Page 83 of An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
“Then what’s your excuse for not going?”
She couldn’t admit her fears, her doubts—not to her baby sister. She was supposed to be older and wiser. “I suppose there’s no harm in it.”
“Splendid.”
Although she would have a few choice words for Rexton because he’d involved her sister. It seemed the man had no qualms about doing whatever necessary to gain what he wanted. While she knew she should be miffed, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of joy with the knowledge that it appeared one of the things he craved was time alone with her.
He could not have been more thrilled to see Gina standing on the steps with a self-satisfied smirk on her face while Tillie stood beside her. He leaped out of the carriage before it came to a complete stop, not bothering to wait for a footman to open the door. The sky was lightening, but it was still dark enough that he wasn’t likely to be recognized.
“It took some convincing,” Gina said gleefully, “but I did it.”
“I owe you a dance at the next ball,” he said.
She laughed. “You’ll give me that anyway.”
He held out his hand to Tillie, closing his fingers around hers when she placed her palm against his.
“We’re going to have a discussion about your underhanded means of using my sister,” she said haughtily.
Any chastisement he endured would be worth it. He had her for the day.
“I’ll have her back before nightfall,” he promised Gina.
“Take your time. I’m off to get a new frock.” She fairly skipped into the residence.
After settling Tillie into the coach, he sat beside her.
“Seriously, Rex, I don’t want her knowing about the affair.”
He understood her reservations. People didn’t usually boast about their clandestine meetings. “She’s not oblivious, Tillie. She’s known from the beginning I have an interest in you. She won’t think anything more of our daytime outing than my wanting some time with you.” Leaning in, he kissed her temple, lowered his voice. “Which I do. You must wish for the same or you’d have not agreed. I doubt anyone can convince you to do something you’re averse to.”
“There are times when I find you insufferable.”
He might have been wounded if he didn’t hear the smile in her voice. There was little he liked more than her lowering her defenses enough to tease him.
Placing his arm around her, he nestled her up against his side, turning slightly so her head could be cradled within the hollow of his shoulder. “We’ll be on the road for at least two hours. Try to get some sleep.”
She snuggled up against him, far too easily and comfortably to be too put out by his underhanded means to get her to join him.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I’d rather not say, but I do think you’ll find it a delightful way to spend the day.”
“How many women have you shared such delights with?”
He suspected her relationship with Downie caused her to think that nothing special would be shared with her, that she would be the recipient of what he gave to everyone else—in spite of the fact that he’d shared far more with her than he’d ever shared with anyone else. “As with the carousel and my residence, you will share with me today what no other woman has.”
Holding her near as he was, he was aware of her going very still, very quiet. He wondered if she had an inkling regarding how much he treasured her, how much he wanted experiences with her that he’d had with no other. He doubted it, as he, too, was finding it difficult to comprehend how much she was coming to mean to him in so short a span of time. When he’d first met her, he noticed the outer trimmings, been drawn to them, but he’d also been aware of an inner steel, a fortitude that appealed even more. She was strength and courage and determination.
She was willing to do whatever necessary to gain what she wanted—no, what sheneeded. She’d needed a divorce in order to survive, to avoid a pit of despair. She’d taken actions most would consider drastic in order to obtain it.
Now she wanted her sister wed and, again, she’d taken unusual measures, had become his temporary mistress.
Temporary, however, no longer suited him. It was his turn to take drastic measures to ensure temporary no longer suited her either.
Chapter 18
She hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but she’d slept fitfully the night before, so she’d welcomed his arm closing around her and the comfort of his shoulder. She didn’t much like how much she looked forward to being in his company. Their arrangement was for night hours only. Extending their time alone to daylight hours was dangerous, might cause her to wish for more than what they could have together. She would indulge him—and her interfering sister—today, and then she would make it clear that they would return to the original terms.
