Chapter 5
Elowyn’s brows twitched as the duke disappeared without so much as a backward glance. Not even half a one. He simply left, as coldly as he’d arrived, as if nothing big, monumental, and earth-shattering had happened between them.
Ruthless, frozen barbarian!
Obviously, the kiss was not big, monumental, and earth-shattering for him. It might just be another proverbial stroll down Hyde Park for him!
I am at your mercy.
What mercy? The man had mercilessly robbed her of her first kiss in her drawing room in bold daylight! Elowyn stood frozen, still feeling the duke’s mouth on her lips. Still tasting him—a dark and absolutely dangerous taste.
Zachary muttered something beneath his breath, but she paid him no mind.
Her thoughts were spinning in circles, trapped between two warring truths: That kiss had been magnificent.
That kiss had been a violation. Had she just experienced the first kiss of her dreams just like that?
She hadn’t even had time to consider the perfect setting and with whom, and yet it had been claimed and was over in mere seconds!
She’d imagined her first kiss in all sorts of ways. Moonlight. Candles. A private garden. Perhaps beside a shimmering lake. Her own drawing room had never entered her field of imaginary vision. This was not how she imagined her first kiss.
But what had she expected of the Duke of Mandeville?
The man was all business. She had been the one to suggest a kiss.
The foolishness . . . She had traded her first kiss for what?
Something she’d already planned to do? Outrageous!
Yet, what was even more outrageous, was that she had wanted more.
Even now, with Zachary present, indignation fuming through her veins, she wanted to kiss him again.
Which, of course, could absolutely, never happen.
If nothing else, she had already made an enemy of Lady Gabrielle. She didn’t want to incite something worse. She also couldn’t go against the duke. Who knew what wrath she might provoke with him.
Two equally impossible situations.
Rubbing her fingers hard against her lips, she tried to erase the sensation.
It didn’t work. For her own sanity, she hoped she never laid eyes on that coxcomb again!
Mortification heated the tips of her ears.
She’d nearly called him handsome duke but had pivoted and called the man a haxcomb instead.
She was such an idiot! Another reason to avoid him in the future.
Hah. The man had never once lost the upper hand.
In fact, Elowyn very much doubted he required her help at all.
Most likely, he didn’t like to owe anyone, let alone a woman.
Yes, that must be reason for his shameless behavior.
Her brother, in fact, had the same trait—not liking to owe people favors.
Speaking of brother . . .
She eyed hers, who still glared at the door the duke had disappeared through, and sighed, drawing his attention back to her. One of the disadvantages of being the only woman in a household was overprotective males. Her brother wouldn’t be able to tell she’d been kissed, would he?
“How do you inadvertently help a man such as him?”
“Inadvertently.”
His look turned flat. “And he came to thank you simply for this coincidental help?”
“Yes . . .” With his mouth. With his tongue. With a kiss of exchange that had lasted mere seconds but felt like it had set a fire aflame inside her. “Is that so inconceivable?”
He scowled but didn’t press the matter. “Stay away from Mandeville. He’s not the sort of man whose attention you want to draw.”
“What sort of man is he?” Elowyn asked curiously. Her brother ought to know more than the rumor mill since he was a fellow male. When the furrow between her brother’s brows deepened, she added hastily, “I have no intention of getting embroiled in his affairs. I’m simply curious.”
Zachary sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. “Just know he’s a soulless man, Elowyn. He wouldn’t do anything if there wasn’t anything to gain.”
“Yet he required aid,” Elowyn murmured. Thoughtfully. “Of sorts.”
Zachary shook his head, scoffing. “He is not a man that requires help, Elowyn, that is why I’m concerned.” His eyes narrowed. “I’m presuming he nearly fell into a marriage trap, correct?”
At her shock, he nodded. “I see I’m right.”
How had he guessed? “Does it happen often? Marriage traps?”
“Often enough.”
Interesting. “Has it ever happened to you?”
“No, thank Christ,” Zachary muttered. “But there are ladies who’d do whatever it takes to get what they want. Be wary of Mandeville. He is not easy to deal with. Also, he’s not a man that could ever be trapped. If you inadvertently helped him, it wasn’t to escape marriage.”
Elowyn’s brows furrowed.
If not that then what?
Not your problem, Elowyn.
Right. She had more pressing things to concern herself with.
Her plans for the season. She could never have imagined the crooked wrench that felled her first kiss.
Could she simply pretend it didn’t happen and do another first kiss?
Her lips tingled again. No, she could not.
What’s done was done. No use dwelling on the matter.
She still had a slew of first settings. Now she could simply tick drawing room kiss off her list and proceed to a midnight garden tryst kiss.
Elowyn nodded, satisfied.
Next: Her first dance. And this time, nothing would stop her.
***
Julien didn’t acknowledge whoever entered his study. He remained sprawled in his chair, head lolled back, bottle of brandy clutched in his hand. His cravat, wrenched free hours ago, lay draped over his face blocking out the light.
A strong wave of tobacco reached him.
Wrath.
Julien sensed the man coming to stop before him.
“What’s wrong with you?” the deep voice of his friend asked moments later.
Julien sighed. “Everything.”
A moment of silence passed. “What did you do?”
“Everything I shouldn’t have.”
“Is that so?” Another beat of silence. “I don’t believe it’s as bad as everything you could have done.”
“Believe it.”
“Hmm. You offended Lady Elowyn, didn’t you? You offended her, now she’s going to help Lady Gabrielle, and you’re doomed to never get your revenge on Silkin.”
“No.” And he’d get his damn revenge.
“No? Then what?” Wrath asked. “If not her, did you offend her brother or father? Do you have a duel at dawn and require me to be your second? My answer is no, by the by. I don’t support fools.”
“Harsh.” If only it were as simple as a duel. “Not that either.”
“Then bloody hell man? What did you do?” Wrath’s voice dropped. “You didn’t kidnap the chit, did you?”
Julien yanked the cravat from his face and shot his supposed friend a glare.
“No.” However, now that the question had been raised, the prospect didn’t sound all that atrocious.
All he lacked was reason. However, if he did keep Lady Elowyn locked away, they couldn’t possibly sway her to their side, could they?
She could never falter. Never go back on her word.
Wrath crossed his arms. “Then I don’t see what can be worse than that in the mere hours since I last saw you.”
“Your worse and my worse are undoubtedly two different things.”
“Then let’s hear it.”
Julien sighed and regaled his friend with his failings, leaving out how his damn body overheated and hadn’t cooled down yet.
A thousand different kisses? Just what was going on in her head of hers?
So many different kisses didn’t exist, but that didn’t stop him from thinking of all the thousand ways he could kiss her.
A thousand different ways she could writhe beneath him.
A deuced inconvenient conundrum. He couldn’t afford to lose focus now.
He was so damn close. So damn close to crushing his mother’s murderer.
Kisses? He should laugh in the face of a damn kiss.
“Apparently the wallflower turned into a wildflower.”
Wrath nodded flatly. “So, you coerced the chit into giving you her first kiss in payment for her silence? That doesn’t seem like a deal to me at all.”
“I told her she could have anything,” Julien muttered. This was his damn fault. “She chose a kiss.”
“It seems you are determined to leap from one pot of fire to the next.”
“Lady Elowyn doesn’t have a scheming uncle.”
“She still has a brother and a father. She could also be scheming herself.”
Julien waved Wrath’s concern aside, taking a swig from the bottle.
She was scheming, yes. But her little schemes had nothing to do with him.
“She won’t be a problem, nor will her family.
” In any event, he’d gotten what he wanted.
A kiss in exchange for not going back on her outlandish lie.
And he would go back to his business of devouring Silkin, cutting off any avenue he could crawl for, all the while staying as far from the wild beauty as fervently as possible. Simple.
His butler appeared at the door. “Your Grace, the Marquess of Dansbury is requesting an audience.”
Wrath arched a brow.
Julien scowled. If it wasn’t for Cranbrook, he’d put that damn Marquess on his list to deal with next after Silkin. The man had too much gall and too little brain. “I’m not in the mood. Send him away.”
“Yes, Your Gra—”
“But I’m not in the mood to go away, Mandeville.”
Julien sent a cold look to the grey-haired man with the heavy white mustache who shouldered his way past his servant and strode into his bloody study as though he owned the right.
He didn’t bother to stand on ceremony. “You’re not in the mood for many things,” he said coldly.
“Certainly not honest dealings.” The wretched man took a breath and finished with, “You ruined my niece.”
Julien sneered. “So what if I did? Go find someone else to marry her off to. It won’t be me. Ever.”
Dansbury’s face turned a shade of purple. “You took advantage of an innocent girl.”
“Innocent?” Julien pushed up from the chair and rose to his feet, setting the brandy down on his desk, facing Dansbury. “Your niece and her friends orchestrated an elaborate trap. But you know all about that. Never imagined you’d fail, did you?”
“I don’t know what you’re blustering about! There was a witness to your deeds.”
Julien stiffened at the mention of Lady Elowyn. “A witness? Don’t make me laugh. You miscalculated, Dansbury.”
Wrath chuckled, leaning casually against the desk. “Grossly miscalculated.”
“Don’t do something you will regret, Mandeville. When that girl comes forward—”
“That girl already discredited your niece’s claims,” Julien interrupted, lips curling.
“Apparently, she is a woman of principle, unlike your family. She won’t dirty herself with the schemes of others.
And even if you do find a way to convince her now, if she suddenly sings another tune, don’t you think that will provoke more questions than answers? Give up already, Dansbury. You lost.”
Dansbury’s hands clenched into fists. “You think you can simply walk away from this? Let us see if Cranbrook agrees or not.”
Julien frowned. So, this arse had already taken his fabricated grievances to the duke.
Damn it. He wanted to throttle the man. “There’s nothing to walk away from.
” And God was his witness, if Dansbury was the reason his revenge fell through, he would destroy the man and every single last thing he held dear.
“Besides,” Wrath drawled from the side. “Mandeville is not without resources, Dansbury, as you well know. Are these not the same resources you are looking to weasel into?”
“His business dealings—”
“Are just business,” Wrath cut him off. “There will be many more.”
His jaw clenched until a vein pulsed in the side of his throat, but he didn’t counter Wrath’s words. When it came to Silkin and business, his temper threatened to get the better of him. He wasn’t losing this damn business, but Dansbury didn’t have to know that.
“You have two choices, Dansbury,” Julien drawled.
“You can accept that your plan has failed, withdraw your niece from society for a season or two, or you can continue this charade, and I will dismantle you piece by bloody piece until there is nothing left of your dull life but ash.” He gave the man a hard look. “Do not overplay your hand.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Dansbury spat.
“Wouldn’t I?” Julien’s smile was ice. “I don’t take kindly to threats.” The vision of the wildflower’s heart-shaped face once again came to mind. “Coaxed perhaps.” He eyed the older man. “But only if you’re pretty. You’re not pretty.”
A tick jumped in Dansbury’s jaw before he managed a snake-like grin. “We’ll have to see, won’t we? We’ll meet again soon, Mandeville.”
“God, I hope not.”
Dansbury shot him a glare before turning on his heel and marching from the study.
The moment the man vanished through the door, Wrath turned to him, one brow arching to his hairline. “Only if you’re pretty?”
Julien snatched up the brandy and gulped down three swallows. What could he say? The man irked him.
Someone else is provoking you more.
He ignored that unwelcome voice in his head.
“This isn’t good, Mandeville. I told you he wouldn’t give up.”
“He has nothing.”
“He could have Lady Elowyn . . .”
Never. “She’s not informing anyone of our kiss.”
Wrath slanted him a dry look. “That wasn’t what I bloody meant.”
“Nevertheless.” The wildflower wasn’t going to be a problem. “A fact is a fact.”