Page 58 of Masquerading with the Duke
‘True.’ Martina sighed as she extracted herself from the window seat and stood up. ‘Sorry if I’ve held you up but I am ready to go down now.’
‘It will be lively with Anna at table,’ Ariana predicted as they descended the stairs together.
The laughter coming from the drawing room, the doors of which were thrown wide to invite cooler air into the entire house, confirmed Ariana’s prediction. Anna’s voice could be heard remonstrating with someone for some perceived misdeed.
‘Poor Lord Romsey,’ Martina said, smiling.
‘Poor Lord Romsey nothing. He adores his wife, secretly enjoys her animated scoldings and certainly gives as good as he gets, albeit in a far more measured manner.’
They entered the drawing room to find everyone gathered around the open doors to the terrace, watching the rain pounding down onto the flagstones. Martina inhaled sharply when she observed a familiar figure. Even with his back turned to her, she recognised Jared immediately. She had not been expecting to see him and felt her heart skip a beat at the prospect of sharing the evening with him.
‘Well, well,’ Ariana said, glancing at Martina and waggling her brows.
‘Stop it!’ Martina said, furious when she felt herself blushing.
Jared turned, presumably because he had heard them enter the room. He focused his gaze exclusively upon Martina and sent her an intimate smile that caused her blush to deepen and her thoughts to take a highly inappropriate detour. Presumably he knew what she had overheard and had come to express his appreciation. She would tell him if an opportunity arose to converse with him alone that he was entirely welcome.
‘We began to think that our husbands had deserted us earlier,’ Anna told Martina as she accepted a glass of peach ratafia from Faraday’s tray and sipped it slowly. ‘They have been closeted the entire afternoon in Zach’s library with Mr Braden and quite neglected us. It’s really quite shameful of them.’
‘I expect they had vital matters to discuss.’
‘I would believe you but for the fact that Clarence’s breath smelled strongly of liquor when he finally deigned to join us in our rooms and remembered that he has children who enjoy his occasional attention. I don’t believe they were doing anything other than getting comprehensively foxed.’
Martina, conscious of the fact that they had most likely been discussing her findings of earlier, made a non-committal reply.
When dinner was announced, Jared offered her his arm. He seemed like his normal charming self on the surface, but Martina sensed his distraction and was also not quite so sure now that he felt obliged to her. If fact, he seemed annoyed, which she thought most unreasonable of him and would have no scruples about telling him as much if an opportunity arose.
It did so when the gentlemen returned to the drawing room, having lingered over their port. The rain had stopped and Martina stood on the edge of the terrace, breathing in the fresh, earthy scent that lingered and the heady perfume given off by a dozen different varieties of blooms. She felt moisture seeping through the soles of her thin slippers and dampness on her hem as it trailed through puddles but the slight inconvenience was not sufficient to send her scurrying back inside.
‘What are you doing?’ Jared sounded cross as he came up behind her.
‘Enjoyed the fresh smells,’ she replied, not turning around.
‘The smell of earth gives off after rain is called petrichor. It’s constructed from the Greek words for stone and the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.’
‘Is there anything you don’t know?’ she asked, her irritation apparent in her voice.
‘Actually, yes. I should very much like to know why you put yourself in danger by eavesdropping on Redrow and my brother this morning.’
She felt angry enough to burst. ‘You are entirely welcome,’ she said primly.
‘My gratitude is not in question, but your common sense most assuredly is.’
She turned to face him and could see anger reflected in eyes that had darkened to a stormy shade of brown. It tipped her own anger over the edge and she paced away from the open doors, arms folded defensively across her chest.
‘You imagine I took a risk, if that’s what it was, solely for your sake. Being so self-obsessed, I suppose it didn’t occur to you that I might be thinking of my own situation. I shall not be safe from Redrow’s spite until his true character is revealed.’
‘You should allow me to do the revealing,’ he said, softening his tone.
‘I am not a child, despite what you appear to think.’ She swirled to face him, ready to give him a piece of her mind, but the fact that his anger had given way to an expression of deep concern combined with an air of admiration stalled the words that had sprung to her lips. ‘I have survived more than a possible backlash from Redrow,’ she said, unable to hold his gaze. ‘Despite the fact that the location was isolated, he would not have touched me. Not there. Besides, it felt good to be proactive for once. I almost wanted him to see me.’
‘Then I am very glad that common sense prevailed,’ he said, his words now a soft caress. ‘Or, more to the point, Ramsay dragged you away. Don’t do anything like that again. You must promise me that you will leave Redrow to me.’
‘I will promise you no such thing,’ she replied indignantly.
‘Insufferably stubborn female!’ he cried on an exasperated sigh.
‘What shall you do about what I overheard? I assume you discussed it with the duke and Lord Romsey earlier.’
