He made a beeline straight for where Victoria and her parents stood. “Your Graces.” As he bowed to her mother, Victoria did a mental calculation. Lady Anne was a duchess and a duke’s daughter, so somewhere in the mess of social graces, she might actually outrank him. “Mowbray,” he said to her father, who replied with a droll. “S and W. Long time.”
Victoria held her breath.
“And who would this delightful creature be?” He bowed low to Victoria, who dipped into a perfect curtsy.
Lady Anne was all smiles. “This is our second eldest daughter, Lady Victoria.”
The smile Victoria painted on her lips was painful. It was hard to smile when you were gritting your teeth.
“And what a lovely young lady you are. It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Lady Victoria.” When he bowed once more, she could have sworn she heard her mother sigh with relief. If the duchess got her way, she’d be booking the reading of the church banns by the end of the night.
All this left Victoria wondering if the Duke of Saffron Walden had indeed forgotten their first meeting. Or perhaps he did remember her but was simply being polite. For all she knew, he might not have thought too much of their earlier encounter. Had simply brushed it off as an unfortunate incident.
Her senses were on edge. Instinct whispered for her to take great care with this man.
A dinner gong startled Victoria from her thoughts of ducal motivation. “My lords, ladies, and gentlemen would you please make your way into the dining room,” announced the head butler.
She moved toward her father in the full expectation that he would accompany her into this evening’s proceedings, but a strong male hand touched her upper arm, halting her progress. “Lady Victoria, would you please grant me the honor of walking you into dinner?”
Lady Anne didn’t give her daughter the opportunity to say no—she took a hold of her husband’s arm and batted her eyelashes at him. “Clifford, you promised you wouldn’t leave my side this evening.”
The love smitten Duke of Mowbray bent and kissed his wife on the cheek. “And I intend to keep that promise, my love.”
Victoria’s cheeks burned with deep embarrassment. Her parents had just shown one another real affection in public. Those things were not done in polite society.
Of course this was all part of a ploy, a way to have thetontalking about the duke and duchess and how love had conquered all, but she still didn’t know where to look.
It was with a growing sense of trepidation that Lady Victoria Kembal took the Duke of Spice’s arm and allowed him to escort her into dinner.
Chapter Fifteen
During their brief encounter in the supper room he hadn’t had enough time to make a thorough study of Lady Victoria Kembal, but as he walked arm in arm with her into the elegant dining room Robert glanced over at his secret nemesis. His gaze drifted down, and he suddenly recalled seeing those magnificent breasts and the delightful way they had filled the bodice of her gown. They were on display again tonight.
Heavens that’s an inviting pair of full breasts. I wonder what sound she would make if I gently mouthed them.
Would she moan? Or softly sigh? Or would she be the kind of woman who hadn’t a clue about her sexual needs, a female who required a long and thorough education in the art of seduction and desire. Whatever her needs, he’d be more than happy to oblige.
“I understand you are known as the Duke of Spice. Why is that?” she asked.
His gaze lifted from staring at the delicious mounds bobbing up and down, and straight into a pair of perfect blue eyes. When she blinked, he felt himself start to go hard.
Robert cleared his throat. “It’s because I come from the town of Saffron. We grow crocus plants, which when they flower provide the stem for the saffron spice. It’s a spice…”
“Yes, I know what saffron is,” she snapped, cutting him off.
Feisty little thing. I bet she would be a screamer if I had her under me. She’d be clawing at my back as she climaxed.
They reached the doorway of the dining room, and a footman motioned for them to follow the Duke and Duchess of Mowbray. Robert ignored him and guided his dinner companion to the other end of the long oak table. When Victoria shot a look in the direction of her parents, he leaned in and murmured, “You don’t want to spend the whole evening with Mama and Papa while they make doe eyes at one another, now do you?”
With his prey out of earshot of her family, he would be free to indulge in a spot of teasing. And if his plans went as well as he hoped, he would have put her firmly in her place by the end of the third course. Then he could spend the rest of the evening thoroughly ignoring her, forgetting she ever existed.
Though those fantastic tits might not be so easy for me to forget.
He’d already figured that tonight was important for her mother, and the duchess would be horrified if her daughter made a scene. Lady Victoria’s gaze flittered to the guests around her, and Robert quietly guessed what she must be thinking. There were close to thirty guests seated at the table—there would be people all around her for the duration of the meal. What harm could possibly befall her?
“If you are happy to indulge a young lady for this evening, then yes we could sit here,” replied Victoria. He caught the hesitation in her voice and quietly chided himself.
Let’s not take this too far. As long as she knows I’m onto her, and that I’m prepared to fight, this needn’t come to an all-out public war.
