Page 21 of Enslaved
“Tomorrow. We are invited to stay overnight to enjoy the full hospitality of an Elizabethan hall. Peter didn’t sound too keen about the assembly tonight, so we’ll have lots of time to get ready for tomorrow.”
“An invitation to an earl’s home is something that doesn’t come along every day. I shall need Bridget as well as the upstairs maid to ready my wardrobe and pack the things I shall need for such an occasion.”
The moment Prudence left the room, Diana slipped from the house. She made her way to the river to watch the swans. The Avon was both wide and deep as it rushed on its way to the Bristol Channel and the Celtic Sea. She imagined the sailing vessels of the Celts, the Vikings, and the warships of the Romans with their great oars. She saw two barges piled with golden Bath stone and realized they must be from the Hardwick Quarries. As she looked about her at the magnificent Georgian buildings, she wondered how many of them had been built with stone from those same quarries.The family must be exceedingly wealthy and it must be old money,she thought. She’d look up the history of the Earls of Bath when she went to the library and learn how they had come to own an Elizabethan manor.
For the rest of the day it was Mark Hardwick who insinuated himself into her thoughts. He was a dark, dominant, and dangerous man. Just the type of male she daydreamed about. He stood out from his peers in vivid contrast. To Diana he seemed the antithesis of a Georgian fop. In fact, he suited another century far better than this one. He would make a magnificent medieval warrior or an Elizabethan explorer. When she fell asleep that night, it was not the gallant young Peter Hardwick who insinuated himself into her dreams, but the darkly arrogant earl.
As Peter’s sleek carriage horses bowled along, following the River Avon as it wound away from the center of Bath and up into the northern hills above the town, Prudence inquired fatuously, “Will the earl be in residence?”
“Er … no, I’m afraid my brother is away at the moment. He is a magistrate of Somerset and was called to Bristol.”
“What a pity,” Prudence lamented. “I was hoping this visit would give Diana the opportunity to mend her fences with his lordship. That wretched misunderstanding about the library was most unfortunate.”
Diana cleared her throat but managed to keep a wise silence. There was a good deal more between them than the business of the library! Whenever they met, sparks flew between them, and though Diana wished it were otherwise, she knew she felt a fatal attraction toward the wrong brother. She was vastly relieved that she and the earl would not be spending the night under the same roof.
From the moment they turned in at the ivy-covered gatehouse and swept up the long drive, Diana lost her heart to Hardwick Hall. Peter saw the reverent look in her eyes and knew he was more than halfway home. As the crested carriage rolled to a stop at the front entrance, the major-domo and two footmen hurried out.
“I have a fabulous idea.” Peter turned to Prudence. “I shall leave you in the capable hands of Mr. Burke, while I show off the grounds to Lady Diana.”
“Don’t worry about me, Peter, I shall make myself at home. Run along, children.”
Diana could hardly believe her ears. As Peter lifted her down from the carriage and led the way toward the formal gardens, she said, “You have the wretched woman eating out of your hand.”
He stopped and looked down at her. “I know just how to stroke a female,” he murmured huskily.
Diana’s cheeks felt too warm, and a prickling sensation ran along her spine. Though Peter had a knack for saying things that were wickedly improper, they did not excite her, they caused her to put up her guard. She admonished herself not to trust him too far, but as the beauty of the Elizabethan garden with its herbaceous borders claimed all her attention, happiness filled her heart.
They explored the dove cotes, the orchard with its ancient beehives, the Tudor water garden, and watched the proud peacocks strut about the velvet lawns. When they came upon a privet maze, copied after the one at Hampton Court, Diana couldn’t resist it. Peter sat down on a carved bench. “Go on, explore,” he urged. “If you haven’t found your way out in five minutes, I’ll come and rescue you.”
Within the first minute Diana lost her way, which thoroughly enchanted her, of course. The privet hedge was too high to see over and too dense to peek through. After many wrong turns and doubling back, she found its center. There sat Peter awaiting her.
“You fraud,” she said, laughing, “you promised to wait outside.”
“And pass up the chance to be private with you where none can see my amorous advances?”
Diana knew if she ran it would only issue a teasing invitation for him to chase after her and catch her.
Peter moved toward her purposefully and pulled her into his arms. “I should claim some forfeit before I let you go; it’s traditional.”
“What sort of forfeit?” Diana inquired, standing perfectly still in the circle of his arms.
“You must remove an article of clothing,” he said outrageously.
Without batting an eye, Diana removed a glove and held it out.
Peter couldn’t hide a look of disappointment. “You’re not playing fair,” he complained.
“I’m not playing at all,” she informed him.
Christ, she’s like an ice queen,he thought.Any other female I’d have down to her shift by now.Peter knew it would be so much easier if she were amenable to seduction, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He’d have to wait until tonight to do the deed. He’d set the stage carefully so there would be no escape. The corners of his mouth lifted in a smile. It would be like leading a lamb to slaughter. He murmured, “I’ll settle for the glove, if a kiss goes with it.”
When she lifted her mouth to his, he controlled himself. He was going to get a commitment from this woman one way or another and he only had this one night to do it. Peter knew he couldn’t afford to make her mistrust him this early in the game, so he brushed his lips across her forehead. As a reward for his good behavior, she stood on tiptoe and touched her mouth to his. When they emerged from the maze, Peter knew he was one step closer to victory!
The evening meal promised to be a most formal affair served in the paneled dining room with its massive Tudor oak refectory table and carved chairs.
After her bath, Diana donned the scarlet corset, then slipped on the new jade velvet gown. She knew she had never looked lovelier and she had never felt quite as seductively feminine as she did tonight. She could not forget the way the Earl of Bath had looked at her, and crushed a wish that he could see her again tonight.
Dinner consisted of six courses and Diana was impatient for the tour of Hardwick Hall that Peter had promised. At the end of the meal, crystal goblets were set before them and filled to the brim.
