Devil's Embrace (Devil 1)

“You are feeling better today, Miss Lacy?”

For an instant, Jenny stared at her, not comprehending. How quickly she had forgotten her lie.

“Yes, of course.”

The look was not lost upon Cassie. “Would you care for tea, or perhaps coffee?”

“No, thank you.” Jenny lowered her eyes to her lap where her fingers were fretting at her reticule. “I waited until I saw Edward leave,” she said finally, raising her vivid green eyes to Cassie’s face.

“May I inquire why, Miss Lacy?”

Jenny grit her teeth, aware that Cassandra was regarding her closely, one elegant arched brow raised in inquiry.

“Because I wanted to speak with you without Edward being present. I hope you will not think me impertinent, but in truth, it is my intention, I suppose.”

Cassie blinked and smiled uncertainly at Miss Lacy’s candor. “You may be as impertinent as you like, Miss Lacy. Whether I answer you though is another matter.”

“I had imagined that you were beautiful when Edward finally told me about you.”

Cassie stiffened.

“Do not blame Edward. If you would know the truth, I rather forced it out of him. He was ill, from the wound in his thigh, and spoke of you in his delirium. When I asked him who Cassandra was, he told me that you were his fiancée. I asked him if you had done him a great wrong. His response was that you had died. I hope you will forgive me, Miss Brougham, but I must admit to giving your memory little sympathy.”

“This is straight talk indeed, Miss Lacy.”

Jenny said simply, “I must speak what I feel, for I am fighting for my happiness as well as Edward’s.” She paused a moment, an elusive smile indenting the corners of her mouth. “I had rather hoped that you would be a bitch. Then I should not feel so guilty about coming here like this.”

Cassie was feeling rather overwhelmed, and she could not help herself. She burst out laughing. “I do hope that I am not, though the earl—” She bit her lip and looked away from Jenny’s questioning eyes.

“I have told no one that you and Edward are not wed.”

“Thank you. I fear it would embarrass Edward were you to do so. You see, I was forced to come here as Lady Delford, and Edward, obligingly, has maintained the deception.” Cassie saw that Jenny’s eyes were fastened on the open bedchamber door, and on the rumpled bed beyond it. Her vivid eyes dimmed.

Jenny recovered and spoke, for the silence was growing long between them. “You are fortunate, Miss Brougham. Edward is an excellent lover.” She saw a flush rise in Cassie’s cheeks, and hastened to add, “Please forgive me for causing you embarrassment. I cannot seem to swallow words that want to be said.”

Cassie said slowly, “It is a fault that I share with you. Does Edward take you to task?”

“He does now, but didn’t, not at first. You see, he held himself quite aloof from people when he first arrived, so much so that he was thought to be a rather cold, cynical man without much sensibility. But I saw he was troubled, though I did not understand the reason. He grieved for you, and would not allow anyone to be close to him. I met him one evening when he rescued me from the loutish attentions of a German captain. Any man who was capable of such anger could not be without feeling. I began to love him that night, Miss Brougham. It frightened me, for I had never before met a man who touched me as he did. And it only grew stronger as the weeks passed. I finally admitted to myself that there was nothing I could do to stem it, that indeed, I was bound to him.”

“And you are here to fight for him.”

“Yes.”

Cassie was forced to admire the courage that brought Jenny to see her. It was something that she would do. She bowed her head, remembering her pitifully brief encounter in Genoa with the Contessa Giusti. She had been a coward then. She had run, leaving the contessa laughing in triumph behind her. And now she was facing another rival, for another man. What a lunatic thought it was.

“Does Edward love you, Miss Lacy?”

“Yes, he does.” She paused a moment, her green eyes clear and straight on Cassie’s face. “Perhaps you wondered where Edward was this morning. I am certain that he did not tell you, but I must. He was with me. Indeed, I was waiting for him, knowing that he would come, knowing what he would say to me. He was so formal, like the old Edward. It was as if he had practiced the words he would say to me. He asked my forgiveness, but I could not give it to him. Perhaps I am not a very kind person, but I asked him to tell me that he did not love me. He could not say it, Miss Brougham.”

Cassie stared at her, stunned. Edward’s distraction over luncheon—it made sense now.

“Edward is such

a bloody gentleman.”

“Yes,” Cassie said, “he is.”

“The first time he told me he loved me was after I seduced him.”