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Mrs Hillary Barrett watched with interest as a little raven-haired woman pulled Lord Bingham from the spectators. She wondered who the young lady was that made such a commotion. Her friends would dine out on this gossip for a week; she had never seen him follow any female willingly anywhere, besides his sister of course.
Hillary followed them closely, watching as the couple disappeared behind the pillar. She looked over her shoulder to see if any of her cronies had spotted this little rendezvous. Seeing all her lady friends were still discussing the spectacle the young woman had made, she rubbed her hands together with glee. She may just find the scandal of the year! This may be even better than seeing the young woman with her skirts around her ears. She rounded the corner into the alcove and stopped as a gasp was torn from her lips. This was even better than she thought!
Jasper wrenched his mouth away from the vixen and turned to see the one and only Mrs Hillary Barrett, the ton’s biggest gossip, staring at him with outraged shock.
“Lord Bingham! What on earth do you think you are doing with that young lady?”
Jasper looked down at the beauty in his arms. Her body was plastered against his, her glossy hair spilling down his left arm. Somewhere along the way her hairpins had fallen out. Her heaving breasts pressed to his chest, her clothes were slightly askew and her leg was still wrapped tightly around his thigh as though she was trying to climb him. He belatedly realised one of his hands was on her backside, pulling her closer to him, and his other hand was up her skirt just shy of her heat. He let go and dropped her like a hot poker. He turned to face his adversary, shoving the unknown woman behind him to keep her from Mrs Barrett’s prying eyes.
“Forgive me, I was just getting myself acquainted with my new fiancée, Mrs Barrett. I was just so happy with her answer I seem to have got carried away in the happy moment. If you would be so kind as to give us a minute, I would be happy to introduce you to my bride-to-be as soon as we have put ourselves to rights.” He smiled so sweetly that she blushed.
“Of course, my dear, I would be the last one to deny a new couple their happy moment.” She turned and ducked out of the alcove.
“Well, that was embarrassing,” the woman he was just making love to said once the curtain twitched back to its resting place. “I can’t believe she just barged in like that.”
Oh God, she was American, his sister was going to love this. “I can’t believe I fell for this. No one else has ever managed to do it, but you got me.” He turned towards the dishevelled beauty who was frantically trying to fix her dress. No matter what she did, it still kept gaping in the front, showing off the creamy tops of her breasts. He stared as her nipples played peek-a-boo with the lace of her bodice.
“What? What do you mean, I got you? Do you think someone put me up to this as a joke?” She looked up in disbelief from her ruined dress. “It’s terribly embarrassing getting caught kissing someone in the corner, but I assure you it was no practical joke.” Exasperated, she threw her hands down. “I can’t fix this blasted dress! Now what am I going to do? I can’t go back out there looking like this, not tonight.”
“Here, let me,” and, with experienced hands, he adjusted her dress so her breasts were no longer in danger of falling out. Jesus, it was hard to concentrate with this woman around. How in the hell was he going to get out of the mess she created? “This certainly is not a joke!” He stepped back and ran his hands through his hair. “I now must do the honourable thing…and to the wrong woman too! God damn it, what a mess. Where is your father? I must speak to him immediately.”
“My dad is dead. Did you just tell that lady I’m your fiancée?” Her beautiful mouth dropped open and then broke into a smile as she finally registered what he had said earlier. “Fast thinking, but are you crazy? At least that old lady won’t be too worried now, will she? But you don’t even know me, I could be some psycho for all you know.”
Jasper scrubbed his face with his hands and thought maybe he was the crazy one. He should just walk away from this fortune-hunter and leave her to the wolves. Who cared about her reputation? It was all but ruined from her display earlier anyway; his reputation would survive, men got away with so much more. But looking down at the confusion evident in her eyes, he couldn’t just leave her there. Besides, if he was honest with himself, she was not the only one to blame in this predicament. He suspected he couldn’t walk away from the passion he still felt for her. His hands still tingled where he had accidently brushed against the warm skin of her breast while he was setting her dress to rights, for God’s sake. How could he walk away from that? His passion for her was immediate and so intense he, for the first time ever, had forgotten where he was and what the consequences would be if he was caught. And caught he was.
“Do you have a brother I could speak to then?”
“No. My whole family died in a car accident three years ago.”
“Car accident? Oh, you mean carriage. I’m so sorry to hear that. You have my deepest condolences.” He could relate to losing loved ones and he didn’t wish that emptiness on anyone.
“They crashed on the interstate just before Christmas, three years ago. The road was covered in ice.” Tears welled up in her eyes and he could read the terror on her face as she relived it.
A strange protectiveness washed over him as he watched the sadness spread across her face. He couldn’t help but step forward and pull her into his arms. “You have no family, but all is well now, you have me. I’ll look after you, don’t worry. Stay here, I will go and find my sister.” He gently kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right back,” and then he ducked from the alcove.
Jasper pushed his way through the crowd, trying to locate his sister Victoria. She was his voice of reason whenever he did something rash. He hadn’t gone to her for quite some time; he thought he was all grown up and could look after himself. How wrong he was. If there ever was a need for her advice, now was it. Heat from his sudden desire stilled pulsed through his veins. The protectiveness he felt towards the mystery woman overwhelmed his senses until he couldn’t think properly. He hadn’t even asked her name before he left her there.
“Damn.” Several outraged gasps rose from the group of ladies next to where he came to an abrupt stop. “I do beg your pardon.” He nodded in the ladies’ direction, turned around and went back the way he had come. He shouldn’t have left her there all by herself. Busybody Barrett would have cornered her by now.
“Ah, Lord Bingham, a word if you please.” It was the father of Lady Anne, the woman he was supposed to marry; Richard Higgins, Earl of Alderton.
“Oh. Ah, umm, Lord Alderton, about our appointment tomorrow, umm, something’s come up. I won’t be able to make it.” Jasper stumbled with an excuse to un-ask the man’s daughter for her hand. Thank God he hadn’t actually asked her yet.
“Oh, my boy, I hope it’s nothing serious.”
Jasper choked on a cough. “No, my lord, nothing I can’t handle. But speaking of which, sir, I must run.”
Before Jasper could escape however, Lord Alderton caught his arm. “Oh none of that ‘sir’ stuff, my boy. Call me Dick; we’re practically family now, aren’t we?” Lord Alderton winked and slapped him on the back affectionately.
Damnation!. “Ah, I really must go now, Alderton…Dick.” Jasper quickly turned and lost himself in the crowd before he could dig himself into an even bigger hole than he already found himself in.
“Jasper.” He stopped when a hand touched his arm and he heard a voice he recognised. “What is going on? What’s this about you going off with some girl?”
Jasper let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank goodness it’s you. I need your help, Victoria.”
Grace closed her eyes, took a deep calming breath and counted to three as she exhaled. When she opened her eyes a figure came around the pillar, but it wasn’t who she was expecting. It was Mrs Hillary Barrett.
“So you are the gel that has snared him at last, are you?” the nasty old lady blurted as soon as the curtain fell back in place.
Grace’s hackles rose. “I don’t know what you mean. All we were doing was kissing.” As if it was any of her business anyway, the old battle-axe.
The older woman sucked in her breath. “You’re American? It’s just like you upstarts to come over here and steal our men.” She made it sound like Grace had the pox or something.
“Excuse me? You have no right to insult me or my country. You probably haven’t even been there, so what would you know what we Americans are like? Besides, it’s none of your business anyway.” Where was that guy, it was just like a man to keep her waiting here by herself. Was he even coming back? “I’m sorry, but I have to be going now.” She pushed past the strange old lady with her head held high and into the overcrowded ballroom. Enough of this nonsense, she had to get back to work.
Grace wandered around the ballroom trying to locate the rest of her team, but without her headset she couldn’t hope to locate them in this crowd. She looked at her phone and saw that it was 12:30 a.m., January 2014, a half hour since the lights went out and she hit her head…and dragged a man into a corner to have her wicked little way with him. A giggle escaped her lips. What had come over her? She would never behave like this on a normal night.
She needed to get some air and clear her head. She was about to escape into the garden when a voice whispered in her ear, “I thought I told you to stay where you were?” The man that made her hot just thinking about touched her arm and said, “Come with me. My sister is waiting in the library.”
“I would really like to meet your sister, I would. But I have to get back to work. Maybe I will see you before I go?” Her heart thumped wildly. She rubbed her hands on her skirt to get rid of the moisture. She wished she hadn’t drunk so much champagne…or hit her head on the table. This night was getting so confusing. She may have been able to figure out what was going on if she had kept away from the alcohol. Actually she wouldn’t be in this mess at all if she had managed to stay sober. She knew she shouldn’t have taken a break.
“Sorry, what kind of work are you in?” It would be just his luck if he had made his intentions known to a prostitute.
“I’m an event manager. I organised tonight’s event.”
“I don’t think that the Duchess of Kensington will take kindly to you saying that out loud, even if you did organise it all. She won’t want word to get out that she was unable to arrange her own ball.” The corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled down at her. “Besides, everything is running smoothly, the place is packed. It is a crush! A success, don’t you think; so what more can you do here? Come with me and meet my sister and we can talk about what to do next. And I can see Mrs Barrett talking to her crones over there and it’s only an amount of time before they notice us.”
He pointed across the room and sure enough she could see the old battle-axe deep in conversation with some older ladies. Mrs Barrett did look like she was scanning the ballroom as she talked. The man was right; it would be only a matter of time before she spotted them.
“Come, let’s sneak out here.” He grabbed her hand and led her out the door into the garden and around the side of the balcony to the door of the library where his sister was waiting for him to explain how he had become engaged to the wrong girl.
Chapter Two
The first thing Grace noticed upon entering the library was the candles. There were no lights. The chandeliers hanging from the vast ceilings had candles in them. There were light bulbs in there earlier this evening; she had checked to make sure they were all in working order before the ball commenced. What the hell was going on???
The library housed a large desk, comfortable-looking chairs, a large man leaning against the mantle and an elegant woman sitting primly on the settee. Upon their entrance from the terrace, the woman rose to welcome Grace.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Jasper?” she said when it became evident that Jasper had lost his manners somewhere outside. “You must forgive me for being so bold as to do it myself then, but under the circumstances I am sure you will forgive my impertinence. I am Lady Harrison, but you may call me Victoria. This is my husband Neal, Lord Harrison,” she said gesturing to the man at the fire. He only raised his glass and nodded in her direction by way of greeting. “You must be the woman who has convinced my dear brother to marry. How nice to make your acquaintance.” She turned to Jasper then before Grace could make a reply, “Would you care to explain to me how you have managed to become engaged to this girl? It is my understanding that you are supposed to be offering for Lady Anne tomorrow.”
“Yes, I know that, Victoria, but I can’t offer for her now can I?”
“I don’t know, Jasper, you tell me. Why can’t you? What exactly have you done? And do you mind telling me why the gossip mill is working full-steam tonight? About our family? Again!”
“Victoria, you know none of those rumours are true.” Jasper pleaded with his sister as though this conversation had played many times before.
“So you’re telling my you will be offering for Lady Anne tomorrow, as planned then?”
“Well, uh, no, I can’t exactly do that.” Jasper looked in Grace’s direction. “Something’s come up.”
“Humph, I thought so.”
Lord Harrison stepped forward and bowed to Grace. “I don’t believe you have had a chance to tell us your name, my dear?”
“Oh, hello, it is very nice to meet you. I’m Grace Lancaster.” She grasped his outstretched hand and shook it before turning her attention back to the chandeliers.
“Of the Lancasters?” all three of them asked at the same time and she felt her skin prickle across her back as three sets of eyes focused on her.
Grace tore her attention from the chandelier long enough to answer. “I guess so. I do have some relatives in England, but I’ve never met them.” Her great-grandfather had gone over to America sometime in the last century, but she couldn’t remember when.
“And you’re an American?”
“Born and raised.”
Grace missed the look Jasper and his sister exchanged.
This might prove interesting. Old Lancaster was here tonight. Jasper needed to get this sorted out before the head of the Lancasters found out one of his relatives had been found in the arms of his business rival, if he hadn’t already. They each owned shares in opposing banking institutions; at the moment Lord Lancaster’s bank was having better returns but Jasper hoped to turn that around by the end of this financial year.
“Jasper.” Victoria motioned him to join her over by the mantelpiece next to Neal. “Something’s not right here.”
Neal nodded. “With whom did she come to the ball? You say her family’s dead?” Neal looked Jasper straight in the eye and Jasper was once again reminded how successful his brother-in-law was on the continent.
Shaking off Neal’s gaze, Jasper nodded. “Still, she wouldn’t be here by herself, would she? You’re right, Victoria, something’s not adding up.”
Miss Lancaster was still looking at the lights with a puzzled frown on her face. Had she never seen a chandelier before? Good God, she was a fortune-hunter. You would think she would’ve gone to Lancaster himself if she needed money, but if she was of the American line…? How on earth had he got himself into this mess?
“I suppose I should bring Ol’ Lancaster into this conversation? I saw him here earlier tonight.”
“I saw him leave a while ago.” Victoria laid her hand on his arm before he could turn towards the door. “The Duchess said his knee was bothering him again. She indicated he was traveling to his country estate in the morning so if you think we should discuss this with him, we should go to his townhouse now. But he may have retired for the night already.” Victoria removed her hand from his arm and put it to her forehead. “Oh, this gossip is going to run for months. A Lancaster, Jasper? Couldn’t you have been bewitched by anyone else?”
“Too late for that, Victoria, what’s done is done. But you will have to find her chaperone, Jasper.” Neal turned towards the lady in question and raised his voice. “Miss Lancaster, with whom did you arrive this evening?”
“Hmmm?” She relinquished her inspection of the lighting, and turned towards them. “Oh, I came this afternoon with the rest of the crew. Long before any guests arrived. Speaking of which, I do need to get back to work.” She walked towards them and stuck out her hand. “It was lovely to meet you all, do be sure to enjoy the rest of your evening.” She had plastered a perfect smile on her face, as though she was used to pacifying difficult guests.
Her hand stayed outstretched for a moment too long before Neal stepped forward to claim it. Something clenched in Jasper’s stomach as Neal brought her hand to his lips. Miss Lancaster’s face coloured and Jasper wondered if she always blushed so easily.
Neal didn’t release her hand, but used it to lead her to the settee. Jasper bristled when Neal took the seat next to her. He left his sister to look after herself and made his way over to them and sat in the chair nearest Miss Lancaster.
He should’ve known better.
Victoria cleared her throat and raised her eyebrow at him.
Damn. He extricated himself from his seat and gallantly offered it to Victoria. By the time he had fetched another chair from the other side of the room, the conversation was well on its way again.
“…escort? No, I didn’t pay anyone to come with me, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell anyway.” Her laughter filled the room. The musical sound shot straight to Jasper’s groin and in that moment he decided he would do anything to make her laugh again.
She opened her reticule and after a moment of intense searching she pulled a small, smooth metal case from its depths. She opened the case and handed them each a piece of paper. Jasper looked at the card in his hand.
A calling card.
Sinclair Functions Ltd.
Parties with a difference Senior Party Planner Grace Lancaster (212) 527-8636 g.lancaster@sinclairfunctions.com www.sinclairfunctions.com
“You plan parties?” Victoria asked after a moment.
“Yes. But not just parties. We plan weddings, balls, like this one, conferences, birthday parties, engagement parties, expos, anniversaries, you name it, we can organise anything you like.”
“I’ve never heard of a ‘party planner’ before.”
“You haven’t? That’s weird. Surely you’ve watched The Wedding Planner?”
“Miss Lancaster, who exactly did you come with tonight?” Neal was obviously tired of this absolutely bizarre conversation. “I need a name.”
“Well, my boss is here. Ron Sinclair. You can ask him. You can even ask the Duchess of Kensington if you like. She’s the one who hired us for this function.” The tone of her voice changed. She was also getting tired of the conversation. “I really need to be going now. I thank you for your time and your help with my wardrobe malfunction, Mr…? Sorry I didn’t catch your name.” Her eyes bore into his and Jasper’s stomach clenched again and something lower stirred back to life.
“Jasper. You can call me Jasper.” Somewhere far away he heard Victoria gasp and say his name.
“Well. Thank you. But I need to go. Have a wonderful night.” She rose and headed to the door.
“Wait.” Jasper jumped to his feet; she couldn’t just walk away from him. “I need to know. Why me? Why did you single me out?”
“What d’you mean?”
“Why did you take me into the alcove tonight? Was it for my money? Or was it revenge?”
“Revenge? I don’t think so. I don’t even know who you are. Look, this has been a slice, but I really need to get back out there.”
That couldn’t be right. Surely she knew who he was? “I’m terribly sorry, Miss Lancaster, allow me to properly introduce myself. I’m Jasper Vincent Colin Mossman, Earl of Bingham. But I’m sure you knew that when you singled me out.”
Seriously? What was wrong with these people? Had they all had a turn or did madness run in their family? Whatever it was, it was seriously freaking her out! Why were they so desperate to meet who she came with? They were behaving as though she’d committed a heinous crime. Granted, Ron wouldn’t be too impressed she’d kissed one of the guests, but did he really need to know? The way these people were behaving, she’d be lucky to get off lightly. She might as well kiss her dream of living in Paris goodbye.
God, her head hurt. She must’ve hit it harder than she thought. When would this night be over? All she wanted to do was curl up in her hotel bed and sleep for a week. But she couldn’t do that. Not yet. Not until this blasted party was over. Ron didn’t expect it to wind down until at least sunrise.
God, this was so embarrassing. If she knew she’d be involved in an interrogation, she wouldn’t have led him into the alcove. No kiss was worth this…no matter how good it was. She could feel her face redden at the memory.
But what she really wanted to know was what was up with those lights? She examined the chandelier again. Maybe if she stood on a chair she could get a better look. She glanced at the trio of weirdos and thought better of it. They’d probably call the cops on her. How did candles end up in those chandeliers? It created a certain ambience, she would give it that, but who would have replaced the real lights with candles? Especially without her knowing? Maybe it was an optical illusion; lights designed to look like candles. Now why hadn’t she thought of that? She made a mental note to find them for her next event.
Now that she’d sorted that out she could bring her mind to the task at hand. She needed to finish this conversation so she could get back to work. This had taken up far too much of her time, and there was still so much to do before the end of the night. What was it ‘Jasper’ was going on about now?
“Sorry, what was that?” She hated to ask.
“I asked why you chose me as your target tonight.”
Grace looked at the man she had jumped, practically raped even. His clothes moulded to his body, showing off his muscular chest and broad shoulders. Her eyes travelled down over his trim waist to his tight pants. They didn’t leave much to the imagination. She knew her face would be the colour of her favourite underwear, she always blushed so profusely. God, this conversation was not happening. She was going to have to tell him the truth and in front of his sister too. He just wouldn’t let it go, would he? If at all possible her face got even redder.
“Well, you see, the thing is, I haven’t had a relationship for a long time and I seem to have had too much to drink tonight. I couldn’t stop myself, you were just too good-looking and you rescued me from that awful crowd. Besides, it is just this once and if I wasn’t in a foreign country I would never have dared do what I, we, did, but I will never see you again, so I thought it would be safe. I actually can’t see what all the fuss is about. It was only a kiss.” She stopped abruptly. She tended to babble when she got nervous; it was a habit she found hard to break.
“A kiss that the biggest gossip in all of England just happened to see!” He ran his hands through his hair. His head must hurt from pulling his hair so much. “We’ll have to be married. There’s no other way to avoid a scandal.”
Grace finally really looked into the three pairs of eyes boring into her. “What kind of party is this?”
Chapter Three
The girl was a sure candidate for Bedlam.
Or a good actress. Watching her one would think she was surprised, outraged even, at the consequences of being caught by Mrs Barrett. That’s what worried him most. The fact that she might not be acting. Because if that was the case, he’d be stuck marrying a mad woman. He should have picked Lady Anne after all. At least she never cried or tried to run away from him. This girl was currently trying to break past Neal to get to the door. Hell fire, she could scrap. Another worrying thought. He definitely wasn’t envious of Neal as he dodged her flying fists. She looked as though she knew what she was doing. Jasper winced in sympathy as she connected a right to Neal’s eye.