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

‘So you took it.’

‘I did not think it would make a whit of difference to your opinion of me, given that it was already so low.’

Jack shook his head in exasperation. ‘What did Nell need two hundred pounds for?’

Sally turned away to hide the naked emotion in her face. She had been hurt too badly by him to want to reveal the depth of her feelings and explain how desperately she had needed to help her sister.

‘She needed food and rent and money for medicine,’ she said. ‘The fines have crippled her financially and many of her friends are in gaol so she cares for their children too. They are all sick with a fever—’ Her voice broke and she put her hands up briefly to her face, letting them fall so she could look at him with defiant eyes. ‘That is why.’

‘So you sent the money to her directly before we left London?’ Jack asked.

‘I …’ Sally hesitated, but she knew there was no point in further prevarication. ‘Yes, I did.’

Jack cursed softly. ‘I knew it! I saw you give it to Alfred to deliver. But when I asked you and you denied it, I thought …’ he shrugged ‘… well, I assumed it was for some pressing debt.’

‘Nell’s debts were pressing. As I said, her children were sick and near starving.’

‘And once again,’ Jack said, ‘you took responsibility for helping your sisters.’

Sally did not answer. Taking care of Nell and Connie was something she had always done.

There was a silence. ‘And Connie,’ Jack said. ‘She plotted this whole elopement scheme with Bertie’s help, not yours, didn’t she?’

‘It seems so,’ Sally said. ‘I did not realise that Bertie was involved.’

‘I am sorry that I doubted you,’ Jack said.

Sally smiled bitterly. He sounded as though the words were sticking in his throat, but she knew that any sort of apology was a major concession from Jack. Perhaps in time she would be able to accept it, when her feelings were not so raw.

‘Thank you,’ she said politely.

‘The evidence about Chavenage and Pettifer seemed so strong,’ Jack continued. ‘I read the court papers.’

‘It is true that the Chavenage family tried to pay me off, but I would not accept a penny,’ Sally said. ‘Whoever gave you that information had their facts quite wrong, Mr Kestrel. As for John Pettifer, Connie loved him. You may find that hard to believe—I do myself when I see her now—but I think he was the only man she has ever truly loved. He used her very badly and when he jilted her it seemed only fair to sue him for breach of promise, to make the world see what a cad he was rather than to extract any money from him.’

‘The judge agreed with you,’ Jack said.

‘Yes. But in the end it was a hollow victory because Connie had been badly let down,’ Sally said. ‘I am sure it was then that she turned cynical towards men. She had always been flighty, but there was an innocence in her too. Now, though …’ Sally sighed ‘… she is as hard as nails.’

‘Your sister,’ Jack said grimly, ‘is the most conniving little piece it has ever been my misfortune to meet and she does not deserve your love and support.’

Sally shot him a startled look. He sounded so grim, and his mouth was set in an angry line. She supposed that his fury was no great surprise. He had maintained all along that Connie was an adventuress and now they had all seen and heard the proof of it. Connie had been out to make an advantageous match and had no respect for Bertie, who had only been the means to an ambitious end.

‘At least we are saved the trouble of travelling to Gretna,’ Sally said, sighing. ‘I might have known that we would be too late.’ She shook her head slightly. ‘It always was too late to talk sense into Connie. She always did do exactly want she wanted.’

‘And now,’ Jack said, ‘they are married—’

‘Thereby removing the necessity for us to be engaged,’ Sally said. This, she thought, was the end between them, and it had come sooner than she had thought. ‘I think I shall go back to London,’ she said. She looked at him. ‘If you would be so good as to convey me to the nearest station, Mr Kestrel? I think it is the least that you could do under the circumstances.’

Jack did not answer immediately. ‘I am not really minded to let you go so easily,’ he said.

Sally stared at him, her thoughts in a sudden spin. ‘Whatever do you mean by that?’ she demanded.

‘Exactly what I say.’ Jack sounded maddeningly arrogant. ‘I wish to keep you here at Dauntsey with me as my fiancée.’

‘Well,’ Sally said, her temper flaring abruptly again at this further display of high-handedness, ‘I do not think that you are in a position to make any further demands upon me, Mr Kestrel.’

‘I accept that you have a right to be angry with me—’ Jack conceded, but Sally did not let him finish. It felt good to let all her indignation and anger and pain at last have free rein.

‘Oh, you accept that, do you?’ she said. She put her hands on her hips. ‘You drag me here on what turns out to be a wild goose chase, you insult me by suggesting I am in league with my sister to fleece your family, you calmly announce that we are engaged, and you think I have a right to be angry with you! Well, thank you for that!’

‘I have said that the fleecing accusation was a mistake,’ Jack said. Infuriatingly, he looked amused rather than annoyed at her show of temper and Sally realised with a sudden pang that it was because he was still supremely confident, still utterly sure that he could persuade her to his point of view. She wished desperately that she were not so vulnerable to him. But she was strong too. She had no intention of succumbing to his practised charm ever again, not when it was accompanied by no deep emotion.

‘It is handsome of you to admit it,’ she said, her eyes flashing. ‘You can trust your own judgement, but you cannot trust my word! And what did your “evidence” amount to anyway? Some trumped-up report from your lawyer? You did not even give me a chance to defend myself!’

‘No,’ Jack said slowly, ‘I did not.’

Sally’s temper flickered again. She warmed to her theme. ‘You have been intolerably rude to me, you tried to break the bank at my casino, you threatened to destroy my business, you seduced me—’

‘Please, Sally …’ Jack put out a hand towards her as a nervous-looking gardener’s boy came through the trees pushing a wheelbarrow and went swiftly into reverse on hearing the word ‘seduced’.

‘And now you decide that you are not minded to let me go!’ Sally finished. ‘You are intolerable!’

‘Given the disparity in our experience, as a gentleman I must take responsibility for what has happened between us,’ Jack said. ‘Therefore you remain as my fiancée.’

‘Oh, no, I don’t!’ Sally said furiously. ‘Just because you have exonerated me of blame you do not need to take responsibility for my actions! I knew what I was doing even if—’ She stopped, embarrassed, as the heated memories swamped her mind again.

‘Even if you were a virgin,’ Jack said softly. ‘Which we both know that you were.’ He took her hand and drew her into the shelter of one of the trees. His touch was warm and insistent. She could feel her resistance to him melting and tried desperately not to weaken. He was standing close to her and she could smell the fresh scent of his cologne. She felt a little light-headed.

‘I … This …’ Sally struggled to regain her self-control. ‘This is nothing to the purpose,’ she said. ‘The point is that now Connie and Bertie are married we no longer need to pretend to be engaged and, as I said, I would like to go back to London.’

‘I cannot allow it,’ Jack said, with every appearance of regret. ‘I want you to stay here with me.’

Sally stared at him. ‘You want me to stay here? Just what is it that you are suggesting, Mr Kestrel?’

‘I am proposing marriage.’ Jack thrust his hands moodily into his pockets. ‘I dislike the idea of your silly little sister having precedence over you just because she is married and you are not.’

Despite herself, Sally laughed. ‘A lamentably bad reason for marriage, Mr Kestrel. I assure you that even if Connie insists on entering every drawing room in London before me, which no doubt she shall, I can still deal with her.’ She shook her head. ‘And I have to say that that is without a doubt the worst proposal of marriage that I have every heard.’

‘No doubt you have heard a few.’ Now Jack sounded even more bad-tempered.

‘Certainly enough to know that yours was extraordinarily inept.’

‘I suppose that Gregory Holt was more proficient?’

‘He said some very pretty things,’ Sally conceded, ‘but I still refused him. As I do you, Mr Kestrel. The idea is absurd.’

‘If we call off our engagement now, Aunt Ottoline will be extremely disappointed,’ Jack said.