Chapter Eleven
When Miss Bantham hugged the older couple in greeting, Julian wondered what it might feel like to be embraced by her. She was rather tall and sturdy. He imagined she would give a proper hug when given the opportunity with a partner she cared for.
“Gregory, Minerva, please allow me to introduce Lord Melville. He is trying his hand at archeology.”
“Yes, we met at the Expedition Ball. It is a pleasure to see you again, my lord.”
“The pleasure is mine. And I welcome you to Dalkeith Castle. I hope I will not hinder your enjoyment of the dig. I am new at it, but I have hope this smaller expedition allows me the opportunity to join the larger journey to Egypt when they leave in December,” he added and saw Miss Bantham frown. The woman gave away nothing. It was maddening.
“It is all just a bunch of mucking around in the dirt. I daresay, there isn’t a wrong way to do it,” Mr. Leighton said with a hearty clap to Julian’s shoulder.
Julian exchanged a quick look with Miss Bantham and saw her clear disagreement with the man’s assumption. Even after only one day in the field he knew there was a proper way to muck about in the dirt as it were.
Thinking of mucking had him recall their battle earlier and he smiled. To his great surprise he saw her smile back, her cheeks tinged a light pink.
Ravishing.
“We are so sorry to have left London without you. As I said in my letter, we needed to stop at our son’s home to visit our newest grandchild.”
“It cannot be,” Julian said. “You don’t look old enough to be a grandmother.” Julian used the tone that won over all manner of women. Except, of course, the one he truly needed to endear to him.
“Oh, you,” Mrs. Leighton said with her cheeks pulled up into a wide smile.
“I’m sure I don’t know how I got so lucky as to choose a wife who refuses to age,” Mr. Leighton doted on his wife, making her blush deepen in a delightful way. It was nice to see a couple who appreciated one another.
“Elaina, I daresay, when you choose a husband, make sure he is completely besotted.”
Elaina.
He swallowed the urge to speak her name almost more than he could manage.
Elaina frowned at Mrs. Leighton’s comment.
“I will be certain to do that.” Even the little Julian knew of her he could tell it was a lie. She pressed a smile back on her face and turned to him.
“Lord Melville, the Leightons will be joining us in our quest for relics tomorrow.”
“I am delighted and look forward to digging about in the dirt next to you for the foreseeable future. But tomorrow? Don’t you wish to rest after your journey?”
Why had he said that? Had he sounded as obvious to the others in the foyer as he sounded to himself? Did they all know he wished to be alone with Miss Bant—Elaina?
“I assure you we will be quite restored after a good night’s sleep and will be ready at first light,” Mr. Leighton said with a bow.
Apparently, it was normal to head out at an ungodly time of night. He’d almost thought she’d done that on purpose to dissuade him from coming.
“We have time before dinner if you wish to freshen up from your journey. Are you hungry?” Elaina asked like the perfect hostess. He rather liked seeing her playing the role of hostess in his home.
“I might have eaten my shoe already if I didn’t know I would be needing it,” Mr. Leighton joked, making all of them laugh, including Elaina.
Why did she laugh at this man’s jokes, yet Julian had to work extra hard to get so much as a smile or a chuckle?
Mrs. Leighton looked around the foyer.
“Dinner sounds lovely. Will we see Henry and Rose then?”
Elaina shook her head.
“I’m afraid they were unable to accompany us on this trip. Uncle Henry had things to see to in London.”
Mrs. Leighton frowned and looked about the foyer once more as if Lord and Lady Darlington would pop out from behind the potted palm and surprise her.
With her voice dropping to a whisper the woman asked, “Who else accompanied you on the trip?”
Elaina straightened her shoulders. It was just a subtle shift, but he noticed because he was watching her so closely. The question made her uncomfortable.
After all her bluster that she didn’t need a chaperone to spend days upon days in a carriage with him, she was now embarrassed to confirm the arrangement with the other woman.
“It is just Lord Melville and myself this time. And now the two of you, of course.”
“Oh, dear.” Mrs. Leighton rested a hand over her lips in dismay. “This is all our fault. You were counting on me to serve as chaperone and I let you down.”
“Of course not. You know I don’t require a chaperone at my age.”
“You are still unmarried.” The woman’s words seemed to cut Elaina for she flinched just the slightest bit. Again, he only noticed because he was studying her every breath.
“Very unmarried. But still, my age puts me well beyond any silly rules of propriety.”
When the woman’s frown deepened it seemed as if Elaina had met her tipping point.
“If I were so alluring as to attract a man such as Lord Melville, wouldn’t I have received an offer of marriage already and have a husband? I can assure you, he was the epitome of gentlemanliness. As one would expect when someone like him is forced to travel with someone like me.”
“Of course. How silly of me,” Mrs. Leighton said quietly, having finally realized she had tread heavily upon a sensitive nerve.
Julian frowned at Elaina’s explanation of the situation as well as Mrs. Leighton’s easy agreement. He opened his mouth to explain how he had been enticed by Elaina on many occasions during their travels north.
But thankfully, he caught himself before he’d admitted something so foolish. However true it might be.
He would go along with the idea he was unaffected by the woman, but the truth was, she intrigued him like no other woman he’d met. Perhaps it was simply the fact that he hadn’t won her over yet as he’d originally thought, but he didn’t think so.
He did appreciate a challenge when one was presented. But beyond that, he actually liked her. Despite the fact she didn’t seem to like him very much at times.
He wasn’t even close to giving up.
*
When Lainey ledMrs. Leighton to the drawing room after dinner, she expected the woman to continue the conversation about her traveling with a man alone.
Lainey understood, it wasn’t done. But truly, riding in the carriage with Lord Melville was no different than riding with her aunt and uncle, or even the Leightons.
Or so she tried to convince herself.
“Was Rose aware you would be traveling alone with the earl?” Mrs. Leighton asked as soon as they were alone.
“No. When I received your note, I knew she would offer to come, and I couldn’t be the reason she left Uncle Henry for months. They hate being parted from each other.”
“I understand, but coming alone. Surely there was someone you could have brought with you. A maid…”
“I have no maid. And we didn’t have time to find someone so last minute.” That wasn’t exactly true. There was really no reason they couldn’t have delayed their departure for another day or two. In fact, Julian probably would have preferred it. “As I said, it was fine. Nothing untoward happened on the way.”
Nothing at all. Even if she imagined different scenarios in which he might kiss her or even hold her hand.
“We spent most of the trip reading. Very uneventful.” Even if his voice alone had made her insides feel rather singed.
She shook her head and planted a smile on her face, ready to change the subject. But Mrs. Leighton didn’t cooperate.
“He is most handsome, is he not?” she asked. “There is nothing quite so striking as a large Scot.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Lainey lied. What could she say? That when he smiled in earnest and that dimple peeked out, she wanted to kiss it? No, that would not convince the women that their travels were nothing of concern.
Mrs. Leighton made a sound that could only be disbelief before she waved her hand.
“And so charming too. If I were a few decades younger and single, I can tell you I would have seen that I had a reason to require a chaperone.”
The woman’s eyes widened and she leaned in closer.
“If you wanted to snag him, you have more than enough cause. If word of this got out your reputation would be ruined and he’d have no choice but to offer for you.”
Lainey choked and shook her head.
“No. Definitely not. I beg for your discretion. Nothing happened. We were simply two explorers traveling in the same carriage. Nothing more. I don’t want to… snag him. Please!”
“Very well. But I fear you’re missing out on a wonderful opportunity, dear. If you don’t want to marry him, you could have at least taken advantage of the nights in his bed.”
“Mrs. Leighton,” Lainey nearly shouted in shock before a laugh escaped from the woman’s lips. Lainey knew Mrs. Leighton was not a prude. She was always a lot of fun on expeditions. But to say something so scandalous.
“Are you telling me you do not find the man handsome at all?” Mrs. Leighton’s chin rose as if challenging Lainey. There was really no way to get through this without the woman seeing the truth. Best to just get on with it then.
Lainey sighed. There was no sense trying to convince anyone she didn’t find him attractive. It would be like arguing the sky wasn’t blue.
“Fine. He is not unpleasant to look at.” It was the best she could do. “But it doesn’t matter. Looking is all I would ever do.”
When Mrs. Leighton rejoined the men, Lainey continued on to her room.
She felt out of sorts and couldn’t quite figure out why.
She disliked the earl and had for many years. Yet, she couldn’t help but like him as well. He was… charming. Worse, he was most charming when he wasn’t even trying. Lord help every female on the planet if he were to learn that fact.
She attempted to distract her unsettled thoughts by reading, but at some point the characters in the story she was reading transformed from the shy vicar’s daughter and the investigator to Lord Melville and herself.
She had been a vicar’s daughter once, but she wouldn’t consider herself shy. She had no qualms telling Lord Melville—Julian—how things should be, or more importantly how they never would be between them.
For that reason, the book didn’t fit with reality. However, the investigator in the story was said to be handsome and strong, as all heroes were expected to be.
She read the hero’s dialog with a soft, rumbling brogue, and modified the character’s description to include inky, black hair that did what it wanted, and eyes so blue they warmed a person to their very soul. And that mischievous grin that put his dimple on display. Those lips were surely for more than jests and laughter. He would know how to kiss a woman properly.
Would his mouth taste of the port he’d enjoyed after dinner?
Would he touch his tongue to hers? She’d heard that tongues were often used in sensual kissing. Not that she had personal knowledge of kissing at all.
It was rare for her to regret never being kissed. It was the way things were, and wishing for something different never did any good.
But at that moment, she did wish she had some experience to pull from so the fantasy she was weaving could be somewhat realistic.
Instead, she was left to guess such details as what he would taste like and what it would feel like to have him so close. His lips touching hers. Breathing the same air in the small space between them.
Where would he put his hands? At first, she envisioned them as one would during a dance, but no, that wasn’t how a man held a woman when he kissed her.
She remembered seeing Mr. McCabe—one of her uncle’s hired men—embracing a woman in Alexandria. He’d not known Lainey was there as he’d greeted his lover enthusiastically.
His hands seemed to be in constant motion as if he couldn’t wait to touch the next part of her and the next. Her hips, her waist, her bottom—he’d stopped there for a moment and gave that particular body part a squeeze as if it was a favorite—he’d also squeezed her breast which drew a pleasant gasp from the woman.
As Lainey remembered the encounter, she once again substituted Julian and herself in the roles of the couple.
Kissing, touching, breathing, moaning. Somehow, they were naked as her hands trailed over smooth, bare skin. She had seen a man without a shirt so she felt she did an adequate job imagining that, but she’d never seen a naked man below the waist so that part of her fantasy was a bit muddled.
It didn’t matter because the parts she had been able to visualize were pulling her into warm, blissful need. Her body burned and ached for him.
She heard his deep rolling voice telling her how much he wanted her. How much he needed her.
And she needed him as well. She didn’t know why or for what, but she had never needed anything more.
“Yes,” she whispered, the word sounding like a plea.
“Do you want me to touch you?” he asked.
“Yes.” She may have repeated the word more than a few times.
She felt his lips pull up in a smile against hers.
“Good,” he said. “Then wake up.”
She started awake, causing the book she’d been reading to slide from the bed to the floor.
She was out of breath as if she’d been running up hill, and even as she shook away the remnants of the dream, she felt the heat fading. She slumped against the pillows; her unsated, restless body writhed unconsciously as instincts she didn’t know she possessed took control.
Tossing off the covers, she went to the wash stand and splashed cool water on her face to gain control.
Restraint was hard won, but eventually she settled back in bed and closed her eyes.
Earlier when she’d told Mrs. Leighton she would only ever look at Lord Melville, it had been a lie.
She would apparently dream of him as well.
Even if she didn’t want to.