Page 39 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

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Simon and Ravennaaccompanied Heath and Julia to a small Mayfair soirée that night. During supper Heath confided in Simon that he’d gathered some information from his contacts in the metropolis.

“It’s not much,” Heath said. “And not about Bruxton. Sir David vacated his Piccadilly lodgings three hours after he climbed out of the rag-and-bone cart. The premises are empty. He’s paid up for another month.”

The news should have brightened Simon’s mood. He should have been able to devote his attention to Ravenna. Instead, he anticipated menace. As he’d feared he made a miserable suitor. He withdrew into himself when he should have enjoyed her company, encouraged her to forget their worries for a night. She deserved a lighthearted fiancé and not the hard cynic he tended to be.

He stared down the young gallants who vied for her attention at the after-supper dance until one by one they scurried off. He wasn’t merely jealous. He was suspicious of their motives. Who was it safe to trust? Julia sat out the dance with Heath. Simon would have been relieved to join them, but Aunt Glynnis was analyzing his every move and he doubted he could conceal his desire for Ravenna from her family. He also doubted he could avoid mentioning Sir David’s visit earlier; the subject of depositing a man in rubbish cart made for crude dance conversation.

“Why do you look so melancholy, Simon?” she whispered as the first set ended.

“Am I supposed to encourage the upstarts who admire you in my view? What would they dare if I weren’t here to glare them off?”

A smile played about her lips. “What am I to do about the ladies who sigh in longing when you enter a room?”

“I am not a vulnerable young virgin,” he said bluntly. “No one will entrap me in a compromising position.”

“I did,” she murmured.

“You are the exception.”

“I am not likely to fall under the spell of any other scapegrace but you,” she said, tapping her toe in rhythm to the band. “When I arrived in London, Jane gave me a list of ladies and gentlemen whose acquaintance I should avoid. Can you guess whose name appeared at the top?”

“The Earl of Crawford? Byron? No, he is off in Italy, isn’t he?” Her bosom rested against the crook of his elbow. She felt unbearably soft and fragile compared to him, and yet she thought herself invulnerable. How was he supposed to contain his emotions when in a few days they would become a man and wife? “I think I should have a talk with Jane,” he muttered.

“Why? She’s on your side now.”

“Our side,” he corrected her.

Her blue eyes sparkled. “Are you a jealous lover, Simon?” she inquired behind her fan.

“Apparently, although I never thought of myself as such until now.”

“Are you faithful?”

“Never doubt it,” he said with feeling. “You are quite enough woman for a dozen gentlemen. In fact, I want to kiss you right now.”

“You wouldn’t.”

He lowered his head. “Would you allow me?”

“Yes. If Heath weren’t staring daggers at the back of your head.”

“I can dodge daggers. Do you know how captivating you are?”

“You’ll have years to tell me. Or to discover otherwise.”

His eyes gleamed with promise. “I’ll have years for many things. Is Heath still staring?”

“Not at this precise -- ”

He took her fan from her hand, raised it to conceal her face, and stilled the rest of her sentence with a light kiss on the lips. “Oh,” she whispered. “You shouldn’t have.”

“I know. I have been turned to stone. Don’t bump against me or I’ll bruise you.”

She recovered her fan from his hand, whispering, “And Heath saw.”

“I am in agony,” he said softly. “But it was worth it. Considering how desperately I want you, I’m demonstrating more than ducal restraint.”