Kiss Me Annabel

But Imogen was looking at him again, all fiery invitation. Ewan felt supremely uncomfortable. This was worse than the day when Mrs Park, down in the village, caught him stealing plums and threatened to tell his papa. He cleared his throat but somehow the marriage proposal just refused to word itself.

She leaned toward him, and her bosom rubbed against his arm. She was a nicely proportioned woman, though she hung it out for all the world to see. Then she started running a finger over his chest.

He cleared his throat again. She looked at him, all expectant. The offer of marriage just refused to come out.

So she spoke instead, and of course her voice was all low and husky, like the Whore of Babylon’s, Ewan had no doubt about that. ‘This affair is so tedious,’ she said, slipping a finger under the buttons of his jacket and caressing his shirt.

‘I’ve been enjoying it,’ he said awkwardly, trying not to move backward. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She was as vulnerable as a newborn calf.

‘I haven’t,’ she said, and she forgot that husky innuendo in speaking the truth. But it was back a moment later. ‘I’d very much like to…get to know you better, Lord Ardmore. May I call you Ewan?’

Now, how in the world had she learned his first name? He’d practically forgotten it himself, he’d been Lord Ardmore’d so much in the past few weeks. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘And I’d like to know you better as well.’

‘In that case…why don’t we spend some time together?’ The silky whisper was almost mesmerising, as was that hand wandering over his chest.

He swallowed. ‘Of course.’

‘Good.’ She straightened. ‘I’ll come to you at eleven o’clock.’ She looked about to stand up and leave.

‘Wait!’ He grabbed her wrist. ‘Are you saying…what do you mean, you’ll come to me?’

A little scowl knit her brow and perversely, he felt the first pang of attraction for her. ‘I’ll come to you,’ she said painstakingly. ‘Since I’m not currently living in an establishment of my own – although I mean to buy a townhouse just as soon as I have a moment on my own – I shall come to you, rather than the other way around.’

‘At eleven o’clock,’ he repeated.

She nodded, quite businesslike now.

‘At night?’ he clarified.

That scowl was back. ‘Of course. I’m generally quite busy taking calls in the morning.’

‘Ah.’ Well. They appeared to have different ideas in mind. ‘I’m not the man for that,’ he said, rather apologetically.

‘No?’ She looked stunned.

‘No. I’ve come to London to find a wife, you see.’

Now the scowl was really ferocious. In fact, it wasn’t adorable anymore, and reminded him dangerously of his Aunt Marge who once broke half a set of Spode china. Against his uncle’s head.

‘We’ve no real desire between us,’ he said gently.

‘Yes, we have!’ she snapped.

Ewan glanced up the hill, but there was no one watching. Then he reached out and tilted her head back, lowered his mouth to hers, and kissed her. It was pleasant enough, but nothing more. To compare it to that kiss he shared with her sister would be blasphemy.

‘You see, lass?’

She glared at him. ‘If you don’t wish to bed me, you needn’t make a song and dance about it.’

The pain in her eyes was so great that he instinctively put an arm around her shoulder. ‘Don’t touch me!’ she shouted. ‘There are men out there who are more than eager to – to do whatever I wish.’

‘I’ve no doubt of that,’ he said, but she had pulled away from his arm.

‘Don’t you dare pity me!’ she hissed. ‘The Earl of Mayne will do just fine. He’s not a limp Scotsman. I can guess why you travelled to London to find a bride! It’s because all my countrywomen knew that you had problems in the bedchamber, didn’t they? I’ve heard that sort of news travels fast.’

‘Thankfully, no,’ he said. But a sense of alarm was growing in his chest, and he grabbed her hand. ‘You can’t turn to Mayne; I met him last night.’

‘He wants me,’ she said, struggling to free herself. ‘He wants me, and you don’t, and that’s all there is to it.’

‘He’s too old for you.’

Her lip curled. ‘Mayne is in his early thirties. Since he was engaged to my own sister, I know all about him. And believe me, in all the pertinent facts, he’s in prime working order!’

‘He’s not old in years, in other things,’ Ewan said, knowing the truth about Mayne without hesitation. It was written on his face…a man didn’t reach thirty and above without leaving his scandals in his eyes. ‘Mayne’s a rakehell, a man who’s slept with far too many women. He’s tired.’

‘Ha!’ she said. ‘Tired may be how you’d excuse yourself, but I assure you that Mayne has never disappointed a woman.’

‘And there’ve been so many of them.’

‘Which means it will be all the more pleasurable for me,’ she said defiantly. ‘If you don’t let go of me, I’m going to scream.’

‘In that case, you’ll have to marry me,’ he said, and finally the words were easy enough. This poor girl needed rescuing more than any waterlogged kitten he’d ever pulled from the millpond. She was in a desperate way. ‘Marry me, Imogen. Marry me.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘I’ll never marry again, so would you please let go of my hand?’

‘Not until you promise to consider marrying me.’

‘Absolutely not. Release me, if you please.’

‘I’ll release you if you come to my chambers at eleven o’clock tonight,’ he said.

Her eyebrows rose. ‘Have you changed your mind, then?’

‘A woman with such spirit is always worth a second thought,’ he said, hoping she would fall for that nonsense. Which she did. A more naive scrap of a girl he’d never met. Now the only question was whether he could keep her from doing herself some sort of injury to her soul from which she’d never recover.

‘I’ll come to your chambers, but I’ll never marry you,’ she said clearly.

He let go of her wrist. ‘I’m staying at Grillon’s Hotel. Is this your first tryst, Imogen?’ As if he didn’t know the answer to that.

She raised her chin. ‘Yes, it is.’

So he was as crude as he could be, to shock her into thinking about what she was doing. ‘Affaires aren’t like marriages, you know. You needn’t bring a nightgown, because we’ll sleep naked, of course. And I do hope that your husband taught you how to pleasure a man.’

Colour crept into her white cheeks, but he was remorseless.

‘I’m fond of the coney’s kiss, if you catch my meaning, lass. Of course, a woman of the world, such as you are, won’t need any instruction in such matters.’

But she had more courage than he gave her credit for. ‘I don’t know everything about pleasuring a man, or perhaps I know nothing,’ she said.

He could have cried at the look in her eyes.

‘I’m willing to learn.’

‘Then say it: coney’s kiss.’ He bent toward her, knowing how large he was, deliberately looming over her. ‘Say it, why don’t you?’

‘No.’

‘Do you know what a coney is?’

‘No!’

‘Then why won’t you say it? Go on: coney’s kiss. Say it.’ He shaded his voice with a dark erotic desire, giving her a liquorish smile, the kind the villain in a melodrama always gives to the poor serving maid. ‘Coney’s kiss.’

She stared at him, all anger, confusion, and revulsion.

‘If you’re embarking on a life of ill repute, you’ll have to learn many such a phrase.’

She jumped away and flew up the slope, so fast that her slippers hardly touched the ground.

Had that worked or not? And if not, what the devil was he to do at eleven o’clock? A stupider idea he had never had.

What the devil was he to do?

The Herb Garden

Common wisdom had it that there were few things more disagreeable than coming face to face with a woman whom one has jilted.

But the Earl of Mayne had never felt that reluctance when it came to Tess Essex, now a happy Mrs Felton. In fact, he considered himself quite the injured party, given that he had traded in the shreds of his reputation after Felton told him to get out so he could marry Tess himself. Now everyone thought him a despicable rake, who had left a woman at the altar, whereas Felton was hailed as the knight who stepped in to save a lady’s reputation and future.

And considering that the Feltons were nauseatingly happy, he rather thought he should take credit for the match. In fact, it was amazing how he seemed to leave a trail of happily married women in his wake. First there was Countess Godwin – and he counted it quite a success that he could think of her without wincing, a full year later – and now there was Tess. Both of them were, by all accounts, blissfully happy, and never mind the fact that he was turning into a permanent bachelor.

Since the countess had rejected him, he hadn’t had even a simple intrigue. Nor a mistress. People didn’t quite realise it; sometimes he couldn’t believe it himself. At this point, he hadn’t been in a woman’s bed in a year, and given the apathetic state of his interest in the female sex, it was likely to be years more.

Tess smiled at him as he kissed the tips of her fingers, and that made him think about how well they would have got along as a married couple, if only his best friend hadn’t decided to take her away.

‘Feeling sorry for yourself again?’ she suggested sweetly.

‘I could have been a happy man,’ he grumbled.

She smiled at that and walked on, her fingers light on his arm. ‘I need to ask a favour.’

In his experience, when a married woman asks you for a favour, it’s often something that leads to pistols at dawn. Still…‘Has Felton been misbehaving?’ he asked with some surprise. It was positively unnerving to sit about with his old friend, the way that smile kept creeping onto his face.

‘Not yet,’ she said. ‘No, it’s about Imogen.’

‘I met her Scottish beau last night. Rafe was doing his best to persuade the man to marry elsewhere, but I gather Imogen has her own plans. What’s the matter, don’t you care for him?’

‘It’s not him that I’m worried about,’ Tess said. ‘She would do better with you.’

Mayne blinked. ‘With me?’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you talking about marriage or something other?’

‘Other,’ she said, just as calmly as if she were discussing raspberry syllabub.

He cleared his throat. ‘I’m not quite sure how you missed this pertinent fact, m’dear, but I’m not exactly a proper matron’s first choice. And, more to the point, your sister hasn’t chosen me for that honour.’

‘Yes, but you’re quite experienced in all that…’ She indicated that with a wave of her hand. ‘And Imogen –’

‘Does your husband have any idea you’re speaking to me on this matter?’

‘Of course not,’ she said tranquilly. ‘Lucius is much occupied with affairs of business.’

‘I think he would still be interested to know that you’re – you’re –’ But he couldn’t think of a polite way to phrase exactly what she was suggesting.

‘Let me be more clear,’ she said. ‘You haven’t had a mistress since the Countess Godwin returned to her husband, am I right?’

He waited for that sour twinge of bitterness, but it didn’t come. ‘I have not.’

‘Imogen does not truly wish to take a lover. But she seems wilfully self-destructive at the moment…I’m not sure why. At this rate, she will bankrupt her reputation and ruin herself. She’s throwing herself out of the ton. Perhaps so she’ll never be eligible for marriage again.’

‘Ah,’ Mayne said. He could almost understand that kind of grief.

‘But hardly anyone takes notice of your affaires, and if they do, the scandal seems to wear off within days.’

‘Humph.’ It wasn’t an attractive picture.

But she didn’t stop there. ‘I’d like you to dislodge the Earl of Ardmore, if you please. You can reuse some of those compliments you wasted on me.’

‘Tess –’

Quick as a cat, she turned on him before he could even voice all the reasons why this plan of hers would never work. ‘You owe me.’

He opened his mouth, but she raised her hand to stop him. ‘I know that you were merely obeying Lucius when you jilted me, but the truth of it is that you acted as you did from loyalty to your friend, and not loyalty to me, your betrothed. And when Lucius asked you to say nothing to me, you simply galloped away without a second thought. What if I hadn’t wished to marry Lucius? What then?’

‘That’s an absurd line of questioning, because you did.’ But he didn’t need her frown to see that she had a good point. ‘All right,’ he muttered. ‘I’ll cut out the poor Scot. He probably thinks to marry her, you know. I rather liked him last night, and I’m fairly sure that he said he has to marry well.’

‘He’ll find someone.’

Another thought struck Mayne. ‘What about Rafe? He’ll slay me.’

‘I’m sure you two can work it out between yourselves. Perhaps a fistfight?’ She needn’t sound so condescending.

‘Right. A fistfight. Maybe I can get Rafe drunk first and just trip him up.’

She patted him on the arm. ‘You males know precisely the best way to solve these little problems amongst you.’

‘Tess. You do realise what this is going to do to my reputation, don’t you?’

She cocked her head to the side and looked at him thoughtfully. ‘Imogen is an extremely beautiful young woman, but also a grievously sad one. If you could see your way to having this affaire without engaging in any intimacies, I’d be very grateful.’

‘That’s off the subject. I was pointing out that my reputation is going to be destroyed by first jilting one Essex sister, and then having a highly improper affair with a second, widowed Essex sister.’

‘Yes,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘But darling, if you were going to miss your reputation, you should have noticed years ago, when it first went missing. Now, if you could get right to work, I’d be very grateful. Because so far today Imogen hasn’t shocked anyone, but she has a gleam in her eye that I don’t like.’

Mayne sighed. ‘And just how do you interpret that gleam?’

‘She had just this look when she went riding over to the Maitland house, and the next thing I knew she had sprained her ankle, and a day after that she’d eloped with Draven Maitland, and the devil take the hindmost. Imogen simply doesn’t consider reputation very important. You two should get along very well.’

That was another slur, but Mayne let it pass. Obviously, he was being pointed like a bullet in the direction of Imogen, and since there was no way to escape it, he might as well give in.

Eight

Mayne found Imogen was sitting at the banquet next to her sister Annabel. There was a strange sense of isolation about her. Mayne had seen that time and again; he knew precisely what was happening. Imogen was being given the cold shoulder by the ton.

He walked over and sat down next to her. She was eating pigeon pie, and (thankfully) looked unperturbed. Some women dissolved into tears at their first snub; others felt deprived if they didn’t receive at least one cold shoulder of an evening.

‘May I join you?’ he said, giving her the special smile he reserved for future chères amies.

‘Of course.’ She looked indifferent.

‘I am so happy to see that you are out of mourning,’ he said softly.

‘In that case, you’ll be disappointed to learn that the fact I’m wearing black means I’m still in mourning.’

‘Black suits you like no other woman,’ he said, gazing soulfully into her eyes. She did have beautiful eyes, with bewitchingly long eyelashes. In the old days he would have been after her like a hound scenting a fox.

‘Actually, black makes me sallow,’ she said. ‘But once I told my modiste to lower my bodice as far as it would go, every man I meet seems to find it a satisfactory colour.’

Of course, his gaze automatically shifted to her breasts, and then flew back to her mocking face. ‘There was no need to call my attention to such a lovely aspect of your figure,’ he said, with just a touch of asperity.

‘Actually, there was,’ she said, taking a deep draught of wine. ‘You hadn’t noticed, had you?’

‘I was entranced by the cupid’s bow of your mouth,’ he said.

‘Nice phrase,’ she said, obviously unimpressed.

He suppressed a sigh. Apparently he’d lost his touch, but he couldn’t bring himself to give a damn. He could report failure to Tess, and this little episode would be over. After all, in his experience a woman bent on sending her reputation into flames usually succeeded. There was no reason for him to burn to a crisp with her.

But then Imogen glanced at him over her shoulder and said, ‘So who put you up to my seduction?’

‘What?’

‘You don’t know Annabel well enough, so my guess would be Tess.’ She must have read the truth in his eyes. ‘Tess! Who would have thought that she could stop thinking about her delectable husband long enough to give me a thought?’

The thought of Tess and her husband seemed to give her a pang, because she got a queer look on her face, like a little girl lost in a storm, and Mayne felt some of his resolution to walk away slip.

‘Thank you for the letter you sent after Draven died,’ she said, abruptly changing the subject.

‘I was sorry to miss the funeral. Maitland was a good man with a horse. And a humorous story,’ he added.

‘He was funny, wasn’t he?’ Imogen said. ‘I –’ She looked away from him and drank some more wine.

Someone brought him a plate of food. He took a bite and choked on its sweetness. Imogen looked back at him, all mocking again, and said, ‘In the Renaissance, spices were the only way to preserve meat. I think there might be quite a lot of nutmeg in this food. The recipes are all authentic.’

‘Good.’ He signalled the waiter for wine. Which wasn’t quite normal because there were strange, small objects floating about in his glass, but he could live with that.

‘How well did you know Draven?’ She asked it very casually, as if the answer meant nothing to her, but Mayne hadn’t spent his twenties sleeping with married women without learning the ins and outs of a casual question. Imogen very likely knew the answer; she just wanted to talk about her husband. His mother had been the same, after his father died.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.