Chapter Four

 

“How are you faring, Mrs. Osborne?” Serena said as she set her parasol on her shoulder to shield any view of their conversation from the house. The women had set out on a stroll in Southgate’s gardens and it was the perfect setting for a private exchange.

“I wish I could say,” Delilah replied. “I was so terrified that James would question your visit or suspect something. But it has gone so well, so why then do I feel no relief? Only more concern that I’ve pulled another woman into this mess?”

“It is only natural to experience anxiety.” Serena allowed a few moments to pass, the rhythmic crunch of the gravel path a strange music underneath it all. “But I am settled in and welcomed by your husband without a ripple of resistance.”

“No ripple except for Cousin Phillip.” Delilah smiled. “I never expected him to accept my invitation and apparently he thinks this all some grand matchmaking scheme. I apologize, Lady Wellcott. My family has hounded him for years on the matter and he is surly when he is cornered.”

“Ah! Poor man,” Serena said as warmly as she could. “It is a relief to think I have not given offense to Sir Warrick.”

“Oh, no! I cannot imagine such a thing! I’m sure it is only his stubborn attachment to bachelorhood that inspired his social lapse at your introduction. But I can assure you that Phillip is the kindest of men and a true gentleman.”

Serena was forced to pretend to be diverted by a nearby rose bush. “Of course. In any case, we shall be happy for the distraction when it comes to your husband. With male company to divert him, I have more latitude to act.”

“Do you have a plan then?”

“Not yet.” Serena bent over to smell a crimson rose the color of blood, inhaling the power of its fragrance. “But I have several ideas.”

“Thank God!”

Serena straightened to give her friend a saucy look. “I can assure you, Mrs. Osborne that God will be the last one I would consult for this enterprise. Though if I have my way, your husband will send up a few prayers for His mercy by the time we’re done.”

“Oh! You do say the most shocking things, Lady Wellcott!”

“If I have already shocked you, then I fear what your reaction will be to my next suggestion.”

“Please. Speak without fear.”

“Mrs. Osborne, I need you to become unavailable to your husband. Starting today, he must find no relief in your bed and no avenue for his desires.” Serena waited as her blunt request struck home.

Delilah nodded assent, a blush creeping up her throat to touch her cheeks. “James is—it is not easy to dissuade him, madam. His appetite for…marital relations is…quite vigorous.”

“Good. Then its withdrawal will make it easier to work against him.” Serena smiled and motioned for them to continue walking. “Tell him you have your monthly flow or better yet, confess that you harbor some nebulous hope that you are carrying his child which makes you fearful of the exercise. From what I’ve observed, he still has great ambitions that a son of his will overtake Sir Warrick as head of your family one day. Especially if Sir Warrick remains unmarried, am I right?”

“It is true,” Delilah whispered. “Though I suspect he is equally anxious that Cousin Phillip marry well and fill the family’s coffers. It is a dilemma of conscience for James.”

“Then we have him on both fronts. He may protest being banished from your bed but he won’t cross it. And if his libido is as strong as you say, then it’s a matter of days before his desires will make him ripe for the picking.”

“As easy as that?”

Serena shook her head. “It does seem a bit too simple. But it never hurts to have a man’s own blood working against his nerves before you move against him.”

“Are you going to seduce him, Lady Wellcott?” Delilah asked in horrified astonishment.

Serena shrugged her shoulders. “Perhaps. But only to scratch his face for it and scream for the magistrate, Mrs. Osborne.”

“Oh, that would be—brilliant!” Delilah sighed. “But the scandal! Would you not be publicly ruined in the course of it?”

“That is for me to manage, Mrs. Osborne.”

“I am so grateful.” Delilah’s eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “If I had the strength to act alone…”

“You are very strong, Delilah. Do not doubt your courage—or your wisdom. Guard what light and grace you can in your soul for it is precious and irreplaceable. There is no shame in summoning someone who can shield you from the worst and withstand the blows. I have no light left to mourn its loss, Mrs. Osborne. But I can admire women who possess it and take pride in defending the goodness in them when I can.”

“You refer to yourself as if you are a lost cause.” Delilah shook her head. “I do not believe that, Lady Wellcott.”

“You are too kind,” she said and the gravel’s song beneath her feet grounded out a noise that to her ears sounded like, “Too kind, too bad, too kind, too bad.”

Let us hope that Mrs. Osborne does not lose that belief before this is all over.

“I should get back to the house,” Delilah said. “I’m to go over the menus with the cook and I wanted to ensure that Dell is holding up under the strain.”

“By all means. I am enjoying the exercise and will see you tonight at dinner.”

Delilah kissed her on the cheek and left her at the entrance to a long vine covered walkway. Serena watched her go until she was out of sight and closed her parasol to enter the shaded archway.

Privacy was a thing to savor. Serena forced herself to ignore the maelstrom that was her past and instead concentrate on the challenge of bringing James Osborne to heel. If his perverted inclination was to prefer taking a woman by force, then openly flirting with the bastard would probably be counterproductive. Perhaps a suggestion of—

“If you’re up to something, if you intend to harm me by ingratiating yourself to James or Delilah, I’ll have you know that—“

Serena turned at the sound of Phillip’s voice, briefly startled before she laughed to cut him off. “My goodness, Sir Warrick! What a ridiculous thing to say!”

“It’s not ridiculous! I haven’t forgotten what happened, Raven Wells. I haven’t forgotten what you…are.”

“And what am I?” she asked, her expression calm, her eyes clear.

“You’re a grifter and a con-artist! You and Trent would have had me publicly ruined if I hadn’t finally seen through the scheme!” It was an old wound but it still stung. She’d hurt far more than his pride and there wasn’t a day since when he hadn’t thought of her, either to curse her or ache with the memories of young love.

She shook her head slowly and deliberately walked back out into the sun drenched path. “I don’t know what surprises me most. That you are still somehow so self-righteous to believe yourself the wounded party in that long ago drama or that you think I’m going to crumble after you sputter and spit insults at me.” She opened her parasol with a practiced flick of her wrist and rested it on her shoulder, framing her face and shielding her from the sun.

If it was calculated to enhance her beauty, it had worked but the effect made him feel even angrier. “You’ll crumble after they toss you out as an imposter!” he countered.

“An imposter?” Serena looked at him in dramatic shock. “But that’s ridiculous, Sir Warrick. I am, in fact, Lady Wellcott and I am, in fact, quite wealthy—rich far beyond your family’s meager holdings. The name and title are legally mine and I can provide countless references to prove all, if you require them. I am exactly as you see and while I hate to disappoint you, I honestly had no idea of your connection to Mrs. Osborne when I accepted her invitation. A rare mistake I won’t repeat.” She shrugged her shoulders prettily. “As for Trent, I haven’t seen him since that time. It seems you have something in common with the earl.”

She tipped her head to one side as if studying him and Phillip couldn’t help but remember the familiar tip of her chin and the way she’d once studied how best to please him.

“Do I?”

“Yes, more than you know. For you both took what you wanted and never bothered to look back.” She took a small dismissive step back. “As for the current awkwardness, by all means, let us go in and tell your cousin of our sordid connection. I am sure they will be riveted to hear of your liaison with a seventeen year old girl without resources or family and of your intended elopement. Engagements are broken so often these days without much scandal, perhaps they won’t blink to learn of your skills at seduction and kidnapping.”

Damn.

“There was—more to it than that.”

“Of course. But you don’t really want to have that conversation, do you, Phillip?”

He held his ground. “You deliberately deceived me. Lord Trent was your ally and you… You were not who or what you seemed. Don’t play it now as if you were innocent in—“

She leapt like a cat closing the distance between them, her eyes sparking with a fury that caught him off guard because part of the shine in her gaze was unshed tears. “I was innocent! I was—“ She clapped her fingers against her lips to stop her own speech, turning away from him to hide her face. “This exchange is at an end. Make your confessions to your family if you wish. I’m not interested in hearing them.”

She walked away and he realized that his mouth was open like a fish.