Tabitha was annoyed that she could not dispute Unity’s words.
“That all may be true,” she conceded. “But you still were not helpful during the conversation. You goaded both gentlemen on just to torment me.”
Unity folded her arms across her chest. “I did not wish to torment you. I simply was trying to assist you, sister. It is clear that Lord Morrington is interested in you, and you are interested in him. Do not try to deny it. You are sometimes so stubborn, you get in the way of your own best interests for the sake of your pride.”
“Unity, that is not for you to decide…” Tabitha snarled.
“Oh, wait, Tabitha, calm yourself,” Sophia murmured quickly. “Your favorite admirer is approaching.”
Tabitha froze and peeked over her shoulder. She groaned when she spotted Lord Burrows approaching them on horseback. He wore a large smile and raised his hand to wave at them in greeting.
“Ah! Miss Walters, Miss Unity, and Miss Sophia! How good to see you all!” he said in a jovial tone as he drew up to them.
Tabitha forced a polite smile, but she feared it may have been more of a grimace.
“Good day, My Lord,” she said through gritted teeth.
“My Lord,” Unity murmured with a nod of her head. She shot a cautious glance toward Tabitha.
“My Lord.” Sophia’s smile was more genuine. “What brings you out and about this lovely Sunday?”
“I was just enjoying a ride,” he replied, though his eyes did not stray long from Tabitha. “How fortuitous to come upon you all. I had been wondering if you were back home already.”
How did you know we were away? Tabitha could not help but wonder. She did not recall telling him she would be gone. He must have been asking about her, which did not sit well with her.
She tried not to think too much about the gentleman’s insistence at knowing where she was. It was not anything that should truly surprise her at this point in their acquaintance.
“Uh, yes, My Lord,” she replied. “We only just returned yesterday.”
“I see,” he nodded. “I hope your trip proved engaging?”
“Indeed it was,” Sophia replied enthusiastically.
“Now that you have returned, we must arrange a time for me to join you for tea,” he declared.
Tabitha blinked up at him, confused. “My Lord?”
She glanced toward Unity and Sophia, but they each appeared equally baffled by his words.
“You do not recall, Miss Walters?” he asked, his brows rising to his hair line. “During my last visit, since our time together was cut short, you promised to have me over for tea.”
Thinking back, Tabitha was distressed to remember she had, in fact, promised him such a visit.
How could I have been so foolish? Of course he would not forget that I said such a thing.
“Perhaps you can join us when Lord Morrington and Lord Habtage come to call?” Sophia suggested.
Tabitha and Unity both turned wide eyes to their sister.
Lord Burrows frowned, and his brow furrowed. “I am afraid I am not familiar with these gentlemen.”
“Truly?” Sophia sounded incredulous. “They are the talk of Laurelborough at present. They are two gentlemen from town who have taken up residence in Cantham Manor for the summer. They arrived nearly two weeks ago.”
Tabitha wished her younger sister knew better when to mind her tongue. They did not need the entire county to know that the two gentlemen at the front of most everyone’s minds would be attending them at their home. She especially did not want Lord Burrows to know and become jealous and create some type of fuss.
“I…I had not heard of them,” Lord Burrows admitted. His gaze was uncertain as he looked from one sister to the next. When he returned his attention back to Tabitha, he asked, “Are you well acquainted with these gentlemen?”
“In truth, we are not,” Tabitha hurried to answer before Sophia could say more. “They are coming to call upon our father. They are…they are interested in his business dealings.”
Lord Burrows appeared relieved at her assurances. “Ah, I see. They wish to be acquainted with the Baron. That is certainly a relief.”
Sophia opened her mouth to speak again, but Tabitha grabbed her hand and squeezed it tight in warning.
“Well, My Lord, it has been a pleasure,” Tabitha said, forcing her smile to brighten. “We should be getting along home, however. The Baron will be missing us, I am sure.”
“Of course,” he replied, tipping his hat to them. “I eagerly await your invitation, which I hope is not too long in coming.”
Tabitha wanted to kick herself for getting them into this situation in the first place.
“Yes, My Lord. It is always a pleasure for us to have our friends visit.” She emphasized that last bit so that he did not get the wrong impression, despite his previous assurances that he understood she was not interested in courtship with him. Tabitha knew better than to believe he would give up his pursuit of her so easily.
She would have to be cautious with her invitation.
Perhaps inviting him along with Lord Morrington and Lord Habtage is not a bad idea after all.
He could not claim romantic intentions on her part with the other two gentlemen present. It would simply be a gathering of acquaintances. Perhaps the gentlemen would even take to each other and become friends? Then they could spend their days with each other and not bothering her.
“Yes, Madam, well…” Lord Burrows appeared to struggle with what to say in response. “As I said, I will await the invitation eagerly. Good day.”
“Good day,” the sisters said nearly in unison, each dropping into a curtsy as Lord Burrows urged his horse forward. They stood together and watched him disappear down the road.
Tabitha released a sigh of relief when he was out of sight. Then, she whirled on her youngest sister.
“Are you mad? Why would you tell him we had invited Lord Morrington and Lord Habtage to meet Papa?”
Sophia shrugged, her expression wide and innocent. “I thought it would be easier for you to have them all at once so you would not be forced to endure separate engagements.”
“That was…thoughtful of you, I suppose,” Tabitha conceded with a grumble. She glared between both Sophia and Unity. “You both have put forward a marvelous effort today to humiliate me in front of both gentlemen, neither of whom, I can assure you, I have the least bit interest in.”
Unity and Sophia shared a look of disbelief.
“You can go on believing all you like that our intentions were to embarrass you,” Unity replied, tilting her chin up. “You will thank us one day when you are happily wed and settled.”
“That will not happen,” Tabitha insisted.
Sophia sighed. “It is simply not fair.”
“What is not fair?” Tabitha asked.
Sophia arched her brow. “You are the only one among us who has no interest in marriage, yet you are the one overwhelmed by eligible gentlemen. What a miserable trickster fate appears to be.”
With that, at least, Tabitha could not agree more.
“Rest assured, sisters, I will make it clear to both Lord Morrington and Lord Burrows that I want neither of them and they are wasting their time with me.” With that, Tabitha turned and began walking down the road in the direction of her home. She listened for her sisters to follow, which they did after a heartbeat of hesitation.
“Tabitha, dear, you know the trick with fate, do you not?” Unity called from behind her.
Tabitha glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. “No, I do not. What is the trick?”
“That it is inescapable,” Unity said with a wide smile.
Clenching her jaw, Tabitha jerked her gaze away from her sister and focused ahead of her. Sophia and Unity were both wrong, she was certain. Lord Morrington and she were not fated in any way. She could never love him, because she could not see herself ever liking him.
Her fate was not with the gentleman, no matter how much her t
raitorous heart raced when she thought of him. No matter how her body seemed to come alive with sensation when she was near him.
Our fates are not intertwined. It would be a cruel twist to place me with a gentleman like him.
Yet, as the sisters walked the short distance between the town and their home, her mind seemed only capable of focusing on him. No matter how hard she tried, she could not stop thinking of Lord Morrington’s arrogant smirk, or the golden hue of his hair.
Though the rational part of her scoffed at the very notion of being with him, another part of her, a more primal, instinctive, flesh and blood part of her, was eager to see what he would stir within her next.
Chapter 12
“So, that was your mysterious Lady Red,” Habtage said with a grin. It was shortly after their encounter with Miss Walters and Miss Unity in the book shop, and he and Edwin were riding back to Cantham Manor together.
“Indeed,” Edwin nodded, a small smile playing about his own lips. “I was beginning to think I would never see her again. What luck to stumble upon her like that.”
And in possibly the most appropriate place in town.
He could not stop thinking about her. Not that he particularly wanted to, but it amazed him how easily she held his attention, even when she was not around him. It also amazed him how his body remained primed for her, even after they had parted ways. His manhood was stiff and wanting to an almost painful degree. He would likely need to take himself in hand once they returned to the Manor to relieve the pressure twisting his lower belly. With discreet movement, he adjusted himself with his hand, as the ride was proving an uncomfortable one.
If Miss Walters knew the effect she had on me and the thoughts she provoked, she would likely flee from me in terror.
In his experience, innocent young ladies were ill-equipped to understand the lusts they provoked in the gentlemen around them.
“Her sister was rather lovely, I have to say,” Habtage spoke again, pulling Edwin from his increasingly lust-filled thoughts.
“Ah, yes,” Edwin agreed hurriedly, hoping his friend did not notice his aroused state. “Quite lovely.”
Though not as lovely as the elder Miss Walters.
“She may be among the prettiest ladies I have ever met,” Habtage continued, his voice tinged with wonder.
Furrowing his brow, Edwin glanced toward his friend and was surprised by the dreamy look softening his expression. He had never seen that look on the gentleman’s face before. Miss Unity had indeed been very pretty, but Habtage associated with many beautiful ladies back in town. Edwin did not think Miss Unity able to stand out among any of them, and yet Habtage acted as though she were Aphrodite come down from Olympus.
“You seem rather taken by her,” Edwin said, curious.
Habtage peered over at him with a half-grin. “Do I? I suppose I was rather struck by her.”
“By Cupid’s arrow, perhaps?” Edwin smirked, remembering his friend’s words after his first encounter with Miss Walters.
Habtage chuckled and shook his head. “Perhaps I have been.”
Edwin’s brows rose in surprise at his friend’s easy acceptance of what he had only intended to be a light ribbing.
“You have only just met the lady,” he pointed out. “How can you be so infatuated with her already?”
Habtage shot him an impatient look. “Is it not the same with you and the elder Miss Walters? You have obsessed over finding her again after encountering her only once, and briefly at that. Plus, I believe my first interactions with Miss Unity to have been much friendlier that what you described of your first meeting with her sister.”
“That is true, I suppose,” Edwin hesitantly agreed. “Still, I advise caution, my friend.”
I do not need you complicating things for me as I determine the best way to proceed with Miss Walters.
He would not admit out loud that his friend had been right when he had said Edwin’s interest in Miss Walter’s was more than mere curiosity. Now that he knew her name and to which family she belonged, he found himself more eager than ever to see her again and become better acquainted.
“She did not appear happy to see you, did she?” Habtage spoke with such glee, Edwin felt the urge to knock him from his horse.
“She did not,” he grumbled, some of his excitement at the prospect of their next encounter dimming.
Yet, even as she had glared at him and tried to escape his presence, he had been able to see past her cold exterior. Desire had flashed in her emerald gaze, he was certain of it. Her mind may be telling her to reject him, but there was a part of her that wanted him. He needed to dig deeper into that part if he had any hope of winning her.
And I do wish to win her, as shocking as that is.
She did not fawn over him as other ladies did. She did not try to catch his eye with flirtatious smiles and girlish giggles. His title and wealth did not appear to interest her in the least. Her rejection of him only made her more intriguing. It was only because he thought she buried genuine interest in him deep behind her frosty façade that he was willing to pursue her, however. Should he come to see that her dislike was true and intensely rooted, he would leave her be.
I am not one to force my presence upon a lady if she does not truly want it.
“Do you believe they will really extend us an invitation to tea?” Habtage asked. There was a note of concern into his tone. It was so subtle, had Edwin not known him as well as he did, he likely would not have picked up on it. Was he worried that he might not see Miss Unity again, as promised?
“I believe Miss Unity will insist upon it, and Miss Walters will try to convince her otherwise,” he replied. “I do think Miss Unity will ultimately win out, however, as Miss Walters appears unable to stray from the bounds of social propriety. They promised us said invitation, and she will eventually feel duty-bound to extend it.”
Habtage appeared relieved. “Ah, well, that is good then. I must confess, I am rather interested in learning more about the Baron’s enterprises.”
“As interested as you are in seeing Miss Unity again?” Edwin asked with a teasing lilt.
Habtage’s face turned a deep shade of red, which further shocked Edwin. His friend’s behavior was so odd. Yes, he was often willing to entertain the attentions of an eligible lady, but Edwin had never seen him act so smitten before.
“In truth, she holds the greater interest,” Habtage confessed in a soft voice.
Edwin directed his horse closer to Habtage’s so he could pat his friend on the shoulder.
“It is all right to admit it,” he said with a grin. “You are in good company, and at least your lady does not appear to despise your very presence.”
Habtage appeared thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “That is true. I already hold an advantage you do not. Miss Unity did appear to like me, at least.”
They both laughed at the unexpected turns of events they were sharing in and continued on toward Cantham Manor.
* * *
“My Lord, a letter has arrived for you,” Corbin said. He stood in the doorway of the study, where Edwin had hidden himself away to read in peace and quiet. He had thought if he lost himself in the pages of a book, he might get a brief reprieve from thoughts of Miss Walters. She had been the only thing on his mind since he and Habtage had returned to the Manor earlier that day.
“Thank you, Corbin,” he nodded, beckoning the butler forward. The old man handed him the letter and bowed his head.
“Will that be all, My Lord?”
“Yes, Corbin, you may go,” Edwin replied, his gaze focused on the letter in his hands. He knew immediately who had sent it, because it was once again sealed with undecorated wax and bore only his name on the front. With hurried fingers, he broke the seal to open it and read the words within.
My Dearest Lord Morrington,
I apologize for sending you another letter so shortly after my first. You have only been away a few short weeks, but it has felt like a lifetime already. Writ
ing you has proven my best distraction from the tumultuousness of my current situation. You were right to escape London when you did, as the ton’s criticisms and rumors have only intensified and grown viler.
I am all but ostracized by society. There are no invitations to gatherings or outings. No visits from the people I once believed were my friends. It is as if a black mark has been placed upon me, and all fear corruption by association. I am avoided as though I bear the plague itself. It is frustrating, and in truth, lonely. Please do not think I tell you this because I wish to make you feel guilty. I believe you are among the few people who can understand how difficult my current situation is. While I wish you were here to be able to speak to me face-to-face, you are better off in the country. I know your presence would only rile the ton to further gossip.
Improperly Enticed By The Rascal Earl (Steamy Historical Regency Romance) Page 9