“Yes.” She wanted to groan her mortification. Why did she sound so shaky?
He pressed another kiss to her mouth before opening the door and ushering her out into the thankfully empty hallway. As Cressida hurried toward the retiring room, she couldn’t help wondering at the terrible excitement filling her veins. And a question beat at her heart, rousing her curiosity. Why had he really agreed?
“Where do you come from?” A harsh voice demanded from behind her.
Cressida whirled around, her eyes widening when she saw the marquess. She stilled, pressing a hand over her chest. “I beg your pardon?”
“I will ask again, Lady Cressida, where are you coming from?”
Outrage snapped through her. “You dare ask me that, Lord Linfield, when your hair is mussed and rogue is on your lips?” She was impressed with the calmness of her tone. “I gather you were once again with your mistress?”
He grimaced. “A man does not indulge in these conversations with his future bride.”
Her heart ached for the lady she had seen him with. “I recognized your lover as Lady Wimpole. She is the widow of Sir Henry Wimpole. She is not a lady of dubious character; why do you not marry her?”
Lord Linfield made a rough sound of frustration, and within a few steps he was right in front of her, taking her arm in a tight grip. “Why do you speak so, Lady Cressida? It isyouwho I wish to marry and make my marchioness. Why do you speak so idly of me marrying a woman who does not compare to your beauty and wit? You are the woman who is perfect for me.”
Cressida tugged her arm away from his clasp and retreated a few steps. “Lady Wimpole is with child. Do you mean to leave her and that child to suffer a life of indignities?”
“They will be well taken care of,” he said tightly. “It is rather unsettling and unseemly to be having this conversation. I shall call upon you tomorrow, and we’ll take a ride in my new phaeton around Hyde Park.”
Then, without waiting to see if she agreed, he walked past her and entered the ballroom. Cressida stood there, and as she was about to turn around, a door in the distance opened and the widowed Lady Wimpole exited, patting her elegant coiffure.
The marquess had been indulging in a tryst. Cressida and the widow’s gazes collided, and the lady gasped and stopped as if she had run into a wall. There was a tight feeling about Cressida’s chest, and, without acknowledging the lady, she turned around and went into the ballroom. Her mother found her shortly after, a smile on her mouth.
“Though you are an affianced pair, my dear, it is best to be more discreet when you meet with the marquess.”
She swallowed a groan, realizing they had entered the ballroom shortly after each other. “I did not meet with the marquess. I believe he was dallying in our hostess’s music room with his mistress.”
“Cressida!” Her mother glanced about as if to ascertain who might have overheard them. “I am sure you have mistaken the matter. Lord Linfield already assures me he will be calling on you tomorrow for a ride in the park. My dear, I urge you to settle this business with him.”
Pinning a tight smile on her face, Cressida made no comment. She danced through the night and lightly flirted with a few admirers, but there was a heavy weight pressed upon her chest. That night as Cressida lay in her bed, unable to sleep, it was thoughts of Nicholas Fairbanks and her first kiss that calmed the anxiety in her heart and allowed her to fall asleep.
CHAPTER6
Richard stared at Nicholas as if he had grown a horn. “I do not believe I heard you correctly.”
“You did,” Nicholas said with a small smile, as he drew on the reins of his horse. He had called on his twin brother, younger by ten minutes, who also had lodgings in St. James Square, to take an early morning ride before the fashionableton,who were determined to be seen as they promenaded, took over the park. It was barely five in the morning, and the park was pleasantly sparse.
Richard’s cobalt eyes gleamed. “You mean to paint the lady in the nude?”
“Yes.”
“The current darling of theton?”
“Yes.”
“What madness made you agree to it?”
Richard must have seen the surge of hunger that curled through Nicholas’s body reflected in his face, for his brother said, “Ah,thatmadness.”
Yes, that madness, the very one that had kept him restless and awake, simply reliving the feel of that soft mouth against his, the taste of innocence. Nicholas was certain the lady had never been kissed before, and that she had grantedhimthe privilege had stunned him and sent an odd surge of possessiveness and want through his body.
They cantered in silence for several minutes, then Richard stirred. “You want Lady Cressida for yourself?”
The baffled question traveled to places unknown inside of Nicholas and pierced him.
“I noticed her some weeks ago in Hyde Park and then a few days later at a ball. She was…dancing and laughing, her joy unfettered. The attraction I felt each time certainly shook me, but I shoved it aside. Every ball I attend, my gaze seeks her out, and I noticed that she also watched me. She tried to pretend an indifference, but she stared, and she blushed whenever I caught her eye and looked away. I did not approach her because she is…she is bold, a glittering diamond meant to marry a duke or a marquess. And everyone in the damntonalready links her to the Marquess of Linfield. Then one night she showed up with her mad scheme. What the hell is that? Mere coincidence?”