Page 77 of The Art of Sinning
“Oh yes. The truly embarrassing part.” A blush rose up her neck to her cheeks. “Remember, I truly believed he respected me and would never do anything beyond kissing.”
His heart began to pound. “But he did.”
“Sort of. But it was my fault. On his last full day with us, I didn’t protest as I should have when he pulled the door of the music room nearly closed and sat down beside me to kiss me.”
“It wasnotyour fault. He knew what he planned. You did not.”
She rubbed her arms. “But I was also desperate to be alone with him. I knew I wouldn’t see him again for some time. And he’d already told me he intended to consult with Edwin about our marriage after dinner, and then go on to London to speak to Papa.”
“In other words, he said whatever it took to put your guard down so he could attempt to compromise you.”
“I suppose you could look at it that way, yes.”
“That isnotthe act of an honorable man. At least I warned you what I wanted from you, and gave you the chance to refuse before I even touched you.”
A softness touched her face. “You did, indeed.”
“So what exactly did Ruston do?”
“He... slid his hands up my calves beneath my skirts... and I let him.” Her gaze turned steely. “When he got to my garters and I protested his actions, he untied one and slipped it into his pocket, saying that surely I wouldn’t mind if he kept a token of my affection for all his lonely nights without me. I was still sitting there with his hand on my stocking, wavering on whether to ask for my garter back, when we were discovered.”
“By Edwin.”
“Actually, no. Although I later learned that the lieutenanthadarranged for Edwin to meet us in the music room, my brother had been delayed by some estate business. So we were discovered by the footman who came to inform him of Edwin’s delay.”
“That was a stroke of luck.”
She smiled wanly. “Not exactly. The footman was newly hired. I couldn’t count on him to keep silent, though I asked him to. His arrival spooked me so that I fled, thus thwarting the lieutenant’s scheme to have Edwin find us together doing something naughty. Only later did I remember that the lieutenant still had my garter.”
Her voice hardened. “And my noble swain used it to his advantage. Before dinner, he drew me aside and said that if I didn’t meet him secretly that very night and elope, he would go to Edwin with the garter, demand that my brother call forth the footman to corroborate his story, and then force Edwin and Papa to accept the match by implying that the lieutenant and I... that we...”
Jeremy bit back a vile oath. Hewouldhunt Ruston down, by God, and hewouldlop off the bastard’s horn. Damned devious whoreson.
She shuddered. “It was an excellent plan. If a gentleman has had access to a woman’s garter, people assume he’s had access to... well, you know. It put me in the most dreadful quandary. Neither Papa nor Edwin would have called his bluff, knowing that the lieutenant could destroy my reputation. Either way, the lieutenant would gain my hand in marriage.”
Her voice caught. “But in the latter case, my family would believe the worst of me.”
The thickness in Jeremy’s throat threatened to choke him. “So what did you do?”
“I begged him to show himself the gentleman I thought him to be and just ask Papa for my hand as he’d originally intended. I was still clinging to the hope that he really did love me. If he had gone through everything properly even then, I probably would have married him.”
“And been miserable for it.”
“No doubt.” She scowled. “But as you say, he must have known that an investigation would turn up something to scotch any wedding, because my pleas only made him protest his great love for me and hold fast to his plans. So when I couldn’t convince him to relent, I went to Samuel with my plight. The lieutenant was his friend, after all.”
“Ah, yes.” Once again, Jeremy wondered about Samuel’s motives for bringing home such a snake in the grass. But perhaps Samuelhadn’tknown what his friend was capable of.
Right. And pebbles turned into pearls when the moon was high, too. “So Samuel saved you. How, exactly?”
“At first he said he didn’t think it could be done. He had no idea where his friend might keep the garter, or if the footman could be silenced.” She shook her head. “It was a hopeless case.”
“Yet he somehow managed it,” Jeremy said dryly.
She flashed him a bright smile. “He did. Shortly before the time I was to meet with the lieutenant or else be humiliated before my brother, Samuel turned up in my bedchamber with the garter in hand and a promise he’d extracted from the footman not to say anything to anyone.”
“Did your brother say how he accomplished this miracle?” The story grew more suspicious by the moment. Jeremy was almost certain something else had occurred to put an end to Ruston’s scheme.
“He told me he had prevailed upon Ruston to behave like a gentleman, and that the man had come to his senses and given back the garter before Samuel sent him packing.”
