Page 56 of The Seduction of an English Scoundrel

“I hear them,” he murmured hoarsely, his face buried in her hair. “It’s all right. Let’s put you back together, darling. No harm done.”

She covertly straightened her dress, her voice unsteady. “Perhaps not to you. I do not think I will ever be the same. Dear heaven, my hands are shaking, Sedgecroft. Am I putting all the pieces back in their proper place?”

He examined her over from head to toe, his perceptive gaze lingering on her face. The white knight had failed miserably in his attempt at chivalry again. What had he done to her tonight? What folly had possessed him? “Lovely pieces they were, too,” he said softly. “It does seem a shame to hide them.” He lifted her from the bench, holding her against him for a moment, wondering whether she would run from him after this and never return. How was seducing her supposed to fit into their scheme?

“You look even better than you did before,” he added in a quiet voice. “I’m the one returning to the party with his rhubarb at full rise.”

“Your—”

“Hurry, Jane, before we are missed. We must not be seen leaving the maze together.” Teasing aside, he was not about to chance involving her in another scandal. “We’ll find that cheese you are craving, shall we?”

Chapter 14

They strolled back across the garden and allowed the night air to cool their passion, blending into the cluster of guests outside as if they had never left. He held her hand only until they reached the revealing lantern light. In truth, he did not feel like letting her go. It had been wrong of him to take advantage of her vulnerability. Yet for the life of him he found it impossible to resist her.

He wondered what it was about Jane that undid him when he had encountered every sort of feminine wile under the sun. And then he knew. Jane was simply herself. She did not put on airs. She wasn’t out to entrap or impress him. She was Jane and that was more than enough.

No one had missed them, thankfully. They might have been chatting on the lawn for all anyone knew. But still this had to stop. Grayson had to stop himself, or Jane was going to end up worse than before.

“Are you going to render me insensible every time we’re together?” she asked without looking at him.

He glanced down at her with a rueful smile. “I suppose I deserve that.”

“It wasn’t part of your plan for my social redemption, was it?”

“I never plan in that much detail, at least not when it comes to women,” he said. “Being unpredictable creatures, they require a certain freedom of expression from a partner if peace is to be had.”

“That is not an answer, Sedgecroft.”

“Would you feel better if we scheduled these ‘renderings’ ahead of time?”

She sighed. “I suppose I’m as much to blame as you, but I think I’d feel better if we could control the urge to commit them at all.”

“Commit them? As if they were mortal sins or murders.” He came to a dead stop in the middle of the parterre, his face half shadowed in the lantern light. “It’s Nigel, isn’t it?”

“Nigel has nothing to do with this,” she said, managing to sound quite convincing.

“Yes, he does. I understand something of women, Jane. In your heart of hearts, you hope he will return. As a loyal woman, a woman of integrity, you intend to show him that you did not yield to temptation while he was off on his—his bachelor’s pilgrimage.”

“What bachelor’s pilgrimage?”

“It does not appear that there was any foul play involved in Nigel’s disappearance. I’m sorry that he appears to be alive.”

“You’re sorry that your cousin isn’t dead?”

“It would have saved me the trouble—do you wish me to find the truth or not?”

A flush of foreboding swept through Jane like wildfire. How close to the truth would he come? Nigel had promised to cover his tracks until such a time that he and Jane deemed it safe for the fact of his marriage to come out.

Neither of them had counted on Sedgecroft’s, and now Heath’s, interference. What a complicated game this had become.

She drew a slow breath, summoning all her courage. “Speaking of the truth, I think you ought to know how I feel about Nigel.”

He frowned. “I do.”

“You couldn’t possibly.”

“You are an intelligent, unusual woman, Jane, but you aren’t as adept at hiding your feelings as you may think.”