The Wicked Game (A Wicked Game Novel) Read online

  She tried to recall something of what had passed. She couldn’t have been drunk last night, could she? They had only rendezvoused in their dark corner twice and they had only taken a few sips each time. No. She was kidding herself, it was three times, and now that she thought about it, she had more than just a few sips. Damn it all! She supposed she had been drunk. How could she have let this happen? Her mind raced. Someone must have figured it out. She needed a story. An explanation. Something to...

  “Best be getting up, Miss Bennett. Your mother sent me to wake you and tell you she would be up here to see you soon.”

  Leave it to mother to notice. Nothing escaped her prying eyes and now Angela was going to pay. She didn’t know how but there would definitely be a consequence and the sickness she felt right now would pale in comparison.

  While Angela nervously waited for her mother, she revisited her dream. She put her aching head in her hands, still in shock. It was one thing to innocently flirt with a servant and fawn over his good looks. It was another thing entirely to dream about him in such a wicked way. What a good thing it was indeed that no one could see her innermost thoughts!

  There was a quick rap on the door and her mother entered the room. She waved stiffly in Sarah’s direction motioning for her to leave. Sarah looked disappointed but hurried out nonetheless, and shut the door behind her. Angela forced herself, with all her strength, to sit up.

  “Good morning Baroness Isabella. What brings you to my room so early?”

  Lady Cheston raised an eyebrow. “If half past ten is your idea of early. Though I know that on any other day it is not.”

  Angela did not say a word. She knew better. Her mother’s piercing eyes locked with her daughter’s, as she slowly moved closer and sat down on the edge of the bed, crossing her hands purposely on her lap.

  “The Duke of Corning has been invited to dinner tonight. He will be calling on you.”

  The Baron’s daughter turned her head sharply. This was certainly a shock. Her head had been swimming with drink last night but she was fairly certain she had done nothing to give him the impression that she might be interested in him. In fact, she was certain she had done everything she could to convince him that she was not interested.

  “Mother, why would you invite...”

  “Now you address me as my child? Don’t play the fool with me, Angela! Everyone knows what you and Mary were up to last night! The way you were acting was shameful!” For the first time in my life Angela thought she heard her mother’s voice quiver. “Your father and your men were able to cover for you. As far as society is concerned, you acted as you did because you are so smitten with Corning.”

  Her mother sat up straight and looked Angela in the eye. “I don’t know if anyone believed them but no one would dare to question your father. So the matter is settled for now.”

  Angela was still confused and she extended her mother a puzzled look.

  “Why the way you were dancing with him was shameful enough! But how you let him touch you! And to try to kiss him in such a way…in public! I can only thank God that the Duke had enough sense to turn his head!”

  And with this Angela nearly fainted as she put together the pieces of her evening. She hadn’t been dreaming after all. It had all been real. But instead of Andrew, she had been groping the Duke of Corning.

  Her stomach took another violent turn and she gagged as she forced it to stay in place. Her heart sunk. No longer could she run to her men for help. This situation was beyond repair, even for them. No matter how much they loved her, they would have no choice now but to protect the family. Especially after the conversation they engaged in at the ball.

  “But mother, you can’t possibly...”

  She grabbed Angela by the chin, her nails digging in painfully, and leaned in until their faces were nearly touching. “Look at me! Do you want to shame your family?”

  Angela made her best attempt at shaking her head “no” as she held back tears.

  “You will be on your best behavior tonight. You will treat Corning with the utmost respect. He has graciously agreed to help us cover up this little...incident. Your father believes the Duke actually is smitten with you and if tonight goes well, there may be a marriage for you very soon. We’ll make something good come of this yet.”

  Lady Cheston let go of her daughter’s face and promptly left the room. Angela felt her stomach twist into knots, and this time she could not control it. She leaned over the side of the bed and emptied the contents of her stomach onto the floor.

  ***

  It was around noon the next day when Andrew learned that the Duke of Corning would be coming to dinner that evening to call on Miss Bennett.

  His first reaction was to fall on the floor laughing. After how she had acted last night with him when he had walked her to her room he could only imagine the public spectacle that must have ensued for the Duke to be coming to dinner. Andrew had never met the Duke but he knew enough about him from social gossip to know that Miss Bennett would never be attracted to him…unless she had been worse for the wear with drink, and she most certainly had been!

  He wanted to laugh; he really did, just thinking of her trying to fake an attraction to that man for her family’s sake. It would be excruciating for her but she deserved it for acting like an idiot and getting drunk at a social event. Even a servant such as he knew better than that. After how she had acted last night, for making him say what he had and do what he did, he should really care less about what happened to her. He wanted to see her pay for her mistakes. He wanted to point at her and laugh. But for some reason he just couldn’t. For some reason he was actually starting to feel upset for what she was about to go through. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, all he could think about now was that kiss. God! When had he ever had a kiss like that? When had he ever had a kiss so passionate?

  Honestly he couldn’t think of a time.

  Last night had been the kiss and it would have to stay that way. Andrew knew that he shouldn’t have done that in the first place. He should have walked out of the room and gone to his own bed. But he didn’t do that. Instead he had kissed her…and it was amazing!

  But he could never do that again. She was the daughter of a Baron and he was a servant. That one solitary kiss would have to suffice.

  But the more he thought of it the more he knew that one kiss would not be enough. And so he would have to avoid her as best as possible. That should be easy enough… shouldn’t it?

  Chapter Five

  Joshua Duncan, his grace the Duke of Corning, was scheduled to arrive at eight o’clock that evening. Dinner was to start at quarter past. But the Duke arrived at seven and the entire house was sent into a ruckus. The women threw their clothes on in haste and the cook scurried to put dinner on the table over one hour early. It did not matter that the Duke had taken it upon himself to arrive before scheduled. He very well might marry the Baron’s daughter and so everything was to be done as he pleased.

  It was now clear to Angela just how serious the situation was. If the Duke were simply playing along to help preserve the honor of her family, he would have shown up promptly at eight o’clock, interacted respectively with the family, and then retreated home. But the Duke had arrived one hour early and did not act as if he wanted to leave anytime soon. The Duke might actually be smitten with her and her worst fears were starting to be realized.

  It was no surprise to find that mother had again, dressed her in a green gown. Angela eyed herself in the mirror, the same bloody mirror that had started all of this, and briefly contemplated spilling something down the front of the dress so she would have to change. But in the end, as tempting as it was, she decided against it. Her mother would know that it was no accident and would probably invite the Duke back tomorrow night. No, one night pretending to be interested in that gross old man would be hard enough.

  As if in a trance she followed her mother’s orders and went directly over to the Duke the moment she came downstairs. Hesita
ntly Angela offered him her hand.

  “Your Grace,” she murmured demurely.

  The Duke’s eyes widened with delight as he reached out to accept this delectable gift. Angela’s muscles involuntarily clenched and when the Duke tried to move her hand to his lips, it didn’t budge. He shot her a look and she felt a private but fleeting joy. Reluctantly she relaxed her muscles and let her gloved fingers extend up to his rotten lips. He kissed them and she turned the same color as her dress. Angela couldn’t see her mother but she just knew that she was glowing.

  She wanted to puke but instead, she carefully slipped her arm through the Duke’s and let him lead her into the dining room.

  ***

  The early arrival of the Duke was only Angela’s first glimpse of just how disastrous this evening was going to turn out. The Duke led her into the dining room sporting a grin so big it barely fit on his face. She looked away from him partly out of repulsion towards his expression and partly because the smell wafting off of him was monstrous. She was breathing through her mouth now which made it considerably harder to control her facial expressions. Her mother was looking on approvingly and Angela soon realized that her open mouthed gape was looking more pleasant than she had intended. She furrowed her brow.

  Apparently under mother’s orders Mary sat opposite her cousin, conveniently leaving the chair to Angela’s right unoccupied. Corning sat there. Mary was sitting between Arthur and Daniel and the trio gave Angela looks of sympathy, though she couldn’t tell how sincere they truly were. She wanted to scream but she knew there was no point in fighting, so she plastered a smile back on her face and let the Duke pull out her chair. She sat down…and he quickly slipped his hand down to cup her bottom.

  “Oh!” she squeaked.

  Everyone in the room looked at her. What a perfect time it would be to reveal him right now in front of her whole family. Though she suddenly realized what little good it would do. Apparently, with her permission, Corning had been touching her all of last night.

  “I stubbed my toe,” she mumbled looking down. No one had any reason to believe that she was lying.

  Once fully seated, Angela scooted her seat as far away from the Duke as she could without anyone noticing.

  As the food came out, Angela continued to smile and then, retreated deep within herself.

  ***

  It was official. This singular dinner had been the most painful thing Angela had ever been forced to endure. It was clear now that everyone knew the circumstances surrounding this situation. The tension in the air was so thick that she could scarcely breathe. And no one talked; at least not normal conversation. There was the occasional remark about weather and a comment about how wonderful the food was but other than that the evening was remarkably silent. Angela’s brothers, normally so verbose, barely made a sound. Her heart broke to pieces. They weren’t fighting for her as they had always done and she knew it wasn’t because they didn’t want to. It was no longer up to them.

  Angela turned her head in the direction of her father at the end of the table. If it hadn’t been for him saying grace before the meal she would not have even noticed his presence. His eyes flicked in his daughter’s direction and then quickly moved away again when he saw that she was watching. His eyes were red and he was upset. This was probably the first time in her life that her father had ever shown emotion for her, and her body ached knowing the circumstances of the situation.

  When they were finally done with the meal after what felt like the passage of many days, the group retreated to the sitting room for drinks and a more casual atmosphere. Angela nearly laughed out loud at the thought. The only way the atmosphere would be more casual was if they all got drunk and wasn’t that how they got here in the first place?

  While walking to the sitting room the Duke slipped in a couple more squeezes of her bottom. She winced each time but accepted it as a necessary struggle. She knew now that the Duke truly was interested in her as a wife and she was absolutely frightened. The marriage was as good as done. If this had been any other man in any other circumstance, she would have gone to her father and begged him to change his mind. Before today that might have worked. Before today she might have had a real chance at getting out of it. But it was all done now. It was too late and all of it was her own bloody fault.

  The sitting room was just down the hall from the dining room and everyone hurried to get there. As usual a few servants were in the hallway. Angela paid no real attention until her eyes landed on Andrew. A chill went through her body and the Duke thought she was responding to him. He gave Angela a pleased look and she shook again.

  Andrew. It was as much his fault as her own that she was in this situation. If only she had not been fantasizing about him then she wouldn’t be here on the arm of the smelly Duke at this very moment. But she sighed.

  Who was she trying to kid? This wasn’t Andrew’s fault. She couldn’t blame him for her own wicked thoughts. But she wanted to. She wanted to so much! She had a fleeting thought of grabbing him and screaming at the top of her lungs, then punishing him mercilessly. But she stopped herself right there. Fantasies of Andrew had gotten her in enough trouble for one lifetime.

  ***

  It appeared it would not be as easy to avoid Miss Bennett as he first thought. He did work in her father’s house after all! Of course he should have expected that he would pass by her occasionally.

  What he had not expected was to see her with the Duke. What he had not expected even more was to feel angry. When Andrew saw the old Duke touching Miss Bennett on the arm as he escorted her down the hallway, he had absolutely wanted to burst. No forget that, he had wanted to pound the Duke for touching her. Of course the Duke had not been doing anything inappropriate but in Andrew’s eyes the Duke might as well have been taking her right there in the hallway. If he watched them any longer he didn’t know what he might do. He was angry at the Duke when he had reason to be angry with Miss Bennett.

  But he couldn’t be angry with her, he just couldn’t. There was something in her eyes that was so sad his heart broke. She looked at him, fleeting, but that single moment was enough for him to see her. She had messed up and she knew it and all she wanted was for someone to save her. In his mind she was begging him to save her.

  He prayed that one day he could

  ***

  Just as Angela predicted, the conversation in the sitting room became much more casual once the alcohol was brought in. Soon everyone was laughing and having a merry time. Everyone that is, besides her.

  Angela had only just been drawn back into reality as the Duke was gloating about the new shipping company that he was entering into with his cousin. Mother squealed with excitement.

  “Well that sounds absolutely wonderful! Does it not, Angela dear?” asserted Lady Cheston.

  Angela smiled modestly as she thought.

  Yes. Wonderful. Perhaps he would be captured by pirates.

  “What was that, dear?” Lady Cheston asked sounding slightly shocked. “Did you just say something about pirates?”

  Apparently Angela was thinking out loud.

  “Oh,” she acknowledged. “Yes. I was just contemplating the dangers of the open seas these days what with pirates and such. I would be quite,” she chose her words carefully, “affected if something were to happen to the Duke.”

  Angela was very pleased with herself. Of course she would be affected if the Duke were to never return. She just left out the fact that the affect would be pleasing.

  And then as quickly as she had entered, Angela left the conversation again and by the time she had reentered it, they had moved onto the subject of the Duke’s childhood. How long ago must that have been? It hurt her head to think of it.

  Chapter Six

  After deciding that she had sufficiently paid her dues for the night, Angela excused herself from the room and fled down the hallway as fast as she could. She needed to get away from that horrible man. He was old enough to be her grandfather for God’s sake! Wel
l, maybe he wasn’t old enough to be her grandfather but he was most definitely old enough to be her father and that was just too much for her. And if he had cupped her bottom one more time she might have thrashed him. No, there was no might. She would have thrashed him right there on her mother’s table and then destroyed a very important part of his anatomy.

  She needed to get outside and take in some fresh air before she got sick again. Her stomach had not yet healed from the night before, and being forced to spend the last several hours acting smitten with the Duke had not made anything better. In fact it may have made things worse.

  He had stood so close to her that she could smell every breath he took. She could smell all of him and it wasn’t pleasant. Had she been that drunk last night? That was the only conclusion she could come to as to how she hadn’t noticed that smell. And his teeth were rotten, literally. He had been close enough for her to see that too. Thank God he had refused her that kiss! There was no way she would marry him. They could not make her!

  But she knew very well that they could. Her future was not up to her. It never had been and though she had always known this, somewhere in the back of her mind, it never really sunk in until now. How powerless she was and how out of control. Before the night was over she would be engaged to that man and then they would be married. Well, they might be able to make her marry him but they couldn’t force her to kiss him. A marriage wouldn’t be official without a kiss to seal the deal would it?

  Of course it would be.

  She was out of options now. The only thing keeping her sane at this moment was knowing that a contract had not been drawn up and a dowry had not yet been exchanged. Yes, there might still be a chance. As small of a flicker of hope that it was she grasped onto it and held with all her might. But so enticed in her own little world, she didn’t see the man step out from the darkness into her path. She shrieked.