Scandal of the Season

by Christie Kelley

  “Thank you. Are you going out with the other men to cut down an evergreen today? Hannah said Lord Farleigh insists the tree be cut and installed in the house before the ball tomorrow night.”

  “If Hardy goes, so will I.”

  “Hannah asked me to help her with the decorations for the ball. She assumed I would have experience being the daughter of a squire.” She pulled on her flannel nightgown to cover herself.

  “Are you nervous?”

  “A little. I have no experience decorating for a ball.”

  “Just pretend you are Jennette, Avis, or Elizabeth. Surely you have heard them discussing what must be done before they entertain?”

  She had, but rarely had she added her ideas to the discussion. The ball tomorrow night would be the first she had ever attended. There would be more people attending from the local area. And there would be dancing. People would expect her to dance. She bit down on her lip in thought. Seeing the couples dancing the other night, she’d so wanted to join them.

  “What is wrong?” he asked, walking toward her. “You look quiet pensive.”

  “It is nothing,” she replied with a shake of her head.

  “Something with the ball?”

  “No, I shall be fine.” She turned away and walked to the linen press. Perhaps she should feign a headache tomorrow night. But she could not do that because if Somerton needed her, she must be in attendance.

  She would have to pretend her ankle was still bothering her and refuse all dances.

  Anthony watched her reaction to the conversation about the ball and realized why she’d become so preoccupied. After eating a quick breakfast, Anthony sought out Hannah and explained that after mourning her husband for two years, Victoria felt apprehensive about dancing.

  Hannah assured him he could have the music room uninterrupted while the men were on the hunt for a tree to place in the house. With that settled, he roamed the house searching for Nicholas. He finally found his friend in the conservatory with a book on his lap.

  “Nicholas, I have been looking for you.”

  Nicholas looked up from his book as Anthony closed the door behind him. “Is there a problem?”

  “No, I need a favor.” Anthony took the seat across from him.

  “You know I will do whatever I can. What do you need?” Nicholas closed his book and placed it on the table.

  “I need to stay here this afternoon while the gentlemen go with Farleigh to cut down a tree. Can you keep an eye on Hardy if he decides to attend?”

  “Of course. Why can’t you go?”

  “Victoria is worried about the ball tomorrow. She has never attended a ball and has never danced.”

  Nicholas smiled. “I would be happy to stay behind and teach her myself. I have been told by many women that I am a wonderful dancer.”

  “I am sure you are, however, I will teach her to dance.”

  “I do love the jealous tone of your voice.”

  “Go to the devil, Ancroft.” He hated the thought that someone might see that he cared for Victoria. That could put her in danger. He couldn’t let something happen to her because of this job.

  “I’m quite sure I will, Somerton. But you may beat me there.”

  “Have no doubt about that,” Anthony added. There was no saving his soul at this point in his life.

  “I will follow Hardy,” Nicholas said with a sigh. “Have you found anything yet?”

  “No.”

  “I suppose mistakes can be made.”

  “Unfortunately, the people who give the information are usually as trustworthy as the criminals themselves,” Anthony commented. “Have you decided what you will do after the party?”

  “I believe I will travel for a short while. Get away from the cold of England in January. Then when I return, I will probably have to start my search for a bride. My father is rather upset that at the age of nine and twenty I haven’t settled down and had a brood of boys for him.”

  “The curse of being a peer,” Anthony said. “At some point, I will be in the same situation. Although, I do believe my father may be coming to terms with the idea of my not marrying.”

  Nicholas waved a hand at him. “You will marry, Somerton. But only for love.”

  “It’s not love I’m looking for.”

  Nicholas eyed him carefully. “I have seen and heard the reactions of your attempts to gain acceptance back into Society. You want respectability.”

  “I seem to have lost that trait during the past ten years. It’s been suggested that I marry to retrieve it.”

  Nicholas shrugged. “Respectability is overrated. Marry for love, Somerton.”

  “Says the man who loved his mistress until his father paid her off, leaving said man with a young daughter to raise.”

  “That was a long time ago,” Nicholas said with a grimace. “I heard about a woman in London. A matchmaker. It’s said that she can find your true love. I may try her when I return from the Continent. Her name is Miss Reynard. I believe she may even be friends with my cousin, Elizabeth.”

  Wonderful, Anthony thought. Now Sophie would be after him to help Nicholas find a match. “Good luck with that. I believe I shall do as recommended and get my respectability back.”

  “Come along, Anne,” Lady Farleigh said as Victoria walked down the hall.

  Victoria had no idea what Hannah was up to this morning. Almost as soon as Victoria had finished breakfast, Hannah had insisted she join her. “Where are we going?”

  “We have only an hour or two while the men are gone to refresh your memory on a few of the basic steps to a couple of dances.”

  They entered the room and Victoria looked over at Somerton who was lounging in a chair with a sardonic smile on his face. He’d told Lady Farleigh that she could not dance! “And why is Lord Somerton here?”

  Lady Farleigh laughed. “To be your partner. And since you cannot dance without music, I will play the pianoforte while Lord Somerton dances with you.”

  “Very well,” she said, waiting for Somerton to move. She had no idea if he was a good dancer or not. Then again, it hardly mattered as long as he could teach her a few dances.

  “What shall we start with first, Somerton?”

  “A waltz. I know it’s your favorite, Hannah, so it’s bound to be played more times tomorrow than any other music,” Somerton replied. “Besides, with just the two of us, it will be easier to teach her that than a quadrille.”

  “And much more enjoyable,” Hannah added with a smile. She paged through some music and said, “Any time you are ready, Somerton.”

  Victoria swallowed as he rose and walked over to her. He gave her a sardonic smile before holding out his arms. She took a step forward and clasped her hand in his. Feeling the heat of his bare hand on her back caused a tiny shiver to roll through her body. Seeing his smile widen, she knew he’d felt it too.

  She attempted to pay attention as he gave her the brief instructions needed to perform the dance. Hannah started to play and he counted out the steps for Victoria.

  “One, two, three,” he said in his deep voice. She stepped on his boots. “Try it again.”

  Hannah started from the top of the song. After five attempts, Victoria stopped. “I will never get this.”

  He looked back at Hannah. “Would you give us two minutes alone, Hannah?”

  “Is that all it takes you now, Somerton?” she replied with a seductive smile.

  He arched one brow at her and shook his head.

  “Very well,” she said before walking across the wood floor. She closed the door behind her.

  “Now look at me,” Anthony said, staring down at Victoria. “A waltz is everything you love.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He brought her back into his arms but closer this time. “It’s scandalous to dance a waltz. You must stand in a man’s arms with his hand on your back. It is almost seductive the way your body melts with his.”

  She stared up at the green tone of his eyes and paid no att
ention to anything else.

  “With a waltz, body parts might actually touch, causing all sorts of inappropriate sensations.” He pulled her even closer and they moved together without any music.

  Her body heated from the close contact. She wanted more than a dance right now.

  “You are dancing, sweetheart,” he whispered.

  “What?” her feet stopped moving. “I was not!”

  His smile caused her heart to pound in her chest. “Yes, you were.”

  Just then, Hannah strolled back into the room. “It looks as if you two are getting along much better now.”

  Victoria backed away. “He was teaching me to dance, nothing else.”

  Hannah shrugged and returned to the pianoforte. “Start at the beginning. And this time, if you make a mistake, keep going.”

  Anthony pulled her back into his arms but not as close as before. “Ready?”

  Victoria nodded. This time when the music started, she kept her eyes on him. They glided across the dance floor as if they had done this a hundred times.

  “Much better,” he said softly.

  After practicing the dance for the better part of two hours, they heard the gentlemen return. Victoria’s feet ached. She sat down on the sofa while Anthony left so Hardy didn’t catch them together.

  “So what are you two really about?” Hannah said as she walked to the sofa.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Somerton told me you hadn’t danced in several years because of mourning for your husband. You looked as if you had never danced a day in your life.”

  Embarrassment heated her cheeks. “I have never danced a waltz before, Hannah. It is a newer dance and is only just becoming accepted.” At least she hoped that was a correct statement. She’d heard Jennette speak about how wonderful the dance was, but even her friend had told her that it was slightly wicked.

  “Then why don’t you show me the steps for a minuet. That is a much older dance and I am sure you must have danced it before.”

  Victoria looked away. She did not belong here or anywhere that involved Society. Even Hannah, a former prostitute and mistress was better at comporting herself in Society than she. If it weren’t for the money, she would never have agreed to attend with him. Just keeping up the pretense of being a vicar’s daughter became tiresome, but pretending to be a lady was impossible.

  “I don’t know how to dance the minuet either,” she finally admitted. “I have never danced in public.”

  Hannah gave her a look that reminded Victoria of her own mother. “Anne, will you please tell me what is really going on?”

  Victoria wanted to cry out that she wasn’t Anne any longer. But deep inside her, she would always be the pickpocket. “I am not the daughter of a country squire.”

  “Are you Somerton’s mistress?”

  After last night, she assumed she was his mistress, at least for the rest of the week. “Yes,” she admitted.

  “Why the lie, especially to me?”

  “Somerton didn’t want anyone to know that I was not as educated as most of the women he associates with. He thought it best to make up an identity for me.”

  Hannah shook her head. “It makes no sense coming from him. He, of all people, knows my background. He should have known that I would have accepted you no matter how you were raised. Unless…” Her voice trailed off and a faraway looked entered her eyes.

  “Unless what?”

  Hannah smiled. “Unless he made up the story to make you more acceptable to others in the ton. Widows are always taking lovers so for you to be with him is not the most scandalous of stories.”

  Victoria furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand. Why would that matter to him?”

  Hannah clasped Victoria’s hands with hers. “Don’t you understand? It means he intends to bring you to London and introduce you to Society. It means he will most likely ask for your hand!”

  Hearing the excitement in Hannah’s voice, Victoria wished she could feel the same enthusiasm. But she knew better. Somerton had not invented the story to introduce her to Society in town. Nor did he want to marry her. She was just his pretend, now real, mistress for the week.

  Remembering Lord Ancroft’s words about how Somerton did not keep mistresses, she knew once the week was over, so was their time together. A short-term mistress was all she would be to him.

  And she would never be anything more.

  After Hannah left the music room, Victoria wandered over to the window. It hadn’t snowed in a day and now small patches of grass had started to show through the snow. She rested her forehead on the cold window as a shiver ran through her body. She missed her small house and the children.

  But she also knew that once she returned to London, she would miss Somerton even more.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Anthony walked to the entranceway and almost laughed. Ten gentlemen attempting to bring a large fir tree into the house was almost comical. They finally pushed the tree through the door and stopped. He moved out of their way so they could maneuver the thing down to the ballroom.

  “Is this not the most ridiculous thing you have ever seen?” Hannah asked him as she reached his position at the threshold of the salon.

  “It is entertaining to watch.”

  “My husband is a madman. Why he insists on this foolish notion is beyond me. Last year the tree sat on the table. That was perfectly acceptable. But this monstrosity will overtake the room.”

  “He loves you,” Anthony said feeling a quick stab of envy. He brushed aside the emotion. He didn’t want love, only respectability again. “He only wants to make you happy and proud.”

  Hannah smiled and gave her husband a loving look. “That he does. Perhaps someday I shall be able to repay his generosity.”

  “I doubt he expects anything but your love in return.”

  Before Hannah turned her head away from him, he noticed the look of pain in her eyes. He wondered at her reaction. Maybe Hannah and Farleigh were not as in love as they appeared to be.

  Love did not matter. It only caused heartache for one of the people involved. Love didn’t help his mother when Father was having multiple affairs and even a child with another woman. Love was for fools and Anthony wasn’t a fool.

  He watched Victoria walking down the corridor. His heartbeat increased as she came closer. Maybe he was just a bit of a fool.

  “Might I speak with you alone?”

  Hearing the staid tone of her voice, he wondered if something was wrong. So much for the afternoon he had planned. A leisurely lovemaking and bath together. “Go to our room. I shall join you in a minute.”

  He watched her slim hips sway under the brown wool of her skirts.

  “Did you say anything to her after I left?” he asked Hannah.

  A slight blush darkened her cheeks. She quickly related the conversation in the music room.

  “Damn,” he muttered. “Now she is probably angry with me for letting you know about her dancing.”

  Hannah frowned at him. “She didn’t seem angry. A little embarrassed but not mad.”

  “Well, she isn’t about to take her anger out on you. She will reserve that honor for me.”

  “Good luck, then,” Hannah said and then moved away.

  With a sigh, Anthony walked up the steps to their room. Opening the door, he found Victoria staring out the window of the small salon.

  “What is wrong, Victoria?”

  She bit down on her lower lip. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “What exactly are you thanking me for?”

  She glanced down at the floor. “Teaching me to dance. You didn’t have to do it. But it was a very kind thing—”

  “I did not do it out of the kindness of my heart.” Anthony wasn’t even sure he had one. “You should know me better by now.”

  “Perhaps you didn’t, but it was a thoughtful thing to do anyway.”

  “Maybe I had an ulterior motive,” he suggested with a slight smile.

  She
looked up at him and returned the smile. “Oh?”

  He stepped closer to her until he was only inches away from her. “You might want to thank me properly.”

  Closing the distance between them, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Exactly how would I do that?” she whispered in his ear.

  “Kissing me would be a perfect start.” He waited to see if she would do as he suggested.

  She gave him a sensual smile that almost made him forget about letting her control this situation. Her head tilted and moved nearer as her eyes closed. Tentatively, her lips touched his as if unsure how to proceed.

  He resisted the urge to pull her closer, wanting her to learn that she could take the reins in lovemaking. Feeling her tongue touch his lips, he opened for her, deepening the kiss as his desire burned. She moaned softly when their tongues met.

  He sensed the minute her shyness disappeared. She pressed herself closer to him, rubbing her hips against his hard cock. Moving her hands to his cravat, she untied it quickly. As his control slipped, he pulled off his jacket and waistcoat, eager to feel her naked skin on his.

  He unfastened the buttons on her dress and slid it down to the floor. He made quick work of her undergarments as she tugged at his linen shirt. She pulled away slightly as she pushed his trousers down over his hips.

  “Shouldn’t we move to the bed?” she asked.

  “No. I want you right here on the floor by the fireplace.”

  She frowned slightly, staring down at the carpet. “Won’t that be uncomfortable?”

  “Don’t worry, I will be on the floor and you shall be on top of me.” He pulled her back to him and kissed her again.

  Victoria returned his kiss. He wanted her on top of him? A rush of excitement flowed through her veins. He moved his lips down her throat until he reached her nipple. As he drew it into the hot recesses of his mouth, she gasped. She grabbed his shoulders for support.

  He dropped to his knees and kissed his way down her belly as his fingers slid between her folds. His lips quickly replaced his fingers. As his tongue slid across her nub, she thought her legs would give out on her. With nothing to reach for support, she tried to keep herself standing. Passion built to a steady crescendo and as his finger entered her, she let the climax wash over her until she collapsed against him.