Page 11 of The Seduction of an English Scoundrel

Jane stared at him with an admonishing frown. “Is this meant to make me feel better?”

“One must face facts.”

Why? she wanted to ask, but she was too drawn into this drama to disagree. It was difficult to deal with him when she had no idea of his intentions. “Yes. One must.”

“One must pay a price for humiliating a young woman.”

“Yes, one—what sort of price are we talking about?” she asked a trifle impatiently.

“Leave that to me. Know only that Nigel shall answer for what he did to you.”

“Perhaps he had an excuse.”

“Don’t you dare defend the miserable little bugger to me.”

Jane coughed. “Language, my lord.”

“Excuse me. Sometimes my passions overcome me.”

“Of course,” she murmured. She had heard more than once about those passions of his, but had certainly never envisioned herself the recipient of them.

He peeled off his gray leather riding gloves. “You are aware that the papers will carry every embarrassing detail of the day’s event?”

Jane hesitated, distracted by the sight of his strong elegant hands. This distraction paled, however, compared to the shock she felt when one of those strong hands engulfed hers. “Papers—what—mercy, what are you doing?”

He gave her fingers what she supposed was meant to be a reassuring squeeze. Instead, the most potent flush of pleasure spread in hot rivulets through her body. “The papers will say that another Boscastle rake has broken a lady’s heart,” he mused. “Much will be made of the fact that my former mistresses flanked me in the chapel.”

Jane lifted her brow in delicate reproach, as if to say, Well, no wonder. But in light of the fact she had botched her own marriage, and his thumb was rubbing her knuckles in such a pleasantly disconcerting manner, she decided to hold her tongue.

He sighed. “Right now one of my brothers is resting from the fistfight he instigated during the wedding breakfast over a demirep.”

“Oh, dear.” Every time his blue eyes looked into hers, the queerest flutters went off in the pit of her belly. She was drifting—into something indefinable, as if magical wings had been attached to her wrists and ankles, lifting her into a dark warm fog.

“My sister Chloe is talking about becoming a Continental courtesan,” he added.

“No? Not really?” Jane remembered a gorgeous raven-haired young girl who devoted herself to numerous charities.

No, he thought. Probably not really. But Grayson had a point to make and a little embellishment of the truth would not hurt when he basically had Jane’s best interests at heart. To think Nigel could be bedding this interesting beauty at this very moment. Grayson had never met anyone quite like her. She had the softest hands, and that wedding dress, all wrinkled and lacy, should have made her look demure, but it produced the opposite effect on him. The devil in him would have dearly loved to learn what that lace concealed.

“Devon, another brother of mine, has gone off with his useless friends in search of pirate treasure,” he said darkly.

“Pirate treasure?” Jane was not quite able to suppress a smile at the charming but frivolous notion; he caught it and smiled back.

“I suppose we’ve earned our reputation,” he admitted, “although for the most part our sins have not been irredeemable. Until what Nigel did today. Never have we humiliated a young lady on purpose.”

Jane was drifting higher into that undefinable stratosphere, completely spellbound by this devilishly attractive man. What could he possibly be leading to? Rogues like Sedgecroft lurked beyond the social circle of proper young women like Jane, even if they did arouse a certain curiosity.

Nigel had constantly cautioned her to avoid the other Boscastle boys, and Nigel had been her best friend. Naturally she had not questioned his advice. In fact, she had always believed herself clever enough to resist seduction. But then no truly appealing man had ever tried to seduce her before. Was this . . . an appallingly flattering thought crossed her mind.

“Do you mean to seduce me?” she asked in a serious voice.

“Of course not.”

“Oh. No. Of course not.”

His blue eyes sparkled with wicked amusement. “Don’t look offended. I actually meant to compliment you. Learning about how cruel the world can be is a lesson that does not come easily to any of us, but you received quite an education today. Darling, if this were a seduction, we would not be sitting here holding hands.”

Exactly what would they be doing if a classic Boscastle seduction were under way? Jane wondered. The answers to that intriguing question would certainly keep her up until the wee small hours. She had quite a fertile imagination, and Sedgecroft could nourish it for several months.