12. Contemplating a Future
CHAPTER 12
CONTEMPLATING A FUTURE
M eanwhile, on the roof of Vouros Mansion
Her hands firmly pressed to the top of the rooftop wall, Diana leaned forward and scanned the horizon and the grounds below. From her vantage, she could make out the silhouettes of the Parthenon’s columns atop the Acropolis, and a few squares of golden light marked the windows of nearby houses.
Directly below, a lantern next to the mansion’s front door illuminated part of the paved walkway leading to where an ancient town coach waited on the street. The snorts of an impatient horse reached her ears at the same moment light suddenly flooded the walkway.
Kyknos, the butler, had obviously opened the front door, and a moment later, the long shadow of a departing guest appeared on the pavers.
“Oh, and if you could thank your sister for me. For dinner,” she heard Randolph Forster say before he hurried to the coach.
The driver had obviously stepped down from the seat and opened the door, for the heir was about to enter before he paused and looked back.
Looked up.
Directly at her.
He gave her a quick wave before disappearing into the black equipage, and a moment later, the sounds of horse hooves on the stone street faded into the inky blackness.
Diana straightened, stunned at how her body reacted to seeing the heir to the Gisborn earldom again. To the memory of how he had simply settled next to her only the hour before, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to simply lie down next to her on a thin mattress and carry on a conversation in the dark.
So intimate and yet so chaste. He hadn’t touched her. He hadn’t made a move to take advantage. He had even left a modicum of space betwixt their bodies.
She couldn’t decide if she should be glad or feel offended.
What would she have done if he had tried something? If he had tried to take advantage of her prone position?
If he had attempted a kiss, would she have allowed it? Welcomed it, even?
There had been that moment before her brother appeared, when he had asked if she would take a lover. She had been so shocked, she could only repeat the word. Until that moment, she had never given a thought to spending any of her time as a spinster in the company of a man.
To warm your bed. To provide you pleasure.
His quiet query had been said with such concern, as if he thought she might perish for the lack of it.
Of course her body had reacted before she could fully comprehend his meaning, her nipples hardening behind her corset as her breasts swelled, a fluttering of spasms in her abdomen providing the very pleasure she was sure he meant with his question.
On the one hand, she was rather relieved her brother appeared when he did, even though she had been surprised.
Randy hadn’t been, though. He had obviously sensed something she hadn’t, for he had moved away from her so quickly, she felt a moment of fear. To see how easily he pretended nonchalance as he sat in the chair had annoyed her as much as it had impressed her.
He had no doubt saved her from a scolding by her brother. Marcus hadn’t even seemed to notice she was on the roof when he appeared.
If he hadn’t come up the stairs when he did, she would have been forced to respond to Randy’s question about a lover.
She would have denied needing a lover, of course. She almost wished she had claimed she didn’t require one, just to see how he would react.
Would he be insistent? Would he simply accept her answer. Or... would he offer himself?
Diana scoffed, the sound loud in the quiet night. Randolph Forster wouldn’t do such a thing. He was an heir to an earldom. He probably had a mistress back in England. He was probably already betrothed, perhaps to a young woman who was still in the schoolroom, the marriage arranged from the time he was at Eton.
She let out a sound of disgust. From what her mother had told her, arranged marriages were no longer the norm in the aristocracy, which was probably the reason her father seemed amenable to her idea of becoming a spinster.
If you really wish to remain unmarried, I shall not entertain offers for your hand , he had said when they were still in Girgenti. But I thank my lucky stars every night that I got caught kissing your mother when I did. She does, too, because she insisted she was going to be a spinster because of her poor eyesight.
Even now, Diana wondered how much of her father’s claim was true. She had seen the pair of black-rimmed glasses her mother used to wear, though, their thick lenses so heavy Marianne had been forced to strap the spectacles around her head to keep them on. Perhaps spinsterhood had seemed the only option for Marianne Slater.
It may not be my only option, but it’s what I want, Diana thought as she made her way to the stairs.
If she was quiet enough, she could sneak into her bedchamber before Marcus made his way to his, and he would be none the wiser about her having spent time with Randy on the roof.
As for taking a lover, she would have to think about that particular option.