Page 27 of Her Daring Earl
She flung herself back on her bed, awaiting her lady’s maid to come attend to her for dinner.
A dinner in which she would likely have to sit at the same table as Fitz and pretend that nothing had happened between them.
She desperately wished that she had someone she could ask for advice. If only Siena was here. But no, Siena was happily married, hours away, and completely unaware of any of the dynamics between Fitz and Eliza.
Goodness, she wished that she had told Siena of the history between the two of them. Orlackof history as one would have it. That she’d had such a penchant for him. That she was the only lady Lord Fitzroy did not see as a woman.
Until she had practically forced him to.
She sat bolt upright in bed.
She might not be able to sit down and have the conversation with Siena that she longed to have, but she could still tell her all about her plight.
Deciding that dinner and her maid could wait for a time, she jumped off the bed, seeking out the library, where there was sure to be stationary. Appleton claimed a smaller library, but from what she could remember, it was quiet, comfortable, and contained a small writing desk that looked over the sash windows into the beautiful, blooming garden below and the orchard that sat in the distance.
Eliza pulled out the ornate, elegant chair, laughing to herself at the idea of Fitz sitting in it, before finding stationary. She dipped her quill into the ink and began to write, pouring herheart out on the page, telling Siena all that she should have shared with her before now.
She was careful in wording her arrangement with Fitz. While Siena would never betray her secrets, there was always the chance a letter could fall into the wrong hands.
A crush was one thing. A scandalous affair was another.
But she would have to risk it. She replaced the pen and folded her letter, finding a stamp and wax in the desk drawer. Once she was certain that her private letter was sealed, she carefully wrote Siena’s new address on the outside before finding one of the servants to ask for it to be sent away immediately.
Maybe Siena would be able to respond in time with answers.
One could only hope, for at the moment Eliza, the woman who claimed to know everything, was completely and utterly lost.
Fitz had avoideddinner the previous evening.
Not on purpose – in truth, he did have business to attend to – but he didn’t think he had it within him to stare at Eliza all evening, knowing what was hiding beneath her gown.
Full, luscious breasts.
Hips that he could take hold of and use to his advantage.
Soft skin, dotted with the tiniest of dark freckles.
Whether she hated him or not, her body had certainly welcomed him, and he wondered when would be too soon to ask her to meet him for their next lesson.
He grew hard just thinking about what that lesson would be.
That afternoon, the day after their liaison, he was back in his study, seeing to various matters of the estate. He threw a letterinto the pile to be posted and then saw that his mother’s letters were sitting on his desk, waiting to be franked.
Deciding he deserved a break, he reached over and began to initial them – until he realized that the letter he was holding in his hand was not his mother’s handwriting at all. It was much firmer, with broad, loopy strokes, nothing at all like his mother’s delicate script.
He held the letter in his hand, seeing the seal as well as Dunmore’s wife’s name on the outside. It was from Eliza.
He shifted the letter from one hand to the next.
He shouldn’t. This was Eliza’s private letter, written for her friend alone.
And yet… he wondered, just what did she have to say that was so important she had to write her friend immediately? Would she dare to put anything about their arrangement on paper?
It was one thing to have a dalliance with a widow or a lady who was not of high birth. It was quite another to do so with a young lady who would one day be expected to enter her marriage completely innocent. If she told anyone…
That settled it. He best open it and discover just what she had said. He could always re-seal it.
He cracked the letter open, finding that it was one written page, from Eliza to Siena, who was now married to the Duke of Dunmore, his closest friend in the world.
