Page 5 of An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
Damnation if he didn’t prefer tart. But tart wouldn’t get him the stud. “You look lovely, my dear.”
She smiled brightly, her eyes twinkling with joy. His clothing suddenly felt tight, and he had a need to loosen his neck cloth before it strangled him.
“Your delay served us well,” Lady Landsdowne said gently, “as it gave us the opportunity to get acquainted.”
Tiny pleats appeared in the girl’s delicate brow. “How is that you were not acquainted before? I’d have thought you of a similar age.”
“During my youth I traveled extensively,” Rexton said. “I didn’t spend much time in London if I could help it.” He decided not to mention he had no interest in the social scene and avoided it whenever possible.
She brightened once more. “How marvelous for you. I should like to see more of the world, I think. Will you take your wife traveling?”
“If it is her desire. But I must procure her first, and rituals must be followed.” He set down his glass and walked toward her. “Miss Hammersley, my carriage awaits.”
He offered his arm. Her face fell. “We have a bit of a problem there. My maid has taken a megrim and I’ve ordered her to bed.” She looked past him. “Tillie, would you be so kind as to serve as chaperone?”
Tillie? An image of her, sweet and innocent, young and happy, indeed frolicking through meadows of daisies—before Landsdowne had taken her to wife—flashed through his mind. He didn’t like it, didn’t like it one bit. He glanced back in time to see the countess’s calculating gaze travel the length of him. Christ, he had the urge to spread his feathers like a blasted peacock.
“I’d be delighted. It will give me the opportunity to get to know the marquess better and get a sense of his true feelings toward you.”
“He has no feelings yet,” Miss Hammersley assured her. “We met only last night.”
“Oh, I’m certain he’s feeling something,” the witch said with a smirk as she walked past him.
He was struck by the realization she smelled of lavender and orchids. She was also correct. He was feeling something—something that could lead to no good.
Chapter 2
Mathilda Paget, Countess of Landsdowne, couldn’t deny that the marquess had excellent taste in horses. The two chestnut bays pulling the gleaming black open carriage obviously came from good stock. It had taken everything within her not to approach them and give them an affectionate pat when she first spied them. Just as now, it was with great difficulty she didn’t reach across to Rexton, sitting on the seat opposite her sister and herself, to pat that muscular thigh of his outlined so provocatively by his taut breeches.
Damn if the man wasn’t gorgeous with his golden curling locks and his blue eyes the shade of a winter sky promising snow and the need for warm fires. Her heart tripped over itself at the thought of this sensual and sexual man taking her sister to bed. With his heated gaze, he appeared far too wise, too experienced, too knowledgeable in the ways of women. He sat there like some large predatory tiger, considering how tasty a morsel his prey might be. She couldn’t imagine him ordering a woman to simply lie still and endure what was to come. Nor could she imagine a woman being able to remain unaffected if he pressed those firm, full lips against her skin.
Something flickered in his heated gaze, and she was left with the uncomfortable sensation that he was able to read her thoughts, that he knew the errant path they traveled. Her cheeks warmed, and she cursed inwardly, jerking her gaze to the passing buildings as they made their way to the park. What was wrong with her to have such lurid images flashing through her mind? She wanted to spare Gina the shame of the marriage bed, even as she found her own skin tightening and something closely resembling desire coursing through her. She fully understood how any woman might fall at this one’s feet. Or at least she assumed they might. His exploits certainly weren’t reported on in the gossip sheets, so he was no doubt discreet in his affairs, unlike her previous husband. If Downie had been more circumspect, perhaps Tillie wouldn’t have been required to stage an encounter that would force him, along with his obnoxious pride, to divorce her.
“You must have been a child when you married.”
The deep voice shimmered through her, her reaction wrong on so many levels. Tilting up her chin, she met Rexton’s gaze, surprised to see true curiosity reflected there. “I married on the day I turned nineteen.”
“You can’t have been married very long.”
“Long enough to lose any semblance of youth.” Three years. The process of obtaining a divorce had been a long, arduous, tortuous affair. Before its completion a little over nine months ago she had marked her twenty-fifth year. Reaching for her sister’s hand, she squeezed it. “I know the trials and tribulations of marriage, which is the reason I will not let anyone who is undeserving of Gina marry her.”
“And you’ve already deemed me underserving.”
To her utter mortification, she had. This man would not do for her sister, would not do at all. He was far too mature, too knowing. She wasn’t going to allow a man of such boldness and daring to have Gina. “To be quite honest, my lord, she is so innocent that I do think a less worldly man might serve her better.”
“And you judge me worldly?”
“Are you not?”
A corner of his mouth hitched up slightly. “I’ve never had a woman complain.”
She knew his thoughts were traveling the same path as hers—toward the bedchamber. It was all men really wanted once they had the dowry. Downie hadn’t been able to get her out of her clothes fast enough. But then once he’d had her, he grew bored. Another truth she’d learned about men: they easily wearied of their bedmates. For them it was the lure of the conquest, but they had no desire to hold for long that which they had obtained. Greener pastures and all that.
Gina deserved a man who would stay on his side of the fence. Surely a deep and profound love could keep him there. She forced herself to hold Rexton’s gaze. “You’re not doing much to convince me that you and my sister would suit.”
“It might be helpful if you shared with me the requirements you seek.”
“So you can pretend to possess them?”
