In Pursuit of a Scandalous Lady Read online

  Rebecca remembered wanting to please her mother even as she now tried to pretend she wasn’t watching Lady Rosa and the earl. Rebecca had been thrilled to be healthy again, to be out in Society like other young ladies. Men were a foreign species to her, and she immersed herself in their study.

  But then, when her family learned of her brother’s supposed death, there passed the saddest year of her life. Everything seemed changed, including her. When they emerged from mourning, Lady Rosa was even more determined to make a happy match for Rebecca—but Rebecca had lost interest. She found herself longing to see the world, to travel and experience life. But now she was expected to marry, and be just like everyone else. It was…unthinkable.

  She felt almost guilty for her secret mistrust of marriage. Surely Lady Rosa would blame her own strained marriage for Rebecca’s disinterest. Rebecca didn’t want to hurt her mother so openly by acknowledging the truth. Lady Rosa and Professor Leland had mistrusted each other for much of their marriage, and everyone had suffered for it. The lure of adventure seemed preferable to Rebecca, for then no one would be hurt, especially herself, she thought adamantly. All of her male acquaintances seemed too staid and predictable and refined, only strengthening her resistance to marriage. How could she trust such men to grant her an unladylike freedom?

  But the Earl of Parkhurst did not seem refined. She inhaled in surprise as he watched her over her mother’s head. He wore that smile again, barely civilized, and his eyes raked her as if he wanted to know her every secret. Good lord, how much more did he think there was, after he’d viewed the painting?

  “What do you think they’re saying?” Susanna asked.

  Rebecca smiled. “She’s praising our merits. Remember, never will anyone love us as our mother does.”

  Susanna glanced at her sister sharply, and they both relaxed into easy amusement. “Yes, I know. But sometimes she is simply so…persistent.”

  “I think she’s met her match,” Rebecca said ruefully. She looked back across the fountain, but Lady Rosa and Lord Parkhurst were not where they’d last been. Her eyes widened as she saw them on the path leading toward the two sisters. “Brace yourself.”

  “No, brace yourself, Rebecca. He is after you! Surely Mr. Wade is not nearly so dangerous.”

  Rebecca felt a secret little thrill. She saw the way both women and men stepped out of Lord Parkhurst’s way. He ignored them all, his every focus on her. Awareness was a prickling flush that started at the nape of her neck and spread along her body. She barely felt Susanna’s fingers clasping hard on her arm, as she had to look up and up as the earl came closer and closer. Good lord, he made her feel positively dainty.

  She’d been longing for something different to happen to her—and now here he was, large and bold and threatening beneath a veil of civility.

  Lady Rosa beamed at her daughters. She had the same shade of dark brown hair as Rebecca, with only a little gray to betray her age. Susanna had inherited her warm brown eyes. She was a striking woman, displaying the easy elegance of her birth, yet at the same time showing her compassion and strength. She’d endured the fear of losing Rebecca to countless childhood illnesses and suffered through a year believing her son dead. Her marriage had almost foundered under the weight of a lifetime of scandal, but Lady Rosa had emerged victorious. Now the only triumph she seemed to truly want was to see her daughters well—and happily—married. And Rebecca almost regretted that she could not appease her mother in such a way.

  “My dear girls, how pleased I am to find you together,” Lady Rosa said, beaming. “Lord Parkhurst, allow me to introduce my daughters, Miss Leland and Miss Rebecca Leland. Oh dear, I’ve already gone on so long about them, you probably feel as if you know everything there is to know!”

  Rebecca’s smile stiffened. Everything there was to know, indeed. Lord Parkhurst probably did think such a thing, especially after the way he’d studied the painting for what seemed like forever.

  And then it was as if she were in the dark, candlelit saloon again, standing too close to this giant of a man, meeting his intelligent, assessing gaze. He should seem out of place in this false garden, where people talked with little substance. Instead, she could imagine him one with the forest, hunting a beast of prey.

  And she realized that she was the prey.

  A flush of heat had her wondering if he could see her blush.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you, ladies,” the earl said, bowing his head politely. His voice was mild rather than challenging, though still deep and rumbling.

  She and her sister curtsied. Rebecca could feel some of Susanna’s tension subside. Up close and by the light of day, he seemed a bit…different. There were lines of strain across his forehead, as if he regularly frowned. His eyes were hooded, almost tired.

  Had he spent much of the night thinking about her, as she’d thought about him?

  No, she wasn’t worth that to him. He was a bored aristocrat who’d found something to amuse himself for a few days—a month at most, she reminded herself. Though he might look different, he was surely the same as every other man of her acquaintance.

  “Is this truly the first time we’ve spoken, Lord Parkhurst?” Rebecca asked politely. “I feel like I’ve seen you at several events.”

  “And I have seen you, Miss Leland.”

  He spoke with all politeness, but she heard another meaning in his words, and barely withheld a shiver.

  “I wish to congratulate you all on the miraculous return of Captain Leland,” he continued.

  “Thank you, my lord,” Lady Rosa said with a happy sigh. “I was…quite devastated by the loss of my son. With his return, my husband and I are restored in spirit and in our hearts. The captain is spending time with his cousins this month.”

  “Ah, so I heard,” he said, glancing at the Leland sisters. “The captain himself told me. We have had several shared investments recently.”

  Why hadn’t he said that he knew her brother last night? Rebecca wondered with annoyance. She was feeling more and more deflated. The earl was not so removed from Society. She only wanted him to be.

  “Did you meet my son at university?” Lady Rosa asked.

  Lord Parkhurst linked his hands behind his back, his appearance casual—far too casual. Rebecca sensed…something beneath the surface.

  “No, I did not, my lady.”

  “Ah, then you must have gone to Oxford. My husband lectures at Cambridge.”

  “I came into my title at eighteen,” Lord Parkhurst said. “I did not have time for much else.”

  Lady Rosa’s expression turned momentarily pained. “Do forgive me, my lord. I had forgotten that your father died so many years ago.”

  Rebecca looked between them, curious at what wasn’t being said. But if she asked her mother for details later, Lady Rosa would think her interested, and never let her hear the end of it.

  To cover the vague unease she sensed in her mother, Rebecca said, “Our cousin, Madingley, did not attend university either, for exactly the same reason.”

  He nodded. “I remember that.”

  “Even though you are without an advanced education, my lord,” Lady Rosa said, “I hear men talking with much admiration of your knowledge and skill.”

  “Admiration is it now?” His wide mouth quirked in a faint smile. “That is putting it kindly. But yes, there is education to be had, even if it is self-motivated. Yet formal education is something that should be taken advantage of—as I keep telling my brothers.”

  “How many brothers do you have, my lord?” Rebecca asked.

  He glanced at her, those gray eyes impassive. “Two, Miss Leland, eighteen-year-old twins.”

  “Young then,” Susanna said, nodding. “I feel like my eighteenth birthday was so long ago.”

  Lady Rosa flashed her a mortified frown, as if Susanna should never allude to her advanced, unmarried age of twenty-seven.

  “Youth does not excuse common sense,” Lord Parkhurst said.

  “Perhaps they se
e that you do not have a university education, my lord,” Rebecca said, “and yet you seem to have survived.”

  They looked at each other for a moment—a moment too long, for Lady Rosa’s brows rose.

  “Susanna, do escort me to the dessert table,” Lady Rosa said. “I am suddenly quite famished. Enjoy your afternoon, my lord.”

  Wearing an apologetic look, Susanna was led away.

  Julian watched the gaze exchanged between the two sisters and withheld his amusement. Susanna thought she was leaving Rebecca with the devil himself—and who could blame her, after their evening together?

  But Rebecca…he did not quite understand her mood. Last night, she’d been bold, in command, even fearless, though three men held her and her relatives practically captive. Today she was a subdued lady of the ton, patiently allowing her mother the lead, as any daughter who expected to be led to the altar would.

  “Lady Rosa did that quite neatly,” Julian remarked.

  “She has had much practice,” Rebecca said dryly.

  “Then I suggest we reward her.” He held out his arm. “Would you care to walk?”

  She eyed him, her eyes faintly devilish, her lips curved in a lovely smile. Then she placed her hand lightly on his arm. “I imagine I cannot come to harm in a conservatory.”

  “You could always scream,” he countered.

  “And find myself married before the week is out? I think not.”

  “Ah, you are crushing my self-esteem. Would not many young ladies wish to be married to an earl?”

  “Perhaps not many, for you are not married.”

  “By choice. And neither are you.”

  “Stating the obvious, my lord.”

  They walked quietly for several minutes, weaving their way out of sight of the other guests, although the murmur of voices never quite went away. At the rear of the conservatory, the glass separated them from the walled garden outside. They paused as if to admire it, but Julian knew she must not be thinking of the view.

  He was thinking of his view…of her. Her lovely rose-colored gown hugged her torso, revealing herself to be shaped much as she’d been painted. She was slender but not fragile, small, yet rounded. Her hair was styled artfully, curled, with carefully placed ribbons. Her bodice was high enough that he found himself wondering if she hid the Scandalous Lady beneath her garments.

  Patience, he reminded himself. He’d spent the morning speaking with people about her family. Though he’d heard of several of the family scandals, the Lelands and the Cabots certainly did not seem like thieves. And Rebecca was far too young to have stolen the diamond herself almost ten years before. So how had she come by it?

  He’d realized during the long night that the best way to discover answers to his questions was to earn her trust. He had diligently tried to be unassuming at the luncheon, wanting her to believe that his intensity of the previous evening was more about his overindulgence. And to some degree, that was true. He shouldn’t have intimidated her, standing too close, looking so menacing, which was always rather easy for him to do.

  She didn’t seem intimidated. She inhaled the scents of the flowers all around them, then exhaled almost on a sigh—but not a sigh of resignation. There was something very…unusual about her nonplussed reaction to the wager.

  But then again, only an unusual woman would pose for a nude portrait. He wondered how unfettered her morals truly were.

  And that aroused him far too much, he realized. He could not let himself dwell on her nudity, her lack of inhibitions. He had to focus on the Scandalous Lady, and bringing it back to its rightful owner—him.

  He began the hunt for information. “You and Miss Susanna Leland seem close to your cousin Lady Elizabeth.”

  She eyed him, a smile touching her full lips. “We are of an age, and we were raised together at Madingley Court.”

  “Your families all lived together?”

  “Have you seen Madingley Court?” she asked, amused.

  He nodded. “Ah, I see. The palace of a duke, of course. So you were not too crowded living together.”

  “Not at all,” she answered, searching his face with the faintest confusion.

  He knew she wondered at his motives, why he didn’t bring up the wager. And his talk of crowded living conditions revealed too much of his own childhood issues.

  “So the three of you were like sisters,” he said.

  “We still are,” she answered, her voice firm. “We would support each other through anything.”

  “Obviously,” he said. “They risked much for you with their declaration last night.”

  “We would risk anything for each other.”

  “You’d risk exposure and humiliation?”

  He thought she’d drop her hand from his arm, but she didn’t, only looked up at him coolly.

  “Are you threatening such a thing?” she asked. “I would have thought you a gentleman.”

  “I am a gentleman, Miss Leland. But that painting does not make a gentleman remember the civilized part of his brain.”

  He felt her stiffen.

  “But then you knew that would happen when you posed,” he continued mildly. “Or did you not think beyond a momentary thrill? Why would you do such a thing?”

  “Are you lecturing me, my lord? A true gentleman would protect a lady’s sensibilities, would forget the things he’d seen.”

  “You have not displayed a lady’s sensibilities, have you?”

  She dropped her hand and faced him now, speaking in a low voice, her hazel eyes flashing. “Now you’re offending me. You know nothing about me.”

  “I would like to.”

  “No, you wouldn’t. You want to win a wager with your silly friends.”

  “Which you and your silly female relatives made possible by your behavior last night.”

  “How disapproving you sound, my lord.”

  “No, I am simply stating a fact. Your guilt makes you believe that everyone is censorious.”

  “Guilt?” she cried, then looked down the path and lowered her voice. “I feel no guilt whatsoever.”

  “Then why else would you attempt to steal the painting?”

  “For the simple reason that it was supposed to be in France, not here where people who know me will see it.”

  “Then why pose, Miss Leland? Why risk it?”

  She paused, and in her mercurial eyes, he could see her weighing what to reveal. He waited almost impatiently—and he was never an impatient man. Then to his surprise, she stepped closer. He could feel the heat from her body, imagined how it would feel with just another step, as she pressed against him. His logical brain threatened to shut down, and that had never happened to him.

  “Did you ever just want to be adventurous, my lord?” she asked softly.

  He blinked at her, and revealed the truth without questioning if he should. “No, Miss Leland. I’ve never wanted such a thing in all my life.”

  She gave him a pitying look. “Then I guess you can’t understand my motives.” She spun on her toes and began to walk back the way they’d come. Pausing, she spoke over her shoulder. “It would look suspicious if we did not return to the luncheon guests together.”

  He approached her and held up his arm for her hand. “For someone who wants adventure, you care very much what people think.”

  “Just because I do not wish to hurt my mother’s feelings, does not change my inner longings, my lord.”

  The pang of lust was sudden and swift, taking him by surprise, darkening his soul.

  “You display deep, sensual longings by posing nude, Miss Leland,” he said, his voice hoarse.

  She didn’t look at him. “It is none of your business who or what I might be longing for.”

  “Not just adventure?”

  She didn’t answer.

  They reached the rest of the party too swiftly, and she left him with a perfunctory smile. He’d been hoping to gradually win her trust, but knew their clash had not helped his cause. He was a meticulous plan
ner, and always held to his plans. Until Rebecca Leland. Somehow, she’d goaded him to a place where his brain couldn’t seem to catch up with his mouth.

  Other guests glanced at them with interest, and heads came together for whispers. Susanna gave Rebecca a wide-eyed look; Lady Rosa preened with satisfaction.

  And Rebecca did not look at him again.

  Chapter 3

  Rebecca marched boldly into the overheated ballroom that night, and was grateful that her sister and cousin did not hang back. They were announced, along with her mother, and the crowd barely glanced their way as the conversations whirled around them.

  “See, no one cares or knows,” Rebecca hissed between smiling lips.

  She’d spent the early evening insisting to Susanna and Elizabeth that they could not cancel their engagements and hide at the Madingley town house forever. She would not have thought them so tentative; she was learning much these past two days.

  Elizabeth took her arm, leading her away from the crowd to skirt about the edges. Lady Rosa disappeared within, but Susanna followed them.

  Elizabeth ducked behind a potted fern and pulled the sisters with her. “I know what you’re thinking, Rebecca, but he visited me today!”

  “So you said.” Rebecca put her hands on her hips. “You have spent your entire life around Peter Derby. He grew up as your brother’s friend. He is not a bad sort.”

  Susanna gave a soft snort.

  After a warning glance at her sister, Rebecca reminded them, “He has matured, as have we all. You can handle him, Elizabeth. Of all three men, he seems the one who would treat you the gentlest.”