Page 43 of A Scandalous Proposition
She privately conceded that she wouldn’t have minded if something more intimate had developed during their previous sojourn in the summerhouse. The searing nature of his kiss when they’d danced together was to blame for engendering such silly notions. She adjured herself to stop being unrealistic but memories of that kiss refused to go away.
She was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice until she was almost upon him that a horseman was barring the road ahead. Her heart plummeted when she recognized Lord King astride a handsome chestnut hunter.
‘Mrs Grantley.’ He lifted his hat. ‘I waited here in the expectation of encountering you.’
‘Lord King.’ She tried to keep the panic out of her voice. He was the last person she wished to see. Beneath that charming façade lurked a determined and manipulative person whom she neither liked nor trusted. ‘Whatever made you suppose I would pass this way?’
‘The duchess mentioned you take the gig in this direction in the afternoons.’
‘The dowager duchess told you that?’ Her patroness disliked Lord King and Florentina couldn’t imagine the dowager receiving him at all, much less telling him about her habits. Besides, although she knew Florentina went out in the gig most afternoons, she didn’t know which route she took.
‘No, my dear.’ Lord King’s smile came across as a superior sneer. ‘It was the young duchess who informed me of your habits.’
‘Oh, I see.’
Florentina attempted to quell her panic as his gaze roved slowly over her body in a most insolent manner. The dowager had warned her that this gentleman had a very bad reputation and that she ought to have as little as possible to do with him. But even without the lady’s warning, Florentina would have given him a wide berth. Too many men had looked at her with the same hunger in their eyes over the years for her to misinterpret his intentions.
‘We didn’t have much opportunity to converse last night. I would enjoy remedying that situation.’
‘We spoke throughout the entire meal.’
He gave her a lurid look that turned her blood to ice. ‘The remarks I wished to address to you couldn’t be said in company.’
Florentina bridled. ‘I have no interest in being alone with you, Lord King, and even less interest in anything you say to me.’ She wanted to drive on, but his horse still blocked the road. ‘I must ask you to excuse me. The dowager duchess will wonder what has become of me.’
‘It wouldn’t be sensible to reject my offer of friendship. I can be very determined when there is something I want badly enough. If you’re not nice to me then I shall just have to follow you every afternoon and see what you get up to.’
Florentina could see that he meant every word. She quaked with fear but refused to let it show as her mind urgently sought a solution. How much did he know about what she did? Had he followed her from the cottages? If so, this odious man could put everything that mattered to her in jeopardy. Unless she submitted to him.
But that was out of the question.
After a moment’s deliberation it occurred to her that he couldn’t have followed her, at least not before today, since they’d only met for the first time last night.
‘I get up to nothing, my lord, and even if I did, what concern would it be of yours?’
‘I’ve decided to make you my concern, Mrs Grantley. You fascinate me. More than anyone I’ve met in a very long time.’
‘And you seek to make a good impression by accosting me on the open road. Whatever can you be thinking?’ She arched an imperious brow. ‘Any gentleman worthy of the name would observe the usual formalities and call at the dower house.’ She cast a scornful glance in his direction and was rewarded by the sight of anger flashing in his eyes.
‘In the ordinary way, you would be right, of course.’ He conceded the point by inclining his head. ‘However, my intentions are far from ordinary. There’s something about you, Mrs Grantley, that doesn’t ring true. But then the same could be said of me. We are kindred spirits. I believe you have secrets you would prefer to keep to yourself, whereas I am not looking for a wife, but rather someone to amuse myself with.’ She gasped at his sheer effrontery. ‘Come, my dear, you’ve been married so understand me very well.’
‘Go to the devil!’
He threw back his head and roared with laugher. ‘I very likely shall but in the meantime I intend to enjoy you.’
‘Never!’
‘You are delightfully spirited.’ He finally moved his horse out of the road. ‘Perhaps we shall meet at Chamberleigh in the very near future.’
Florentina’s heart quailed. How could he possibly know about her connection to Chamberleigh? ‘I don’t know what you mean.’ Fear made her speak more sharply than she had intended and she could see that he didn’t believe her denial.
‘Oh, I think we understand one another. However, I shall give you time to consider my proposition. We will meet again very soon, be assured of that. I shall be holding another of my masquerades next week and you would be a very welcome addition to the gathering.’
‘If you think I am so lost to respectability that I would appear at such an event, then you are destined for disappointment.’
‘I doubt it.’ He sounded disconcertingly confident in his ability to persuade her. ‘Think upon all I have said but don’t imagine Fitzroy will protect you.’ His cold, confident laughter sent shivers down her spine. ‘I have it on good authority that he will be too preoccupied with matters closer to home to spare any time for you.’ Once again he lifted his hat. ‘Good afternoon, Mrs Grantley.’
And he cantered away without looking back.
