Page 29 of His Wicked Secret
Jonathan couldn’t help but note the irony of the situation. Audrey was happy enough to aid others in falling in love, but what about her own heart? Didn’t she want to be wooed and loved anymore?
“It’s a pity that she won’t listen. All women want to do is talk, yet they never wish to listen whenweare the ones who need to discuss our feelings.” Charles’s tone was oddly reflective. For a man who seemed determined to avoid marriage, he had an uncanny way of understanding women and the challenges of wooing them.
“How do you know so much about women?” Jonathan couldn’t resist asking.
“Because I’ve made it my life’s work. I am a genuine Casanova. I’ve never left a mistress unsatisfied, and my single-evening seductions have always been a success. And they, for their part, are never left expecting more. We each know where we stand. I study women the way any good hunter does his prey.”
“Lord,” Jonathan said with a laugh. “You sound so serious about it.”
Charles was no longer smiling. “Seduction is an art, just as hunting and boxing are. It takes focus, preparation, and patience. Women are infinitely complex creatures. They may not match us in physical strength, but they more than make up for it here.” He tapped his head. “Despite what you believe, they don’t play silly games. They are masters of manipulation. Take your little sprite, for one. Last year she tried to seduce me.Me!” he emphasized with a dark chuckle.
Jonathan sucked in a breath. “What?”
“She didn’t succeed, mind you. I adore the little hellion, but she’s not my type at all.” His gaze turned soft and distant for a moment, and then he cleared his throat. “At any rate, once I figured out her true intentions, I knew what I had to do.”
“Her true intentions?” Jonathan choked on the words.
“Yes. She was fed up with her brother constantly frightening off any man who fancied her, and she had the rather mad idea that if she was compromised, or at least appeared to be, Cedric would jump at the chance to give her to a decent chap. Like you, for example.” Charles leaned over and grasped the brandy and took another drink.
“And what happened?”
“We didn’tdoanything, of course, but I ensured she looked as if something had. Cedric went from fending off her suitors to asking for Emily’s advice on how to get her properly settled down. All he wants now is to see that she ends up with a good bloke. Which would be you, by the way.”
Jonathan sighed across his arms, staring out a window. Audrey was still out there on the grounds, checking on her pineapples. Of course, Jonathan knew that was only a pretense to allow James and Gillian to have a moment alone.
At least we agree on that. Those two belong together.
“So what is your advice, Casanova?” Jonathan asked.
Charles took a final sip, then gripped the bottle and tucked it back behind the shield of dusty books.
“Don’t hesitate. Find her and tell her the lessons start now. Lucien has a leisure room that is perfect for sparring.” Charles slapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Give her the lessons shewants, and show no mercy on the lessons sheneeds.”
Charles winked, and for the first time in days, Jonathan felt like smiling.
9
Audrey stared at a row of pineapples in the garden table, thinking. Not about the tart, prickly shaped fruit but about Jonathan. He was here, despite the fact that he shouldn’t be, and she had no idea what to do about it. Why was he here? He avoided social gatherings whenever possible, except for dinners with his closest friends. Why hadn’t he written to her in the last week? And why did he have to look so wonderfully handsome and virile? The flurry of questions made her head ache.
While the house party was of a decent size, enough so that they would not need to interact too much, it was still possible that they would be forced into close proximity on occasion. And she would be here for a week. She couldn’t hide in every alcove or duck out of every balcony door when he came toward her; that simply wasn’t possible.
It isn’t in me to retreat.Yet that was exactly what she felt like doing.
With an irritated sigh, she turned around and walked into the hard, imposing body of the very man she had hoped to avoid.
She stepped back and gasped, trying to ignore the sweet scent that clung to his clothes. There was a hint of something else too… Had he been drinking? Her skin prickled as she took in his tall, lean form. She remembered how his bare skin had felt beneath her hand as she’d place her cheek on his chest that night a week ago. The sunlight from the doorway of the succession house illuminated the tips of his dark gold hair, resembling a halo. But Jonathan was no angel—or if he was, he was a fallen one.
“How are they faring?” he asked in that soft, seductive voice she liked far too much.
“How is who faring?” she asked, now focused on his mouth. She should not be remembering the brief but heated kiss they had shared, but he had a way of erasing all rational thought from her mind. It was most disconcerting.
He nodded at the fruit behind her. “The pineapples.”
“Oh! Of course. They are fine.”
“Are they now?” She felt the sudden urge to lift her knee abruptly into his groin. She would like to see him smirking then.
“Why don’tyoucheck on them then?” She started to march past him, but he slid in front of her. His long legs were an advantage she would’ve killed for. Being rather short, she was not blessed with such things.
