Page 2 of Not Quite a Lady
‘Lily.’ There was a spark of heat under the cool tones and he lifted her hand to his lips, letting it rest in his for just a daring fraction too long. ‘You are very lovely this evening, I do not think I have ever seen your eyes sparkle quite like that.’
Her heart thudded and she felt a little sick. Nerves of course.
Aunt Herrick, totally focused on her mission to marry her niece off to a member of the aristocracy, had been quite blunt about it.Give him what he wants Lily – whatever he wants. This is no time to be missish. You must catch him fair and square. He’s a gentleman, he’ll do what’s right. After all, once you are married, who is to know what went before?
The thought of giving Adrian what he appeared to want made Lily feel quite dizzy and not a little apprehensive. She was not even sure if shelikedhim. Not that that was any bar to marriage, as her entourage of supporters assured her. Liking did not enterinto it. Love most certainly did not.
She, the great-granddaughter of a hardworking carpenter, the granddaughter of an ambitious grocer and the daughter of a tea merchant – a very, very rich tea merchant – had a destiny that had been set out for her from the moment of her birth. She was to marry a lord and be the mother of English gentlemen. It was the duty she had been raised for.
Papa had even explained how fortunate it was that she was a girl, as a son would have had a much harder time breaching the walls that upper class England set about itself.
But his protracted illness when they had been visiting tea plantations in India, her period of mourning, the long journey back to England and the necessity to find a suitable chaperone, all put back her come-out until she had reached the impossible age of twenty five. And now she had just had her birthday it was only her huge fortune which kept her in the Marriage Mart at all.
Apprehension about what she had done made her decisive. If Lord Randall reacted badly to this indiscretion, then it was hopeless in any case.
‘I have to confess that I have just lost my temper and have acted most imprudently,’ she confessed.
‘Indeed?’ Adrian’s azure eyes glittered with interest. ‘Tell me.’
‘You will be annoyed with me.’
‘That might be stimulating.’ His voice dropped to a purr.
Lily did not quite understand what was going through his mind, but whatever it was, she blushed at the look in his eyes.
‘I insulted your cousin, Lady Angela,’ she blurted out, with none of the finesse she had intended to use. ‘I am afraid something she said about me–’
‘Say no more.’ Adrian waved it away with one white, exquisite hand. ‘Angela is a shrew. She needs a husband, but with that tongue she is never going to get one. She will end up on the shelf with no-one to blame but herself.’
‘But–’
She almost winced at the immediate flash of displeasure in the pale eyes. Adrian disliked being contradicted. ‘Angela is a bore. I have an aversion to being bored.’ He looked round the stuffy, crowded room. ‘In fact this assembly looks like being a complete bore. I can think of much more interesting things to be doing.’
The heat was back in his eyes and something inside her stirred, not altogether pleasurably, in instinctive recognition. And yet, her breath was suddenly short in her throat and her heartbeat seemed to trip. It was exciting to be looked at like that, to feel wanted and desired.
Lily lowered her eyelashes modestly, feeling the brush of her long diamond ear drops against her cheek, reminding her of her own worth.
‘More interesting? At Almack’s?’ Her own laugh sounded false to Lily. ‘Surely not?’
‘No. Not here. Come with me, Lily.’ Adrian’s fingers were caressing the inside of her wrist and he was standing scandalously close.
She could feel the heat of his body. The strange sensation inside was becoming more disturbing now, but pleasurably so.
‘Where to?’
He chuckled softly. ‘I thought we should get to know each other better, my dear – before we make any announcement public.’
‘You mean… My lord, are you making me a declaration?’
Adrian drew her back into a curtained embrasure, letting the heavy brocade fall softly behind them, secluding them in a secret bubble amidst all the chatter and music. ‘Would one be welcome, Lily? My lovely Lily…’ His mouth was very close to hers now. They were almost exchanging breath.
‘Yes. Yes, I think you must know it would be, my lord.’
Was it?She would be the most arrant flirt if she had not meant the encouragement she had given Adrian Randall these past few weeks. And he was exactly what she knew it was her duty to seek: titled, fashionable and with connections through every layer of the aristocratic world.
‘Then come with me now. We can…talk about things. Alone.’
‘You mean you will drive me home?’ It was not what he intended and she knew it. One had to play the game, Aunt had explained.
