Page 30 of Temptations of a Wallflower
“Indeed, but how is that impertinent?” he wondered.
“Because I hope to see you there,” she replied, smiling.
He’d had no plans to go to the theater. “There’s a very good chance that I will be in attendance.”
Her smile widened. “Excellent. Have you seen anything by Mrs. Delamere?”
“I’ve been away from the city for too long.”
“You’ll enjoy her work,” Lady Sarah vowed.
“If you do, then I’m sure I will.”
“Ah, flatterer!” But there wasn’t any censure in her voice.
“Men of God don’t flatter, Lady Sarah,” he intoned.
At that, she laughed. “Very vicarish words, Mr. Cleland.”
He laughed with her. “Then my work is done.”
As they continued on toward home, his heart loosened. What was this sensation? Pleasure. Joy. Excitement. A host of emotions that brewed potently within him.
He craved these new sensations, powerfully. And yet . . .
Jeremy cursed what could never be.
Chapter 9
“I must go now,” the highwayman said regretfully. “But before I do . . .” He reached out and plucked the diamond and pearl ring from my hand. “A memento.”
Before I could protest the theft, he was gone. I leaned out the window to see him riding off into the night, like a phantom, his long greatcoat flying out behind him.
“My lady?” the coachman called to me. He emerged from the woods, throwing off the ropes that had been used to bind him.
“Drive on,” I said. “But we’ll stop at the next town.” If my highwayman frequented this region, perhaps someone in the village might have an idea as to his whereabouts. I wasn’t ready to let my wonderful lover slip through my fingers . . .
The Highwayman’s Seduction
So much potential here in the theater for her writing! Flirtations, scandals, cuts direct, and whispered promises, all behind the veneer of a social night out to see and be seen. Sitting in her family’s private box at theImperial Theater, Sarah surveyed the crowd excitedly. Numerous places for amorous encounters existed here, too: the boxes themselves when the lights dimmed, in one of the retiring rooms, or even backstage, hidden behind painted scenery while the performance was ongoing. The possibilities were numerous and delightful.
She could have Lady Josephina start an affair with an actor and they could . . . no. Actors were a feckless lot, hardly the stuff of rich sexual fantasy. They were likely too obsessed with themselves to be very talented as lovers. She smiled to herself, thinking of an actor watching himself and not his partner in a mirror as they made love. How dispiriting.
No, Sarah decided that Lady Josephina would be traveling to Oxford to visit her nephew at university. Then, Lady Josephina would meet her nephew’s classical theater professor—a sober but attractive man possessing a secret sensuality. It could lead to some very thorough and focused lovemaking . . .
The performance had yet to begin, and people were seating themselves in the pit or in the boxes as the orchestra warmed up. She fanned herself against the stifling heat from so many people and lights. But another kind of heat pulsed just beneath the surface of her skin.
She’d see Jeremy tonight. It thrilled and terrified her to have had him observe her book on knot tying. Let him think her interest was purely nautical.
She oughtn’t look forward to seeing him this much. Theirs was an association that couldn’t go very far. But her heart, mind, and body remained obdurate, craving him with an unseemly hunger. She’d no one to whom she could confide this need. Certainly not her mother.Of her few friends, she didn’t trust any of them not to gossip. Best to keep her feelings to herself and let her quill be her outlet for everything she could not allow herself to do.
The duchess sat beside Sarah, while her father was absent, as he didn’t much care for the theater. Lady Egerton, her mother’s friend, had positioned herself just behind them, and she chatted with Mrs. Boyle, her companion.
“What’s on the bill tonight?” the duchess asked.
“A burletta by Mrs. Delamere . . . I mean, Lady Marwood,” Sarah answered, consulting her program, “followed by comic songs and acrobatics.”
“I do like a good comedic tune,” the duchess said. “And acrobatics. Pity we have to sit through the first part.”
