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“Poor boy!” Mrs. Randall said.
Rob grinned wryly. “He didn’t let himself be ignored at school, I promise you! We were at Eton and Oxford together, though being younger than he and moving with a different set, I didn’t know him well. Always spoiling for a fight, ready to take on even lads much bigger and older. Almost always won, by the way. He’s now accounted one of the foremost amateur pugilists in England.”
“It sounds as if he were angry with the world,” Allegra said. As well he might be, she thought with an empathetic pang, after losing his parents and being thrust into an indifferent world.
Rob shrugged. “Perhaps. Anyway, since Oxford he’s lived in London, keeping himself afloat with a mix of gaming and…and—” he lowered his voice as color stained his cheeks “—ah, associations with ladies of large fortune.”
“Married ladies,” Allegra surmised. “In other words, a rake.”
While Mrs. Randall gasped, Rob confirmed Allegra’s impression with a nod. “A notorious one, who has never before bothered to make an appearance at ton events. He and Lady Domcaster are close friends from youth, so with Domcaster still in the country, I suppose he must be acting as her escort. Though were she my wife, I doubt I’d permit him to do so, never mind that they are cousins.”
“Is she in danger from him?” Allegra inquired.
“Probably not,” Rob conceded. “Domcaster’s no fool. Besides, I seem to recall that he and Tavener were friends at Oxford, perhaps because he was then courting Tavener’s cousin, whom he later married. Most likely Tavener’s attempting to establish himself—at Lady Domcaster’s urging, I would guess.”
Like I am, Allegra thought.
“Good breeding or no, you’d do well to be on your guard, Allegra,” Rob warned. “If he says or does anything that gives you alarm, leave him at once.”
“Thank you, Rob. I will do so,” Allegra said.
Not that she’d needed Rob’s warning. With his intense eyes and beguiling charm, Tavener put her in mind of a peer who’d pursued a young actress friend the summer Allegra turned fifteen, when her father was playing in a theater orchestra. Knowing her strict papa would not approve her close association with a thespian, she’d had to sneak out to visit Molly, eager to learn what the vivacious, experienced girl could teach her about love and life.
Her lordship’s campaign began just after he attended their first performance in the town near his ancestral manor. Through Molly’s ploy-by-ploy description and her own observation, Allegra had eagerly followed the progress of his courtship, from the gifts, notes and ardent poetry to Molly’s eventual, enthusiastic capitulation. The physical particulars of which a prosaic Molly had explained in frank detail, Allegra recalled. Something hot and giddy churned in her belly at the memory.
Putting a hand on her stomach to quell the sensation, Allegra told herself to beware. Molly had so vividly described the feeling of physical attraction that, though she had never experienced it before, Allegra realized the reaction Lord Tavener evoked in her was desire.
’Twas disconcerting to discover one could feel lust for one man while pining for another, but she supposed she should not be surprised. Molly’s rake had demonstrated quite convincingly that true affection and desire could be entirely separate entities.
Charming as Lord Tavener might be, she could not afford to head down the path Molly had strolled so eagerly. No matter how compelling Tavener’s eyes—or how strong the shock to her fingers when he touched her hand.
Rob cleared his throat, pulling Allegra from her thoughts. A military gentleman approached, one of Rob’s friends, and was duly introduced. After conversing for a few moments, he drifted off.
A few matrons, acquaintances of Mrs. Randall, stopped to chat. Allegra grew painfully aware that for most of the long interval after Lord Tavener’s departure, though a number of gentlemen passing by gave her admiring looks, none save a few of Rob’s friends approached seeking an introduction. Rob optimistically predicted that she would find her way in society eventually, but after the last few weeks of calls that had elicited raised eyebrows and unspoken censure, Allegra wasn’t so sure.
Then, with a relief that was stronger than it should have been, she looked up to see Lord Tavener approaching. She tried—and failed—to steel herself against the flutter in her belly when he took her hand.
After bowing to Rob and Mrs. Randall, he announced, “My cousin abandoned me in the ballroom in favor of tormenting several of her disappointed former suitors. Miss Antinori, are you ready to stroll?”
“Perfectly ready, sir,” she agreed and tucked her hand on his arm. Acutely aware of a renewed tingling sensation in her fingertips, of the masculine aura that seemed to surround him, she let him lead her off.
To her relief, he made no attempt to maneuver her toward the doors opening onto the terrace, guiding her instead out of the press of guests toward the wall, where they might make a circuit of the chamber.
“Do you know you are the most stunning creature here?” he asked. “Going through the moves of the country dance, waiting until I could return for you, seemed an eternity.”
Though the trajectory he’d chosen to walk her on might be proper, his conversation certainly wasn’t. “I imagine Lady Domcaster would be devastated to hear that,” she replied a bit acerbically.
As if startled, he stopped and turned to her, his brilliant blue eyes lighting again as he smiled. “That wit again! Bravo!” Moving closer, he squeezed her hand, his voice taking on a caressing tone. “I knew the instant I saw you tonight that you would delight…all of me.”
It was delicious nonsense…but it was also highly improper. Regretfully Allegra halted and removed her hand from his arm. “Lord Tavener, may I remind you that this is not the Cyprian’s Ball and I am neither a lightskirt nor a loose-moraled matron whose fancy you can capture. If you would return me to my chaperone, please?”
Having braced herself for irritation or anger, she was totally unprepared for his peal of laughter.
While she looked on, wide-eyed, he controlled his mirth. “Blast, Miss Antinori, but you are quite right. Pray accept my apologies! It’s just that, having gone about so little in good society, I have no idea how to talk to a gently bred maiden. My attempts at Lucilla’s dinner earlier were abysmal failures. You are so lovely, I was distracted clean out of renewing those efforts.”
The appealing look from those penetrating blue eyes proclaimed his absolute honesty. Allegra simply couldn’t help it—she was charmed…and curious.
“Excuse me, but I can’t believe you could fail to entertain even a young, inexperienced maiden. Especially a young and inexperienced one.”
“Oh, believe it! Either my appearance, my compliments—or the tales told about me—frightened one young lady into a silence that lasted throughout the meal. My conversational attempts with the other met with total failure until a desperate remark about fashion set her off on a monologue so full of tedious detail, I was ready to stab myself with a dessert fork just to escape the room.”
His look of comical dismay set her chuckling. Before she could reprove his exaggeration, he continued, “You laugh, but ’tis no jesting matter! I’m sure in my absence, if you were not already aware of it, Lord Lynton has acquainted you with my scandalous reputation. My cousin Lady Domcaster insists that I try to reestablish myself. However, if I am not able to successfully converse with proper ladies, I might as well abandon the attempt at once. Unless…” He drew the word out, gazing down into her eyes.
Intrigued in spite of herself, she echoed, “Unless?”
“Miss Antinori, in addition to being the loveliest girl in the room—no, forgive me, but you must allow the compliment, for it is simple truth—you have shown yourself both observant and clever. Might I impose upon you…might I beg you to instruct me?”
She stared at him. “Instruct you?”
“On how to make proper conversation that is agreeable to young ladies. I know about as much about respectable females as I do about the mysteries of the Orient. Unless I learn, and learn quickly, I haven’t a prayer of being received by the families of eligible young women.” He paused, frowning. “May I be shockingly blunt?”
“I prefer plain dealing, sir,” she replied, caught up in his tale despite her better judgment.
Once again that smile lit up his eyes. “I thought you might! Lucilla insists I should look for a wife—a rich wife with a fortune that could restore my estate, of whose dilapidated condition I’m sure Lynton already warned you.”
He gave her a wry, self-deprecating look. “Frankly, though I’m an amusing enough fellow when I choose to be, I sincerely doubt any respectable lady will want to take on so unlikely a husband. But I’ve promised Lucilla I’d make an attempt, so here I am, self-accused of being both a fortune hunter and a rake, throwing my poor body into the fray. A rake who earnestly seeks to be reformed. Will you not have pity and rescue me, Miss Antinori?”
Beneath the flippancy of his words she sensed a social isolation almost like her own. Perhaps because of that, she was tempted to accept his challenge. Except that behind the arresting intensity of his gaze lurked something deep, sensual. That same masculine allure that had led Molly to capitulate all those summers ago and warned Allegra that spending time with Tavener, despite his avowed desire to reform, would be dangerous.
