AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A grunt of mirthless laughter was his response. Alex dragged her nearest hand to his arm and held it there. Furiously Elise allowed herself to be escorted towards the exit. She had no intention of drawing more eyes to them by engaging in an unseemly tussle. She went quietly, until late afternoon sun touched her face, then immediately jerked her hand from beneath his fingers.
‘How dare you act so high and mighty!’ she hissed.
‘When you hear what I have to say I’ll warrant you’ll be glad I did,’ he returned through his teeth. ‘The sooner this is dealt with the better.’ Taking her elbow, he propelled her towards his empty phaeton parked some distance away.
‘I’m not going anywhere with you,’ Elise declared, thinking he might force her into it.
‘I’m not expecting you to,’ Alex replied with the weary patience one might reserve for an annoying child. ‘The crowd is thinner close to the road. If you simply make it appear we’re having a pleasant chat while I say what I must, that should suffice.’
‘There is no need for you to explain a solitary thing. My aunt and Mrs Vickers hinted at your companion’s identity when you passed by.’ She turned from him. ‘So there is no need to feel under any obligation to elaborate.’
Alex neatly caught her wrist, tugging her back towards him. ‘Why would I feel obliged to mention my mistress or anything else which is none of your concern?’
Beneath his dulcet sarcasm Elise felt her face suffuse with heat. She had acted like a jealous rival for his affections rather than a casual acquaintance.
Discreetly Alex brought her closer, his fingers moving soothingly before reluctantly dropping away. ‘Our meeting at Vauxhall didn’t go unobserved as we’d hoped.’ It was a bald statement, devoid of any attempt to soften the blow.
Elise stared at him, frowning, and it was a moment or two before the full significance of what he’d said sunk in. Her complexion turned chalky and she steadied herself against the bottle-green coachwork of his carriage. ‘Somebody saw us together in that dark walkway?’ she whispered.
‘A friend of James Whittiker’s witnessed us departing the scene.’ An acerbic smile tilted a corner of his mouth. ‘Whittiker was good enough to come and tell me that earlier today.’
Elise’s face lowered and a hand spanned her brow as she strove to bring order to her spinning thoughts. ‘He has known all this time? Why did he not warn you sooner?’ Elise raised wide eyes to his.
‘Whittiker’s motives aren’t philanthropic, Elise,’ Alex explained gently. ‘Quite the reverse. He has only just found out about it and came to see me to crow.’
Her wide tawny eyes searched his face, but there was nothing to reassure her that the situation wasn’t as dreadful as she feared it to be. ‘You believe he would relish a scandal? But why would he be so mean?’ Elise had allowed her voice to rise and swept a look about to ensure she hadn’t drawn attention. Thankfully the noise and bustle of Regent Street had buffered her hysteria. Most people were happily going about their own business.
‘Whittiker and I have no liking for one another—actually, that’s understating the matter. I despise him and I imagine he returns the sentiment,’ Alex ruefully admitted. ‘He thinks to blackmail me into paying for his silence.’
Elise’s soft lips parted in a soundless denial of such villainy. ‘How much does he want?’ she asked in a squeak of indignation.
‘It’s the cost to your reputation that bothers me.’
‘Tell me how much he wants to keep quiet!’ Elise insisted on knowing, her voice and delicate features turning fierce.
‘Three thousand pounds.’
‘That is outrageous!’ Elise’s initial anguish was being overcome by anger. ‘Will you set the authorities on to him for such criminal behaviour? The odious swine should end in court! No...better he go straight to prison!’
‘Do you want the sorry tale reported in the papers, Elise? Do you want your family name smeared and salacious gossip to spread in such a way that it will affect the Chapmans and your aunt, too?’ Alex pointed out the likely outcome of such public scrutiny.
‘No...of course not!’ Elise murmured, slowly shaking her head. She knew all he had warned of might come to pass. She had heard of genteel young women who had had their lives ruined by a single slip that sent their kith and kin with them into exile. ‘But it is unfair!’ she raged beneath her breath. ‘We did nothing wrong...’ She felt his smouldering eyes roving her face and the memory of his mouth moving magically on hers, his hands stroking her body, made her again seek his phaeton as support.
