Chapter Six

 

The day of Drake’s ball unfolded in rare glorious sunshine and Serena had ordered every window in the house opened to take in the fresh air. She sat at her desk to attend to her correspondence and did her best not to be distracted as Phillip paced the room.

“We should take the carriage out for a ride through the park,” he suggested. “It’s too fine a day to be a prisoner, Raven.”

She smiled and set down her pen to turn toward him. “What a wretched jailer I am! I release you from this dungeon. Go for a ride if you wish, Phillip, but I am not about to destroy my schemes with an impulsive and public ride in an open carriage through Hyde Park with Sir Phillip Warrick at my side. Word would reach Trent before he sits down for tea.”

Phillip rewarded her with a surly and searing look. “When this is over, woman, fair warning that I intend to impulsively and publicly make it clear for all to see in an open carriage that I am the man at your side and in your bed.”

“What a scandalous notion!” she exclaimed, her cheeks warming with approval. “I do love it when you threaten to be wicked, Sir Warrick.”

“I’ll do more than threaten. Set those letters aside.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “Patience, my love.” She retrieved a note from the top of a small stack to show him. “According to Fitzherbert’s maid, the earl is a quiet enough neighbor and has received few calls. He’s gone out to meet his business cronies at his club but no one else.”

“How in the world does Fitzherbert’s maid know where the Earl of Trent is going or who he is meeting?” Phillip took a seat next to the desk.

“Apparently the dear girl has taken a keen interest in the earl’s driver and the man is proving to be very talkative.” Serena answered him without looking up from the paper. “As most men are after a bit of exercise.”

“Raven! Tell me you do not have this girl prostituting herself for—information about Trent!”

Serena looked up startled. “Don’t be ridiculous! Phillip Warrick! Don’t make me throw a paperweight at your head!” She placed the note face down on the desk’s surface. “That woman’s natural proclivities are her own to manage and if they serve my purposes, then I’m grateful for it, but she was rogering the earl’s man before I made my first inquiry. It’s luck, pure and simple, so cease that scowling.”

“I apologize.”

“I’ll consider forgiving you later.” Serena crumpled the small note and threw it at him, forcing him to smile. “Behave, Warrick!”

He retrieved the ball and handed it back to her contritely. “Has his nephew arrived?”

“No,” Serena said. “Apparently not. I’d thought to meet him tonight but we’ll have to wait and see.”

“I pity the poor boy with Trent as an uncle. What twisted little soul comes from that family tree?” Phillip leaned back in his chair, a new idea seizing him and he gifted her with a wicked look. “Has anyone seen the boy? God, why do I have this sudden hope that he’s a club-footed hunchback?”

“Stop trying to make me laugh.” Serena shook her head. “I am sure he is hale, hearty and whole. And we should probably stop referring to him as if he is nine and in short pants. Trent said he is a grown man so it hardly suits.”

“Yes, but it gives me immense pleasure to imagine him as some squat crippled hedgehog so I hardly care.”

“I won’t spoil your fun then.”

“Raven,” Phillip sat up, his demeanor changing. “I have agreed not to interfere but I cannot simply sit idle or I’ll go mad. Give me something to do. I don’t care if it’s assisting you with your correspondence and overseeing your calendar to make sure you don’t miss a single opportunity to murder Trent.”

Serena rolled her eyes but sighed. “I’m not going to murder him.”

“Let’s not make any promises you can’t keep,” he said with a wry grin. “Employ me, Lady Wellcott.”

“You would make a horribly distracting social secretary, Sir Warrick.”

“Should we discuss my wages?”

She stood to shift until her skirts were pressing against his legs, parting his knees. “Your wage would surely be commensurate with your skills. Are you well-skilled, Sir Warrick?”

“To date I have not received any complaints, your ladyship.”

He drew his palms upward around her waist and across her ribcage, then up to skim the rich curves of her body, as Serena bent over him, her lips lowering to graze his with the softest fires of her touch. If she’d meant to simply tease him with the game, it was clear that all bets were off.

“Kiss me like that and I’ll never complain about being banished from your side in public again.”

“What a temptation, sir!” She released him gently. “Please, get out and enjoy the day. Take a ride in the park and stretch your legs. Go home and make sure your servants haven’t reported you for missing.”

“Very well. A ride and I will put in an appearance at my town home but I make no promises to stay away for long.”

“I would never wish for that.”

Phillip smiled. “There’s a relief.”

 

Sunshine beckoned and a rare fresh breeze that made London perfumed and alluring won over his objections. He set out for a ride into Hyde Park, anxious to make the most of the day and find his balance. Phillip had never flourished in confinement and it felt good to ride out, even if it involved slipping from the stables to take a narrow brick lane from Lady Wellcott’s property to avoid any prying eyes. The clandestine nature of their relationship was an unpleasantly familiar wrinkle and he was doing his best not to be distracted by it. After all, he’d spent years longing for a happy resolution and for some relief from his guilt and loss. Chafing at the slight imperfections of their arrangement didn’t seem like a wise course but it occurred to him that not once had they ever enjoyed an open courtship or public connection.

At least this time he could take comfort that it may be a temporary issue. Once she’d dealt with Trent, Phillip was confident that her fears would ease and he could renew negotiations for a more traditional relationship. But failing all else, he was wise enough to acknowledge the social storms to be weathered once the Ton got wind of Lady Serena Wellcott’s sinful choice to acquire a lover without a thought of marriage. He doubted she had thought of the price if she lost her social standing. Her current and future schemes all relied heavily on her ability to move about unhindered.

Then again, I may be spending the rest of my life as her secret.

His brow furrowed as the notion settled uncomfortably against his heart. If his Cousin Delilah safely delivered a son, his family would likely relax their scrutiny and lighten the pressure for him to marry and produce an heir. He could play the bachelor and clandestine role of the Black Rose’s consort without interference. But after years of wearing the mantle of his title and role as head of the family, a part of him regretted yielding the chance to make Raven his wife and lady. His imagination began to weave the picture of a babe in her arms and the life they could still have if she surrendered to—

“Mind yourself, man!”

Phillip reined his horse in sharply to avoid the collision with a carriage. The park was naturally crowded thanks to the weather and his daydreaming had nearly caused a ridiculous accident. Shame at his lapse made his face burn and his expression was grim. “I am terribly sorry.”

The male passenger in the open carriage was not in a gracious or forgiving mood as he needlessly pulled the woman at his side protectively into his arms. “The reins are in your hands, sir! I suggest you use them!”

Phillip touched the brim of his hat, bowed, then spurred his mount on to leave the scene. He was mortified at the mishap, disgusted that his thoughts could become so entangled that he had nearly steered his horse directly into a barouche.

I know that love can make a man blind but I’ve never heard an instance where he forgot how to function entirely!

Phillip grimaced. “The reins are in my hands. God, there’s a message from Providence itself!”

What am I doing?

Phillip guided his horse off the path and halted under the shade of a large oak tree to gather his thoughts. He took a deep breath and looked out at the parade of well-appointed carriages and riders out enjoying the day. With new eyes, he studied the lovers and friends, the social games and formal greetings. He watched the show and players as they moved across the stage and waited for reason.

I’m too far in to turn now. It seems foolish to worry about what the future holds with Raven when it’s the present that stands in our way. She’s set on destroying Trent and I cannot blame her. Hell, I hate the man as much or more than she does! But my instinct is to avoid him, to forget him, to cut him out and just get on with our lives…

Thinking of Trent made everything painful, tainting his memories and spoiling clarity. The temptation to end Trent was potent but there was also an appeal to trying to lure her away from all of it, to kidnapping her for a luxurious stay in Paris until she was so deliriously happy that there was no room left for the past.

Both ideas were overturned.

He’d asked her for her terms and she had stated them. He’d accepted them without a breath of protest, determined to prove that he was a man of his word, a man of honor and the one man she could finally rely on.

God help him, he loved her.

Raven was like an inviolate force of nature that he didn’t fully comprehend, but what man needed to understand a deadly storm to appreciate its beauty and power?

Raven was the dark center of his world.

It was impossible not to admire her keen intellect and talent for inspiring loyalty. He’d barely caught a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg that comprised her invisible empire, but he suspected it was vast. He enjoyed the new privilege of being in her confidence and holding her trust.

Not to mention the renewed pleasures of her bed.

It may not be the marriage he’d long ago envisioned, but then nothing in his life was the way he’d envisioned it. So why would Raven be any different?

Pride was a hard thing to smother and Phillip was wise enough to recognize the source of his anxieties. The answer finally became clear because any inkling of a life without her made every protest instantly stop.

She had asked him to stand aside and he had promised to keep out of Trent’s path. Phillip tipped his head back, looking up at the sunlight through the filter of the oak’s broad leaves. “It would be easier if I weren’t acquainted with your suicidal nature, Raven Wells.”

I will not lose you again.

Not even to one of your own dangerous schemes.

I will keep my word. I’ll stay out of the way but that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit around my club, drink brandies and whistle in the dark.

He was a grown man and a free citizen of the British Empire, not a prisoner in the maven of the Black Rose’s lair. The love of his life had already proclaimed that she had no use for fools.

And so Phillip was determined not to act like one.

And if he felt like stretching his legs tonight and attending a ball…

There was no one to stop him.