Page 17 of A Sham Engagement

“I’m afraid I don’t have the time, tempting as your offer is.” He turned around the chair she kept in front of her dressing table and sat on it, crossing his legs to hide his discomfort, and keeping at a distance of ten feet from her chaise longue, lest temptation got the better of him.

She pouted and didn’t rectify her slipped peignoir. No doubt she doubted his determination and had faith in her own attractions. Any other day and she’d have been correct.

“Then what is it you’ve come for?” The words purred out of her mouth, slithering into his brain and making him wish he were here for another reason.

Best to come out with it. “I’ve got myself engaged to be married.”

Silence. Her cat-like eyes sharpened and her breasts heaved as she took in several deep breaths.

He waited.

“Married?” Gone was the purring allure to be replaced by a sharpness that could have etched glass.

“Married. I’m thirty-eight. It’s time I thought about providing an heir for the earldom that will one day be mine.” He kept his voice measured and matter of fact, while watching her closely. He’d had experience of several of her rages before, which both times had ended up with them in bed together. That couldn’t happen this time.

She hitched the peignoir up to cover her shoulder. “This is very sudden.” Now she was cold and calculating, and, with her smile gone, annoyance dragged her features down, ageing her in an instant.

His resolve hardened, and the opposite happened to his cock.

Perhaps he was wise to break off this liaison. He nodded. “I wanted you to be the first to know. Well, after the girl and her parents, and mine, of course.”

“How thoughtful of you.” Words she didn’t mean. He’d always been aware of her lack of consideration for anyone else’s feelings, including his own, but other, more carnal things had outweighed her selfish nature, and she’d rarely shown him her true self.

Silence fell again. What was she thinking? Probably that this might mean the end of their relationship. Well, she was right, and he was beginning to think it would be a good thing. He couldn’t abide clingy women and she was fast mutating into one if he wasn’t mistaken.

“To whom have you become engaged? I’m curious to know what attributes the lady in question possesses that have allowed her to snare the most confirmed bachelor I’ve ever had the opportunity to pleasure.”

“Miss Elenora Wetherby.”

Louise’s brow furrowed and her upper lip curled. “Never heard of her. She sounds like a nobody.”

“She is.”

Her brow furrowed some more. If she took a glance in her mirror she’d be horrified by the lines on it. “Then why on earth have you chosen her as a bride? You’re an earl’s only son, you’re devilish handsome, by gad, and far too charming when you want to be. You have a more than substantial income and a house here in Town as well as an estate in Wiltshire. You could have the pick of the Ton, a diamond of the first water, the daughter of a duke. In fact, I can think of several duke’s daughters who would be falling over themselves to snare you.”

He smiled. “Have you taken a look at the young ladies you are referring to? I am not attracted to horse-faced girls, as you well know.”

Her face softened into a knowing smile. “I do indeed. But I also know your tastes don’t run to innocent ingenues. Your tastes,” and here she stroked her hand down her thigh, “run to women who know what to do in bed, and who have old husbands who can’t satisfy them. Women like me.”

“Women like you are not the sort my mother would have me marry. And to put it bluntly, you’re too old to give me the heir my father thinks I need.”

She laughed, the sound deep and provocative. “I would very much like to see your mother’s face if you told her you were marrying a woman like me. I can only presume that the lady of your choice, despite being a nobody I’ve never heard of, has attributes your mother, and of course your father, would find satisfactory, although I doubt you will. A meek little mouse, I imagine.”

He nodded, ignoring her last words. “She does indeed pass muster with my father. And you’ve met her. She’s not a meek little mouse.” Anything but.

The frown returned. “I have?”

“The girl with the rather lovely blonde hair and eyes of a cornflower blue with whom we danced the cotillion last night. She was partnering a red-headed oaf who kept trampling on her feet.”

The moment realization sank in, Louise’s eyes changed, hardening like a pair of diamonds. “That girl? You’ve affianced yourself to that chit?” Her voice rose. “She can only just be out of the schoolroom. And her parents have accepted your offer? Don’t they know your reputation?” Indignation filled every syllable. Perhaps he shouldn’t have revealed Elenora’s identity.

“She’s nineteen.”

Louise’s breasts heaved as her breathing quickened. “A child. And you’re throwing me over for a chit like that, a chit half your age, just because she has blonde hair and blue eyes? I’ll wager that blonde coloring isn’t natural. Her collar and cuffs will betray her.”

This was not going well so far. Jack rose to his feet, keen to make himself scarce. “So, due to my newly affianced state, I regret that I shall no longer be available to squire you about Town.”

Her eyes flashed in fury, but if he knew her at all, this wasn’t due to any kind of sentiment she felt for him, but rather to the fact that she felt she’d been scorned. And for a girl such as Elenora. That he was feeling defensive about his supposed fiancée surprised him.