Nicola Cornick Collection: The Last Rake In London / Notorious / Desired

‘I saw her picture at the Collection,’ Sally said. ‘She was stunningly beautiful.’ She smiled. ‘You were a very pretty child yourself, Lady Ottoline.’

Lady Ottoline gave a spontaneous chuckle. ‘Changed a bit since then, eh!’

‘Not so much, I imagine,’ Sally said, smiling.

Briefly Lady Ottoline’s beringed hand clasped Sally’s own. ‘I like you, Miss Bowes. I’m glad your experiences didn’t put you off men.’ She looked across at Jack. ‘Jack’s a good boy. You mustn’t listen to all the gossip about his past.’

‘He hasn’t told me much about that,’ Sally said truthfully.

‘Terrible scandal,’ Lady Ottoline said gruffly. ‘Ran off with a married woman when he was barely out of his teens. Robert banished him abroad, the fool. Not that I didn’t think Jack needed to grow up, but it was a terrible tragedy to cast him out like that. Broke his mother’s heart and Charlotte’s too.’

‘I am sorry for that,’ Sally said. ‘Charley is a lovely person.’

‘Well, she’s got him back now,’ Lady Ottoline said. She squeezed Sally’s hand. ‘You’ll be good for him, my dear. I can tell. And as I say, don’t listen to any gossip. He’ll tell you everything in his own good time.’

Sally doubted it. Whatever had happened between Jack and his mistress was part of the dark secrets that he kept locked inside. There was a lump in her throat as she though how little she and Jack deserved Lady Ottoline’s good opinion.

‘What will I tell her?’

Both Sally and Lady Ottoline jumped as Jack spoke from right beside them.

‘Shouldn’t go creeping up on deaf old ladies, nephew,’ Lady Ottoline said crossly, ‘or you’ll be enjoying my fortune before you know it.’ Her eyes gleamed. ‘Perhaps that’s the plan, eh! Scare me into my grave and take the money!’

‘I’d prefer to enjoy your company rather than your money, Aunt Otto,’ Jack said, and Lady Ottoline looked pleased, although she did not say anything.

‘I thought,’ Sally said, ‘that it was Mr Basset who was your heir, ma’am, not Jack?’ She smiled challengingly at him. ‘Surely he has enough money of his own?’

‘I’ve decided that I don’t want to leave my money to that silly widgeon Bertie Basset,’ Lady Ottoline said astringently. ‘My money—I can do as I please with it. He would only spend it on gambling and loose women.’

Jack caught Sally’s eye. A faint smile curled his firm mouth as though to remind her that Bertie had already done precisely that.

‘I’ve remembered!’ Lady Ottoline said triumphantly. ‘Knew I’d heard the Bowes name before. I heard your father speak once at the Sheldonian in Oxford. He was a fascinating speaker and a most talented architect.’ She glanced around. ‘I believe Gregory Holt was a pupil of his.’

‘He was.’ Sally could feel Jack’s gaze on her and was annoyed to feel herself blushing when she had nothing to blush about.

‘If you will excuse us, Aunt Otto,’ Jack said, ‘I wondered if I might take Sally for a short stroll on the terrace.’

Lady Ottoline smiled. ‘Oh, very well. I suppose you may steal Miss Bowes away now.’ She looked up at him. ‘Seems you have more sense than I gave you credit for, nephew. I like your fiancée. The only miracle is that she likes you.’

Sally avoided Jack’s gaze. He offered her his arm and she put her hand on it gingerly, as though it might burn her. She wished she were not so shockingly conscious of Jack’s physical presence. Her awareness of him always undermined her defences.

‘How the hell did you do that?’ Jack asked abruptly as they stepped through the door on to the darkened terrace. ‘She likes you more than she likes me!’

‘I answered her questions honestly,’ Sally said. She saw his look of patent disbelief and added, ‘That may surprise you, Mr Kestrel, given your opinion of me, but your great-aunt is a good judge of character by my estimation, and she liked me.’

She expected Jack to make some cutting remark, but he was silent; glancing at his face, she saw he looked pensive. They walked along the terrace to where the moat opened out into a broad lake fringed with reeds.

‘Gregory Holt warned me off a little while ago,’ Jack said, after a moment. ‘He told me that he was standing as your brother and if I hurt you he would kill me.’

Sally shot him a look of surprise. She was not sure whether she was annoyed or amused at Greg’s interference.

‘He should mind his own business,’ she said. ‘He knows I can look after myself.’

‘So I thought,’ Jack said. He paused. ‘He is in love with you,’ he added, and there was an odd tone in his voice.

‘Yes,’ Sally said after a moment. ‘I suppose he is.’

‘Has he asked you to marry him?’

‘Now you should mind your own business,’ Sally said.

Jack laughed and put a hand over hers where it rested on his arm. ‘It is my business. I am your fiancé.’

‘My temporary fiancé,’ Sally said. ‘Until tomorrow only.’

‘So my guess is that he proposed and you refused him,’ Jack said. ‘Why?’

‘Must you be so persistent?’ Sally let her breath out on a sigh. ‘I do not like you, Mr Kestrel, and I do not particularly wish to speak with you.’

‘Indulge me,’ Jack said. ‘I want to know.’

Sally freed herself and went to stand on the edge of the terrace, looking out over the darkened garden where the topiary shapes were silhouetted against the deep blue of the summer night sky. She was very conscious of Jack, still and waiting, behind her.

‘I refused him because it would not be fair to make so unequal a match,’ she said, after a moment.

‘In terms of wealth and status?’ Jack sounded incredulous. ‘But you are a baronet’s daughter.’

‘I was speaking in terms of affection,’ Sally said. ‘Not everything can be measured in pounds and pennies, Mr Kestrel.’

‘Not a philosophy I would expect to hear you supporting, Miss Bowes.’

‘Probably not,’ Sally said. She rubbed her fingers over the cool mossy stone of the terrace wall. ‘I care for Greg,’ she said. She wondered why she was even trying to explain to Jack Kestrel, who thought that her motivated by nothing but avarice. ‘I have known him a long time and he has never played me false. I owe it to him not to take his affection for me and use it badly or take advantage.’

Again she expected Jack to make some kind of cynical reply, but he was silent, and in the darkness she could not read his expression.

‘Whilst you are engaged to me,’ he said, after a moment, ‘you will have nothing to do with him.’

Sally shook her head. ‘You cannot tell me what to do, Mr Kestrel. We are not really betrothed and you have no claim on me.’

She saw Jack make a sharp movement, full of repressed anger, and she backed a step away from him. ‘If you value Holt as you say you do,’ he said, ‘it would wise to agree.’

‘In case you decide to challenge him?’

‘Quite.’

Sally tapped her fingers irritably on the balustrade. ‘You are both as bad as each other,’ she said. ‘I do not think that your aunt would appreciate your attempts to rid Stephen of his relatives.’

‘Probably not,’ Jack conceded. He looked at her thoughtfully. ‘I noticed you attempting to persuade her not to cut Bertie out of her will in my favour. Thank you for that.’