A Gentleman's Wager (27 page)

‘How can I be of service to you?’

Bella ground her teeth. ‘I thought sixty lashes might suffice.’

‘Really. I’d have doubled it. After all, I have been extremely badly behaved. But I doubt you have the strength for that.’

Bella swapped her crop for the horsewhip and lifted it, ready to strike. She’d soon show him what she was capable of, and she doubted he’d be quite so cocksure at the end of it. Vaughan merely turned his eyes to the front and set his jaw. After a moment, when she still hadn’t landed a blow, he sighed as if bored.

‘You bastard,’ Bella snarled. It appeared that this wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d hoped. How could he take this so lightly? She knew the crop hurt; she’d tested it against her own leg and had the bruise to prove it. Mark had warned her to go easy with the whip, unless she really wanted to flay him. ‘You utter, despicable bastard.’

‘Do I have to endure a verbal lashing, or do you plan to use the whip in your hand?’

Provoked, Bella struck. The whip slapped against his lower back, raising a thick red weal. Vaughan laughed through his teeth.

‘Is that the best you can do? Here, give me it, I’ll do it myself.’

Again, she flicked the whip across his flanks.

‘Come on, Bella. I’m at your mercy. If you want an apology, you can just beat it out of me.’

‘Sixty guineas,’ she cursed.

‘Considerably more than you were worth.’

‘You’ll take that back.’

‘Make me.’

Bella raised the lash again and again, until his buttocks were crossed with welts. ‘Whoreson. Fraud. Lecherous, mean-spirited cad,’ she yelled.

‘Money-grabbing trollop,’ spat Vaughan. ‘Aren’t you supposed to count?

He hissed as the next stroke landed, but Bella only stamped her foot in frustration. He wasn’t supposed to be enjoying this. ‘You’re nothing but Lucerne’s catamite,’ she said.

‘And you’re nothing but his doxy.’

Bella yelped in outrage.

‘Except, of course, he hasn’t paid you yet. I did warn you about that, did I not?’

Blinded with rage, Bella growled and put considerably
more
strength into the next blow. The tail of the whip snaked between his parted legs and caught him at the base of his testicles. Vaughan lurched forwards in the chains, unable to bend double. He gave a cry and then bit his lip in pain. Silence followed.

The horsewhip hit the floor with a thump.

‘Oh my God. I’m sorry,’ Bella said. ‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’

‘Please just release me.’

She scurried forwards and unclasped the shackles from his wrists, then bent to do the same for his ankles. Bella felt tears spill from her eyes and then she was sobbing uncontrollably. Vaughan took her gently by the shoulders, but with enough force to pull her into his arms. She pressed her wet cheek against his chest.

‘What are you crying for, you silly fool?’ he asked. ‘It’s supposed to hurt.’

‘I know.’ She gulped. ‘I feel stupid. I wanted you to apologise.’ She expected him to push her away, but instead he sighed and ran his hand through her loose hair.

‘Bella, Bella, everything’s fine. No harm done, but your choice of punishment leaves a lot to be desired. Don’t cry.’ As he spoke, he stroked her neck with agile fingers. She tilted her head to look up at him and a salty tear ran over her lips. Vaughan cupped her face and brushed the moisture from her cheeks with his thumbs. She stared up at his long dark eyelashes and his beautiful violet eyes, and remembered looking down into them, being frightened by their openness when he’d held her hand trapped against his chest. She felt as if she were falling into them now as he bore down on her, kissing her bee-stung lips open.

It was a gentle, passionate kiss, devoid of the bite she’d grown to expect from him. She imagined this was
how
, in tender moments, he kissed Lucerne. When he moved away, she stood with her tear-streaked face turned upwards, waiting for another. It came, more intense than the first and with more of a sharp edge. Her unhappiness and confusion retreated a little as he kissed the tears from her eyelashes before returning to her mouth, this time kissing her hard.

‘Aren’t you hurt?’ she asked. She thought she’d near unmanned him.

‘Believe me, I’ve had worse, and from a more experienced hand. Benefit of a classical education,’ he reassured her.

Fresh arousal washed through her as his fingertips met with the stiffened buckram of her stays and began to blindly pull open the ties. In the haze of sensation she realised he was guiding her towards the pile of sweet-smelling hay. His lips travelled to her neck. One hand captured a nipple. Desire so intense she almost swooned drew her to him. She didn’t understand why this was happening now; they hated each other, didn’t they? And he had already won his bet. Which meant it could only be an apology.

They lay down together on the bed of straw, and Vaughan covered her like a blanket. His lips and fingers worked over her skin, eliciting sweeping rushes of excitement. She felt his penis nudge against her labia, trying to find a way in, but he didn’t push inside. He only licked her nipples instead, until her dark areolae crinkled into hard points. Whatever happened from now on, she wanted to keep this memory of him being gentle.

‘Vaughan,’ she whispered, concerned that he would transform into the same man who had left her frustrated too many times. After the bitterness and shame of the previous few days, she desperately needed the tenderness he offered her.

‘Yes, Annabella.’

‘I want you.’

‘I know.’ She felt his smile against her breast, and just for a second she feared the worst, but then his cock found the entrance it was looking for. The first few thrusts were effortless, but he couldn’t hold the extremely gentle pace for long. Bella soon felt him shaking with determination as he restrained his instincts to selfishly take his own pleasure.

‘It’s all right. I just need you,’ she confessed.

He held the pace, breathing hard and deep, but gradually she felt the urgency of his motion increase. Still, right until the end he was gentle, even affectionate. When he came, it was with a soft groan. Bella watched the ecstasy in his expression and realised that for once it hadn’t mattered that with him, she hadn’t come.

Vaughan rolled to her side and reclined in the hay. His dark curls stuck to his damp skin and the scar on his torso showed like a silver river in the lamplight. Bella watched him. They would be enemies again tomorrow, but at least they were lovers tonight. She touched his arm but he didn’t respond.

Vaughan, I’m going back to the house now,’ she said quietly.

‘As you wish.’

‘Goodnight, Vaughan,’ she whispered as she stepped from the coachhouse into the night breeze, and left him to brood.

‘Bastard!’ Lucerne growled.

‘Possibly. One never can tell. What am I supposed to have done now?’ Vaughan asked as he fed coals to the fire, where he was warming up after his encounter with Bella in the stables. Lucerne joined him.

‘You know full well what you’ve done.’

‘Oh, that.’ Vaughan shrugged his shoulders insouciantly. ‘Did Charles tell you?’

‘Yes, while he was begging for money. You could at least be sorry.’

‘What, for giving them what they asked for?’ He put down the tongs meaningfully and then twisted the signet ring on his middle finger so that it lay straight. Lucerne frowned, suddenly unsure of his ground. Had Vaughan really only given them what they wanted? Somehow, he doubted it. Even after six years abroad Vaughan had a reputation in London three times as damning as the worst rakehell. It was just far too unlikely.

‘Are you angry?’

‘Considering your attitude, I could be, especially about the wager with Aubury. As for the rest–’ Lucerne waved his hand indifferently ‘–it hardly seems worth fretting over. I’m not so much of a hypocrite as to expect fidelity from you or Bella, when I don’t claim to offer it myself. But did you have to involve Louisa?’

Vaughan responded with a sneer. Lucerne put his fingertips to his temples and briefly closed his eyes. At times, he really wondered why he tolerated Vaughan, but when he reopened his eyes, he remembered why. Vaughan stood before him with one hand resting on the mantel and a sly, sultry smile upon his lips. His dark hair curled elegantly over his shoulders, adding to his brooding mien. He was too exquisite, too rare, to hate for more than a fleeting moment.

One of the shaggy wolfhounds padded over to the fire and settled down. ‘Just what did Freddy do to you?’ Lucerne asked, coming to a sudden realisation. He noticed Vaughan’s frown, but continued regardless. ‘That is what this is about, isn’t it?’

Stubborn to the point of absurdity, Vaughan shook his
head
. ‘No. It’s nothing to do with Wakefield. It’s to do with boredom and reputation.’

‘Twaddle!’

‘Believe what you will.’ Vaughan ignored Lucerne’s pained expression and set about examining his fingernails for traces of coal dust.

‘I intend to. And besides, I can always ask him.’

‘Assuming he comes back before he has to rejoin his regiment abroad.’

‘He’ll come if I send for him. Maybe I’ll write to him this evening.’ Vaughan’s develish scowl set Lucerne off laughing. ‘So are you going to tell me what the reason is or not?’ he asked.

‘No.’

‘Vaughan,’ coaxed Lucerne. He moved a step closer into Vaughan’s personal space, and gently kissed his neck. ‘Tell me.’

‘It’s really not that exciting.’

Lucerne snaked his arms around Vaughan’s waist, and gently nipped his earlobe. ‘Tell me anyway.’

Roused to sudden anger, Vaughan shook Lucerne off. His expression clouded with real resentment, his eyes narrowing to dark slits while his lips twisted into a scowl. ‘The bastard had me imprisoned for a night. He told the magistrate in Vienna that my papers were stolen. Damn near had me hanged as a spy.’

‘Freddy did that? Well, I’ll be damned! When was this?’

Vaughan took several uneasy breaths through his nose, and seemed to regain some of his humour. ‘About four years ago, at the start of the coalition, before Flanders. I was in Austria for a month.’

Lucerne nodded. He remembered the political and military wranglings of the time. Things hadn’t improved all that much since then. ‘So, why did he have you arrested?’ he asked.

For once Vaughan looked embarrassed. ‘I don’t know.’

‘I think you do.’

Vaughan picked up the poker again and prodded at the glowing coals. ‘I commandeered his date at some poxy military ball I was invited to. She was the only attractive woman there, and he’d left her stranded with some withered old stick so he could discuss tactics with his superiors.’

Lucerne shook his head in dismay, and wondered why none of this particularly surprised him. ‘So, who was she?’

‘Miss Phillipa Faringdon, if I remember correctly. It has been a while. Anyway, I suppose he didn’t take too kindly to losing his companion, but he had no right to expect anything else. She was a beauty, and every eligible bachelor in Vienna was there. It was hardly necessary to have me arrested.’

‘You think he overreacted?’

‘I only asked her to dance.’

Lucerne sighed. ‘No … no. I doubt that very much. I know you too well, Vaughan. I expect you gave him plenty of incentive to act as he did. All right, having you locked up seems a tad extreme, but he was pretty smitten. You see, I remember Miss Faringdon from before she went to Austria with her father. Remember her quite well. She was very similar to Louisa in temperament if not colouring.’

Lucerne watched Vaughan’s tight expression. He could very well imagine what had gone on away from the other guests at the ball; something similar to the incident with Louisa here at Lauwine. Without any interruption the scene would have turned out very differently. No surprise, then, that Frederick had seemed distracted when Vaughan had arrived at Lauwine. He was probably thinking his luck couldn’t get any worse.

‘I saw Phillipa in London last autumn with her husband,’ he said. ‘She’d changed quite dramatically from how I remembered her. I have to say she even appealed to me, until I discovered she had at least four gallants on the go.’

Vaughan snorted. He sipped his port. ‘Very like Louisa, then.’

Lucerne frowned to make it clear he wasn’t impressed, but his warning expression only induced Vaughan to shrug his shoulders.

‘He thinks I’m the great corrupter. Really, I only show them what they’re missing.’

Lucerne bit his lip. ‘Can’t you just let it go?’

‘Why should I?’

‘Because I’m asking you to. You’ve had your revenge and you’ve probably made him far more miserable than you were during your night in a cell.’

‘Possibly, though the cell was deuced unpleasant. I’ll consider your request but, whatever I decide, you won’t make us into friends, Lucerne. He’s dull and I’m immoral.’

Lucerne cautiously nodded, glad that Vaughan was at least prepared to consider a truce. It was a start. ‘At least I can hope that you won’t constantly be at war with each other.’ He walked out of the room and returned with the port decanter. Vaughan held out his glass for a refill.

‘So, can we forget this vulgar bet with Charles as well?’ Lucerne asked as he poured.

‘Hardly. Aubury still hasn’t paid up and, although the wager was primarily designed to annoy Wakefield, the outcome is about money. Incidentally, the bit about you and Bella was Charles’s idea. He didn’t think Louisa would prove much of a challenge.’

‘Just how much does he owe you?’

Vaughan tapped his index finger to his full red lips.
‘That’s
hardly your concern, however, the sum is a mere sixty guineas.’

‘Which I know he doesn’t have.’

‘Also not your concern.’

‘It is while he’s my house guest. And it’s not as if you need the money.’

‘That’s hardly the point. So you need not appeal to my better nature.’

‘Are you sure it won’t work?’ asked Lucerne, as he ran an enticing hand down Vaughan’s stomach. Vaughan caught hold of his wrist and swatted the hand away, before it got any lower than his navel.

‘The matter is settled, Lucerne, and you won’t dissuade me. If Master Aubury doesn’t pay up by Saturday, he’s going to have a painful meeting with the sharp end of my sword.’