Chapter Ten
The following afternoon at two o’clock, Inès arrived in Berkeley Square with the maid whom Gus had assigned her from the Ashleys’ household staff. The girl was young and nervous.
“Do not worry, Mary.” Inès had tried to calm her servant’s fears of being in such high company. “It is not a problem. We will sit and have a sweet and a cup of tea.”
“Oh, ma’am, I donna want to spill my tea or make ye unhappy with me.”
“I will tell you what you can do. Soon after we sit down, you can excuse yourself and walk along the street. Say you will buy what I asked you to buy in the apothecary shop. You will stroll along and look in the shops. Then return after you’ve had a good time of it.”
The girl agreed, and Inès was pleased.
Though I should not be. Wanting to be alone with this man was a dangerous tactic. But I want him. Badly.
The hack idled to a stop. She climbed down and there he stood, her escort, her smiling chevalier.
“I am delighted to see you here.” He offered his arm and they entered the shop, Mary strolling behind.
The room was filled with the hustle and bustle of customers, the fragrances of lavender and vanilla, the sweetness of sugars and of the man who took a seat opposite her and spoke of the charms of London in winter.
They sat in a quiet corner, Mary in one chair between them.
“Do you skate?” he asked Inès between bites of his vanilla ice.
“Of course.”
“Then we must. I have the blades. Do you have pattens?”
She licked her spoon and he paused, his eyes wide and his gaze on her mouth. She put her spoon into her glass dish. “I do not.”
He cleared his throat, then gave a crooked grin. “No matter. I will borrow Fee’s for you.”
“Fee does not skate?”
“She fell last year and refuses to go at all now.”
“Did she hurt herself?”
“Her pride. She was with a gentleman she liked. He never called again.”
“Well, that was poor of him.”
“I agree.”
“No woman needs a man who is so childish,” she declared.
Evan widened his marvelous eyes and nodded. “I agree to that, too.”
She shivered, liking his stops and starts at this flirting business. “So we will go skating as soon as the weather freezes a bit more and we have ice?”
“A necessary ingredient!” He reached across and wound his fingers in hers. “Let me take you riding in Hyde Park.”
Mary looked away.
Inès struggled to keep up the conversation. “It is rather chilly for that.”
“Don’t care for the cold weather, eh?”
“No. I like a fire inside when it is December outside.”
Mary offered her excuses and pointed to a friend she wished to speak to.
Evan spoke low. “I promise to always give you fires in December inside.”
She took his words to imply all risqué possibilities. He foiled her…and she loved it. So she tried to pick a new topic. “Do you play cards?”
“Dear me.” He feigned dismay with a furrowed brow. “I suppose you are a beast at the game?”
She sniffed. “We will not play for money, dear sir. That would be so unfair. And I am not unfair to my friends.”
“Success, then! I am your friend! That means we are finished here. Do come.” He rose and took her hand. “Let me show you off as my new friend. We will enjoy a stroll.”
“It is very cold, sir.”
“For minutes only. Mary can follow us.” He reached over to secure her scarf at the collar of her good winter coat. It was not the action of a friend so much as a lover.
She imbibed the joy of it even though she knew she must not. But she wished to walk with him and caught her maid’s gaze. The girl nodded, hurrying over, ready to leave.
“That’s the way of it, my dear,” he whispered to her alone. “You smile at me. I long to make you smile more. Come now.” Once again, he offered his arm and they left to stand on the pavement. “We will take a stroll to the corner. Then I will take you home.”
#
They arrived at the Ashleys’ townhouse within minutes. Mary hurried inside and Friendly, the butler, seeing through squinted, rheumy eyes that Lord Halsey helped Mademoiselle Bechard from his carriage, closed the door with a thud.
“Until tomorrow,” Halsey said as he bent over Inès’s hand. But he did not let go. Instead, he opened her palm and kissed her gloved center with hot fervor.
She could not take her eyes from him, nor steady her breath. What to say to him? “I wish your lips were on mine”? Non, non. “I am pleased you will come to the reception and bring your mother and sisters.”
He put his hand to his chest. “They are pleased Gus has asked them.”
“Thank you for today.”
“As I thank you for the pleasure of your company. We see each other tomorrow, and the next night, we go to the theater.”
She was too much taken with him. “Oh, is that wise?”
“No. It is necessary.”
“But rumors—”
“Abound. We can never control them, my darling.”
His darling? Oh, she longed to be. She stood too close to him, inhaling his cologne and his gentle endearments. She had trouble controlling her tears, her needs and her desire for him. She had never been infatuated with a man, and now, her body tingled with hopes of ecstasies she did not know.
He smiled, benevolently. “You cry tears of happiness, I hope?”
She dashed one away.
He thumbed away the other.
She had to maintain some formality between them. “You are too perceptive.”
“Thank heavens for that. I want to perceive every little thing about you, mon chérie.”
She squeezed shut her eyes. “A rogue. Too tempting, you are.”
He grinned, his dimples showing. “How useful. I get better.”
She laughed and considered the sky. “What play do we see?”
“Macbeth.”
She wrinkled her nose. “A tale of tragedy.”
“We will leave early.”
Her heart swelled in expectation.
“I will kiss you in my carriage.”
She chuckled. “Fee will be surprised.”
“Fee will suffer a sudden attack of sneezes that night and become unable to attend.”
Excitement trilled through her veins like a siren’s song. “We go alone?”
“Will you still come?”
“Oui. I should not. The ton will talk.”
“Let them.”
“They will gossip about your intentions…and my reputation.”
“I have plans for both.”
Whatever that meant, she could not allow him to ruin himself over her. “Please don’t be rash. Do bring Fee.”
He lowered a brow, concern not as pleasant a look on him as joy. “Do you refuse me if she does not come?”
“Mon Dieu. I should.”
He grinned. “Until tomorrow. Then the following night, I shall call for you early.”
“Why?”
“I will need minutes to kiss you into this same state. This look of…agreement.”
Courage raged through her, a warm ally to her desire. “You mean enchantment.”
He stepped so near that she felt his strong chest against her arm. “I do. I will work to see more of it. I must go, lest I cannot contain myself here on Ashleys’ doorstep.”
“Oh, Evan.” She must not mourn this, but rejoice that this man whom she adored could be so gallant. “I have never before seen a man who cannot contain himself over me.”
“I hope you like what you see now.”
“I do,” she whispered, his lips too appealingly risqué for midday in brilliant sunlight. “You must go. Now.”