Page 55 of A Scandalous Proposition
‘I will send a carriage for you.’
He’d moved his horse closer, leaving the road ahead clear.
‘Then your coachman will have a wasted journey.’ She slapped the reins on her horse’s rump and surprised him into a trot. ‘Good afternoon, my lord.’
Still shaking from the encounter, aware that with his superior horse King could overtake her at any time, she encouraged her cob into a canter. She was trembling so badly that she almost lost her balance. Lord King’s mocking voice echoed inside her head, drowning out the sound of her horse’s pounding hooves. King could destroy everything she had taken so many risks to achieve, and there was only one way she could prevent him from doing so.
But the idea was repellent.
*
The next few days passed in a flurry of activity. Calls that the dowager duchess would once have made alone now couldn’t be contemplated unless Florentina was at her side. These engagements prevented her from seeing anything of Adam. But whenever she managed to grasp a few moments of solitude, she closely examined the passionate nature of her feelings towards him. They overcame her to the extent that she forgot about everything except the touch of his hands on her sensitized body as he brought it ruthlessly to life.
An all-encompassing need to repeat the experience gripped her but she ruthlessly suppressed it. Adam already had the vile Philippa pursuing him relentlessly. Added to that was his determination to put Dawson out of business and his much greater concerns about the future of the duchy. He didn’t need her increasing his burden by making brazen demands that would only embarrass them both. Their sojourn together had clearly been nothing more than an opportunistic diversion from his perspective. If it had been otherwise, he would have found a reason to call at the dower house before now. Damaged pride notwithstanding, she’d try to think about the interlude in a similar fashion and relegate it to the back of her mind.
‘Florentina, what is your opinion?’
Florentina dragged her mind back to the present. She was seated in the drawing room at the dower house with the dowager duchess and Lady Madison, indulging in a glass of hot chocolate her sweet tooth often craved, accompanied bychurros?the sweet doughnut delicacy so favoured by her countrymen, prepared especially for her by the dowager’s cook. ‘Oh, I beg your pardon, ma’am, I didn’t quite hear you.’
The dowager smiled at her. ‘Lady Madison has heard of a young Spanish girl in urgent need of a position. What say you? Shall we create one for her in our kitchen here?’
Florentina hesitated not at all. ‘Oh, that would be wonderful if we could. But do we need more help?’
‘There’s always room for one more. Besides, if the girl can cook then she can help Mrs Cowley with the Spanish dishes you enjoy and that I am developing a taste for myself.’
Florentina smiled at the dowager. ‘Thank you, ma’am. It would be wonderful to have someone on hand to speak Spanish with.’
‘That’s settled then. Now then, Lady Madison, I believe you and I are both expected at Mrs. Crowther’s this evening.’
‘Yes.’ Lady Madison wrinkled her nose. ‘It is to be a musical evening.’
‘Then you are fortunate to be excluded, Florentina,’ the dowager said, ‘and will doubtless spend a much more agreeable evening here alone.’
‘I envy you,’ Lady Madison said, sighing.
Florentina fell back into a reverie, allowing the conversation to flow around her. She recognized Adam’s hand behind this stratagem, aware that he’d passed much of the previous day closeted with Lord Madison. Since he appeared to be avoiding her, she hadn’t been able to ask him what had been decided. She tossed her head, hurt by his neglect. Angry to be excluded from the decision-making. But if he thought to bypass her altogether then he could think again. Christine would be a-party to the particulars of that meeting and would tell her everything she wished to know.
Florentina knew in her heart of hearts that she was being unreasonable. Adam had a whole raft of problems to deal with. She could hardly expect him to devote his limited leisure time to her. He’d done more than enough as it was. There had to be something she could do for him in return.
As she pondered the situation, a plan took shape in her mind. Adam’s most pressing concern was the young duchess and the mystery surrounding the baby she carried. If Florentina could somehow persuade Lord King to admit to fathering the child, Adam would be able to use that knowledge against Philippa. If nothing else, it must surely halt her pursuit of Adam. Florentina frowned. Whether the duke would believe it was another matter, but that wouldn’t deter her from gathering the proof. She couldn’t sit idly by and watch the gentleman she admired shouldering such a burden without doing something to assist him.
She’d been tempted to tell him about Lord King’s ultimatum but when he admitted to the young duchess’s reprehensible pursuit of him, she knew she couldn’t add to his problems.
She’d been in a lather of fear about King’s intentions. Suddenly, icily calm, she knew precisely what action to take. The evening was hers to fill as she saw fit and as soon as she waved the dowager away, Florentina sprang into action.
Not wishing to draw attention to her absence by ordering the gig, she walked briskly to Chamberleigh, using a shortcut she favoured across the water meadows, and let herself in through the back door. Christine was sending three of her most experienced girls to the masquerade. All she had to do was borrow a domino from the dressing room and somehow join the carriage that would take them to Lord King’s nearby estate.
All without being detected.
Florentina slumped onto a stool amidst the flimsy gowns and petticoats Christine’s ladies wore to ply their trade. When reasoned out in that fashion, what hope did she realistically have of succeeding? Momentarily defeated, thoughts of Adam strengthened her resolve. She would find a way to carry this thing off if it was the last thing she ever did.
She selected an anonymous domino and was about to put it on when she realised that she’d not thought to change out of the plain gown she’d been wearing all afternoon. She rolled her eyes. A fine femme fataleshe’d make. There was a bewildering array of attire at her disposal in this dressing room and she selected a midnight-blue evening gown with a silver spangled overskirt that, not surprisingly, was daringly revealing. She didn’t dwell upon that since she intended for it to remain hidden beneath the domino for as long as possible. Beyond that she didn’t dare to speculate for fear that her courage would once again falter.
Luck was on her side. When she ventured towards the closed carriage waiting to take the ladies to Lord King, she encountered not three domino-clad ladies approaching the conveyance but only two. She concealed herself and listened to their conversation.
‘It’s fortunate for Isabella that Mr Parker happened to call and ask specifically for her. Christine wouldn’t dream of disappointing him.’
‘It’s a shame that Christine decided not to send someone else in her place. We will have to work that much harder now that there is only two of us.’
