“You’re not going to do that, pet. It would mean a lot to me if you would wear them.” Her smile was a bit impish. “Then I can boast that they’ve been inside a duke’s residence.”
Her throat had grown so tight she wasn’t certain she could speak, so she merely nodded and turned to face the mirror. Jewel draped the necklace around her neck, secured it, patted her shoulder. “There.”
“It’s beautiful, Jewel. It really sets off the gown.”
“It’ll draw his gaze to that fine cleavage you’re displaying so enticingly.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, even as she laughed and shook her head. The madam was too forthright with her comments, even if there was truth to them. She gave her a hard hug. “Thank you, Jewel, for so much.”
“Anytime, pet.”
“Hester, if you’ll help me with my cloak.”
“Oh, no,” Jewel said. “You need to descend those stairs wearing naught but what you have on now. Hester, you carry her wrap and put it on her in the foyer after he’s gotten a good eyeful.”
She had no reason to be nervous as she descended the stairs. She was simply going out for a nice evening with a gentleman she liked very much. So many people would be there, they’d probably have very little time to actually be together. She’d once had no trouble at all carrying on conversations with strangers. If his family didn’t welcome her, she would adapt.
She was halfway down the final flight of stairs when she came to an abrupt halt as his gaze slammed into hers. It wasn’t so much the heat in his eyes as it was every aspect of him. She’d given so much thought to how she wanted to look for him tonight that she’d given no thought at all to how he might look for her.
Gorgeouswas too paltry a word. As werestrikingandmagnificent, but still they all ran through her mind in rapid succession.
He’d trimmed his hair. Half an inch. Strange that she knew him so well she could discern the slightest changes in him. He was wearing proper evening attire: his black trousers fitted, his black double-breasted tailcoat unbuttoned, hanging open to reveal the white silk waistcoat. His snowy shirt was pristine. His light gray neck cloth was perfectly knotted. His outercoat was draped over one arm, his hand holding his black hat. It was obvious he had an incredibly skilled tailor. He could stride into any aristocratic ballroom, and no one would question his right to be there.
“Breathe,” Jewel whispered behind her, and only then did she realize she’d ceased doing so.
She continued down until she was standing before him, basking in the appreciation warming his eyes.
“You take my breath,” he said quietly.
“That’s only fair. You took mine.”
She smiled. He grinned.
“Thorne sent a carriage,” he told her, “so we should be off.”
In the carriage, she sat opposite Beast, a fur blanket draped over her lap, her slippered feet resting near the footwarmer. She’d offered to share the warmth with him, invited him to sit beside her, but his skin already felt like it was onfire, a fire that could only be doused by tumbling her. On a bed, on a settee, in a carriage.
Why he continued to put the temptation of her within easy reach was beyond him.
When he’d first caught sight of her, he’d been able to easily envision her descending stairs at a fancy ball. Everything about her screamed nobility. It wasn’t the exquisite gown or the styled hair. It was something deeper, something inside her, something that had been passed down through the centuries. They might have taken her father’s titles, but they couldn’t take from her what she was destined to be: a lady of the highest caliber.
And for tonight at least, she was on his arm.
She’d already mastered seduction with the ease with which one mastered waking up. It came to her naturally. With the soft smile she bestowed upon him whenever she first saw him, the warm welcome that sparkled in her eyes, the light blush that washed over her cheeks as though she was remembering what it felt like to have his hands cupping her breasts.
The evenings they shared in the library were both bliss and hell. To have her presence, her scent, her voice telling tales. But to not touch those lips, caress her skin, have her pressed against his throbbing cock... to know that eventually her plans would lead her away from him—
He didn’t inhabit the world from which she wanted to select a lover. Unlike his brothers, he’d never had a desire to move about in it, to be accepted by it. He wouldn’t be welcomed into it now.
Each night after they parted ways, as he lay in his bed alone staring at the shadows dancing over the ceiling, he was tempted to return to her.You want to be some man’s mistress? Be mine.
He had the means to purchase her a residence, more gowns than she’d have occasion to wear, jewelry that would dazzle. He could provide her with servants, a carriage, anything else she wanted. His shipping business had given him a foundation upon which he’d begun building an empire. He’d amassed a modest fortune. If he never earned another farthing, the interest alone would see him in good stead into his dotage. Presently, he used it to support good works but could use it to acquire her—but if she had him, she couldn’t have the prestige of having a lord as her protector. Would she give it up for him? Was it fair of him to ask her to? To settle for a commoner, a bastard, when she could have a man of rank and privilege?
“I assume they know I’m coming.” The tiniest thread of doubt, perhaps even nervousness, laced itself through her voice.
“They do.”
“Do they know the truth of me?”
