Page 15 of The Earl and the Vixen
She attempted to widen her smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You as well, my lord,” she replied. “If you all will excuse me, I shall return in a moment.”
Lady Juliet turned on her heel and departed the salon.
Nick noted Onslow near the exit and took his opportunity. “I need to speak with Onslow about something, if you could excuse me as well,” Nick said. He didn’t wait for them to respond and crossed the room to Onslow.
Nick looked back to see if his hosts were watching him, but they had been approached by another couple. He bypassed Onslow and hurried to the staircase, thendarted up the stairs, hoping to see which room Lady Juliet would enter. He took a left off of the staircase and saw a shadow down the hallway. Nick quickened his pace and caught sight of a door clicking closed. He crept to the door and put his ear to it.
He should be ashamed of himself for eavesdropping, but he was desperate to get to the bottom of what had occurred between them. If he could overhear something useful, he could forgive himself for using devious means to obtain the information.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was here?” Lady Juliet asked. “Is he the reason you are hiding in your chamber?”
“I planned to tell you. Today, in fact. I promise,” Eliza said. “I just didn’t know what to think about seeing him again. I still don’t.”
“So he was the reason for your poor mood this morning.”
“No,” Eliza said, then paused for a few seconds, which felt like hours to Nick. “Well, all right. Yes. His presence is quite distracting.”
“He really is quite handsome. I can see how he would set your head to a spin and why you took him to your bed,” Lady Juliet said.
Nick grinned to himself with his ear still pressed against the door. He found it interesting, indeed, that Eliza had told her friend about the two of them being intimate.
“Jules!”
“Well, it’s true,” Lady Juliet said. “One does have to wonder why he never took a wife.”
“He probably just dallies with whomever he wishes and casts them aside when he is finished,” Eliza said.
He balled his hands into fists and fought to keep himself from barging into her room. She was the one who was the expert in dallying with one’s affections, and yet she treated him as the villain.
“He’s certainly riled you up. Have you given more thought to making good use of the house party to entertain a tryst?” Lady Juliet asked. “I saw you flirting with Lord Irvine. And don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
Nick pressed his ear harder against the door, not daring to miss Eliza’s response. He tamped down the mixture of jealousy, hurt, and fury bubbling far too close to the surface.
“I’m considering it,” Eliza said. “I’m still not certain. But I shall have ample opportunity to decide. I certainly believe he would be amenable. He can’t keep his eyes off my chest.”
He heard laughter coming from both of the ladies, when he found nothing humorous about the mere suggestion that Eliza would take up with another man in the ways that he had been with her. She had been passionate and an active participant in their couplings, extremelyvocal as well, and he didn’t want anyone else to experience that side of her. Especially not where he would be far too aware of what had occurred.
“I must return downstairs to join the party for dinner,” Lady Juliet said after the laughter subsided. “I will visit again when I retire for the evening.”
Nick hurried away from the door and darted back downstairs, hoping that he had enough of a head start that Eliza’s friend wouldn’t see him making his escape.
He made it back to the salon several seconds before Juliet re-entered the party. Nick hadn’t considered that if anyone had seen them, they might believe that it was Juliet he had snuck from the room to meet.
Attempting to prevent anyone from getting such ideas, he joined a group of gentlemen near the sideboard.
“Irvine might have a chance with Lady Eliza,” Lord Duncan said.
Nick fought to school his features. She was everywhere, even when she wasn’t in the room, she was still there taunting him and driving him to distraction.
“But I didn’t think he wished to wed. At least not anytime soon.” Lord Onslow replied.
Lord Duncan laughed before taking a swig from the drink in his hand. “I didn’t say anything about marriage.”
Nick fisted his hands, contemplating planting the man a facer and then marching over to Irvine and giving him one in each eye.
Before he did just that, the dinner bell rang. He wasn’t certain how he was going to get through the rest of the evening if Eliza continued to be the topic of conversation.
Nick tossed and turned in his bed. His body and mind were at war with themselves. His cock stood at attention when he recalled the taste of Eliza’s climax on his fingers, a sweet nectar he had missed more than he’d allowed himself to admit, longed for even. But his head replayed the ladies’ conversation and Eliza’s contemplation with that rake, Lord Irvine. He was at least thankful that he went the rest of the evening without one of the gentlemen bringing up Eliza again. Thank God for small favors.
