sake— are you such a romantic that you cannot think of a marriage as a matter of either convenience or expediency? Once a marriage has made you rich, why should you not be able to afford a virgin every week or every night for that matter? And how many females can you think of who are as rich as Lady Travers? My poor little fellow, you are not wise enough yet, obviously, to realize that enough money can buy you anything and everything you crave, including power. Is barely managing to keep up appearances, thanks to the goodwill of your creditors, your only goal? Well, good night, Charles. And perhaps Embry...”
&n
bsp; Lord Charles leaped up from his seat, his handsome face flushed with a mixture of emotions, saying at the same time in a suppressed kind of voice, “I think I understand everything even more clearly now, and that from now on I shall be easily able to act in a more detached manner.”
“I should certainly hope so for your sake, Charles, and especially since your mother has told me tearfully that your father will no longer be good for any of your gambling debts or for certain other expenses he does not approve of. And I am glad that at least you had enough sense not to ask me!” Although the tone of Adelina’s voice was one of boredom, her eyes had not mistaken her grandson’s response to her words. Anxious to dismiss him, she repeated, “And so, good night once more, Charles. I have just noticed how late it is. I shall see you again tomorrow night, I presume?”
“Tomorrow?” he said at the door, mildly surprising her by his vehemence.
“If you can manage such a feat cleverly enough, I think it should be before supper, just in case Embry might decide to make sure of her fortune before you do.”
How she needed, yet at the same time despised, the sheep she had always found it so easy to use! Adelina thought contemptuously after Charles had left. While she had still been young and attractive enough it had been through the giving or the yielding—for a time at least— of her body, and through sighs and whispered half promises. After that it was through year. She knew every weakness and every guilty secret of them all, did she not? And coupled with that, they had all realized by now that she would always ensure that her will prevailed in the end. But how many of them had faced the reason why? Ah, the weak, silly fools! Almost without being aware of it, the Marchioness had left her straight-backed chair to cross the room. And in front of her mirror she had courage enough to confront her own image without flinching—in fact, even with a little smile. Her youth and her looks had been useful enough while they lasted, of course, but the real reason for the power she wielded was and always had been her total dedication to getting her own way. Amoral, unscrupulous, witch... She had never bothered to concern herself with the words that had been used to describe her—and why should she? She was stronger than any of them precisely because she despised, and had never let herself be governed by all their so-called ethics and morals even though she had always been aware that it was necessary for her to pretend she did sometimes. Fools! she thought again, walking back to her desk and the blotter that was covered with splotched words and drawings she had made while she was listening to Charles’s apologies for his lack of strength. The only one of them she could neither read nor manipulate was Nicholas, the grandson, ironically, of her Nicholas, who had been the only man she had known who had meant what he had said when he’d turned his back on her. The only one she’d actually wept over for a time; and she had only been fifteen or sixteen then.
Adelina had crossed the room again, this time to stand before the fireplace, where she dismissed all memory of weakness from her mind. If Nicholas had not reacted as she’d hoped he would, there were the other possibilities, of course. Charles, if he actually found enough courage or felt desperate enough to be resolute. But in case he did not move quickly or decisively enough, she had already taken the precaution of making certain alternative arrangements of her own that could not fail to take care of everything once and for all. By this time tomorrow night... As she pulled the cord that would summon her maid, the Dowager allowed herself the luxury of a cold, secret smile as she wondered idly if Nicholas was capable of treating a woman with the same coldly detached ruthlessness he had displayed earlier in disposing of two hired bullies sent to “rescue” a young woman; and what his real motives were in taking her off with him to a well-known bordello. But then tomorrow would give her the answer to that question too, and another reason for informing Newbury mat she must see him before noon on urgent business that could not wait.
Filled with a sense of satisfaction, Adelina found it easy to fall asleep that night without the usual drops of laudanum in her cup of chocolate, her last drowsy thought a vindictive one. Silly, arrogant little upstart bitch! How sorry she was going to be for letting herself imagine she was capable of matching wits with her...!
Not knowing that she had already been contemptuously dismissed as an adversary, Alexa had been concentrating on keeping her wits about her and her defenses raised from the moment Nicholas had “escorted” her inside the house he seemed so familiar with, using a private entrance to which he possessed (naturally!) a key. And how openly, without any vestige of shame or embarrassment, he had proclaimed his lecherous habits before turning hypocrite and accusing her of...
“Is there something you find particularly fascinating about this rather depressing little entrance hall? The potted aspidistra perhaps?”
Managing to recover herself Alexa said, “It needs water, poor thing,” and met the dangerously measuring look on his face with feigned insouciance before adding brightly, “and speaking of water reminds me of how extremely thirsty I am, not to mention being positively famished as well. You did not intend starving me, did you?”
“I thought, my sweet accomplished Alexa, that I had already managed to make my intentions clear,” Nicholas said between his teeth as he took her elbow with unnecessary firmness. “But if not, then I shall endeavor to make myself quite clear—once we are upstairs.” Without giving her a chance to protest, he had already begun to force her up a winding flight of red-carpeted stairs before he added caustically, “And before you complain of exhaustion I should inform you that my apartments open off the first landing, so you have only a short climb.”
“How very convenient for your purposes and your weak female visitors,” Alexa said acidly, and felt her temper begin to rise at his soft, amused laugh. “Especially”—and here she managed to snatch her arm from his grip as she added with calculated scorn—“if you have to drag them all up here to your—your Den of Iniquity by force!”
They had already reached the landing by now, and it was fortunately a little better lighted than the stairs, so that Alexa was able to study his face for the effect of her cutting words. If he possessed any remnant of a conscience, he...
“Den of Iniquity?” Nicholas repeated in a disbelieving voice. And then, as if to himself as he started to turn his key in the lock: “Good God!”
Torn between the choices of stamping her feet or scratching his eyes out, Alexa remembered just in time her resolve not to let him provoke her and breathed deeply instead while she wondered what might happen if she made a run for it. And it was during that small moment of silence between them, just before he swung the door open, that Alexa heard another door bang somewhere below them and a laugh just before the screams began. “No more—I beg you! Ahh! Help me—someone, please! Noooo!” Feeling as if her blood had turned to ice, Alexa did not even realize that she had clutched at Nicholas’s arm. “The naughty wench, trying to run away ‘stead of being grateful to your Lordship for everything! And shall I bring her to you now, milord, or truss the little bitch up again?” The terrified, piteous screams that pleaded were suddenly cut off with the slam of a heavy door, and Alexa was suddenly conscious of the sound of her own breathing and the weakness in her knees before she was able to choke out, “Oh God! How can such things happen! Please... Oh, please do be quick before they... they can...”
Those screams seemed to keep filling her ears and echoing in her head, so that it took her, in her overwrought state, some seconds to become aware that instead of responding to those desperate entreaties for help they had just heard, Nicholas had almost flung her into his own rooms, locking the door behind them purposefully.
She would have fallen if not for the couch. It was upholstered in a dark blue and gold plush that felt seductively soft under her hands, and as Alexa recovered her balance and turned back to see him watching her with his back to the door, it seemed to her as if his eyes had never looked so deeply green or so imperviously hard as they did at that moment. “No, not even you...!” Alexa said in what was almost a whisper. “You heard, didn’t you? They were... Oh dear God! You cannot possibly remain indifferent to the suffering and degradation of another human being? Nicholas? You heard what that horrible man said—you heard her crying out for help! Begging for someone to save her from...” Her voice had risen without her being able to help it, and somehow, in spite of all she had said, he had not moved except to catch her by the wrists when she tried desperately to make for the door. “Let me go, if you are too much of a coward! Let...” He cut her off ruthlessly.