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Persuade him.
Was it possible?
Vivianna had once heard a lecture on women and their imprisonment by society. The speaker put forward the idea that society expected women to appear pure, fragile, helpless, and always defer to the greater knowledge of their menfolk. And if they dared to be different, or worse, if they lived the sort of life a man might lead, then their reputations would be destroyed and they would be cast out. Out into the darkness that forever circled the bright light of polite society and was inhabited by the fallen women and the adulteresses and those who were too willful to be borne.
She did not believe it at the time—she was different and she had not been cast out. But now she realized that she was just as bound up in the rules as all the other women of her class and situation. Seeing those gir
ls at Aphrodite’s had given her a glimpse into another world. Not that she wanted to be an…“abbess.” Was that what the hackney driver had called Madame? No, she didn’t want that. But neither did she want to marry a man like Oliver, just so that she could have him kiss her whenever she wanted him to. Men did not marry to gain such experience. There was an entire area of womanhood that she had never really thought about before, never imagined it was possible for her to enter unless she married.
It was all very intriguing….
But that would have to wait, Vivianna told herself, coming back to earth with a thump. Tomorrow she must call upon the Beatty sisters, to hear their grievances and discuss what they could do to save the shelter. Or, if worse came to worst, where they could shift the orphans temporarily. It was possible her friends had come up with a new plan, something that did not involve the use of “feminine wiles.”
A sharp pang of disappointment stung her, but before she could question it, the sound of raised voices elsewhere in the house interrupted her thoughts. It was Helen and Toby. Vivianna shivered. In haste, Helen had married a charming, handsome rake, thinking she could change him, and now she repented at leisure. Under no circumstances would she ever allow herself to fall under the spell of such a man.
Vivianna was up bright and early the next morning, despite her long journey south and her late and eventful evening. She had promised to go to Candlewood as soon as possible and see the Beatty sisters, and she knew they would be waiting for her. Poor Miss Greta and Miss Susan, they must be beside themselves with worry.
She had dressed in another of her plain, practical gowns and was sitting impatiently while Lil tended to her hair, when one of her aunt’s maids came tapping upon her door.
“Miss, there is a gentleman to see you downstairs in the sitting room. Lord”—and she glanced at the card in her hand—“Oliver Montegomery.”
Vivianna felt herself go cold, and then hot. With a brilliance that had only previously been reserved for dreams, she recalled last night in the room at Aphrodite’s, and the feel of his body against hers, the warmth of his breath on her face, the brush of his mouth against her lips. I have an urge to lick you all over. Her breath caught and then resumed with a soft gasp.
Lil was staring at her accusingly.
“I…very well, thank you. I will be down in a moment.”
The girl bobbed a curtsy and retreated. For a moment Vivianna refused to meet Lil’s eyes, but Lil was better at this than she. “You told me nothing ’appened,” she said, and pinned the final piece of Vivianna’s hair in place. “I can see that’s not true, miss. You’re on fire, you are. What did that beast do to you?”
“He’s not a beast,” Vivianna retorted primly. “At least, not the ravening kind of beast. More a smiling, charming, very handsome kind of beast. He kissed me, that’s all. I didn’t struggle. It was nice, and I had never been kissed before, at least not by someone like Lord Montegomery.”
Lil shook her head. “You’re going to get hurt.”
“No, I’m not. I know what I’m doing, Lil. Believe me, if for one moment I thought I was going to fall in love with the man, then I would have a long look at Uncle Toby and Aunt Helen—that would cool my passion.”
Lil’s wry smile was agreement enough. “Do you want me to come down with you, just for company?”
“No, I will be perfectly all right. He can hardly ravish me in my aunt’s sitting room, can he?”
Lil’s look was ambivalent, but Vivianna laughed and, checking her appearance once more, made her way downstairs. Her steps slowed. She began to wonder what he wanted. They had parted as enemies last night. Had he come to apologize? To beg her pardon and tell her he would be only too pleased to cede to her request?
Somehow she did not think so. There had been nothing of capitulation in his face when she closed the door behind her last night, only that irritating and victorious smile.
Well, there was only one way to find out.
Vivianna smoothed her skirts, took a breath, and went into the sitting room.
He was standing with his back to her, peering out of the window. The second time she had come upon him in that stance—evidently it was habitual for him.
“My lord?”
He turned, a smile on his lips, and bowed in a negligent and yet elegant manner that Vivianna was certain could only be achieved if you were from one of the oldest aristocratic families in England.
She had thought that she must have imagined the effect he had had upon her, but now, seeing him again, she knew that she had exaggerated nothing. It was the strangest thing, but she could feel her blood slowing, like a warm, languid river, gliding through her body and under her skin. And yet her heart was racing like a railway carriage down a long, straight track. Most peculiar. Oliver Montegomery might be the type of man she had always sworn to stay clear of, but her body had plans of its own.
“I came to make certain you had reached your home safely—” Oliver began.
“How…how kind of you,” she said.
