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Her thin pink lips turned upward. “I would like that.”
The refreshments were in the dining room and this could be his opportunity to converse with her. “Would you accompany me?”
“Thank you, my lord.” She rose with the grace of a swan then hooked her arm with his.
He watched her as she looked around the room with a smug smile on her face. Blowing out a small breath, he understood exactly what she was doing.
“Are you enjoying the attention?” he whispered.
“Yes, I am,” she replied just as quietly. “I do hope you don’t mind. It is very rare that anyone notices me when my mother is constantly pushing her older daughters on any man she can.”
“I see.”
She glanced up at him with sympathy. “I know what you are about, my lord.”
“Oh?”
“You think to marry a wealthy woman. The gossips have spoken of nothing else for days.” She looked forward but continued in a hushed tone, “But it won’t be me, my lord. I have my sights set on another.”
“Indeed?”
“Yes.”
While he should have been disappointed, it was relief that washed over him. For some inexplicable reason, he had no desire to have her as his wife. So as they walked into the dining room, she using him to draw attention to her, and he using her to help gain some respectability, he smiled.
Chapter 5
Jennette shoved her pins into her reticule, thrust some money inside, too, and then strode from her bedroom. She had to do something with this anger eating her from inside and there was only one thing that would soothe her frustration: shopping.
The image of Matthew’s face as he entered the dining room with a smiling Amelia Sheldon on his arm had kept Jennette up all night. She should be ecstatic that they both seemed so pleased with each other. Happy, even. The last thing she should be was overwhelmed with tension and frustration.
“Are you ready, miss?” Molly asked as Jennette entered the salon.
“Yes,” she answered back harshly.
Hopefully, her maid would understand that she had no desire for conversation today. Jennette climbed into the carriage, then sat back and waited for the usual calm that settled over her when she shopped. Picking at the fingertips of her gloves, she wondered just how long it would take peace to come to her.
This annoyance was illogical. He had done exactly what she’d wanted him to last night. Amelia’s reaction to Matthew, however, had surprised Jennette. She thought of Miss Sheldon as shy and retiring, not alluring with that secret smile of hers. And she was the epitome of what Matthew had said he desired in a woman.
Curiosity picked at Jennette’s inquiring mind. Did Matthew call on Amelia today? For all Jennette knew he could be at the Sheldons’ home right now having tea and biscuits, making polite conversation while he courted her.
Therefore, Jennette should be pleased with herself, not about to rip off the tips of her gloves. She did not love the man. She never had.
But there was something about him.
Something tempting that made her think wicked thoughts she shouldn’t about him. Lurid thoughts about what he looked like without his shirt. Was he as muscular as he appeared? Or had he taken to padding the shoulders of his jacket, as did so many men? She highly doubted he had.
Closing her eyes, she pictured his chestnut hair and thought about what it would feel like to her fingers. Soft and silky? Thick and coarse? And his lips…would they feel as wicked against hers as they had that morning? How could the memory of that ever-so-brief kiss have stayed with her all these years?
Thankfully, the carriage slowed to a stop on Bond Street before her mind went further down that disquieting road. She and her maid walked down to the draper’s with a footman following closely behind them. She put Matthew out of her mind and concentrated on what she’d come for today.
A little bell rang as she entered the shop. Bolts of cloth lined the small room.
“Lady Jennette, how wonderful to see you again,” Mrs. Greenwood announced.
“Good afternoon, Mrs. Greenwood. Did you get the fabric I wanted?” She had no time for polite conversation with the amount of items she needed today.
“Of course, wait here.” Mrs. Greenwood went to the back of the store and returned carrying a bolt of forest green velvet.
