Page 45 of Snowbound with the Scoundrel
Clarissa made a sympathetic noise.“I can understand why.Shall I ask a footman if there is another soup?”
She never received an answer because Oliver had already given her his back.Clarissa found him odious, and it appeared the sentiment was mutual, because that was the last sentence he spoke to her.He spent the rest of the dinner ignoring her in favor of speaking with Lawrence de Roos, who was seated to his right.
But that was all right because Clarissa’s other dining companion, Lady Ashington, quite monopolized her conversation.
It seemed that after witnessing her kiss with Rupert beneath the mistletoe, Lady Ashington and the Duchess of Kimbolton had formed the same idea as Lady Emily—that the two of them should marry.“I still think you could snare an earl if you were to go to London,” Lady Ashington murmured.“But Mr.Dupree has a respectable income, andother attractionsthat make up for his lack of title, if you take my meaning.”
Clarissa knew her cheeks had gone pink, but she was not quite so horrified by this remark at the age of five and twenty as when Becky had made a similar implication two years ago.
Clarissa took a sip of her wine.“I would ask if you speak from experience, but I am terrified to learn your answer.”
The marchioness smirked.“I do not.More’s the pity, as it seems that Mr.Dupree will soon be off the market.”
The Duchess of Kimbolton, who was seated on Lady Ashington’s other side, leaned forward.“Trust me, child, suchqualitiesare not to be taken for granted.My husband the duke, God rest his soul, could not have found the seat of a woman’s pleasure with both hands and a map from the Royal Engineers.”
Clarissa choked, almost spewing wine across the table.Lady Ashington patted her on the back.“Come, child.You’re not some sixteen-year-old debutante.You know of which we speak.”
“I am not quite so worldly as you assume,” Clarissa muttered.
“Yes, well, who better to remedy that than Mr.Dupree?”the marchioness countered.She turned to the duchess.“If your duke was using hishands, that is half the problem right there.And I’m not sure that a map from the Royal Engineers would help.I am thinking of a particular lover I took back in 1796.He was a strapping young cadet at the Royal Military Academy.A bright young man and very fit, but I had to teach himeverything…”
Clarissa allowed her attention to wander as the two dowagers began reminiscing about topics that were probably not appropriate for her ears.At the other end of the table, Rupert was seated next to Lady Emily, and Clarissa could guess well enough how that conversation was going.If Lady Emily was indeed haranguing him about marrying Clarissa, he appeared to be bearing it with his typical good humor.
Well, no matter what was going on with Rupert in her personal life, their meeting tonight needed to be strictly business.Clarissa still couldn’t believe they had spent a half-hour together in the orangery and hadn’t managed to discuss the possible suspects!
Tonight, she vowed, they would discuss the case in detail.
There was just one thing she needed to explain to him first.
Chapter21
At five minutes to midnight, Rupert was pacing the library, waiting for Claire to arrive.
He wasn’t nervous about their meeting, precisely.But it was deuced awkward that they’d been caught together beneath the mistletoe.Not awkward for him, of course.He had no problem kissing Clarissa Weatherby whether it was beneath the mistletoe or at the front of the church, after the vicar said,I now pronounce you man and wife.
But Claire had made it clear that he wasn’t the one for her, and so Rupert hadn’t been planning on bothering her.
But mistletoe… now that was a tricky business.Because if you said you didn’t want to impose yourself on the lady, everyone assumed that was an insult, akin to saying she was hideous and unkissable.Rupert had figured the only thing worse than kissing Claire would be refusing to kiss her.It all made sense in his mind, but he wasn’t exactly a master of deduction, now was he?
He’d tried to do it the way a mistletoe kiss before a half-dozen of the most gossipy dowagers thetonhad to offer was meant to be done.Very priggish and prim, prudish and proper.
But all of that had gone straight out the window as soon as he touched her.Because he was kissingClaire, and all the P-R words in the world couldn’t distract him from the fact that it was kind of a dream come true.
He thought he’d acquitted himself fairly well right up until the very end.He shouldn’t have kissed her on the forehead, but deuce take it all, this was the only chance he was ever going to get to hold her in his arms!He hadn’t meant to do it, but he’d been swept up in the moment, and his body had just… reacted.
Well, if she was furious with him, that would be his cross to bear, and nobody to blame but himself and all that.But tonight, he would be professional.He would stick to the suspects.To the investigation.
And there would be absolutely no kissing.
He heard the click of the knob.Rather than swing open smoothly, the door stuck.It had done the same thing when Rupert arrived.He was hurrying over to give it a firm yank when there was athunkthat probably involved Claire putting her shoulder to it, and then she was slipping into the room.
It was the most agonizing quarter of a second of Rupert’s life, waiting for her to turn around so he could see if she wanted to throttle him.
But when she turned, her eyes were bright.She looked excited to see him, although surely that wasn’t right.She was carrying a little book and a stack of letters.
She was also wearing a dressing gown in a celery green sort of color.He could see a hint of creamy white lace at her wrists and another peeking out above the neckline, and Rupert’s mouth went dry because he wanted to touch her badly enough as it was, and here she was, looking all soft and huggable.There was also the fact that he rather badly wanted to see what she looked like beneath all those layers, and her current attire looked like it might be devoid of pesky things like stays and petticoats that would prevent him from simply rucking up her skirts and touching her all over.
He shook himself.This line of thought was not the thing.“Thank you for coming.You weren’t spotted on your way down?”
