Debutantes Don’t Date

by Kristina O’Grady

  “A month? That’s barely longer than your last offer!” Grace squeaked as the air stilled in her lungs. She couldn’t get married in a month! She didn’t even know this guy. Sure, she got all horny every time she was near him, but that didn’t mean she wanted to marry him. She needed to find a way back home. “Three months.”

  “A month.” He was adamant. He couldn’t wait longer than that. He might not be able to even wait that long.

  “Jasper, it would be near impossible to organise a wedding in a month,” Victoria said with a slight roll of her eyes, “besides, everyone will think you anticipated your wedding vows and there is a little reason the wedding is rushed. We all know to stop any gossip you’ll have to wait at least until March.”

  “I can handle that, can’t you, Jasper?” Grace looked at him intently and although she was putting on a brave face he could only too easily remember the panic in her eyes before Victoria came into the room.

  “Very well, three months,” he sighed. His blood quickened whenever he looked at his new fiancée and wondered how he was going to be able to keep his hands off her for that long.

  Lady Anne breathed in the steam from her cup and sighed with delight as the chocolaty aroma tickled the back of her throat. Before even taking a sip, she could feel relaxation making its way through her body. Reading the broadsheet paper this morning lifted a huge weight off her shoulders and she felt lighter and freer than she had felt since the moment she was told that she was to marry Lord Bingham eleven years ago. A giggle of pure joy escaped her lips as she raised her drink for a sip of the chocolate. Mmm, bliss. This was the life she’d always dreamed of having. Up until now she thought the closest she would come to any type of freedom would be after providing Lord Bingham with the heir and spare. She’d hoped she’d be able to live out her life in the country on one of his estates with her children. But now! Now, she could really live the life she wanted. She could find someone to love her and give her the kind of family she desired.

  Putting her chocolate down, she picked up the society column again. Who was suitable to marry? She had wasted three seasons waiting for Lord Bingham to propose. She didn’t have much time left. If she could snag a good husband before the start of the next season, she would not have to live through her fourth as the older desperate woman all the gentlemen steer well clear of. She knew she was considered pretty and she had a decent amount settled upon her, surely it wouldn’t be too hard to attract a husband, especially now that she wasn’t spoken for by Lord Bingham?

  She grabbed paper from her desk but before she could start making her list, the door of her room opened softly and her brother Robin stepped inside. Unlike her, he wasn’t smiling.

  “What in the blazes happened last night, Anne? When I left I thought we were in agreement. We had an arrangement!”

  “Really, Robin, what was I supposed to do? The man was caught in a compromising position.”

  “You should’ve made sure the only compromising position he was in was with you.” Robin paced back and forth in front of her like a bear stuck in a cage, his eyes wild and, if she listened carefully, she was sure she could hear him growl. “You should have brought him up to scratch years ago. You have to fix this!”

  “The announcement has already been made, Robin, how on earth am I to ‘fix it’ now?” She hated being browbeaten by her brother, but she knew it was coming, and there was nothing she could do about it.

  “You have to become best friends with this Miss Lancaster and go everywhere with her. You need to be in her pocket; do you understand me, Anne?”

  “How will that help? Miss Lancaster is engaged to Lord Bingham, being friends with her will not change that.” Anne sometimes wondered at the quality of brains between her brother’s ears.

  “Don’t worry about that, you just do your part and I’ll do mine.” Robin slammed the door behind him, obviously forgetting why he’d snuck into the room to begin with.

  Anne chuckled at the closed door. Serve him right if their mother spotted him here. He could spend all day at her side, allowing Anne some time to think.

  No one ever asked her if she wanted to marry Lord Bingham. Not Lord Bingham, not her father and definitely not her brother. She was quite glad Lord Bingham had succumbed to passion…with someone other than her.

  She wouldn’t mind meeting the woman who tempted him. He always came across as someone who didn’t let passion into his life. Maybe she should call upon Miss Lancaster. She couldn’t see the harm in going along with her brother’s plan of befriending her, besides she would love to have another friend whom she could call upon when she needed to escape the oppression of her overbearing mother.

  Chapter Eight

  Victoria waited until Grace retired to her room and Jasper left to do whatever it was he did, before seeking out her husband. She couldn’t tell him the truth about Grace. She’d have to think of another way to help her. “Neal, we need to talk,” she said as she leaned against his study door she had just closed behind her.

  “Hmmm.” He didn’t even look up from the papers on his desk.

  “Neal, we need to talk.”

  “Oh, what is it, woman?” Neal finally tore his eyes away from his work and looked at her.

  “It’s Miss Lancaster. We need to do something about her.” Victoria paced, trying to find the right words; talking to Neal always made her tongue-tied. “We can’t have the granddaughter of Old Lancaster here in our house and not tell him. He will find out. He may already know.”

  “So send her there to live with him. It would solve our problem of having to house her.”

  “Neal, we can’t just kick her out. What would people say?”

  “What do I care what people say about what goes on in my own house!” He slammed his fist onto the desk. “Why not visit the old coot and see what he says? If he doesn’t invite her to stay, throw her into the street for I all care, she is not our problem.”

  “She’s my brother’s fiancée! We can’t just abandon her.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Neal, you can’t mean that. Even if you don’t care…” He eyed her from beneath his lashes. “Very well, even though you don’t care what people say, surely you care about life? You can’t just throw a young woman on the street knowing what will become of her, even if you don’t like the lady in question.” Victoria sank into the vacant chair in front of his desk with a sigh. “What do you have against Grace? As far as I know she hasn’t done anything to you, has she?”

  “You mean apart from the black eye and split lip?” He raised his eyebrow at her.

  “Oh you know perfectly well, Neal that she was scared. We were holding her against her will. Of course she fought back.”

  “She has brought disgrace to your family. She is only after your brother’s money!” Neal pushed back from his desk and walked around to her chair. He trapped her there by placing his hands on the arm rests. His face was inches to hers, and as his warm breath fanned her cheeks, her breath caught in her throat; it had been years since they were this close. “How can you not hate her? She has ruined your father’s plan of expanding the estate. Because of her, Jasper will have to forgo his…”

  “He doesn’t want that! Jasper never wanted to marry Lady Anne. He never even wanted to expand the estate; he only wants to make it better. I think it’s excellent that Grace has managed to make him think with his heart and not his head for once.”

  “It is not his heart he was thinking with,” Neal murmured before angrily pushing away from his wife and stalking across the room. “God damn it, woman! Can’t you see? Old Man Lancaster is going to have a fit because of this. And whom do you think he will blame, Victoria?”

  He agitated her so much she couldn’t stay in her chair. Oh, how she wished every conversation with him didn’t end this way. “And how are we responsible for this, may I ask? You and I were not there, pushing their lips together so Mrs Barrett could see!” Calmly, Victoria, calmly. She forced herself to sit back down, fol
d her hands gently in her lap (no don’t clench them) and continued softly. “How is it a bad thing that because she is now engaged to my brother, she will meet a grandfather she doesn’t seem to even know about?”

  As Neal walked back to her chair, her heart quickened.

  “I’ll leave it all up to you then,” he said.

  She watched in amazement as he abruptly turned from her with clenched fists and walked from his study, leaving her to stare at the slammed door still quivering in its frame.

  Two days later Grace found herself travelling to see her ‘grandfather’. Victoria and Jasper accompanied her, along with Victoria’s maid, Isabel, in the carriage for the two-day trip. Victoria claimed they only required one maid for the duration of their trip which was fortunate as there wasn’t enough room in the carriage for another person. Grace vowed she would never complain about the temperamental heater in her car again when she managed to return home. The carriage was freezing! Even covered with two fur blankets and the warm winter clothing Victoria had bought her, her toes and fingers were numb and her nose was dripping. Jasper was sitting next to her but he was trying to keep a respectable distance, so she couldn’t feel much heat coming from him. They’d stopped for lunch at noon, and the hot food had warmed her from the inside out, but that was hours ago now. She stubbornly tried to control her shivers. No one else in the carriage seemed to notice the frigid temperatures even though the fog from their breath filled the small space.

  The carriage slowed and it was with great relief Grace saw a small inn appear on the right. However once they came to a stop, getting her muscles to work proved difficult and she was glad to have the assistance of Jasper’s hand as she forced her knees to bend in order to step down from the carriage.

  “Go and stand by the fire, Grace,” Jasper said as he led her inside the Fox Gloves Inn. They were staying here the night and would travel the rest of the way tomorrow morning. They could make it all the way to the Lancasters’ Estate tonight, but then Lord Lancaster would be obligated to put them up and if things didn’t go well…

  “Thanks.” Grace’s teeth rattled together as she neared the fire’s warmth, and the heat of it burned her frozen face. Jasper left her there at the hearth while he went to talk to the innkeeper. Grace marvelled at his butt in his tight trousers as he walked away from her.

  “I didn’t expect the cold to be quite so bitter,” Victoria said as she joined Grace in front of the fire. “Maybe we should have waited another day or two.”

  Grace tore her gaze from the much too tempting vision and took a closer look at Victoria’s face; her nose was red and dripping and her eyelashes glittered with moisture. So, she wasn’t the only one feeling the cold after all. “At least it isn’t snowing. It could be worse; we could have been lost in a blizzard.”

  By the time Jasper returned, Grace was able to feel her toes again and the numbness was gone from her cheeks.

  “I managed to get us a couple of rooms for the night,” he said as soon as he rejoined them. “We’re in luck, it appears they’re not too busy, even on a night like this, although you two will have to share a room, I hope that is to your satisfaction? I’ve also taken the liberty of ordering you ladies a hot bath each. You go up and we’ll meet in the private dining room for dinner in an hour.”

  A bath sounded heavenly. Grace’s mind turned to steamy water and luxurious bubbles. A moan escaped her lips before she could stop herself. “A bath sounds divine,” she said a bit breathlessly and saw Jasper’s eyes flick with hot need before she turned to follow Victoria and the round landlady up the stairway to their room.

  It was small, but cosy, a fire roared in the hearth and the baths were being filled. The chambermaid placed a partition between the two baths so they could both indulge at the same time and still be able to maintain privacy. The tubs were a far cry from the one sitting in her bathroom at home, complete with massaging jets, but the water was steaming and Grace could hardly wait to climb in and thaw herself out. She barely waited for the maid to pour the last bucket of water before she stripped off and slid into the water.

  “Oh God, it’s hot,” she sighed with pleasure as she lowered herself in. The water, briefly painful, worked its magic and she forgot to feel guilty for having servants carry her water up the flight of stairs. The water slowly dissolved the icicles that had formed inside her, and her mind filled with fog as she relaxed into its warmth.

  Victoria hadn’t even taken her gloves off yet, “Goodness, you must be cold.” She reached in to test the water with her finger. Isabel undressed her and helped her glide down into the water. “Ah, bliss. You were right; it’s so nice and hot.”

  While the ladies enjoyed their baths, Jasper planned on trying to warm up in his room as well. The fire was going when he entered and there was a pitcher of warm water ready for him to wash with. Wishing he too could climb into a tub of steamy hot water he made do with dragging the lone chair in the room right in-front of the fire. He took his boots off and propped his feet on the grate, being careful not to scorch his socks, and looked about him. The bed looked clean and comfortable, if a bit on the small side. There was the chair he was sitting on and the side table that held the water and that was about it, besides the doors. One door led to the hallway, but there was another door on the side wall. “I wonder?” he asked himself.

  Curiosity overtook the comfort of the fire. He must have a look. The door was not locked; the handle turned easily in his hand. His palms sweated as he pulled the door open as though they knew what he was going to find on the other side.

  The first thing his eyes located was a smooth, extremely naked leg hanging out of a bath tub. The breath rushed from his lungs. His sister’s voice came from the other side of a partition. Relieved it was not his sister’s leg he saw, as his eyes followed it up to reveal the rest of the body, his hand tightened on the door knob. Grace’s head leaned back against the tub, her eyes closed with a look of sheer bliss on her face. His trousers tightened at the thought of putting that look on her face himself. Her nakedness warmed his body faster than any fire ever could.

  Dear God, she was getting out!

  Water fell in rivulets down her beautiful body, catching on her nipples before dropping back into the water below. The fire behind her illuminated the droplets on her skin, causing her body to glow like an apparition come down from heaven. He grasped the door frame to stop himself from entering the room. Jesus, he hadn’t felt this aroused since his first time with a woman, and he wasn’t sure if he’d felt this way even then. Jasper knew if his sister hadn’t also been in Grace’s room he wouldn’t be able to resist the temptation before his eyes.

  Isabel came around the partition to help Grace. He drew back into his room so he wasn’t discovered leering, but he was almost certain Grace looked his way just as he shut the door.

  Dinner was a quiet affair. They were the only ones in the small private dining room provided by the inn. Grace pushed her food around her plate trying to come to terms with finding Jasper looking into her eyes as Isabel wrapped the soft, fluffy towel around her after her bath. Liquid heat had rushed and pooled in her groin making it almost impossible to continue to stand. Isabel had to help her out of the tub and she had to sit down, claiming it was the heat of the water that made her feel woozy. In fact she still felt woozy. She hadn’t told Victoria about Jasper perving through the door. The way things went around here, she wouldn’t be surprised if she found herself married to him by morning if anyone found out he’d ‘compromised’ her in such a way. She still couldn’t get her head around the rules of this bizarre society. How on earth was it acceptable to marry someone just because they kissed you, or looked at you naked? God, everyone back home would be married several times over if that rule still applied in the 21st century.

  She found it hard to concentrate on her meal, especially with Jasper seated next to her. His thigh brushed against hers every now and then, sending shivers up and down her body.

  Because it was just the th
ree of them, they dined informally. Thank God for that, she still couldn’t figure out where she was supposed to sit at the table, no matter what chair she sat in, guaranteed it was the wrong one. She felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when Vivian was trying to learn what fork to use only to find out she was to eat escargot. It was as though the rug was constantly being pulled out from under her.

  By the time she retired for the night, Grace was so agitated she briefly thought if there was any water still in her bath she would climb in just to cool herself off. What she wouldn’t give for a cold shower. But alas, she had earlier watched as the water was emptied and the tubs were carted away.

  In her room and tucked up in the warm bed, she couldn’t sleep. The connecting door seemed to call to her all through the night, until finally she threw off the covers, checked that her roommate was still asleep, marched over to the door, grasped the handle and…she couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t bring herself to turn the knob and pull the door open. She knew where it would lead and although she was horny as hell she wasn’t ready for the next step, so instead she stood there in the cold room shivering and swearing under her breath, before taking a huge sigh and climbing back into bed. She pulled the covers up to her chin, rolled on her side with her back to the damn door and finally went to sleep.

  Jasper struggled with the door between their rooms as well. He knew he needed to stay away from it…and her. Dinner had been torture. He sat beside her with his leg almost touching her thigh, in fact he couldn’t help but ‘accidentally’ brush against her while she ate. He had to wait a good quarter of an hour after Victoria and Grace left before he could get up from the table without embarrassing himself. Now he lay in his bed thinking of the damn unlocked door, his erection just as hard as it was at dinner. It took all his willpower to stay where he was and not sneak into her room and carry her back in here to his bed and slowly, slowly lift her nightgown to reveal all of what he saw today. He would trace her skin with his lips and tongue, just to see if she tasted as sweet…