Page 34 of The Scarlet Lady's Duke of Desire
James forced a smile and nodded an acknowledgement before he pointed out, “I could not have missed a luncheon held by my own aunt.”
“Yes, well, I am still glad,” she insisted. “It would not have been nearly as pleasant without you.”
“Nor without you, my lady,” James forced the words though they felt like poison upon his tongue. He would have much rather she was someone else.
At his comment, Lady Florence smiled even more broadly. She squeezed his arm as if in excitement.
James was relieved when they fell into silence, walking down to the gate that led through to the rose gardens. When they reached it, he popped the latch and held the gate open as he would for anyone, waiting until Lady Florence and her maid had walked through before following.
A part of him would have liked to turn and run right back the way he had come but even Lady Florence did not deserve the kind of talk that would cause.
And so, he gritted his teeth and bore it, forcing himself to walk beside her even when she commented so many times upon how beautiful the roses were and how well-manicured the hedgerows were that made up the maze of the garden, leading to the fountain at the very centre.
It was only when they reached it that Lady Florence stopped and looked up towards the bright, cloudless sky.
“The sun is quite warm today and I appear to have forgotten my parasol,” she stated, glancing towards her maid with a half-scowl.
“Perhaps we should return to the others?” James suggested.
“Oh, no!” Lady Florence protested. “The sound of the fountain is so peaceful, and I feel as though that bench is calling to me.”
She pointed towards a marble bench opposite the fountain before she turned to her maid and said, “You will return for my parasol, won’t you?”
“Of course, my lady,” Chambers replied, curtseying and scurrying off like a mouse, before James could offer any kind of protest.
This is not happening,James thought, his skin beginning to crawl. Were she anyone else, James might have believed that this was accidental but though he did not know Lady Florence overly well, he sensed she was far too clever and calculated for this to have been anything but intentional.
The glint in Lady Florence’s gaze as she approached him suggested that she knew exactly what she had done.
“Does being alone with me make you uncomfortable, Your Grace?” Lady Florence asked, sidling up to him. She lifted her hand and gripped a strand of the black hair that cascaded over her shoulder. Twisting it around her finger, she looked at him with such a wanton expression that James was well aware of what she was thinking.
Desperate to keep his distance, James sidestepped towards the fountain. It was only when he turned around, determined not to leave his back to the viper that he realised she had cut him off from the only exit.
Though he knew that he could move her aside easily were he to try, he would never have it said that he had laid hands upon a woman, even if she did deserve it.
“I think perhaps we ought to return to the rest of the party,” James stated, feeling more than a little unnerved.
“Oh, but look at the way the sun shines off the water,” Lady Florence protested, “Isn’t it beautiful?”
But as she wandered towards him, her gaze was not on the water or anything else for that matter. She was staring at him, her gaze filled with intent. Her smile was sickly sweet and filled with barely veiled maliciousness.
Whatever she had planned, James knew that it was not good. He felt as though he were a fly caught in a web and she was the spider. Never in his life had a woman made him quite so uncomfortable. In fact, he couldn’t remember a time when any woman had made him feel uncomfortable save for the general discomfort of not wishing to entertain all those matches that his aunt threw at him.
But this, somehow, was entirely different to any that had come before it. This felt dangerous and not at all in a good way.
“What is the matter, Your Grace?” Lady Florence asked, her tone conniving. “I have heard of your reputation, how you like to ravish women.”
As she spoke, she drew closer and her fingers hooked in the shoulder of her gown, enjoying the fabric to slip slightly down her arm.
Though James had to admit that the sight of her porcelain skin coupled with the gentle slope of her shoulder did awaken some animalistic instinct within him, he steeled himself against it and forced himself to look only at her face.
He did not even dare to blink, terrified that she might move too quickly for him to see what she did.
All too soon he felt the wall of the fountain press up against the backs of his legs and though he would have liked to throw himself into the fountain just to avoid her, he guessed it would be an awkward story to tell when they returned to the rest of the party.
“Lady Florence, this is most inappropriate,” James stated, straightening up. He glowered back at her, deciding it was best to show some of the anger he was beginning to feel. Perhaps then she would think twice before doing whatever it was she intended.
Yet, it seemed Lady Florence did not frighten easily.
