The Lord Next Door Read online

  “So what are you?” he asked.

  “Can’t you tell?” She turned back to face him, holding an elaborate mask up to her face. Feathers curled everywhere.

  “A bird?” he said.

  “A peacock! Really David, you didn’t try very hard.”

  “Sorry.”

  His smile could surely cause winter to become spring, and she basked for a moment in its warmth.

  “What are you going to be?” she asked.

  His hand began a slow slide over her hip and up her torso.

  “What a man always is. Mysterious.”

  Her laugh turned into a moan as he cupped her breast. “Oh, David. Be serious.”

  “I am. I’ll be wearing a mask. Very mysterious.”

  He started to lean over her, and she held him back. “Now, David, you mustn’t crush my feathers. And we’re slowing down.”

  She could see his disappointment, and it gave her a warm feeling of satisfaction.

  After they came to a stop, the door was opened by their footman. David stepped down, and Victoria suddenly heard someone calling his name.

  “Lord Thurlow, don’t go in. Ye must wait!”

  Victoria slid to the edge of the bench so she could lean her head out the door. The boy who worked at Southern Railway was breathing heavily, even though he clutched the reins of a drooping old horse.

  “It’s a ’mergency meeting, milord,” he said. “Mr. Bannaster said for you to come to the office.”

  David cursed aloud. “Very well. Do you want to ride with us? We can tie your horse up behind.”

  “Ye’d never go fast enough, milord. I’ll meet ye there.”

  David swung back inside and shut the door.

  Victoria watched him solemnly. “What do you think is wrong?”

  “I don’t know. We’re all set to announce the merger tomorrow and sign the paperwork. There’s no reason to think the worst.”

  “You’re obviously better at remaining calm than I am,” she said with a sigh.

  They silently turned to look out their respective windows. She reached for his hand, and he held hers.

  When they reached Southern Railway, she said, “I can wait in the carriage if it would be awkward to have me inside.”

  He took her hand. “I made that mistake once—I won’t do it again. Come on.”

  Southern Railway had an outer office full of paper-strewn desks off a long corridor, and doors leading to several inner offices. The directors were milling about, talking excitedly, but they went silent when they saw David. Victoria thought they looked worried, not panicked, which made her feel a little better. Some of them gave her puzzled looks, and it took her a moment to remember that she was wearing feathers at her back.

  “We were going to a masquerade,” she said with a shrug.

  “Were you a partridge?” Mr. Staplehill asked.

  Was her costume that bad? “I’m a peacock!”

  Mr. Bannaster opened the door to an inner office. “We’re worried Norton might know about the merger.”

  Everyone filed into the other office and closed the door. Victoria found a chair in the corner near the main door and sat down to wait.

  It wasn’t long before she heard voices out in the corridor. Bored, she leaned her head against the wall, and the words became clearer.

  “How dare you follow me to the office!”

  She would recognize that indignant voice anywhere—Mr. Perry, who’d sounded just like that when he’d stormed out of her dinner party.

  The other man was a stranger. “Ye’re takin’ his threats too lightly, mate. He doesn’t want ye throwin’ in your shares with Southern. He’ll offer ye more.”

  “I would never do business with such an under-handed scoundrel. Imagine threatening a man’s daughter!”

  Did he mean Prudence? Victoria sat up straighter. She wanted to alert David, but she was afraid to miss something important.

  “It’s not a threat, mate. She’s a pretty piece, your daughter. I can make sure no good man’ll have her.”

  “She’s well guarded—you won’t get near her. Now take your cowardly threats and leave!”

  The door slammed open, narrowly missing Victoria in the corner. Mr. Perry marched across the room and disappeared into the office. She held her breath. Had the criminal gone?

  “Well guarded, is she?” said a low voice just outside the door. “What a nice challenge.”

  Victoria remained unmoving until she heard the front door slam at the end of the corridor. Then she ran across the room and threw open the door to the inner office.

  “Mr. Perry!” she cried.

  They all turned to look at her.

  “I overheard that man after you left. He said it was a nice challenge that you’d left your daughter well guarded.”

  David said, “Victoria, what are you talking about?”

  But Mr. Perry clutched the back of a chair and swayed. “I’ve got to go, my lord. I didn’t want to tell you—I thought I could handle it myself, but—Norton has threatened to compromise my daughter if I don’t sell to him.”

  And then he was running past Victoria, breathing heavily.

  “Wait, we’ll take my carriage!” David followed him.

  Victoria and the rest of the directors trailed behind. As she came outside, by gas lamp she watched Mr. Perry mount his horse.

  “Your carriage will take too long, Thurlow. I can’t wait!”

  Men scattered looking for their horses and carriages. Victoria lifted her skirts and ran after David, who lifted her by the waist into the carriage.

  “To Perry’s!” he shouted up at his coachman. He got in beside her and slammed the door shut. “You know I would have left you there if I thought it was safe.”

  “I know, but I must come. Prudence might need me.”

  By the time the caravan arrived at Mr. Perry’s town house, there was already a brawl outside the gates, and a steady rain had begun to fall. Underneath a gas lamp, two hulking guards—obviously hired by Mr. Perry—watched in bemusement, and Victoria realized it was Mr. Perry fighting the henchman himself. Why had he not allowed the guards to help him?

  He was far too old for such an endeavor, and it was obvious he would soon lose by the way he staggered back from a particularly nasty blow.

  David jumped down from the carriage. “That’s enough!”

  Leaning even farther out the door, Victoria winced as David caught the henchman around the neck. The henchman struggled violently, until David spun him around and punched him hard in the stomach. With a groan, he collapsed to his knees.

  “Let’s go find Norton,” David said, dragging the henchman back to his feet. “Who’s got a horse we can tie him to?”

  While the railway directors put forth various horses, the henchman kept saying, “I don’t know any Norton.”

  When he was slung facefirst over the horse and tied down, David lifted his head by the hair. “So you want us to take you to the police? How noble of you to accept the blame for everything. I’m sure Norton will send you food in jail.”

  “All right, all right!” the henchman said. “He paid me. I was just goin’ to kiss the girl, maybe scare her a bit.”

  Mr. Hutton held back Mr. Perry.

  “That’s my daughter you’re talking about!” Mr. Perry yelled.

  “Let’s go see Norton,” David said.

  Everyone scrambled for their horses and carriages, and Mr. Bannaster led the henchman’s horse. David looked up at Victoria.

  “I’m not staying here,” she said.

  “But I thought Prudence needed you.”

  “I’m sure she’s sound asleep in her bed. You need me more.”

  “I do?”

  “Yes. Or at least I need to be with you. Now do you want everyone to reach Mr. Norton before we do?”

  “To Norton’s!” David yelled to his coachman before climbing up inside.

  “The coachman knows where he lives?”

  “I swear that man knows where e
veryone lives.”

  She leaned against him in relief.

  “I’m wet, Victoria.”

  “I am, too.”

  The caravan descended on Mr. Norton’s, and Victoria watched worriedly from the carriage as David dragged the henchman up the short length of the front pavement. The other directors followed behind in a group. David pounded loudly on the door over and over again, until finally a light appeared inside.

  A butler in a nightcap tried to appear dignified. “Please return in the morning.”

  “Tell Norton that Viscount Thurlow is here,” David said. “We have business to discuss. He’d better hurry unless he wants me to make sure he has not a business left to run.”

  Norton finally appeared at the door in his shirt-sleeves and trousers. He was a balding man, with his stomach hanging over his waistband. He was obviously incapable of mounting a credible threat to a woman all by himself, so he’d had to hire someone.

  Not that he would admit it, as he stood just inside his door, out of the rain.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Thurlow,” Norton said, smiling. “You woke me up for this nonsense?”

  “You weren’t sleeping,” David said, dragging the henchman into the light. “You were anxiously awaiting a report from this cretin. Well, here he is to make his report, but he doesn’t have much to say for himself. I’ll say it for him. He failed. Southern Railway will not fall apart at your hands. When we sign in the morning, we’ll become the largest railway in the south.”

  Even from the carriage, Victoria could see Norton’s teeth grind.

  “As for you,” David continued, “I’m prepared to forget this indiscretion.”

  Norton finally spoke. “But I won’t. I’ll make sure everyone knows that a peer is involved, Thurlow. You’ve been trying to keep it a secret, to protect the last shred of dignity the name Banstead might carry. But when I’m done—”

  “Go ahead,” David said.

  Victoria gasped.

  “I’m proud of what these men and I have accomplished,” David continued. “We’ll run a successful railway, which will give you more than your fair share of competition.”

  “I mean it!” Norton cried, then seemed to remember where he was as he looked around.

  “You don’t want your neighbors to hear the truth about you?” David said. He spoke louder. “I have no problem letting everyone know what I think of you. You don’t want to go against a viscount, who’s also a member of Parliament—especially one who has nothing to lose, where scandal is concerned, as you’ve pointed out. If I feel Miss Perry is in any danger from you, I’ll make sure you lose every last investment you’ve ever made. Now where is a patrolling officer when you need one?” he asked, his voice carrying even louder.

  Victoria stared at her husband as if he were a stranger. He’d just proclaimed that he didn’t care about a new scandal, that he didn’t care what people thought. Could it be true?

  Chapter 22

  David felt free, as if a chain around his neck had come loose. He really didn’t care whom Norton told. No notoriety could be worse than what he’d already experienced.

  “Be quiet!” Norton hissed.

  “Is your wife inside?” David asked politely. “Perhaps we should awaken her.”

  “All right, you’ve won,” Norton said between gritted teeth.

  “You’ll leave the Perrys alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “If I hear you’ve threatened any of them—”

  “What’s the point? He’ll have already turned over his shares to your company.”

  “You’re a smart man, Norton.” David tossed the henchman through the door, and he groaned as he landed on the floor. “Do something about this, won’t you?”

  The directors gathered around David, talking and laughing as they escorted him the few steps to the street. They clapped his back, they offered to take him out for a drink, but in the end, Victoria was waiting for him. He could just see her head through the open door of the carriage. The dispersal of the caravan took a few more minutes, and then he was finally able to climb up beside her, after telling the coachman to take them home. The door closed, the carriage pulled away from the curb, and they were alone.

  “That was wonderful,” she said.

  “So you like to see me bullying people?” He arched a brow.

  “Only for a good cause. Do you think he’ll really leave the Perrys alone?”

  “What else can he do? He wants to keep doing business in this city. He tried blackmail; it didn’t work. I think he’ll go onto his next little project.”

  Victoria hesitated.

  “Go ahead, ask,” he said.

  “Did you mean what you said, that you’d go public with your part in the railway if Norton didn’t cease his pressure?”

  “Yes. I’m not going to let innocent people get hurt because of my pride.” He softened his voice. “And it really wouldn’t have mattered. It only matters what you think, Victoria.”

  He looked down at her with a very thorough gaze.

  “You can’t stay in those wet clothes,” he said.

  She stared at him. “Well, of course I can. The journey home won’t take long.”

  “It’s at least a half hour’s drive farther into the city. Now turn around.”

  “I—”

  “Victoria, when a husband wishes to remove his wife’s clothes, she usually lets him.”

  She gave him her back. “Even in a carriage?”

  “Especially in a carriage.”

  He wanted to rip the peacock feathers from Victoria’s back. He couldn’t stand another item between him and his wife’s smooth body.

  Finally the feathers were gone, and he could feel the cool skin on the back of her shoulders. He kissed her there, running his tongue along her neck, kissing behind her ear, all while his fingers finally managed to undo the tiny buttons down her back. The lantern behind them swayed, chasing shadows across her creamy skin. He peeled the sodden gown down her body, and had her stand hunched over, to get the skirt off.

  When everything was gone but her chemise, he whispered against her mouth, “Your drawers, too.”

  She released a little sigh that mingled with his own quick breaths.

  “Hurry,” he urged. “I’m impatient for you.”

  She stood again before him, leaning over him so that her head didn’t hit the ceiling. When the carriage jostled from the uneven roads, she clutched his shoulders for balance. He could see her breasts hanging before him, bobbling gently with the motion, and he groaned, reaching up beneath her chemise himself for the tie of her drawers.

  “I’ve thought of this all day,” she whispered softly.

  He didn’t think he could get any harder, but he did.

  “Well, I didn’t exactly imagine the carriage,” she added, “but—touching you, like you touched me.”

  When her drawers were gone, he pulled her forward so that she sat on him, straddling his thighs. His trousers were too tight, and he started to release them, when she put her hands on his.

  “Let me.”

  Those two words were almost as arousing as her damp near-nakedness. He put his hands on the bench, barely realizing he was gripping the leather tightly. Didn’t she know how she looked, her chemise translucent across her breasts? He liked her rising above him, and the way she worked so intently at loosening his cravat.

  He put his hands on her waist. “We don’t have much time.”

  “I know. I don’t need all your clothes removed—just some.”

  He laughed. And then she was loosening the buttons of his shirt and waistcoat, pushing his evening coat wide open so that she could tug his shirt from his trousers. When her cool hands touched his stomach, he shuddered.

  “You feel so warm,” she whispered.

  Her hands tentatively moved higher, and he held his breath, waiting. “Don’t stop.”

  Her fingers caressed his nipples, and he pulled her hips against his and arched into her fr
om below.

  “I need to remove some more clothes,” he said hoarsely.

  Her fingers on his trousers were almost his undoing. He wasn’t sure she would be brave enough to touch his erection, not yet, but just the thought made him groan into her mouth as he kissed her. He knew she’d made progress with his trousers when he felt less constricted. A sudden draft let him know he could pull her higher against him. Her hot moistness caressed the length of him, but he couldn’t take her, not yet. With his mouth he tugged at the neckline of her chemise, exposing her breasts. Her flesh was cool and wet, and he tasted everything, from the puckered tips of her nipples to the hidden curves just beneath.

  She was rocking against him, her head thrown back, her hands clasping his shoulders. When she cried out his name, he thrust up inside her, feeling the tug of her inner muscles, knowing that nothing else could ever feel this good. With his hands he guided her to ride him, with his mouth he worshipped at her breasts, until he felt the shudder of her climax all around him. He let go of his control and ground into her, his head thrown back, arching upward to take everything she offered.

  As the world settled back into place, he pulled Victoria to his chest and held her there for a moment, stroking her damp hair where it hung in curls down her back.

  She shivered.

  “I’m a selfish bastard,” he said abruptly, “using you without a thought to your comfort.”

  “I didn’t even notice the chill until now,” she protested. “You forget you’re not exactly dry yourself.”

  He sat her up a bit—trying not to pull out of her—and leaned forward to reach around her. She laughed and clutched his shoulders. From beneath the far bench he pulled a blanket and wrapped it around her. With a sigh she hugged him and cuddled against his chest.

  He moved within her, enjoying this connection, both physical and otherwise. He didn’t try to think, didn’t try to act as he thought he should. He just…existed.

  Victoria experienced such a deep feeling of contentment. This was love, she thought, this wondrous feeling that one is sharing everything with the right person. She felt a part of him—and she still was—and wished the carriage ride could go on forever. Every turn of the wheels jostled them, so they rubbed pleasantly together. Was this incredible tenderness rare? Could David tell that? Or had he experienced all this before?