‘Your parents,’ said Lord Elyot. ‘I understand they were lost to you only the year before. Was that as sudden?’
‘A coaching accident in Switzerland. Had they still been alive, I would probably have gone back to live with them immediately. But the Carr estate was entailed to my cousin, and his wife couldn’t wait to claim it as soon as it became vacant. Fortunately, when my husband died, his brother Stephen allowed me to stay in my own home until I bought this one, instead of claiming it for himself and his family as he was entitled to do. He moved in after I left, but I suppose you must know that.’ She shot a resentful glance at him, but he received it with no more than a slow blink. There had been gossip about the mutual support of the brother and sister-in-law which, in many people’s eyes, could not have been platonic.
‘According to my information,’ said Lord Elyot, ‘you were highly regarded by Buxton people.’
‘Really,’ said Amelie, twisting the wedding ring on her finger. ‘What a pity all those charitable people who were glad to accept my husband’s hospitality for so long could not have maintained the same charity for his widow when she most needed it. It comes a little late, wouldn’t you say?’
‘I can offer you my help, my lady, if you will accept it. The situation is certainly grave, but not irredeemable.’
Suddenly fearful of the soothing tone, Amelie leapt to her feet. ‘Oh, come now, my lord. Don’t tell me you came here to help. Why not be truthful and admit that, armed with all you know of my past and present life, you cannot wait to hound me out of here? An upstart northerner with trade connections in Richmond? We’ll soon get rid of her. I can almost hear your parents in chorus, sir. Well, now I’m in trouble with both of them, am I not? Which one will you tell first, or have you already done so?’
‘Calm down,’ he said, rising to his feet. He strolled to the chimneypiece and lay an arm along its edge, resting the sole of his shining Hessian boot along the brass fender. He took some time to study her graceful but guarded bearing, the angry challenging tilt of her head upon the long neck, the dark moist flash of her sun-flecked eyes. ‘I have not told either of them, and Todd knows better than to speak without my permission. But my father is expecting some kind of result and so are the Vestry and, yes, you could certainly be in serious trouble if word got out about your involvement in their affairs. And the scandal wouldn’t do much to help, either.’
‘Not to mention the do-gooding,’ she snapped over her shoulder.
‘That might have done very well for Buxton where you were known, but creeping around at night with a reticule full of bribing-brass is not the way it’s done here,’ he snapped back. ‘Anyone knows that, but your brains appear to be governed by your woman’s instincts, and look where that’s got you!’
‘What choice did I have?’ she cried, furiously. ‘I’ve told you, it would have taken too long. Why, by the time those bumbling old fools had got together, you’d have had more corpses on your hands. Is that the way it’s done round here, my lord? It certainly saves on food, but my way saves lives. Don’t expect me to apologise for that. As for the scandal— well, it will soon be common knowledge now, won’t it? So you had better warn your Haydn-loving brother to have no more to do with my niece. She’ll do better in Buxton, after all.’
‘You’re forgetting something.’
‘What?’
‘That your past is not yet known hereabouts, but what has become common knowledge is what your loud-mouthed little friend Hurst blabbed to the entire posting-office before he left for London yesterday. This morning I’ve received two invitations for myself and my lady. Not to put too fine a point on it, for you. And if you think,’ he continued before her open mouth could let out a squeak, ‘that I’m going to have my future wife’s name linked to a local court case and to my mother’s scalding disapproval of that kind of scandal, you can think again. I’m not!’
‘You said you were never influenced by your parents’ approval.’
‘I’m not. But that doesn’t stop her telling the rest of society what to think. Once she’s done that, Miss Chester’s future will be even less assured than it is now, that’s for certain. Mother has resigned herself to having sons who keep mistresses, but neither she nor my father would welcome a daughter-in-law with a criminal record.’
Amelie shook her head, trying to clear it, wondering what she was supposed to make of this tangle. ‘Then remind me, will you? You think I should go and explain? Is that what the Vestry will expect? An apology? I’ve told you, I won’t apologise.’ She flounced away, slapping at the reticule as she passed it.
He moved just as fast. ‘Will you hold your peace, woman?’ he barked. ‘Saints alive, but it’s time somebody took you in hand before you fly off at another fence you can’t clear. Come back here!’ In two strides, he had cut short her quick march towards the door and, rather than subject her to an undignified tussle, he bent, placed an arm under her knees and swung her up against him before she could escape. Carrying her to the sofa in three more strides, he set her firmly back against the round tasselled pillow and held her by the wrists, sitting to face her so closely that his previously mysterious statement about offering her some help now began to take on a new meaning.
‘No!’ she said, growling and spitting with rage. ‘No…no!’
There was more she would have said, but although she was beginning to guess at his intentions, the ensuing struggle took all her concentration. Then it was too late, and a cry was all she could manage before his mouth silenced her, blotting out all memory of words and protocol. Dominated by the weight of his chest upon hers, his hand in her hair, and his arm around her back, she was held captive by his searching mouth. She felt the change in him from the previous gentle occasion, a new urgency, as if to reinforce the message that someone should take her in hand. All the half-formed sensations that had filtered into her mind like moonbeams since yesterday suddenly faded, unable to compare in any way with the fire that flared through some deep untouched place inside her, seeping an ache into her thighs.
One of her arms was trapped under his, her hand idle upon his warm broad back, her lips teased into a response where she could not remain passive beneath the tormenting invasion. Heady and upset by the emotional wrangling of the last half hour, and confused, her voices of conscience ceased to protest, then wavered and collapsed beneath the expertise of a master, and at last her lips moved and parted, tasting and curious, waiting for more, perilously close to surrender. His kiss deepened and her nostrils filled with the intoxicating and elusive scent of his virility, luring her even deeper into his complete control.
But all the pent-up fears of a lifetime were even greater, surging over her like a giant wave that pushed back the needs of her body, lending strength to her arms. It was neither propriety nor reticence, but raw fear of some unspeakable consequence that held him away at last, tearing her lips from his. ‘Stop…no…stop! I cannot do this,’ she panted. ‘Let me go, my lord. If this is what you wanted from me, you should have given me warning, then I could have told you…to spare yourself…the effort.’
However, if she had expected that he would leave her immediately, full of contrition, she had misunderstood his purpose, for he was not the kind of man to apologise for kissing a woman, as he had said, and his purpose was as resolute as ever. So, although he eased back enough to allow her to recover, he caught her pummelling hands by the wrists and held them close to his chest.
‘Let me go, my lord. You must leave immediately. Please. ‘
‘All right…all right…I’ve ruffled your feathers, my beauty, but I’m not leaving till we have this business sorted out.’
‘To