“You are in the same icy blue dress you had on at the ball,” he said drily by way of explanation.
“Lady Cressida was not the only lady in blue, Mr. Fairbanks.”
“No, but she is the only one with pretty hazel eyes that stare longer than she should.”
The lady’s lips parted, and she stared at him in mute astonishment. “I am surprised that you could tell it was me,” she murmured, those eyes taking on a curious cast. “I had not realized that you had noticed me.”
He bloody well had and had been…captivated. Enough that he had lost interest in other women and had been a snarling beast of frustration his brothers found amusing. Nicholas had known a man like himself could not have a lady like her, especially when it was whispered she was the female half of the most perfect match society had seen in the last decade. “I noticed.”
“I see.”
Nicholas suspected she had no notion of anything. “Now, what do you want?”
Lady Cressida took a deep breath to clearly steady her courage and said, “I wish you to paint me, sir. I shall compensate you handsomely.”
A request that had been boring him of late. He buried his sigh and was about to refuse when she hurriedly explained the kind of painting she wanted and then waited with an expectant air. His heart slammed against his chest, and Nicholas simply stared at her. “You misspoke,” he said stiffly.
A daring smile touched her mouth. “I did not.”
He went back to staring at the surprising creature before him. She had rendered him speechless, a thing many did not have the capacity to do given the larks with which his family got themselves involved. The lady stood with polite hauteur lining every inch of her shapely body as she awaited his response. It amused Nicholas that she still expected one after he’d made no reply for at least a full minute.
“Dare not sayI’vemanaged to shockyou, Mr. Fairbanks,” said the lady, peering down her elegant aristocratic nose at him, though he was certain he at least stood a foot or more taller than the chit. “Are you not one of the ‘very bad Fairbanks’ thetonhas been whispering about?”
“Well done. I have been shocked.”
Her lips curved into a smile, and she removed the small face mask, slipping it into her pocket. “What a diverting idea, and to think it was done by me. I must tell my friends about this.”
“You are amusing.”
She affected an expression of mild surprise. “Am I? No one has ever said so before, though I do know I am in possession of a dry, acerbic wit. I have been trying to temper it of late. Mama encourages me, you see, claiming gentlemen do not like ladies to be too smart.”
He bit back his smile. “Only a man insecure of his own wit would not want to see it in a lady.”
At first, she appeared astonished, then Lady Cressida brightened. “What a novel and most lovely idea. I shall remember it as a firm rebuttal whenever mama says so again. Now, what do you say to my request, Mr. Fairbanks?”
Nicholas chuckled, oddly charmed by her. “I do not believe you have thought about the consequences of your request.”
“How like a man,” she said with scathing sweetness. “To presume ladies are not capable of managing their own thoughts and deciding on a course of action they deem the correct one. With as many sisters I’ve heard you have, Mr. Fairbanks, I would think you a gentleman more enlightened.”
Well, that certainly put him in his place. Nicholas took a few prowling steps toward her, and the lady bravely held her stance, not backing up even a step. “So that I have it correctly, you want me to paint you…naked without a stitch of clothes. No chemise or drawers,” he said, being deliberately provoking and explicit. “I will be able to see your nubile curves, your breasts…the thatch of hair that covers your quim. Is that the right of it, Lady Cressida?”
CHAPTER2
Lady Cressida’s breathing fractured, and a pretty flush of pink bloomed across her cheeks. Still, the lady did not retreat but lifted her stubborn chin even higher.
“Yes, that is what I want, Mr. Fairbanks.”
“Without any clothes,” he said again, very slowly. Nicholas gathered her request was simply that remarkable.
A small smile touched her mouth, and her eyes gleamed. “That is what I believe I said, Mr. Fairbanks.”
There went that flash of fire in her eyes again.
“Why do you insist on us repeating this conversation? Are you trying to get me to blush?”
“Ah, but we haven’t gotten to the best part yet.”
She narrowed her eyes at him in censure.