Page 37 of Seducing a Frigid Lady
“I will happily discard it for you, Lady Caroline,” Priscilla responded, taking the empty glass that the woman offered her. Lady Caroline blushed as if she had been so distracted by their conversation that she hadn’t noticed she had drunk all of her wine.
“Miss Lloyd,” Lord Sinclair dipped his head to her in farewell before he turned and began to lead Lady Caroline out onto the dancefloor to prepare for the next dance.
Priscilla watched them go, an odd sensation of regret churning in her gut. Placing Lady Caroline’s empty glass back on the table well away from the others, Priscilla upended what was left of her own wine down her throat.
Feeling more than a little uncomfortable now that they had left her alone, and surprised at the fact, Priscilla placed her own empty glass beside Lady Caroline’s and then began to make her way from the room.
In her aunt’s house, she had no need to sneak around or worry about who saw her sneaking off. However, she was careful not to be seen simply for the fact that she did not wish to be followed as she headed for the nearest study. It was a smaller library on the first floor with a beautiful stained-glass window that Priscilla had often loved to look over when she was a child. She had loved watching the way the colours danced across the walls as the sun went down.
Now, however, the sun was already down and the stained-glass window looked entirely black. It was still beautiful, with all its differently shaped and sized panes.
There was no light in the room save for the light of the fireplace and a couple of candles that were sitting on the table nearest the door, as if inviting someone in to have a seat and read a while. And so, that was exactly what Priscilla did.
She grabbed the nearest candlestick and clicked the door closed behind her. Finding her way to the first bookshelf, she picked a book on British wildlife and wandered over to the window seat beneath the stained-glass window where she had so often sat as a child.
It was a relief to sink down into the mountain of cushions that decorated the bench, and as soon as she did so, she realised just how uncomfortable her shoes were. Her feet were tender from standing for the last half an hour or so, and her toes felt as though they were being squashed.
Kicking them off, she made herself comfortable and breathed a deep sigh, knowing that she could happily hide in there like that until the ball was over and she could return home without anybody being any the wiser.
Of course, her aunt would likely figure it out at some point. After all, she would likely be looking for her to ensure that she had danced with a fair number of men throughout the evening. But until her aunt came searching for her, she was content to hide, to learn about the toads, newts and snakes that resided in the English countryside and the foxes that prowled the streets of London.
I am much happier here, alone;she told herself firmly. Though even as she read, she couldn’t help but wonder whether the viscount was having a better time of dancing with Lady Caroline.
When someone finally knocked on the door around forty-five minutes later, Priscilla immediately prepared herself for the rant that her aunt was going to give her. However, she was not the least bit prepared for what actually happened.
“Come in!” she called, wondering whether she ought to even bother. After all, it wasn’t like this study was her own. And maybe if she remained quiet, whoever was on the other side of the door would leave her be.
The moment that the door opened, she wished she had done just that. Her body tensed uncontrollably, and she jumped to her feet as soon as she caught sight of Lord Sinclair slipping into the room.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, entirely forgetting her manners as she remembered what had happened the last time they had been alone in a library together. The hair on the back of her neck rose with panic and she almost jumped right out of her skin when the book she had been reading fell off the window seat and onto the floor with a horrendous thud.
Dipping his head respectfully, Lord Sinclair stepped the rest of the way into the room and discreetly clicked the door closed behind him. As soon as it was closed, Priscilla felt her panic rising further. Now she was trapped with him, yet she was not panicked at that, but at the fact she actually enjoyed the thought of being alone with him. It was the exact reason she had encouraged him to dance with Lady Caroline in the first place.
“I didn’t see you return to the ballroom, and I grew worried,” Lord Sinclair announced, turning to look at her, though he did not cross the room. It was clear from the cautious look on his face that he meant to keep his distance.
“Shouldn’t you be dancing with Lady Caroline?” Priscilla said, perhaps a little too harshly. After all, she had been the one to get them to dance in the first place. She couldn’t very well be jealous after she had been the one to suggest it.
“Even I cannot dance for forty-five minutes,” Lord Sinclair announced, and the look in his eyes suggested that there were other things, other more sinister things, that he could definitely do for longer than that.
“Even so, you should return to her,” Priscilla insisted, hiding her hands behind her back because they were trembling uncontrollably now.
“Why would I do that?”
As he spoke, the viscount did start to cross the room, though he stopped several metres away, looking hesitant.
“Because she is far better company than I am,” Priscilla insisted, raising her head and holding her ground. The last thing she was going to do was let him see how he unsettled her. She would not give him the satisfaction.
“Lady Caroline is a lovely woman,” Lord Sinclair told her and at his words, Priscilla’s gut twisted. “But she is not you.”
Priscilla scrutinised him closely, furrowing her brow. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, Miss Lloyd, that I greatly enjoy spending time with you above all others,” Lord Sinclair declared. Priscilla scoffed.
“Do not lie to me just to win the stupid bet you have played between us, my lord,” she snapped at him, angry that he would stoop so low as to try and seduce her with flattery.
Her heart hitched up into her throat as Lord Sinclair silently broke the space between them. He drew so close that she knew if she reached out, she would be able to touch him. She had to grip the back of her skirt with both hands in order to stop herself from doing so.
Instead, she stared up at him defiantly, hoping that he would step away. He did not. In fact, he moved closer, his hand raising towards her face. Just when she thought he was going to cup her cheek, he instead reached for her hair and brushed a black curl behind her ear.
