Page 15 of A Gentleman's Wager
Did he think back to that day weeks ago as frequently as Bella did? Sun warm on her skin, the crickets chirping in the grass, the riverbank a riot of wildflowers and weeds. She couldn’t dislodge the sight of him wet and naked out of her mind. He was thoroughly imprinted there.
If only she hadn’t run. If she’d stayed. What fun might they have made?
She gave a long sigh. It was all idle speculation. It didn’t matter how many times she thought of riding his cock, it was never going to happen. It was obvious that Viscount Marlinscar wasn’t remotely interested in her.
The door of the back parlour creaked open, and Joshua strode in. “Such solemn faces, but see, I have something here to cheer you up.” He waved a letter beneath her nose. The faint scent of sealing wax drifted off the paper. Bella peered up at her brother’s hawk-like face. His brow was crinkled above his left eye the way it did when he won at billiards or got a good price for the copper ore at the biddings. As she knew he’d done neither recently, one had to assume his good humour a result of the correspondence.
Louisa, who was sitting by the fire diligently embroidering a sampler, put her needlework aside to give him her full attention. “What is it?” she asked.
Bella did hope it wasn’t another epistle from Mr Cockroft begging for her hand. She had not been the least bit joking about the slugs, though she didn’t like to deprive the local wildlife of their suppers.
“An invitation.” Joshua settled in his favourite green armchair, before unfolding the paper. The seal was already broken, the letter previously read, so his delaying was simply to create drama.
“Do save us the suspense,” she sniped. It was probably an invitation to the annual Michaelmas Ball at the Assembly Rooms. It happened every year with the same dull people in attendance. Joshua had been escorting her there since she was twelve.
Her brother cleared his throat. “Lauwine is to play host to a ball.” Bella’s attention narrowed to everything but his voice. “Lord Marlinscar requests our presence and asks if we would like to remain afterwards for a time as his particular guests.”
Perhaps he was not so ambivalent to her after all.
She felt her brother’s gaze upon her, and met it, as if he hadn’t produced the best bit of news to cross their threshold.
“I see your curiosity isn’t the least bit piqued. Then I suppose I must write back and decline, rather than subject you to yet another tedious dance.”
“Don’t.”
Joshua grinned.
“Oh, you beast. Let me see.” She rose and snatched the paper from his hand. It was exactly as he’d reported. They were to stay as Lucerne’s house guests. Not only would she finally get to see the interior of Lauwine Hall, but she would also get to stay there. It hardly seemed possible that the day could have brightened so rapidly.
A quick glance at the window proved that rain was still lashing against the glass. She took to pacing, wearing a groove in the pile of the hearthrug while she read and re-read the short note. “Why does he invite us to stay when we only live across the valley?”
“I’m sure I don’t know how the minds of peers work,” Joshua replied. “One can only assume he’s most desirous of our company. Clearly, you’ve charmed the poor fellow, though lord knows how.”
Bella kept her lips clamped tight. She would not be imparting even a hint at the possible reason for Lucerne’s admiration. Likewise, she intended to keep her delight entirely to herself.
Joshua sighed and rolled his eyes. “Truly? Can you not even attempt to seem a little pleased?”
“Oh, she is.” Louisa clapped her hands together not the least bit shy about expressing her delight over the prospect of seeing Captain Wakefield every day. “You know how she loves to be contrary.”
“Aye, I do at that.”
Bella stuck her tongue out at them both.
-10-
Bella
Two weeks had passed since the invitation to Viscount Marlinscar’s ball had arrived, and those fourteen days had crawled by so slowly, Bella had begun checking the clocks every half-hour to see if they’d stopped. Captain Wakefield continued to call regularly—every second day, much to Louisa’s delight—but they’d seen nothing of Lucerne. Bella optimistically assumed he was too busy with the ball preparations and his other house guests, but she was near desperate to see him, and that level of excitement could not be contained.
When it had been stipulated that they would arrive by carriage, Bella, who detested the claustrophobic rocking leather-scented box, had slipped away, and had a groom saddle up her mare. She’d ridden the direct route straight across the moors, with Mark Cooper desperately trying to keep pace beside her. He was a brawny lad, built of solid Yorkshire stock, and she supposed hardly a lad at all anymore, given he was now four and twenty. The housemaids spoke of him incessantly, and Bella too had shared their admiration before Lucerne Marlinscar had arrived in their little corner of the Dales. She’d often challenged him to a gallop.
There was no one about when she reached Lauwine. Bella left Mark to tend to the horses, then hurried up the entrance steps, her heavy riding skirt dusting aside dead leaves as she went. The door stood ajar, so though she knocked, she let herself in.
“I say, is anyone about? It’s Miss Rushdale.”
Her greeting echoed dully across the marble surfaces of the entrance hall. Bella let her gaze rove. She’d wanted to know what lay beyond this door ever since she’d been old enough to rattle the handle in vain, hence she was quite determined to savour the moment now it had arrived. She couldn’t precisely say if it was what she’d imagined. She guessed Lucerne had gone to a lot of trouble and expense to make the place habitable again. Lauwine had been neglected since well before her birth. Now, at least, the entrance was restored. A plain chequer-board floor contrasted heavily with the decorative plasterwork and artistry on the ceiling. Huge oil paintings covered every inch of available wall space, and between them stood marble busts and urns almost large enough to climb inside.
She continued unchallenged into a second vast chamber, astonished that her footfalls hadn’t brought a servant running. To her right lamplight flickered around the edge of an open doorway – Lucerne. A smile came to her lips as she envisaged coming upon him unaware. However, the room’s sole occupant was another man with long dark hair that spilled over his shoulders in loose ringlets. His eyes were closed, and he held a brandy balloon cradled in one hand.
