Part 33 (1/2)
Her nipples were taut and so was her s.e.x. She wanted to cover herself. ”I was not crying. Please hand me my towel,” she said calmly.
His lashes lowered, s.h.i.+elding the gleam in his eyes. He walked over to the chair where she had left her towel, that action bringing him dangerously close to the tub. He lifted it and held it wide open for her.
She inhaled harshly, having no intention of getting out of the tub and letting him wrap her in the cloth. ”Just hand it to me,” she said.
”Of course,” he murmured, stepping over to the edge of the tub.
Virginia stood, reaching for the towel, ripping it from his hands. She quickly wrapped it around her naked body, still knee-deep in the bathwater.
He reached for her.
”Don't,” she said hoa.r.s.ely.
He froze, his arm extended but not touching her. Then he gripped her arm. ”I am only helping you out so you do not fall and break your neck.”
”How kind,” she said tightly.
”I have never pretended to be kind.”
”We are friends now.”
”A mere bargain does not make a friends.h.i.+p.”
”So now you are a philosopher?” she cried furiously. She tried to fling him off.
”Step out of the tub, Virginia,” he said, his expression strained.
She stepped out, and the moment she had both feet on the wood floor, he released her. ”I didn't know it would be this hard!” she cried.
He stared, silent.
”Those men made me feel like a wh.o.r.e.”
He hesitated. ”I'm sorry.”
”Are you?” she cried wildly.
”Actually, yes, I am.”
”How relieved I am, you have some capacity for compa.s.sion in you,” she said, marching past him and into the bedroom.
He followed. ”I have changed my mind. We won't stay here long. London will be easier.”
”Why?” She faced him. ”Because there are many mistresses there-and many wh.o.r.es?”
”You are not a wh.o.r.e, Virginia.”
”Tell Lord Aston and his friend.” Then, because he continued to stare, she flung, ”And tell yourself, as you have certainly looked at me as if I am!”
His expression hardened. ”I have never looked at you as if you are a wh.o.r.e. No one knows better than I that you are practically a virgin. No one!”
She could only stare, as he was almost shouting. What did this loss of control signify?
He calmed. ”And I was not looking at you as if you were a wh.o.r.e.”
”Oh, you did not stare at my b.r.e.a.s.t.s and...” She could not continue and she felt her face flame.
”I was merely admiring a beautiful woman.” He stalked out.
His words sank in. She ran to the door and stared after him in real surprise.
WHEN HIS BROTHER WALKED into the library, having just arrived from London, William threw his quill aside and did not stand up. He stared at him, a slender, handsome man with the pale blue eyes the Hughes men were renowned for, and he scowled. Thomas Hughes, Lord Captain R.N., was in his naval uniform, and he slapped a pair of gloves down on the desk. ”I hope that there is a d.a.m.ned good reason you have called me down to Eastleigh, Will,” Tom said bluntly.
”I sent you a letter a week ago!” William exclaimed, leaping to his feet.
”I had matters at the Admiralty I could not leave unattended,” Tom said darkly. ”We are in a war, Will, or have you forgotten? Actually, we are in two wars, as the d.a.m.ned colonials have gotten their feathers all trussed up after all that squawking no one gave any credence to. Did you hear the latest? We lost the Macedonian and the Frolic.”
Will calmed. ”No, I haven't heard-not two of His Majesty's battles.h.i.+ps?”
”They were both frigates. Amazingly, those b.l.o.o.d.y colonials seem to know how to sail and, worse, how to fight.” He turned away from his brother and began to pace.
”It was pure luck, I am sure. There is simply no way the American navy, which I read has maybe a dozen old s.h.i.+ps, can engage our fleet and survive.”
”I agree-and that is the thinking at the Admiralty.” Tom turned, legs planted apart. ”But they also captured the Detroit, the Guerriere and the Caledonia last month. We are routing them in Canada, however.”
”That is also rather amazing,” William murmured, as everyone he knew believed the war on land in Canada a certain lost cause, since the British and their Indian allies were terribly outnumbered and the question of supplies was insoluble.
”Liverpool came down yesterday. I was asked to be at the meeting by Admiral St. John. He is forever sticking his nose in our business! He does not want any more lost battles at sea. He is furious over our losses there,” Tom said harshly.
William straightened, struck with a notion. ”This might be good news, actually.”
”How so?” Tom sat in a large and fading red damask bergere chair.
William walked to stand before the empty and cold fireplace. ”I asked you to come home because O'Neill has taken up residence in Wideacre, although my sources tell me he plans to leave for London in another day.”
Tom made a disparaging sound. Hatred filled his eyes. ”Ignore the rotten b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
”That's a little hard to do when he is holding our cousin hostage, demanding a ransom and parading her about Hamps.h.i.+re as his mistress,” William said with a grim smile.
”What?” Tom shot to his feet.
”I do believe you heard my every word,” William said coolly. ”The son of a b.i.t.c.h is living openly with her! It is beyond shocking. And he has demanded fifteen thousand pounds. Fifteen thousand!”
Tom had turned starkly white.
”The scoundrel flaunts her in good society, dragging our name through the mud, ruining us all by a.s.sociation! So far I have kept this whole scandalous affair from Father, but he will learn of it sooner or later. I am receiving three or four callers a day, and eventually everyone wants to know about my cousin! It has become awkward and humiliating and we need to stop this lunatic from furthering his d.a.m.nable game. But of course, we are not paying one pound for her release!”
”Good G.o.d, what the h.e.l.l does O'Neill want? Other than the ransom? Why does he hound us this way? I knew he was the sc.u.m of the earth, but to destroy a young woman this way? And he knows we have no funds!”
”I wish to G.o.d I knew why he has chosen us to hound,” William muttered. ”But there is simply no possible explanation.”