He murmured against the base of her throat. Her scent, the merest hint of spring, wrapped around him and drifted into his soul. She tasted of what he remembered. Of summer and passion and awe. And faintly of sweet and spice. “Now you know my secret.”
“Yes . . .” The word was barely more than a sigh. “That you are . . . cautious about snakes.”
“Egyptian snakes,” he corrected. God how had he ever lost her? He pulled her closer and feathered light kisses along the line of her jaw.
“Of course,” she said faintly.
“I have other secrets.” He brushed his lips over hers.
“Do you?” Her hands clenched by her sides as if she wanted to put her arms around him but wouldn’t allow herself to do so.
“Um-hmm.”
“Yes . . . well . . . we all do . . .”
“Ah yes . . . your list.”
She sighed and nodded. He pulled her tighter against him, nuzzling her ear. “What are your secrets, Livy? What is on that list of your desires?”
“Travel and adventures and . . .” She moaned softly, and her arms at last slid around him. “You . . .”
“You wanted me?” He smiled against the warm flesh of her neck.
Her eyes drifted closed, and she nodded. “Wanted . . . you . . . in your bed . . .”
He kissed her softly. “And?”
“And . . .” She sighed. “That would end it . . .”
He paused. “End what?”
“Mmmm . . . you and me.”
“What?” He drew back and stared at her. “What do you mean end you and me? I didn’t know there was a you and me. I didn’t know you thought there could be a you and me.”
She looked at him in confusion for a moment, then her expression cleared. “Oh.”
He drew his brows together. “ ‘Oh’? I daresay a statement like that deserves more than a mere ‘oh’ in response.”
“Yes, well, my apologies,” she said lightly. “Oh is all that comes to mind at the moment.”
“You intended to share my bed? Like a common trollop?”
She huffed. “Hopefully not like a common trollop.”
“This is on that blasted list of yours?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes.”
“And then what?”
“Then . . .” She shrugged. “Then nothing.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Nothing?”
“That’s what I said.”
At once the truth struck him. “You intended to leave me, didn’t you? Never see me again?”
She lifted her chin. “That was the plan, yes.”
He clenched his jaw. “Break my heart as I broke yours?”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” She paused. “I never dreamed your heart would be involved.”
“Fine,” he said sharply, reached out, and yanked her into his arms. If all she wanted was to share his bed, so be it. For now. “Then my heart is no longer involved, and we can cross this item off your list.”
For a moment she stared into his eyes, then her arms slid around his neck, and she angled her face toward his.
His lips met hers, and his anger vanished with the taste of her. As did any good intentions that might have raised their ugly heads. She opened her mouth to his, and his tongue dueled with hers. An ache of longing so powerful swept through him that he thought surely she could feel it as well.
Her body was tight next to his, so close he could feel the rise and fall of her chest with every breath. So close the heat of her body warmed him through her clothes and his. So close his growing arousal pressed hard against her. His hand caressed the small of her back and drifted lower. He wanted her and he loved her and for now that was enough.
A knock sounded at the door, and he raised his head.
“Yes?” he barked.
“It’s Josiah Cadwallender, sir,” the voice from the other side of the door called.
At once Livy wrenched free of his embrace and moved away as if grateful for the interruption. She smoothed her skirts and refused to meet his gaze.
“I imagine you don’t want him to see you in the arms of another man,” he said sharply.
“Indeed, that would be rude,” she snapped.
He took a moment to compose himself, then stepped to the door and yanked it open.
“Sir.” Josiah stood beaming in the doorway.
Sterling moved aside and waved him in.
“This is a remarkable place.” Josiah stepped into the room, and Sterling closed the door behind him. “The streets, or what passes for streets, twist and turn, and around every corner there is a new and interesting sight to see. The buildings are like something concocted out of spun sugar and magic. Quite fanciful and . . .” He caught sight of Livy and paused. “Olivia.” His gaze slipped to Sterling. “I do hope this is not an inopportune time.”
“Not at all,” Sterling said smoothly. “We were just discussing—”
“Venice,” Livy said quickly. “We were considering a walk in the piazza while we waited for your return.”
“I am sorry about the delay.” Josiah shook his head. “Even with the hotel’s instructions, it’s remarkably easy to lose one’s bearings here. Fortunately, eventually, one ends up at the Grand Canal regardless of what wrong turns one takes.”
“But you did find the conte’s house?”
“Palace,” Josiah corrected. “Very grand. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
“And?” Sterling prompted. He did wish the solicitor would get on with it.
“And I delivered your note, but I was unable to speak with the conte directly, only with his secretary.” Josiah pulled two large envelopes from his coat pocket. “These are for you.” He handed one to Sterling and another to Livy. “I waited while the conte’s secretary took your note to him. He would be happy to meet with you. However, he is hosting a gala tonight in honor of an exhibition of his family’s collection of art. He hopes you will accept his invitation.”
“An exhibition?” Sterling murmured. “How interesting.”
Livy opened the envelope and drew out a stiff, formal invitation then glanced at Josiah. “Only two?”
“As much as we have become somewhat lax about such things during the course of our journey the fact remains that you are Viscountess Rathbourne and he is the Earl of Wyldewood. As such, the pleasure of your company is requested at the ball of an Italian count.” Josiah shrugged. “I am a lowly solicitor without a drop of noble blood. My exclusion is to be expected.” He grinned. “However, I am confident I will find something to amuse myself while you enjoy the conte’s hospitality.”
Sterling smiled in spite of his mood. The young man’s enthusiasm was annoyingly contagious.
“And now, if you will forgive me, I have not yet unpacked.”
Sterling nodded, thanked Josiah for his efforts, and a moment later, the solicitor took his leave.
“I should be going as well.” Livy moved toward the door.
Sterling stepped to block her path. “I don’t think so. We have a few things yet to discuss.”
“Nothing I can think of,” she said coolly.
“I want to know more about this list of yours.”
“It’s really none of your business.”
He gritted his teeth. “Everything about you is my business.”
“I was right.” Her eyes narrowed. “The arrogance remains.”
He ignored her. “Where precisely am I on this list?”
“It scarcely matters.”
“It matters to me!”
“Very well then.” She glared. “You are the first item on my list!”
“The first?” He stared. In the back of his head, a voice noted that being at the top of a list that had helped her survive years of unhappiness was not necessarily bad. He ignored it. “So I am the first item you wish to check off so that you may go on with your life?”
“I wasn’t going in any particular order.” She scoffed. “I had rather thought to cross items off in a
random, even haphazard, manner. As they presented themselves, as it were.”
At once clarity slammed into him, and he gasped. “On the ship on the way to Egypt, all those nights you tried to get me into your room. You were trying to seduce me!”
“Not very successfully if you recall. One would have thought it would be easier.” She rolled her gaze toward the ceiling. “And you needn’t sound so appalled. A few minutes ago you had no objections to seduction, be it mine or yours.”
“That was different.”
“Why? Because it was your idea?”
“Yes! No!” He shook his head to clear it, to think rationally. “Because it wasn’t planned. It wasn’t part of a scheme to allow me to get you out of my blood.”
She paled. “I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to say it. Your intentions were obvious. Once you had shared my bed, you could put me behind you and go on with your life.”
“I have put you behind me. I did so long ago. And even if I hadn’t, you needn’t say that as if there was something wrong with it.”
“There is something wrong with it!”
“I don’t see why,” she said in a lofty manner.
“For one thing, it’s highly improper—”
“I don’t care.”
“For another, it’s quite scandalous.”
“Good!”
“And beyond that, it’s . . . it’s immoral!”
“Oh, I see. Planning to seduce you is immoral. Your seducing me without prior planning is not.”
He clenched his teeth. “That’s not what I meant.”
“That’s what it sounded like.” She raised her chin defiantly. “I have earned the right to do what I wish with my life. Be it improper, scandalous, or immoral.”
He shook his head. “Not with me.”
“With you above all else! Who better than with you? Besides, once you have finished with your . . . your penance for the past, you will have no part in my life. In my future.”
He stared at her for a long tense moment. “Are there other men on your list?”
She shrugged. “Not by name.”
“What then? By title? By occupation? By social standing?”
“For the most part”—she met his gaze directly—“by possibility for adventure.”
“I see. Then a dull, stuffy, responsible earl is only on your list by virtue of what?” He narrowed his eyes. “A desire for revenge?”
“Don’t be absurd.” She huffed.
“You said you have never forgiven me.”
Her jaw clenched. “Nonetheless, I never thought of you in terms of revenge. Indeed.” Her eyes hardened. “I never thought of you at all.”
He considered her for a long moment, then drew a deep breath. “You’re lying.”
“You’ll never know!”
“Oh, but I do know,” he said coolly. “You put me on your list. The top of your list. The list that sustained you through the years. I daresay, you thought about me quite a lot.”
“You are an arrogant beast!” She moved toward the door, and this time he did not stop her. She reached the door, opened it, and turned toward him. Her voice was level. “You were on the list because you were a . . . a book whose ending had not yet been read. I simply wished to finish it.”
His heart lurched. “Then, my dear Lady Rathbourne.” He swept an exaggerated bow. “Anytime you wish to cross this particular item off your list, I should be happy to be of service.”
She started to say something, then paused and cast him a brilliant smile. “I shall keep that in mind, my lord. However, if I were you, I would say your chances were better of sharing a bed with an Egyptian snake than with me.” She nodded, stepped through the door, and shut it hard behind her.
He stared after her.
He was on her list. Her damnable, bloody list! He meant no more to her than a line drawn through a sentence! Which was no more than he deserved. Still, hadn’t he done everything in his power to atone for his mistakes? Perhaps not entirely yet but at least a little?
She was the one who didn’t want to talk about the past. But she was obviously the one who hadn’t put it in the past. And he was the one doing his best to win her heart. She was planning all along to have her way with him, then toss him aside as if he were expendable.
Not in this lifetime.
And it was past time he stopped being so damn charming and amenable all the time. If he didn’t want to smile, he would no longer do so. Although, in truth, he had enjoyed their adventure thus far when he wasn’t trading his mother for ancient Egyptian jars. Or committing murder by ceiling. Or trying his best to make up for a mistake he made a decade ago. And hadn’t it been working? Hadn’t she begun to at least like him again?
He was on her list! Damnation. He meant no more to her . . .
Good God. He smacked his palm against his forehead. He was on her list! What a fool he was. He’d said it just a minute ago and apparently had paid no attention to his own words. She’d clung to that list through the years. And he was on it! He should have known. She’d always been a dreadful liar.
She had thought about him. She hadn’t forgotten what they’d had. And being on her list meant she wanted to be with him as badly as he wanted to be with her.
A grin broke on his face.
Wasn’t that an interesting development? Still . . . his grin faded. She was not going to admit that easily. Why the blasted woman might even try to prove some sort of absurd point by attempting to cross off the items on her list. Items that included other men.
Not bloody likely.
As for having no part in her future, he was her future. As she was his. And long before they finished this quest, he would make her realize it as well.
But if she wanted to share his bed and cross him off her list, his smile returned, she’d have to marry him to do it.
Seventeen
Be seduced by a handsome stranger.
From the secret list of desires of Olivia Rathbourne
If one weren’t twenty-eight years of age and a widow and eminently practical as well, one might have considered oneself an enchanted princess from the pages of a children’s story given one’s surroundings. At least for a moment. Olivia glanced around the ballroom, with its soaring frescoed ceilings and carvings picked out in gleaming gold. It was indeed a setting fit for enchantment.
They had arrived at the conte’s palace by boat, gliding along the silent canals, passing from light cast by lamps along the canals to mysterious shadows, from one pool of illumination to the next, under a sky lit by a thousand stars. An evening like this wasn’t on her list, but it should have been.
The hotel had supplied someone to dress her hair, and now, wearing the best gown she had brought, a lovely blue-green confection that reminded her of the waters of Venice, the mirror told her she looked her best. As did the look in Sterling’s eyes. Not that he had said so, or indeed had said much of anything on the ride here. Of course, neither had she.
A gentleman approached them and bowed. “Lady Rathbourne and Lord Wyldewood, I presume?”
Sterling nodded. “Good evening.”
“Good evening, my lord. I am Giuseppe Montalvado, secretary to the Conte de Sarafini.”
Olivia smiled. “And the conte?”
“He regrets he was unable to greet you upon your arrival as he was otherwise engaged,” the secretary said smoothly.
“We have only just arrived,” Sterling said.
“The conte would like to welcome you personally to his home and to his city. He awaits you in the drawing room. If you would be so good as to follow me.”
“Excellent.” Sterling nodded.
They made their way through the crowd, the elegance of which rivaled, or possibly surpassed, anything she had ever seen in London. She would have to remember to thank Millicent for advising her to save her grandest gown for an occasion worthy of it. Heads turned as they passed, and she noted with satisfaction the admiring glances of the gentlemen. And
noted as well, with admittedly less satisfaction, the equally admiring looks directed at Sterling by the ladies of the gathering. Tall and dashing and handsome, in his evening attire he was nothing short of magnificent. Enough to make any woman’s heart flutter in her chest. Even, perhaps, hers.
She had never intended to tell him he was on her list. And certainly not at the top of it. But she’d lost her head when his lips had caressed her neck, and his body had pressed close to hers. The words had come without thinking. Indeed, at that moment, she been unable to think of anything at all save his touch. Not that her admission wasn’t true. She had planned to share his bed and never see him again. But since their heated words this afternoon, she could not ignore the fact that just possibly that was no longer her plan. Nor could she ignore that since the moment his lips had touched hers, she could not think of anything but his kiss, his arms around her, his body next to hers. Yet another thing she did not intend to tell him.
They reached the far side of the ballroom and stepped into a corridor, the décor there only a little less ornate than the room they had just left.
She was still angry although admittedly she wasn’t sure why. She conceded that Sterling had every right to be irate. If he had intended to seduce her, then never see her again, she would certainly be furious. Perhaps her lingering anger was due to nothing more than the truth at last spoken aloud and the fact that he knew her far better after all these years than she had ever expected. Nonetheless, she was not about to fall into his arms or, at this point, his bed. And definitely not his life. He had indeed changed through the course of their journey and through the years as well, and no doubt was as trustworthy a man as anyone could hope to meet. Regardless, the question remained of whether or not she could trust him with her heart. Whether her own fears would allow her to do so. One fear she had admittedly not faced. She wished to start her life anew. How could she do so with him?
The secretary pushed open tall, carved, painted doors and gestured for them to enter. Olivia stepped into a room somewhat less ornate than any they’d passed through yet still elegant and most impressive.
“Lady Rathbourne.” A tall, handsome, dark-haired gentleman stepped forward and took her hand. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Conte de Sarafini.” He raised her hand to his lips, his gaze never leaving hers. She realized with surprise that he was fairly young, probably no older than Sterling. And shockingly attractive. “And I am at your service.”
Desires of a Perfect Lady Page 20