Page 29 of Temptations of a Wallflower
“And here I didn’t take you for a sailor,” he said with a smile.
“Perhaps I’ll ship off to tropic seas.”
“Careful,” he warned. “It’s said that those tropics can lead to all sorts of wild behavior.”
“Does that include talking with vicars?”
He grinned. “Most assuredly. Everyone knows vicars are stepping stones to wild, drunken orgies.” Good God, had he actually said the wordorgyin her presence?
At that moment, a tall fellow with deep-set eyes appeared beside them. He carried several volumes in his hand. “Lady Sarah!” he exclaimed with pleasure. “Back again.”
“I’ve brought a friend,” she said.
Was that the right word to describe him? He did feel warmly toward her, but not all of his urges were platonic.
“Oh, a friend! How lovely!” The man turned to Jeremy. “She’s here at least twice a week. Always reading about different things. Novels, philosophy, art.”
“Then you supply books to all tastes?” Jeremy asked, assuming the man was the proprietor.
“Indeed,” the tall man said. “Whatever a body could want, we can get it for them. Speaking of which,” he added as he glanced at Lady Sarah, “your special order has arrived. It’s in the back. All wrapped up nice and secure.”
A furious blush spread across Lady Sarah’s cheeks. “I’ll pick it up later,” she muttered.
The proprietor looked over at Jeremy. “Of course! Another time.” He cleared his throat. “I can help you with something, Vicar?”
There was no way that Jeremy could ask about other regular patrons in front of Lady Sarah without looking suspicious. “Just enjoying your shop,” he said instead.
“Let me know if you need anything. Just ask for McKinnon.” With that, the man bowed and took his leave.
The air between Jeremy and Lady Sarah seemed charged, ripe with potential. Or perhaps he only wished that was the case? It prickled along his flesh,and there was answering interest in her eyes. Did Lady Sarah think of him the way he thought of her? Part of her was secretly sensuous, and certainly after the art exhibit yesterday, she wasn’t entirely innocent. The engrossed way she’d looked at the exhibits, the questions she’d asked . . . she might be a virgin, but she wasn’t entirely virginal.
She had that quality of mind that so intrigued him: open yet assessing. Astute, but appreciative.
Surely she saw how much she affected him. A part of her seemed to welcome that interest.
Could he take it further? An impossible desire. If he dared presume to court her, he’d be laughed out of her father’s house.
She broke the spell between them by checking a small jeweled watch pinned to her spencer. “Oh, blast,” she muttered. “I have to go.”
“May I walk you home?” he offered immediately, unwilling to let her go.
“My carriage is waiting,” she said regretfully. Then she brightened. “I can give you a ride home.” She added in a confiding tone, “My maid is with me, so you needn’t worry that I’ll ask you to do anything scandalous again.”
More the pity.
He ought to stay at the bookshop and ask McKinnon his questions. But the offer of being alone with Lady Sarah—despite the presence of her maid—was too good to refuse.
“A lift home would be most welcome,” he said.
After collecting her maid, who had been reading volume two of a gothic novel, they climbed into hercarriage outside. In a trice, they were heading back to Mayfair.
They swayed with the movement of the vehicle, and for several minutes they traveled in silence. The maid stared deliberately out the window, making herself fade into the background. Given the length of Jeremy’s legs, he worked to keep from brushing them against Lady Sarah, but it wasn’t easy.
“How long do you plan on staying in London?” she asked. “I imagine your parishioners cannot spare you for long.”
“I have a curate to oversee things whilst I’m away,” he answered. “As to the length of my visit . . .” He shrugged. “That’s yet to be decided.”
“I’m going to be impertinent again, I’m afraid, and tell you that I’m going to the Imperial Theater tomorrow night. To see a new burletta by the writer Mrs. Delamere. Oh, didn’t she recently marry your cousin, Lord Marwood? I guess that would make her Lady Marwood.”
