Page 39 of Seducing a Frigid Lady
“Do I take this as an answer?” he asked. The smile that spread across his face told her that she need not answer and so instead, she simply scowled at him and rolled her eyes. He laughed at that and removed himself from beneath her thighs. “I think we ought to return to the ballroom before… before we are missed.”
Priscilla’s own jaw clenched then. Returning to the ball was the very last thing that she wanted to do. After she had just been so intimate with him, the last thing she wanted was to be near any other man of theton. But she knew that he was right.
Panic suddenly threatened to overwhelm her as she suddenly thought of the fact it was long past time that her aunt ought to have come looking for her. She could only hope that Lady Bishop was too caught up with her other guests to notice that she was not about.
“You’re right,” she said, nodding. “Though I believe we ought to return separately.”
Lord Sinclair smirked at that, clearly impressed. “I had no idea you were so experienced in sneaking about, Miss Lloyd.”
Again, she scowled at him, willing him to remember how she had snuck away at Lord Frost’s party. She did not say the words out loud, for she did not feel the need to validate herself.
“I shall go first and you ought to follow after a few minutes,” she instructed, slipping off the desk and straightening her dress. With a glance at the mirror hanging over the fireplace, she saw that her hair was far less of a bird nest than she would have expected it to be after Lord Sinclair’s manhandling.
“As you wish, Miss Lloyd,” Lord Sinclair told her with a dip of his head. He gestured for her to go on ahead, but as she made her way past him, he gripped hold of her hand and pulled her back around to face him. “I am glad we have come to an agreement.”
With that, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles in such a way that it sent a shockwave of energy surging up her arm and into her chest.
“As am I.” Priscilla gave a curt nod, slipped her hand from his, and turned to leave.
“Miss Lloyd, I fear you are forgetting something,” Lord Sinclair called after her when she had almost reached the door.
With gritted teeth, Priscilla turned back to face him, a scowl written plainly on her face. “And what might that be?”
The smile that spread across the viscount’s face was both infuriating and charming and it made her heart skip a beat.
“Your shoes,” he announced.
Heat rose to Priscilla’s cheeks, and she wondered exactly how bad it might look if she returned to the ballroom minus her shoes. Would anyone even notice? Then she quickly decided it was not worth the risk, and she hurried to slip her feet back into her shoes before making a swift exit.
“I shall see you soon,” Lord Sinclair called after her, his tone a promise and Priscilla already felt nervous at the thought of seeing him again, especially when they would be surrounded by so many people.
Chapter 13
The first thing that Priscilla did when she returned to the ballroom was find Sophie. The last thing she wanted was to find herself alone when Lord Sinclair returned to the dancefloor. Being alone in the study with him was one thing, but to be alone with him in a room filled with people, people who were bound to be watching her, it didn’t bear thinking about.
With her aunt being the hostess, she could imagine that everybody would be watching and waiting for her to make some kind of mistake that they could use against her family in order to bring down the prestige of such an event.
I will not have my aunt saying I am an embarrassment to her,she decided and so she quickly ingratiated herself in a conversation between Sophie, Lady Caroline, and Lord Sinclair’s cousin, Mr. Parr.
As she approached the small group, she couldn’t help but notice in the distance Miss Kendall, and the woman appeared to be watching them out of the corner of her eye. Priscilla tried her hardest to ignore the woman’s presence. After what had just happened in the study, she did not want anything to bring her mood down and there was no way she was going to give Miss Kendall the satisfaction of doing that.
“Good evening, Miss Lloyd!” Mr. Parr greeted her as she approached Sophie from behind and placed a gentle hand upon her forearm to let her know that she was there. He bowed respectfully and Priscilla, in a good mood for once, offered him a half-smile as she returned it with a curtsey.
“Good evening to you, Mr. Parr,” she said before turning to Sophie and saying, “I hope I haven’t missed anything.”
Sophie looked around as if she was shocked to see her. Priscilla couldn’t exactly blame her. Sophie was no stranger to the fact that she liked to sneak away from the public eye, especially when it came to the parties thrown by her own family when all eyes were on her and hoping to find some kind of gossip they could use against them.
And making an agreement to enter into a relationship with a viscount at one such party is a wonderful idea!Priscilla thought, feeling more than a little scandalous. Though, for once, she had to admit that she was feeling rather happy and oddly sociable.
“Nothing much,” Sophie responded before glancing over Mr. Parr’s shoulder to where Miss Kendall was standing. “Though I have noticed a little something about your arch-nemesis.”
Priscilla chuckled a little at that, blushing when she realised that Mr. Parr was watching her do so. There was a small spark of surprise in his expression, as though he had not expected for her to be so amused.
“She has danced twice with Mr. Kenyon this evening!” Sophie exclaimed in a hissed sort of whisper so that only Priscilla could hear. And Priscilla did have to admit that it did give her an inkling of suspicion. She had never known Miss Kendall and Mr. Kenyon to favour each other.
What does it matter to me?She thought. Miss Kendall was as Sophie described her and Mr. Kenyon was more than a little annoying, especially after the who fiasco last Season. “They are welcome to each other,” Priscilla told her friend.
It was at that very moment that Priscilla felt the gentle brushing of a hand upon the small of her back. Though she stiffened at the sensation, her breath catching in her throat, she did not look around immediately.
