Stephanie and the Wicked Deceiver (Wild Marchmonts #2)

17. The Truth and Its Consequences

Chapter 17

The Truth and Its Consequences

H e found her beneath the oak tree where they usually practised fencing. Her head and shoulders on the trunk, her legs tucked close to her side. She was asleep, but the streaks on her cheeks showed that she had cried herself into this state probably for some time.

He looked at her little freckled face and the hair that had fallen down in places, and which had caught some undergrowth as she had run through bushes, and the torn muslin of her gown and her muddy boots.

It was his fault; he had, as usual, taken it all too far. He sat at her side, his back to the broad trunk, and gently lifted her head and placed it on his chest. One arm was around her shoulders, the other pulling her even closer.

She woke up and tried to pull away, but his hand placed her head back comfortably. ‘Why are you here?’ she asked.

‘How do you know who I am? You have not seen my face.’

‘By your supremely elegant coat, of course. That is what Lady Cressida called it.’

‘You know nothing of coats.’

‘I knew I hated those coats you wore of Horace Pettigrew’s. They didn’t even fit you! You must have all been laughing at me for not noticing.’

‘We were,’ he said wickedly.

‘I did notice, but it was only that I didn’t want to insult you by mentioning it too often.’

‘Now, that is unlike you. Usually, you enjoy insulting us all.’

She had given up trying to get up and he thought he knew why: besides his chest being warm, she did not want him to see her tear-stained face. Also, she was emotionally exhausted and confused. ‘It is not unlike me. I have always been kind and encouraging to you. Morag said it was quite unlike me to be so nice. But I am nice to those I—'

‘Those you—?’

‘Those who are nice to me,’ she finished unconvincingly.

‘Ah. Why did you cry?’

‘I did not cry,’ she protested. ‘I never cry.’

‘It is not like you to lie, Stephanie.’

She sniffed. ‘Unlike you, Hedley , who lies and lies!’

‘I did not really lie,’ he said in a wheedling tone to make her laugh. ‘I just let you continue to believe—’

‘That is another untruth! Why, you called Sally the mare Proudfoot just to trick me. I remembered I heard a groom call her so once and was confused. But as I ran here, I remembered it, and many other things too.’

‘I did, I lied about that. And I lied by acting as though I could not ride or fence.’

‘You did ,’ she growled.

‘But you said you forgave me all of that, and that it was a good jest.’

‘It was a good jest. I do forgive you, but…’ she hiccupped a sob.

He patted her curls, and his voice was gentle. ‘I am sorry once more, only I was amused when you assumed I was so useless, and I suppose I wanted to spend more time with such an intrepid little person. And your offer to teach me was such a marvellous excuse.’

‘Is that why?’ she asked suspiciously.

‘I think so. You are very unusual, you know.’

‘ That is seldom a compliment,’ she said, with more cynicism than was her wont.

‘It is on this occasion.’

‘You played with me, fooled me. And you even let me disarm you so often.’

‘On one of the first occasions, you really did disarm me,’ he informed her. ‘I was not expecting that trick you learned from Sedgewick.’

‘Truly? ’ She sounded pleased but then she sobbed, ‘I wish I’d pinked you afterwards. You would have deserved it.’

‘I would . But why did you cry so much, Stephanie?’

There was a pause. Holding on to his jacket, she said in a small voice, ‘I don’t think I know why.’

He pulled her tighter to him. ‘It doesn’t matter. I think I know why.’

‘I don’t suppose you know any better than me! But tell me why you think so.’

‘I believe you are jealous .’

‘ Jealous? Me? ’ She put her chin on his chest and finally looked up at him, her fascinating green eyes still glazed with tears. ‘Do you think so?’

It was a genuine enquiry and once more he was amused. She was like no one else, his red-haired demon. He looked down at her and held her chin. ‘I do. You are jealous that another young lady might wish to marry me.’

‘She does .’

‘And you cried,’ he continued explaining gently, ‘because you may wish to marry me instead.’

Her chin pulled away and she looked at him in shock. ‘I do? ’ Her eyes were as wide as could be. ‘It cannot be…’ she began, but he repossessed himself of her chin and placed a swift and gentle kiss like a butterfly’s wing on her lips.

‘What do you think now?’ he asked seriously.

She was still reeling from the kiss; swift and light as it had been, it had shaken her to the core. She was in shock because of the physical reaction that was spreading all around her body. ‘I… But you, why did you…? You do not wish…?’ She held his coat and hid her face in it.

‘I should not have kissed you if I did not wish so.’ He took a teasing, chiding tone of offence. ‘What kind of libertine do you take me for?’

‘I found a letter in my pocket. Francis Sedgewick brought it with another from Naomi, but I thought Ophelia’s would be about London people so I took it with me today to ask you and Sir Rupert to tell me who everyone in her tales might be. But it was short, just telling me about you , Hedley. Ophelia says you have a reputation,’ she said into his coat. ‘For sporting things, but also for flirtation .’

‘I think that last is an exaggeration.’

‘You flirted with Lady Cressida.’

‘I certainly did not. You merely believed what she told you.’

‘As I did you, Sir Rupert and Lord Fortescue, and even stupid Horace Pettigrew. You are all beasts.’

‘We are. But we all like you very much indeed.’

‘I know,’ she admitted.

‘You do?’

‘Of course I know. Lady Cressida does not like me, however.’

‘I fear you are right. She does not like you because she sees that I like you very much.’

‘You do ? Well, I always liked you too,’ she said in her old hearty tone. ‘Although I liked you better when I did not know you were a conniver.’

‘You seem to have forgiven the other conspirators more easily than me. Is that because you liked me more?’

‘Not particularly,’ she said to be disobliging.

‘Now, Stephanie, do not lie to me,’ he scolded. But he was happy because she was in his arms at last.

‘We all liked each other,’ she admitted. ‘Or so I thought. But now I am confused.’

‘That is because you have discovered you like me differently . I liked you from the first, but it wasn’t too long before I knew my liking was not so innocent as yours … and so I visited your mother in town.’

‘ Mama? Why?’

‘To confess my deception to her and to ask her how I should let you know of it without hurting you. And, of course, to accept any punishment that she should give me.’

‘Mama is very good at punishment and she usually makes it fit the crime. What did she mete out to you?’

‘She told me to go back and not to tell you until she came to visit Reddingate after your sisters’ presentation in the unlikely case that you be upset by it. And that if I concluded after being with you for some time that you had no notion of me as anything but a friend, I should say nothing at all to you on the matter of my feelings. If I found that you did think of me as a man and not only a friend then … well…! Your mama did not say what was to happen and it has bothered me greatly. Both options bothered me greatly. I wondered if I should leave you to your Season next year and just watch others woo you while you patted my back as though I were your brother. It was a lowering thought.’

His voice still had a teasing note, but Stephanie was focused on only one word. ‘ Woo me? I have no wish to be wooed ,’ she said with disgust. ‘But did you really worry about that?’

‘I did. I could hardly sleep for worrying.’

‘You were strange when you came back,’ Stephanie noted. ‘Your riding was so improved, and I took full credit for it in my head. I thought my tutelage so skilled.’

‘It was. Have you not seen the improvement in Horace’s seat? That was all you!’

She nodded. ‘It was, although he did not seem to pay attention.’

‘That is Horace! And I should add that, wish it or not, you are about to be wooed.’

She hid her head deeper in his coat.

‘You should come out now,’ he advised.

‘I cannot. I am so confused, Hedley.’

‘You should call me Max, my darling.’

‘ Hedley!’ she said, between shock and outrage.

‘Let me un-confuse you, sweetheart. What were you thinking of as you cried those sad tears?’

She decided to ignore the name by which he had called her and concentrate on the question. ‘I thought that you might kiss Lady Cressida, and I thought that she is not a nice person and you should not be deceived by her.’

‘Were you also angry ?’

‘I was. I wanted to kick her, and then you, and then her again. I lost my temper, and it made me weep. It was frustration , nothing more.’

‘When one falls in love, one becomes crazy, you know.’ He pulled her closer. ‘With rage, with desire, with helplessness. It is confusing, but it all adds up to jealousy.’

‘Does it?’ she enquired, and as usual there was nothing but honesty in her question. ‘Have you been so?’

‘Yes. But only about you. I must tell you, my love—’

‘Please stop calling me all those absurd things.’

He pulled her closer still. ‘I will not. As I was saying, my darling, I must tell you that I have, erm, dallied with any number of females in my life, though I hope I have done none any real harm. I was looking – rather lazily, I feel – for the partner who would one day be mine. On the whole I found the process pleasant but underwhelming – until a little wildcat rolled out of a moving carriage to rescue me. And then, though I did not fully know it, I was smitten.

‘I had just met my best friend and my love. And when my friend Armitage held your hand, or Fortescue lifted you from your horse by the waist, or even when Horace chased you with a switch, I was jealous beyond measure and wished to assault them all, just like an insane person. When you smiled at anyone but me, I was jealous. When you smiled at me, I was breathless. I wanted you as my own but you only saw me as your student, as your friend. You were too easy with me from the first. You did not think of me as a danger to you but I was , Stephanie, my only love. You were in real danger from me many times.’

Suddenly he rolled her over onto the ground and forced her to look at him. ‘Can you feel it, Stephanie? The danger you are in? If I kiss you now, I will never let you go again.’

He loomed over her, and her face was open and wondering. ‘Is it danger , this feeling?’ she asked. ‘I have felt it when we were close for a long time now. I am late to such a consideration as romantic love – I did not think I could ever feel such a silly thing as my sisters talked of. I witnessed my sister Naomi fall in love with Eliot and she blushed a lot and trembled. It seemed so unlike her and so stupid that I was disappointed in her. And then I trembled and blushed near you. I am a redhead but I never blush! I think I know now. I am a practical girl, Mama says, and I do not think I will ever feel like this again. You make me tremble, Hedley.’

He gasped; he could barely restrain himself. ‘Call me Max, my sweet life, my darling girl.’ One hand caressed her face and hair, and it seemed that his eyes darted everywhere about her, drinking her in. ‘Will you let me kiss you now? I ask because for me it is a kiss and a promise, Stephanie. And I shall never let you renege on it.’

She held his gaze with that outstandingly open look in her lovely green eyes that had made him belong to her. ‘Kiss me, then,’ she said, a little shyly.

He did, and thoroughly, but keeping himself in check for he had wanted her too long. She clung to him at first but then thrust him away, her animal instincts knowing that she was in further danger. ‘My mama will punish you dearly,’ she said, to change the charged atmosphere.

‘I am ready. She had punished me already, but…’ he said, resigned.

‘And Richard – I cannot imagine what Rich will do to you!’ she giggled. ‘He affects not to care about us older ones except when someone gets too close, then he becomes like a guard dog that bites. Dorian is not much better.’

‘With his sisters?’

‘Yes, and with us. He hit a man with his stick who grasped my arm.’

But Hedley seemed unthreatened. He had rolled on to his back and was looking at her, their heads facing each other. ‘Will you marry me soon?’

She turned fully onto her side, using her hands to pillow her head. ‘And be with you every day?’ she asked excitedly. ‘Oh, do let us, Hedley. Let us ever be the best of friends.’ Then she sighed, ‘but my family…’

‘Do not worry, do not…’ He stood and pulled her into his arms. A fast wind whipped past them, and their heads jerked to follow a knife blade strike the tree trunk.

‘ Pietro! ’ scolded Stephanie, but she could not see him.

‘We are to wed, Pietro,’ Hedley called evenly in the direction that the blade had come from. ‘I have her mama’s permission.’ He saw a flash of brown in the bushes beyond and then a movement suggested the Italian had left.

‘He must approve of you,’ remarked Stephanie, ‘or the blade would have hit you!’ She smiled. ‘He will like living here, I think.’

‘I suppose he must?’ sighed the earl.

‘Well,’ said his beloved in a reasonable tone, ‘he gets on with your servants, you know. And he has a great deal more to teach me. He can still climb and tumble and throw a knife better than me.’ Her tone suggested that no man should be allowed such superiority.

He sighed again. ‘I am not quite comfortable with the notion of a knife-wielding wife,’ he said as he moved with her towards the house. The knife had indeed reminded him that they should not linger. His happiness was huge, but his restraint was stretched thin, so he jested with her as distraction.

‘You do not mind my skills with the foil.’

‘That is somewhat different, because I can at least see you coming. Whereas a flying knife…’

She skipped to keep up with him. ‘You will simply have to remember not to annoy me,’ she recommended. ‘And it might come in useful elsewhere.’

‘At a ball perhaps?’ he asked sarcastically.

‘ Must I attend balls?’ she complained.

‘Certainly. I wish to show you off. And dancing is very good exercise. You will like it.’

‘Oh well, I suppose my family will attend the Season too, so I will go to balls when they do. As long as I do not have to have gentlemen callers afterwards. But will you also take me to Tattersalls?’

‘Only if it not be wasteful. I should not like to upset your mama or Richard. He is quite deadly, I fear.’

‘He has had to be a papa to us all. But he will like you. I think I like you a little because you are like Richard and Papa both.’

‘That is a wonderful compliment, darling.’

‘Hedley, I have just thought. I want to be with my best friend every day, but my family needs me.’

‘These are all questions to be settled later.’ Since she was now frowning, the earl could not bear it. ‘If it means I must live with the Wild Marchmonts, I shall not shirk it.’

‘At Tremaine Towers?’

‘No. I shall not live with Cedric Marchmont and his wife,’ he said disdainfully.

‘Perhaps Eliot and Naomi could fit us in at the Dower House?’ Stephanie mused. ‘But I don’t suppose any such idea is fair to you. But you will love them all, Hedley!’

‘Once there was a family here at the Court. I will tell you all about it soon, it was very happy here when I was young and I miss it. So to be part of a close family again will thrill me.’

‘That is why you keep your friends about you!’ she said, her head nodding wisely. Then she frowned again, ‘But I cannot think how…

‘Now, now,’ he said pulling her closer, ‘we shall face these problems as they arise. Let us just tell our friends for now.’

‘Ophelia says that is what men always promise and do what they wish afterwards. But not with me, Hedley.’

‘Certainly not! I am too afraid of you!’ He played with one curl. ‘And you are too lovely to deceive.’

‘Oh pooh, Hedley!’ She sounded dismissive but he did not think she really disliked it.

They had arrived at the garden doors. ‘I cannot bear to go in. Everyone will be so surprised,’ Stephanie protested.

‘Mmm! I think not .’ He paused and pulled her to face him again. ‘If you do not have the courage, let me give it you in a kiss.’

But she thrust him off. ‘Pooh!’ she said, stimulated by his choice of word. ‘As if I need your courage , you dissembler.’ She opened the door with determination and entered before him.