The Lady Gambles

Dominic was standing directly in Caro’s line of vision and she had to lean to one side to see around him to where a tall, elegantly dressed man leant casually against the wall of the hallway. His arms were folded across the width of his chest as he watched them with interest, only the ruffled disarray of his blond and fashionably long hair about the handsomeness of his face to show that he had only moments ago been caught up in the thick of the fighting.

‘I believe our earlier assessment of the … situation to have been at fault, Blackstone.’ The other man gave Dominic an appreciative smile before turning his dark gaze back to pointedly roam over the unblemished, obviously pox-free skin of Caro’s beautiful face.

It was a remark she did not even begin to understand, let alone why he was looking at her so intently! ‘To answer your earlier question, sir—I believe Lord Vaughn and I have finished our conversation.’

‘Not by a long way.’ One of Dominic’s hands reached out, the fingers curling about Caro’s wrist like a band of steel, as she would have brushed past him. ‘I trust not too many heads were broken, Osbourne?’

The blond-haired man shrugged. ‘None that did not deserve it.’ He straightened away from the wall. ‘Care to introduce me, Blackstone?’ A merry brown gaze briefly met his friend’s before he looked at Caro with open admiration.

‘Caro Morton, Lord Nathaniel Thorne, Earl of Osbourne,’ Dominic said coldly.

‘Your servant, ma’am.’ Lord Thorne gave an elegant bow.

‘My lord.’ Really, did every man she met in London have to be a lord and an earl? she wondered crossly as she pondered the ridiculousness of formally curtsying to a gentleman under such circumstances.

‘If you were thinking of leaving too now all the excitement is over, Osbourne, then by all means do so,’ Dominic said. ‘I fear I will not be free to leave for some time yet.’

His gaze hardened as he glanced down pointedly at Caro Morton, his mouth thinning as those sea-green eyes once more stared back at him in silent rebellion.

She broke that gaze to turn and smile graciously at the other man. ‘Perhaps, if you are leaving, I might prevail on you to take me with you, Lord Thorne?’

To all intents and purposes, Dominic recognised impatiently, as if she were a lady making conversation in her drawing room! As if a fight had not just broken out over who was to share her bed tonight. As if Dominic’s own property had not been destroyed in that mêlée.

As if she were not standing before two elegant gentlemen of the ton dressed only in a ripped gown, and with her ebony wig slightly askew!

Dominic gave a frustrated sigh. ‘I think not.’

Those sea-green eyes flashed up at him with annoyance before Caro ignored him to turn once again to Nathaniel. ‘I would very much appreciate it if you would agree to escort me home, Lord Thorne.’ A siren could not have sounded or looked any more sweetly persuasive!

Dominic easily read the uncertainty in his friend’s expression; a gentleman through and through, Osbourne never had been able to resist the appeal of a seeming damsel in distress. Seeming, in Dominic’s estimation, being a correct assessment in regard to Caro Morton. The woman was an absolute menace and had become a veritable thorn in Dominic’s side since the moment he’d set eyes upon her.

‘I am afraid that is not possible,’ Dominic answered smoothly on the other man’s behalf.

Those delicate cheeks flushed red. ‘I believe my request was made to Lord Thorne and not to you!’

Dominic allowed some of the tension to ease from his shoulders, aware that he had been in one state of tension or another since first meeting her. ‘Lord Thorne is gentleman enough, however, to accept a prior claim, are you not, Osbourne?’

Osbourne’s eyes widened. As well they might, damn it; Dominic had as good as denied all knowledge of this woman earlier tonight, a denial that had been made a complete nonsense of the moment Caro had launched herself into his arms and, in her agitation, called him by his given name.

Hell and damnation!

‘I believe you were quite correct in your assertion earlier, Blackstone,’ Osbourne’s drawled comment interrupted Dominic’s displeasing thoughts. ‘Personally I would say exquisite rather than beautiful!’

Dominic nodded irritably. ‘Just so.’

‘That being the case, Blackstone, I believe I will join Butler and Ben and enjoy a reviving brandy before I leave. My respects, Miss Morton.’ Osbourne gave a lazy inclination of his head before leaving the two of them alone.

Caro blinked at the suddenness of Lord Thorne’s departure. ‘I do not understand.’ Neither did she have any idea what tacit agreement had passed between the two men in the last few moments. But something most certainly had for the gentlemanly Lord Thorne to have just abandoned her like that.

Dominic released her wrist before stepping away from her. ‘You should go to your room now and change. I will be waiting in Drew Butler’s office when you are ready to leave.’

Caro frowned. ‘But—’

‘Could you, for once, just do as I ask without argument, Caro?’ The scar on Dominic’s cheek showed in stark relief against his clenched jaw.

She looked up into that ruthlessly hard face, repressing a shiver of apprehension as she saw the dangerous glitter in those pale silver eyes. Of course—this man had already told her that he held her responsible for the occurrence of the fight and the damages to his property, and he had also threatened to take out the cost of those damages on her backside!

Never, in all of her twenty years, had Caro been spoken to in the way the arrogant Dominic Vaughn spoke to her. So familiarly. So—so … intimately. A gentleman should not even refer to a lady’s bottom, let alone threaten to inflict harm upon it!

Her chin rose haughtily. ‘I am very tired, my lord, and would prefer to go straight home once I am dressed.’

‘And I would prefer that you join me in Butler’s office first so that we might continue our conversation.’

‘I had thought it finished.’

‘Caro, I have already been involved in a brawl not of my making, and my property has been extensively damaged. As such, I am really in no mood to tolerate any more of your stubbornness this evening.’ His hands had clenched at his sides in an effort to control his exasperation.

‘Really?’ She arched innocent brows. ‘My own patience with your impossible arrogance ended some minutes ago.’

Yes, Dominic acknowledged ruefully, this young woman was undoubtedly as feisty as she was beautiful. To his own annoyance, he had also spent far too much time today allowing his thoughts to dwell on how delicious Caro’s mouth had tasted beneath his the night before.

‘Would you be any more amenable to the suggestion if I were to say please?’

She eyed him warily, distrustfully. ‘It would be a start, certainly.’

He regarded her for several seconds before nodding. ‘Very well. I insist that you join me in Butler’s office shortly so that we might continue this conversation. Please.’

A second request that was intended to be no more gracious than the first! ‘Then I agree to join you in Mr Butler’s office shortly, my lord. But only for a few minutes,’ Caro added firmly as she saw the glitter of triumph that lit those pale silver eyes. ‘It is late and I really am very tired.’

‘Understandably.’ He gave a mocking bow. ‘I will only require a few more minutes of your time this evening.’

That last remark almost had the tone of a threat, Caro realised worriedly as she made her way slowly to her dressing-room to change. And for all that she had so defiantly told Dominic Vaughn the previous evening that she would simply seek employment elsewhere if he chose to dismiss her, after this evening’s disaster she could not even bear the thought of remaining in London without the protection of Drew and Ben.

She had been completely truthful the evening before when she’d assured Dominic that she had every intention of returning home as soon as she felt it was safe for her to do so. Unfortunately, Caro did not believe that time had come quite yet …

Dominic made no attempt to hide his pained wince as he looked at the dull green gown Caro was wearing when she joined him in Drew’s office some minutes later; it was neither that intriguing sea-green of her eyes, or of a style in the least complimentary to her graceful slenderness. Rather, that unbecoming colour dulled the brightness of her eyes to the same unattractive green, and gave the pale translucence of her skin an almost sallow look. The fact that the gown was also buttoned up to her throat, and her blonde curls pulled tightly back into a bun at her nape as she stood before the desk with her hands demurely folded together, gave her the all appearance and appeal of a nun.

Dominic stood up and stepped lithely around the desk before leaning back against it as he continued to regard her critically. ‘You appear none the worse for your ordeal.’

Then her appearance was deceptive, Caro acknowledged with an inner tremor. Reaction to the horrors of this evening’s fighting had begun in earnest once she had reached the safety and peace of her dressing-room, to the extent that she had not been able to stop herself trembling for some time. It had all happened so suddenly, so violently, and the earl’s rescue effected so efficiently—if high-handedly—that at the time, Caro had not had opportunity to think beyond that.

She was still shaking slightly now, and it was the reason her hands were clasped so tightly together in front of her; she would not, for any reason, show the arrogant Dominic Vaughn any sign of weakness. ‘I did not have opportunity to thank you earlier, my lord, for your timely intervention. I do so now.’ She gave a stiff inclination of her head.

Dominic barely repressed his smile at this show of grudging gratitude. ‘You are welcome, I am sure,’ he replied. ‘Obviously it is going to take several days, possibly a week, to effect the repairs to the main salon—’

‘I have no money to spare to pay for those repairs, if that is to be your next suggestion,’ she instantly protested.

Dominic looked at her from underneath lowered lids, seeing beyond that defiant and nunlike appearance to the young woman beneath. Those sea-green eyes were still slightly shadowed, her cheeks pale, her hands slightly trembling, all of those things evidence that Caro had been more disturbed by the violence she had witnessed earlier than she wished anyone—very likely most especially him—to be aware of.