An Innocent Proposal

Louisa turned and left the table just as the last hand was being played, no longer able to watch James lose all the money he had won earlier. No doubt four thousand guineas was a modest sum to Lord Dunstan, whereas to herself and James it was a fortune. Not until the game was over did she turn back to see Lord Dunstan rise from the table.

“Thank you. That was an excellent game,” he said as James quickly signed an IOU for the four thousand guineas he owed. James handed it to him and watched Lord Dunstan pocket it before slumping in his chair with the knowledge that he would have to face the enormity of his loss and his sister.

For the first time a thin smile curled Lord Dunstan’s lips, his eyes showing contempt for his victim, utterly unconcerned for the pain he knew he must be feeling, and knowing that in situations such as this it was not uncommon for a man who had staked his entire fortune on a game of cards to go out and shoot himself.

“Rotten luck,” Lord Dunstan said calmly, his voice of a rich, deep timbre, “but that’s how it goes. I think refreshment would be in order now, don’t you? Come, Fraser, what do you say?”

Trying to maintain some semblance of dignity, James rose. “Yes, of course. Please—excuse me a moment,” he said, moving to where Louisa was standing with Timothy, feeling so utterly wretched and miserable that he had forgotten his earlier outrage her presence had caused him, and that normally he would have chastised her most severely for daring to set foot inside such an establishment as this and ordered her home at once.

Lord Dunstan followed him.

“If you wish to try to recoup your losses and exact your revenge, I will give you the opportunity of doing so. Please accept my invitation to Dunstan House on Thursday night. You and Mr Hacket will be more than welcome,” he said, his gaze including Timothy, “and might I suggest you bring your lady friend? The company will be mixed,” he added, his eyes flicking over Louisa without the slightest acknowledgement, which set her blood boiling. She was insulted that he thought her of so little consequence that he had no interest in being properly introduced, which courtesy and good manners demanded when one addressed even the meanest of women. The man was truly a monster.

“Yes, of course. Thank you,” said James, unaware of the murderous look his sister was giving him.

“Oh, but you can’t,” Louisa burst out suddenly, causing James to turn and gape at her in angry surprise, and with a presence of mind she didn’t know she possessed she smiled brightly at all three, using all her feminine wiles as she leaned towards James, coquettish and enticing, and spoke in a flirtatious tone while focusing the full force of her dazzling amber gaze and bewitching smile on her brother with merry defiance. “You are already promised to me that evening, James. You promised to take me to the pleasure gardens across the river, if you remember.”

“I did no such thing,” James said indignantly, giving her an angry, censorious look which she ignored, determined to keep him away from Lord Dunstan and his card games at all costs.

“Yes, you did,” she argued gently. Normally she would not have dared to be so bold or so outspoken, but anger gave her the courage to refuse to feel intimidated by this arrogant, despicable man. Linking her arm possessively through James’s, she gazed up at him languidly from under her thick lashes. “I shall be mortified if you disappoint me and break your word. I am so looking forward to it, as well you know. After neglecting me so abominably all evening, I will not allow you to push me aside yet again for a game of cards which, I observed, you do not seem to possess a talent for and which I consider in such cases is best left alone.”

James was clearly furious, finding his sister making up to him as though she were his doxy quite shocking. He was at a loss to know what to say or how to deal with the situation, and before he could say anything Lord Dunstan had fixed his gaze on Louisa, trying hard to decide if she was genuine in her claim that Fraser had promised to take her to the pleasure gardens or a gifted diplomat.

“One can visit the pleasure gardens any evening, Miss—?”

“Divine,” Louisa said hurriedly, drenching him in her most charming smile, without thinking of the consequences of her fabrication or the connotations of the name she had chosen at random.

“Miss Divine,” he went on, with a slight lift to his sleek eyebrows, his hard face wiped clean of all expression, except for a faint smile in which Louisa caught a glimpse of dazzling white teeth, “whereas invitations to Dunstan House are seldom given and, if they are, are not issued lightly.” He fixed his gaze once more on James. “The invitation stands if you should change your mind.”

He seemed to study Louisa for a moment, his blue eyes levelled on hers, penetrating and disturbing, before inclining his head in the faintest mockery of a bow and moving away. He’d realised the moment he had set eyes on her standing between young Hacket and Charles Meredith that she was the woman he had seen at Vauxhall Gardens and again at St. Paul’s Church two months ago—the woman who had left an indelible trace on him. Clearly she was Fraser’s mistress, and familiar with his own most hated enemy and neighbour, Sir Charles Meredith, but that did not prevent him being curious and wondering about her, wondering how a woman who prayed in church so fervently could live the life she did.

His lips curled in a smile, his mind already working on ways he could get to know her better, undeterred that she might belong to Fraser. His sharp eyes had noticed that Charles Meredith also had designs on her—the signs he recognised from bitter, past experience—and the idea of scoring off him appealed greatly to his sardonic sense of humour, knowing how immensely satisfying it would be to steal her from under Meredith’s nose, to avenge himself for all the villainous acts the man had inflicted on him in the past.

But, on reflection, all such dealings were abhorrent to him. Alistair had many faults, but it was not in his nature to inflict injury or insult on any man who was guilty of wrongdoings against himself, and he wanted nothing more to do with Sir Charles Meredith.

Chapter Two

When Lord Dunstan had moved on, James turned on Louisa, furious with her.

“What in God’s name do you think you’re playing at, Louisa? How dare you humiliate me in this manner? What are you doing here?”

“Do I really have to tell you?” she answered accusingly. Aware that people were beginning to glance their way, becoming curious as to her identity for she was a stranger to them all, she had no intention of airing their grievances in public. “Take me home, James. I do not wish to remain in this place a moment longer.”

James did not need to be asked twice. Timothy chose to stay, hoping to spend the rest of the evening in the company of a wench he had been wooing assiduously for weeks. Besides, he thought that James would be better left alone to be admonished in private by his sister.

Timothy had always admired Louisa—although they had been friends for too long for there ever to be anything of a more intimate nature between them—and he had frequently reproached James for neglecting her for the amusements in London. James had been his closest friend since their school days, and he had often thought it a pity James had not been blessed with his sister’s common sense.

James had felt the lure of the amusements in London soon after his father’s death—his mother having died a year earlier. The green baize tables had attracted him with the promises of pleasure and reward more certainly than anything Bierlow had to offer, and the heady temptation to gamble and to go on gambling was something he could not resist.

Not until they were in the carriage taking them home did either Louisa or James speak, James being the first to do so, still enraged by his sister’s behaviour and his own foolishness. He cursed himself severely, knowing he should have taken Timothy’s advice and left the table when he was in front. The seriousness of the situation had not hit him yet, but when it did it would be with the force of a hammer blow.

“How dare you come to London without my permission, Louisa?” he exploded. “Your behaviour is totally out of character. You had no business turning up at Bricknell House like that—an establishment totally unfitting for a sister of mine. And as if that weren’t bad enough, you have to appear on the arm of Charles Meredith of all people. He’s one of the most notorious rakes in London, a rampaging womaniser who sows the wildest of oats. His father may have left him a fortune when he died, but the manner in which he squanders it at the gaming tables will very soon lead him down the same path as myself.”

“That, James, is rather like the pot calling the kettle black,” accused Louisa harshly. “You both share a penchant for wild extravagance and high living.”

“Perhaps. But that is where the similarity to myself ends. He is a worthless libertine and no one with any sense will have anything to do with him.”

“How was I to know that? Although I have to say,” she admitted when she recalled his predatory manner and the glib way he had spoken to her, “I did not care for him in the slightest. But I confess it was gratifying to gain a man’s interest and admiration—even if the gentleman paying me the compliments did happen to be a notorious rake. He did try flirting with me—quite shamelessly, in fact—and it makes me realise just how dull and dreary my life is at times, in comparison to all the ladies I have seen this evening.”

Louisa knew that James was displeased by her reply but chose to ignore it, in no mood to listen to her complaints. “What is this business of pretending to be Miss Divine?”

“I came to London when I discovered you had taken certain items of value from Bierlow, which I knew you intended selling in order to pay for your gambling. And do not try to deny it because I know you too well. And as for turning up at Lady Bricknell’s and calling myself Miss Divine, I had no choice…although I do regret my ridiculous choice of name. I suspect it might have had something to do with having just set eyes on the glorious and extremely colourful Lady Bricknell, who certainly lives up to how people describe her,” she said. “I had no wish to embarrass you by announcing I was your sister.”

“How very thoughtful of you,” he replied drily. “How did you know where to find me?”

“Alice told me. I came as soon as I could with the vain hope that I might be in time to prevent a major disaster from occurring at the tables. Unfortunately I came too late,” she sighed. “Perhaps if you hadn’t drunk so much in the first place you might have retained a little of what you had won.”

“If Lord Dunstan hadn’t been there—blast him—I would have won more. Hell and damnation! Just when things were going well for me. It had nothing to do with the drink—it’s just that his skill at cards is not to be matched by anyone I know.”

“Then why did you allow yourself to be drawn in by him?”

“Must you always disapprove of everything I do, Louisa?” James remarked crossly.

“Of course I disapprove. I cannot condone your private life or your behaviour. Oh, James, how could you?” she accused him bitterly. “How could you gamble away everything we own?”

“It is not as bad as you think,” he replied lamely.

“How can you say that?” Louisa admonished harshly. “Don’t be stupid. Of course it is. Things are bad, very bad. In fact they could not be worse. We are in a hole and I cannot see any way out—unless we throw ourselves on Lord Dunstan’s mercy and persuade him to tear up your IOU.”

James was clearly shocked by her suggestion, which no gentleman would even consider. “That is quite out of the question, and, besides, Lord Dunstan would refuse. But if I don’t honour the debt I will be thrown out of my club and into the debtors’ prison. I couldn’t bear that, Louisa. The shame would be unbearable.”

“Better that than we lose everything. You do realise we will have to sell Bierlow Hall, don’t you, James?” she said despairingly, the mere thought that their home, which had been in their family for two hundred years, would be gone for ever bringing tears to her eyes. “There is no other way we can obtain four thousand guineas that I can see, and I doubt that will be enough to cover the whole debt or that the bank will grant us a loan.”

As if ashamed of his recklessness and the hurt he had caused his sister, James’s expression became contrite. “Forgive me, Louisa. I do realise that we’re in the deuce of a mess.”

“How long before the debt must be paid?”

“A week.”

“As soon as that?” she whispered. “You will not accept Lord Dunstan’s invitation to go to his house, will you, James? Nothing can be achieved by it.”

James frowned, impatient at her naivety, still determined to try and recoup his losses in the only way he knew how. “You are a simpleton, Louisa. Don’t you know anything? You have spent so much of your time in the country with your head in the clouds that you have no conception of life in fashionable London. Lord Dunstan is one of the most important men in town. He rarely entertains, and no one in their right mind turns down an invitation to dine at Dunstan House.”

Louisa’s face turned pale. “That may be, but what is the point in going when you have nothing to gamble with? You have nothing left to cover your bet if you should lose. James, we can’t let Bierlow go.”

“If it comes down to it we’ll have to,” he replied, not sharing Louisa’s fondness of the family home. Anger at himself coiled within him, which he turned momentarily towards his sister. “Bierlow is the only thing left that would be worth money in the sums I need. You would have to come up to London and live with me.”

“No, James,” Louisa replied sharply, his airy tone whipping up her anger, unleashed irritation flooding through her. James had always been selfish—selfish and unthinking in his impulsiveness, in his assumption that what he did was all that mattered, forcing her to adjust her life to his. “I couldn’t.”