“Darling, I don’t mind.” Her mother looked flattered, eager to be included.
“Go back to your flowers, Mama,” Jane said under her breath. “The garden needs you.”
“The dress, Athena.” Grayson gestured her closer with a languid wave of his fingers. “What do you think? Give us the benefit of your wisdom.”
Her ladyship stepped forward to study her daughter in critical silence. “To be perfectly honest, I have never liked gray on the girls, except when the situation called for gravity, of course. Gray, unless in the palest hues, should be worn by governesses and housekeepers. Now, silver—”
Jane inserted herself between them. “Is this a conspiracy?”
“It is not.” Grayson paused, breaking into a helpless grin at Jane’s indignant expression. “It does seem to be a consensus of opinion, though. I think you ought to change, considering there will be dancing at the affair we are attending.”
Jane shook her head in disbelief. She had the distinct feeling of being caught in a trap by a very clever, handsome hunter. Short of causing another unpleasant scene, there seemed to be little she could do. Not with her mother coaxing the devil on. Honestly, what a vexing man. What a muddle.
“Dancing?” Her lips thinned. “The day after I was—very well, Sedgecroft, I shall change. Would you like to select the size of my buttons? Inspect the inseams of my gloves? Do you have any particular color preference, barring the pigeon hues?”
Mischief danced in his eyes, alluring, irresistible. “I prefer pink, but of course the choice is yours.”
“No, it isn’t,” she grumbled, pivoting toward the house, “because the plain fact is that I prefer gray.”
Grayson nearly regretted his suggestion that she change when she reappeared a full half hour later. Her diaphanous pink gauze draped a curvaceous body that tempted all his latent demons. He was perfectly aware that she had made him wait on purpose, although far be it from him to complain.
Not when the end result torched his senses. Not when it was all he could do simply to breathe and remind himself that he ought to feel guilty for desiring her. He knew full well she was susceptible to seduction after having been so cruelly abandoned by his cousin. He wouldn’t take advantage of her, would he?
His eyes darkened in frank male approval as he indulged his instincts in a long, hungry look. The wait had been worth it. Jane’s curves made his mouth water—her full, high breasts; those rounded hips; and her lithe, tapered legs. His throat tightened as he leaned casually against the brick wall and watched her approach, his gaze returning to her face. Sultry, sweet, but not cloyingly so. She should have made mincemeat out of Nigel, not the other way around.
He had already acknowledged privately that something more than noble intentions had inspired at least part of his plan to help her. Not that he could act on these baser Boscastle motives. But there was no point in deceiving himself either. He found Jane appealing, fascinating in ways he could not fathom. It made helping her easier. It even added an element of danger to their association.
“That is a vast improvement,” he said politely, no hint in his voice that he had just undressed and bedded her in his imagination. That for a moment she had cast a spell of helpless attraction over him, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
“It is?”
Her annoyed frown did absolutely nothing to destroy the sexual images that paraded through his mind, the vision of their bodies joined in pleasure. His own reaction frightened him a little. Knocked him emotionally to his knees. Fortunately he had learned long ago to hide what he felt, or he might have frightened her to death.
“I never lie, Jane,” he said, offering her his arm.
She stared at him before reluctantly tucking her hand into his elbow. “You might not lie, but you certainly dominate.”
“That is also true,” he murmured, drawing her against him to open the gate hidden in the wall.
Their bodies touched again, and Jane barely managed not to sigh in pleasure. Instead, she breathed in his scent, wool and Castile soap, the warm tang of his skin, the sheer maleness that made her feel so protected and vulnerable at the same time. Part of her wanted to lean even closer and sate her senses. The other part wanted to retreat from the attack on her judgment. Just because she had committed one enormous sin didn’t mean she was destined to descend into decadence, did it? She had to wonder.
In the core of her being she felt like candle wax held against a raw flame, burned up by the heat he exuded. She lifted her gaze. His eyes ensnared hers, sultry, sensuality unhidden, before he casually flicked up the latch and guided her onto the narrow flagstone footpath to the street. She huffed out a breath. Heaven only knew what he was thinking or why she was going along with whatever plan he had in mind.
She balked, realizing she had been so enrapt in him that she wasn’t paying attention to their destination. “What is wrong with the front entrance? I thought we wanted to be seen.”
“We do.” He straightened his white neckcloth, giving her a conspiratorial grin. “But there happens to be a particularly vile reporter on your doorstep whom I will probably end up killing one day. You, my dear, are not about to be a baby lamb for the likes of him.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t even thought to read the morning papers. “Is the news very ugly?” she asked in hesitation.
His hard face softened slightly. “Brutal.”
“Then I refuse to do this.”
He motioned with his free hand to the liveried footman waiting at the curb. His other hand firmly prevented her from pulling away. “Remount, Jane.”
“Re—what?” she said in exasperation, then, “Unhand me, Sedgecroft, or I shall . . . hit you.”
“I’m doing this for your own good,” he said, escorting her past the growing crowd of curious onlookers who had hoped to catch a glimpse of the jilted bride and her infamous escort.
She swatted at his shoulder, whispering, “Everyone is staring at us.”
“Then stop resisting me,” he whispered back with a lazy smile.
“Then let me go.”
“But, my little disgraced angel, what if you should fall?”
“Fall?”
“Into the street amid all those nasty cow droppings and custards.”
“I suppose that’s a risk I shall have to take.”
“Not in my presence. I would never allow a woman I escort to come to harm.”
“Would you allow her to harm you?”
His eyes twinkled with enjoyment. “It depends. What did you have in mind?”
“Presumably not what you’re thinking.”
He gave a low laugh and pulled her closer to him to murmur, “Smile at our audience, Jane. Remember that I have replaced Nigel in your heart. It won’t do for us to be quarreling in the street the first day we are seen together.”
Despite the fact that she hadn’t agreed to any of this, Jane could not help responding to his confidence. He sounded as if he did this sort of thing every day. He made it sound like a marvelous adventure.
“I cannot believe my mother is letting you take me off without a chaperone,” she grumbled.
“We have a chaperone.” He bore her toward the elegant black carriage that had pulled up behind them, looking pleased that she obeyed him. “Your brother is waiting for us in there.”
“Simon . . . a party to . . .”
He leaned into her, the playful mockery in his eyes darkening with sultry promise. She stared at his face, mesmerized, a blush burning its way up the back of her nape, her body softening in sinful anticipation.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“Don’t look now, darling, but that press reporter is coming around the corner.”
“May I faint?”
“After I get you into the coach.” He brought his head to hers, speaking in a soothing voice that reminded Jane he was no stranger to scandal himself. “Ah, good, he’s gone the other way. Let’s just wait a moment to be sure.”
H
is breath teased the edge of her jaw, warm, a taunt to her senses. His broad shoulders blocked her from view. In a heartbeat she was consumed in heat, in confusion, in the heady presence of him. His left arm lifted as if to protect her. His mouth grazed her skin. It was a brief contact, a casual brush of his lips against the sensitive curve of her cheekbone. One watching may not have been sure whether he had merely whispered in her ear. But Jane felt the sensual power he wielded in every erratic beat of her heart.
Her body temperature rose as she stood there, tingling in sheer pleasure, in anticipation. She half expected him to kiss her again, right there in the street.
“Er, Jane,” he said, his deep voice startling her.
She blinked twice. “What is it?”
“Get into the carriage,” he instructed her with a laugh. “I believe you’re drawing attention to yourself.”
“I’m drawing attention?”
He smiled into her eyes. “Yes. Perhaps you should get into the carriage.”
She shook her head, trying to break the spell. “The carriage.”
He looked amused. “Is something wrong?”
“Well, it’s just for a moment I thought . . . I thought . . .”
He pretended to look shocked. “Don’t tell me you thought I was going to kiss you right in front of your own house?”
She drew her breath, mortified at his perception. “I never once—”
He brushed his gloved finger under her chin. “You are a lady, Jane, and I am trying to restore your good name. If you really wish for me to kiss you, however, I shall be happy to oblige you inside the carriage.”
The fact that he was making fun of her in no way weakened the quiver of pleasure that his touch sent through her system. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
He made a sympathetic noise. “Shame.”
“Yes, you’re the shame,” she retorted, finally regaining her composure. “Why are those people across the street staring at me like that?”
He crooked his finger at the footman. “I don’t know. Perhaps they wish they could kiss you, too.”
She made a soft choking sound as she felt his large hand nudge her impertinently up the folding step. Too embarrassed to react, she glanced at the pair of footmen who flanked her like stone statues, apparently used to their master’s evil ways.
“No one has ever kissed me in public before,” she whispered over her shoulder, determined to make the matter clear. “I did not wish for you to do so.”
“Well, if you change your mind . . .”
She fought a horrible urge to laugh. “If Simon hears this conversation, he will certainly take you to task.”
The glitter of deviltry in those blue eyes should have warned her. She climbed into the spacious carriage and stared in despair at the inert male body sprawled across the opposite seat. Some chaperone there. Her brother lay sleeping off the excesses of the evening. Utterly oblivious to her dilemma. Dead to the world except for the random snore that erupted from him like a wild boar.
“That’s not a chaperone,” she exclaimed. “That’s . . . a corpse.”
Grayson gave her a gentle shove onto the seat, his mouth quirking at the corners. “He serves his purpose.”
He watched in amusement as she attempted to position herself beside her brother’s sprawled body, realized it was impossible, then finally gave up, sitting down next to Grayson in flustered resignation. He was beginning to feel rather off balance himself and couldn’t figure out why.
He had enjoyed his fair share of comely women and had never felt this unsettled in their company. Perhaps he was unbalanced because the role of white knight seemed unfamiliar to him. Or perhaps it was because for the first time in his life he had to contemplate every step he took. Which brought him back to the matter of Jane herself. What was he supposed to do when he knew she found him appealing? Pretend he was not flattered? Squash all his familiar male instincts?
Yes, indeed, he would have to watch his step. Not merely for public opinion. God knew he had been the object of gossip often enough in the past. It would serve the scandalmongers right if he tricked them. Malicious talk had injured his family more than once. He would be damned if he’d let Jane suffer more indignity than she already had though.
Jane wriggled against him, and the sensation brought him immediately out of the mental realm into the physical. Conspiracy or not, he suspected his aspirations to chivalry could not last forever.
Walking the sunlit path of respectability did not come naturally. . . . Dancing in the darkness was another matter altogether.
Jane was right. He had wanted to kiss her in the street, but he doubted that even her imagination could dream how far beyond a kiss he would like to go.
Chapter 7
“I have decided something,” Jane remarked a moment later as the carriage set off down the street.
“What is that, Jane?” he asked pleasantly.
“I am going to pretend that conversation in the street never occurred.” She cleared her throat. “And that incident between us in the Red Gallery yesterday.”
He picked up the newspaper that was wedged between them, deliberately dislodging her derriere in the process. “As you like.” The shadow of a smile crept across his face. “If you can.”
She folded her hands demurely in her lap. “It is already forgotten.”
He put down the newspaper, obviously not content to let matters rest. “Would you like me to refresh your memory?”
“Perhaps we should refresh your manners first.”
She had just decided how to deal with him. Handling awkward matters could not ruffle the feathers of a Welsham swan for long. Self-control came as naturally to this daughter of an earl as flirtation did to Sedgecroft. The situation simply required that she fight his manliness with etiquette.
“So, my lord. You look well rested this morning. Did you pass a peaceful night?”
There was a pause. She wondered suddenly if he might take her inquiry as encouragement to describe his nocturnal activities in titillating detail. She steeled herself for a recitation of naughty misadventures.
He glanced down at her, the glitter in his eyes making her catch her breath. “Let me think. A few hours after I left you, I caught Chloe sneaking out with the ladies in her social-reform society. They practically attacked me when I refused to let her go out on whatever misguided mission they had in mind. I had to lock her in her room.”
“That does seem a dangerous activity for the evening,” Jane agreed.
“That was only the beginning. I then proceeded to search the whole of Vauxhall Gardens for my brother.”
“Which brother would that be?” she asked, envisioning the crew of handsome blue-eyed rogues in the chapel yesterday.
“I was looking for Drake, who, as it turns out, was busy selecting which pair of boots he would wear for his duel in the morning.”
“He fought a duel today?” she asked in alarm.
“Fortunately not,” he said with a rueful sigh. “His adversary made a public apology a few minutes before the duel was to take place.”
“Good heavens, Sedgecroft.”
He leaned his head back, his blond hair brushing his collar. “It was anything but a restful night. Responsibility carries a price.”
So did deception, Jane thought with a pang of unease as he settled himself into a more comfortable position, his knee pressed to hers. His powerful build heightened her awareness of how precarious their relationship was. She wondered how he could be so different from his cousin Nigel. And why she could not have met him first. Not that he would have even noticed her with a mistress on each arm, or that she would have made any attempt to make him do so.
She stared out the window, pondering the strange quirks of fate.
The carriage came to a stop, snagged in the crush of early-afternoon traffic. Oxcarts, coaches, pedestrians darting across to the pavement, crossing sweepers clearing pungent manure from the street. She gasped as Sedge-croft rose, seizing he
r arm, and pulled her from the seat.
She glanced helplessly at her dozing brother. “Simon, wake up this instant, you worthless excuse for a chaperone.”
Simon gave a piggy snort and rolled onto his other side.
“Where are you taking me, Sedgecroft? There are people outside watching your carriage.”
“I know,” he said without a qualm. “That is one of my bankers and his wife on the corner. The woman happens to be a notorious gossip.”
“What am I supposed to be doing?”
He helped her down onto the pavement. “Enjoying yourself.” He lowered his voice. “Allowing me to spoil you. Stop frowning like an owl for one thing. Pretend to be delighted.”
“Delighted? Over what?”
“Over our blossoming romance, darling.” He beckoned to a pair of flower vendors on the corner, tossing a handful of coins into the baskets they held. The two older women blushed beneath their straw bonnets and thanked him by name. Before Jane could question him, she found herself smothered in masses of fragrant posies, a gift that the girl in her could not help responding to.
She bit her lip, her palms suddenly damp inside her gloves. That banker’s wife recognized her, all right. She felt the woman’s gaze go straight to her in scandalized recognition. Oh, how embarrassing. As if yesterday hadn’t been enough, although it was fun to be spoiled in public.
“What is everyone going to think?” she whispered.
“Probably that I am enamored of you,” he replied, appearing unperturbed.
“Why?” she asked, unwillingly intrigued by the thought.
“Well, you’re lovely and sweet for one thing.”
“No, I’m not. I’m rather ordinary and mean.”
He laughed. “Well, then. You’re modest.”
“And the whole of London is supposed to believe you’re buying me flowers to honor my remarkable modesty?”
His slow beguiling smile gave her the shivers. “Everyone will think there is something more between us.”
“Something . . .”
“A serious courtship,” he said with a shrug.
The Seduction of an English Scoundrel Page 7