Deception

  Robert slid another glance toward Jared’s face. “I expect you’re very angry.”

  “I’m very disappointed, Robert. There is a difference.”

  “Yes, sir.” Robert lapsed into silence.

  The display of fireworks had concluded but the band was still performing enthusiastically in the pavilion. Olympia was waiting with the restless and bored looking twins. The anxiety in her eyes disappeared when she caught sight of Jared and Robert.

  “There you are,” she said with obvious relief. “We were just about to go in search of you on the Dark Walk ourselves.”

  “That’s right,” Ethan volunteered. “Aunt Olympia said we would be safe enough if we all stayed together and went to search for you.”

  Jared thought of what could have happened had Olympia and the twins appeared at an inopportune moment during the negotiations with Traveling Tom. The anger and concern he had been holding back for the past half hour slipped free of his self-control.

  “I told you that you were to stay here with the twins,” he said very softly. “When I give an order I expect it to be obeyed, madam.”

  Olympia stared at him as if he had struck her. Then swift understanding flashed in her eyes. “Yes, my lord,” she said gently.

  She looked quickly at Robert. “What happened, Robert? Where have you been?”

  “A villain kidnapped me right off the Dark Walk,” Robert said, not without a touch of pride. He glanced at Jared and the excitement died in his eyes. “He spirited me straight out of the gardens. He told me he was going to keep me with him until tomorrow.”

  “You’re bamming us, ain’t you?” Ethan demanded.

  Hugh’s expression hovered between disbelief and awe. He turned to Jared for confirmation. “It’s all a tale, is it not, sir? No one kidnapped Robert. He’s having us on.”

  “I’m afraid Robert is telling the truth.” Jared took Olympia’s arm and started toward the gates.

  “What are you saying?” Olympia wriggled free of Jared’s grasp and caught Robert by the shoulders. She pulled him toward her. “Robert, is it true? Someone took you away tonight?”

  Robert nodded and hung his head. “I should not have gone down the Dark Walk by myself.”

  “My God.” Olympia hugged him fiercely. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes, of course.” Robert struggled free of Olympia’s arms and straightened his shoulders. “I knew that Mr. Chillhurst, I mean, his lordship, would come after me. I just didn’t know if he would come tonight. I thought I might have to wait until tomorrow, you see.”

  “But why did someone try to kidnap you?” Olympia demanded. She looked at Jared. “I do not understand. What did the villain want?”

  “I do not know.” Jared said. He took her arm again and led the small group out through the gates and onto the streets. “I confess I did not hang about long enough to discover the motives behind the matter.”

  “Good heavens,” Olympia whispered. “There is only one reason why someone might have wanted to kidnap Robert.”

  “What is that?” Hugh asked eagerly.

  “He must have been after the Lightbourne diary,” Olympia said with grim certainty.

  “Bloody hell,” Jared muttered.

  “Whoever it was must have intended to hold Robert for ransom,” Olympia explained. “He would very likely have demanded the diary in exchange for returning Robert. Such villainy could have been perpetrated by only one individual.”

  Jared realized belatedly where her inventive brain was leading her. “Now, Olympia … ”

  “It was the Guardian,” Olympia said very gravely. “Don’t you see? It must have been him. We have got to stop him before something terrible happens. Perhaps we should hire a Bow Street runner to track him down. Do you think that would work, my lord?”

  Jared had had enough. “Damnation, Olympia, will you cease prattling on about that wretched Guardian? There is no such person. If he ever existed, he is long since dead. Furthermore, this is neither the time nor the place to indulge your silly imaginings.”

  Olympia stiffened in his grasp. All three of the boys looked at Jared in silent reproach. Jared cursed himself under his breath.

  He knew that the simmering rage he was experiencing was aimed largely at himself. He had failed in his responsibilities. He should have kept a closer eye on Robert. Instead, he had been contemplating his wedding night.

  That knowledge only served to stoke the fires of Jared’s foul mood. All he could think about was how close they had all come to disaster tonight and of how Olympia had nearly compounded that disaster with her plans to go in search of him.

  And now she was attributing the entire matter to the Guardian.

  A man should not have to suffer such nonsense on his wedding night, Jared thought as he hailed a hackney. Even if he had been personally responsible for the entire affair.

  “How did you get Robert back, my lord?” Ethan asked with his usual unquenchable curiosity.

  “Yes, sir,” Hugh echoed as he bounced up into the carriage. “How did you rescue Robert?”

  It was Robert who answered. He slid a sober glance at Jared and then quickly looked away. “His lordship gave the villain his watch in exchange for me.”

  “His watch?” Ethan’s eyes grew very round.

  A hushed silence fell on the darkened carriage. As the vehicle clattered off down the street everyone gazed at Jared in stunned amazement.

  “Oh, dear,” Olympia murmured.

  “Bloody hell,” Ethan whispered.

  “I don’t believe it,” Hugh said. “Your beautiful watch, sir? You paid for Robert with it?”

  Robert sat up very straight. “It’s true, is it not, my lord? You gave the villain your watch in exchange for me.”

  Jared looked at each of them in turn and finally settled on Robert. “We will discuss this matter tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, Robert. Until then, no one is to say another word on the subject.”

  Silence descended again on the carriage.

  Satisfied that he had managed the last word for the moment, Jared lounged back against the cushions and gazed broodingly out the window. It was, he reflected, a damnable prelude to a wedding night.

  He wondered why it was that nothing went according to plan in his life these days.

  Olympia paced her small bedchamber an hour and a half later. She glanced at the clock on the bureau for the fourth time since she had dressed in her nightgown and chintz wrapper. There was still no sound from Jared’s bedchamber.

  The house had been quiet for nearly an hour. Everyone but Jared was in his or her bed. Even Minotaur had disappeared into the kitchen.

  Jared had ensconced himself in the study with a bottle of brandy immediately after ordering everyone else upstairs. He was still down there.

  This was her wedding night, but Olympia was no longer looking forward to it with longing and anticipation. Indeed, she was not at all certain she was even going to have a wedding night. The pall of Jared’s grim mood hung over the entire house.

  Olympia felt it but she did not entirely understand it. She had told herself that Jared had been overset by the extraordinary events of the evening. It was a reasonable enough explanation for his short temper. After all, he had been obliged to go very much out of his way to rescue Robert, who should have known better than to go haring off on his own.

  She was also aware that there must have been a few very nasty moments for Jared in the course of dealing with the villains who had kidnapped Robert. And it was perfectly dreadful that he had been obliged to give up his treasured watch in exchange for Robert.

  All in all, Olympia thought, she could see how the happenings of the evening could ruffle even Jared’s normally unflappable composure.

  Nevertheless, she thought, there was no call for him to behave in such an unpleasant fashion on their wedding night.

  She reached the far end of the tiny bedchamber, turned around, and paced back toward the opposite wall. A growing sense of unease was be
ginning to unfurl deep inside.

  She prayed that Jared was not nursing a newly discovered sense of regret downstairs in the study.

  What if tonight’s happenings had caused him to have serious doubts about the wisdom of marrying her, Olympia thought suddenly.

  What if he had concluded that she and her nephews were too much bother after all?

  What if Jared was downstairs drinking brandy to forget that he was stuck with the lot upstairs?

  Olympia paused in front of the glass on her dressing table and scowled at her image. It was not entirely her fault that she and Jared had been obliged to marry, she thought. Jared had set the entire disaster in motion when he had insinuated himself into her household as the children’s tutor.

  He had deceived her right from the start. And while she could certainly sympathize with his reasons for doing so, the fact nevertheless removed some of her own guilt in the matter.

  Furthermore, she had employed Jared at the start of this business and he had never actually resigned.

  Olympia’s chin lifted. Jared had no right treating his innocent employer to such surly behavior on her wedding night.

  Inspired with righteous resolve, Olympia straightened her cap on her hair, retied her wrapper, and went to the door. She opened it and stepped out into the silent hall.

  From the top of the stairs she could make out the glow of candlelight under the study door. She squared her shoulders, stalked down the stairs, and crossed the small downstairs hall.

  She raised her hand to knock on the door, changed her mind, and turned the knob, instead. Head high, she sailed into the study and closed the door behind her.

  She halted abruptly when she saw Jared. The sight of him unsettled her far more than she had expected.

  Jared sprawled in her chair with the relaxed grace of a carnivorous beast. His boots were arrogantly propped on her desk, as if he owned the study and everything in it.

  He had long since discarded his coat. The single candle that burned in the room revealed that Jared’s shirt was undone halfway down his chest. He had a half-finished glass of brandy in one hand.

  The black velvet patch over his left eye only served to make the hooded gleam in his good eye all the more intimidating.

  “Good evening, Olympia. I assumed you would be sound asleep by now.”

  Olympia fortified herself against the decidedly unpleasant tone of his voice. “I came downstairs to speak to you, Mr. Chillhurst.”

  Jared’s brow rose. “Mr. Chillhurst?”

  “Your lordship,” she corrected herself impatiently. “I wish to discuss a certain matter with you.”

  “Do you, indeed? I would not advise it, madam. Not tonight.” He saluted her with the brandy glass. “I am not in the best of moods, you see.”

  “I understand,” Olympia gave him a small, tremulous smile. “You have been through a great deal this evening. A man of your refined sensibilities is bound to be affected by such an unfortunate experience. No doubt you need time to recover.”

  “No doubt.” Jared’s mouth twisted. Harsh amusement gleamed in his gaze as he took a swallow of the brandy. “We men who are cursed with refined sensibilities and passionate natures have somewhat emotional reactions to kidnappings and such.”

  “There is no need to mock me or your own nature, Chillhurst,” Olympia said quietly. “We are what we are and we must make the best of it.” She took a deep breath and gathered her courage. “And I feel the same applies to our marriage, my lord.”

  Jared regarded her with a look of disgust. “Does it, indeed?”

  Olympia took a step forward and clutched her wrapper very tightly together just below her throat. “The thing is, sir, we are stuck with each other, if you see what I mean.”

  “Stuck with each other. A charming notion.”

  “I realize you are having second thoughts about the wisdom of our marriage and I am truly sorry about that. I did try to dissuade you, if you will recall.”

  “Only too well, madam.”

  “Yes, well, unfortunately, there is nothing to be done about it now. We must try to make the best of it.”

  Jared put down his brandy glass and rested his elbows on the arms of the chair. He placed his fingertips together and regarded her with an enigmatic expression.

  “Are you having second thoughts about our marriage, Olympia?”

  She hesitated. “I regret that you felt compelled to marry me, my lord. I would not have had it thus.”

  “I was not compelled to marry you.”

  “Yes, you were.”

  “Must you argue with me at every turn?” Jared’s mouth thinned. “I married you because I wished to do so.”

  “Oh.” Olympia was taken aback by that statement. Her spirits lifted. “That is very reassuring, my lord. I had been a trifle anxious, you see. One does not like to feel that one has been married simply because there was no honorable alternative.”

  “I dissolved one engagement, if you will recall. Rest assured, had I wished to do so, I would have found a way out of this alliance, too.”

  “I see.”

  “Like you, I am not overly concerned with appearances or the potential of a scandal.”

  Olympia took another step toward the desk. “I am very pleased to hear that, my lord.”

  He tilted his head slightly, his expression mockingly quizzical. “Do you think you might manage to call me Jared? We are quite alone here tonight. And as you have just pointed out, we are married now.”

  Olympia blushed. “Yes, of course. Jared.”

  “Why did you marry me, Olympia?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  He watched her face in the candlelight. “I asked why you married me. Was it solely because you have found me somewhat useful about the place?”

  “Jared.”

  “I believe that was what you implied when you accepted my offer yesterday. You made it clear that you valued me primarily because I could keep your household in order.”

  Olympia was horrified. “I only said that because I had the headache and I was very overset by that scene in the parlor with Lady Beaumont and Lady Kirkdale and Mr. Seaton. There are many other reasons why I was pleased to accept your offer.”

  “Are you quite certain?” Jared tapped his fingertips together. “I should point out that I am not quite so useful as you might have once believed me to be. I almost lost Robert for you tonight.”

  “You did not lose Robert, he got himself lost.” Olympia was growing desperate. “You rescued him, Jared. And I shall never forget it.”

  “Is that the reason you have come down here tonight? Did you wish to thank me for rescuing Robert after I lost him?”

  “That is quite enough.” Olympia stormed the rest of the way across the room to stand directly in front of the desk. “I believe you are being deliberately difficult, sir.”

  “Quite possibly. I am in a difficult mood.”

  Olympia narrowed her eyes. “What’s more, I begin to believe that you have instigated this quarrel merely to cause me distress.”

  “I did not start this quarrel.” Jared abruptly took his boots down off her desk and got to his feet. He towered over her. “You did.”

  “I did not.” Olympia refused to draw back.

  “Yes, you did. I was sitting alone down here, minding my own affairs, when you came traipsing through that door a moment ago.”

  “This is our wedding night,” Olympia said through her teeth. “You should have been upstairs with me. I should not have had to come down here to look for you.”

  Jared flattened his hands on the desk and leaned closer. “Tell me why you agreed to marry me, Olympia.”

  “You know the answer to that.” Passionate outrage swept through Olympia. “I married you because you are the only man I have ever wanted. The only man whose touch fills me with desire. The only man who understands me. The only man who does not think me odd. Jared, you have given life to my very dreams. How could I not want to marry you, you bloody pirate??
??

  A thundering hush settled on the room. Olympia felt as though she had just stepped off a very high bridge above a roaring, fathomless torrent.

  “Ah,” Jared said softly. “Well, there is that, I suppose.” He reached for her.

  And caught her just as she plummeted into the sea of passion that cascaded over them both.

  Chapter 14

  The instant he touched her, Jared felt the fine rage within Olympia transform itself into an even grander passion.

  You have brought my very dreams to life.

  No woman had ever said such things to him, Jared thought. No woman had ever wanted him like this.

  Nothing seemed to shake Olympia’s desire for him. She had wanted him when she thought him a lowly tutor. She had wanted him after she had discovered his true identity. She had continued to want him even though she had every reason to believe that he was after the same thing she sought, the secret of the Lightbourne diary. She was not interested in his titles or his fortune.

  She wanted him.

  It was more than he had ever thought to have, Jared realized. But it was not quite enough. It would never be enough. The real treasure still eluded him, although he could not name it.

  Still, he had never been so close or had so much. A wise man took what he could get and counted himself fortunate.

  A pirate held on to what he had seized and let the future take care of itself.

  Jared hauled Olympia across the desk. He gathered her into his arms and sank back down onto the chair. She tumbled against him, warm and fragrant and vibrant with flowering desire.

  “Jared.” Olympia wound her arms around his neck and crushed her mouth softly against his. A low, sensual moan escaped her lips.

  Jared touched her gently rounded calf where it was exposed by the hiked-up skirts of her nightgown and wrapper. For some reason the memory of the first time he had seen her in her library, struggling to free herself from Draycott’s unwanted touch flashed into his mind.

  Olympia did not want any other man’s touch, Jared thought. Only his.

  Only his.

  He felt her mouth opening for him, inviting him inside where it was moist and close and dark. Jared pierced the depths, reveling in the intimacy of the drugging kiss. Olympia trembled. Her tongue touched his with the eagerness of a small, curious cat.