Page 34 of Waiting for a Scot Like You
“Not as one with any ability in them. But I appreciate others’ work. We’re on the cusp of tremendous change, but there’s danger in it. I wanted to ensure that there weresomepeople who understood its danger and acted responsibly.”
He felt his brows climb. “And that falls on you?”
Her smile was self-deprecating. “I’d never believe that I was responsible for protecting the world. What temerity. But I did learn something after my husband passed. My eldest, Anthony, and I went through all of the earldom’s holdings and investments.” She shuddered. “God. The things we learned. Cotton and sugar plantations, and more. Paying for my gowns, our food, our servants.”
She looked ill but continued grimly, “He and I agreed to divest as soon as possible. Yet that didn’t seem like enough. So I’ve set aside part of my widow’s portion on repairing some of the damage I’d unwittingly caused and the harm I’d perpetuated. There will always be more and more to do.”
He nodded, absorbing what she’d said. “Your presence at the business Bazaar—where you met Rotherby—that wasn’t happenstance.”
“If there’s money to be made,” she said firmly, “I can’t do it with a blind eye to its origin. And that is where I met the duke and the duchess. She wasn’t a duchess then, of course.”
“Now you can count them both as your friends,” he pointed out.
“Though you might not consider himyourfriend after saddling you with me,” she said.
“Two points.” He held up one finger. “First, I did consider undertaking this journey as a favor to Rotherby, but I was notsaddledwith you. You’re my responsibility, yes, but I’m a grown man and can make my own decisions as to what I do and how I do it.”
“As you like,” she said evenly, though she seemed pleased by his answer. “But I’m not sharing my pork pie.”
“Ma’am,” he said gravely, “I vow I will not touch anyone’s pie without their express permission.”
They shared a laugh, and, with a start, he realized he liked it. He liked pleasing her and watching her smile. He liked hearing her thoughts and being in her company.
Damn good thing they weren’t acting on their attraction—he could have been in danger of developing feelings. Given that she was en route to an orgy, it was a fair assumption to believe she was not seeking any kind of lasting connection with her lovers.
“The second point?” she pressed.
Easier to discuss the Union than to think about whatit meant to genuinely enjoy the countess’s presence. “Rotherby has been my friend for twenty years, the pompous ass.”
“I’ve never heard anyone saypompous asswith so much affection,” she teased.
“He’d call me worse if given the opportunity. And I love him like a brother—better than a brother because I chose him and he chose me.” Through all the years of Duncan’s deployment, he could rely on letters from Rotherby and the other members of the Union, full of good humor and amusing anecdotes that took his mind off the realities of life during wartime.
Whereas his actual brother, Ian, had barely written to Duncan and had never once in all this time acknowledged the fact that Susannah had jilted him.
He could imagine the countess’s letters. Witty and lighthearted and containing unexpected insight, just as the woman herself was all of those things.
She was also sensuous as hell. Watching her enjoy her food with unbridled delight, he couldn’t stop thinking about her hands on her ripe body, or the sounds she made as she pleasured herself or, God help him, the look on her face as she did so. She gave herself thoroughly to sensation. It was too easy to imagine what it would be like to join her in bed—beyond the awkward sharing of a mattress they’d had last night.
Notrolling her onto her back and tupping her senseless had been, perhaps, the greatest test of his physical ability and restraint that he’d ever known. When he’d awakened with her warm and soft in his arms, his body had responded at once.
Worse, his heart—the stupid fool—had responded, as well, throbbing in his chest with demands ofmore.
He never woke with a woman, knowing deep down that if he did, he’d want more from them besides mere sex. And sex had been all his lovers had been willing to give.
To wake with someone, to greet the day with them and murmur drowsily about dreams and plans, and then, perhaps, share a sweet and tender fuck... it was the sort of thing he’d wanted desperately before he and Susannah had married. He’d hoped to share that with her. But he never had, not with anyone. Until this morning.
Eyes twinkling, she said, “It’s rare, a friendship like the one you have with the duke, and with the others. And that continued on at university?”
“After Eton, a commission was purchased for me. You know the way of things for second sons.”
“John will go into the law. Or he’ll run away and join a troupe of strolling players. I’m not certain one is more respectable than the other.” She added in a whisper, “I secretly hope that he’ll become an actor and scandalize all of London.”
He chuckled. “Duty, responsibility. These are important concepts in my family. I always knew I wasgoing to have to make my own way in the world—I’ve an allowance, but it’s deliberately modest. My parents didn’t want me growing soft.”
“You are assuredlynotsoft,” Lady Farris said, looking at his shoulders.
His face heated with embarrassment. His body was merely something he used to accomplish tasks—granted, he’d taken pains to ensure that it accomplished those tasks with the maximum amount of ability and efficiency—but for some reason, all the women he’d ever taken to bed were excessively pleased by his form.
