Page 37 of A Rogue's Downfall
“Ah, no,” he said. “Such charms should be tasted and feasted upon in the privacy of a locked room,ma’am. And worshiped. They should be worshiped ona soft bed.”
The lady withdrew her hand from his and tapped him lightly on the arm with it. “I have heard it saidthat you have some skill in—worshiping,” she said.“Perhaps it would be amusing to discover the truth ofthe matter for myself.”
“I am, ma’am,” he said, making her an elegant bow,“your humble slave. When? I pray you will not tease me by keeping me waiting.”
“It would please me excessively to tease you,” Mrs. Delaney said with her trilling laugh, “but I really donot believe I could bear to tease myself, sir. The doorof my bedchamber will be unlocked tonight if the factis of any interest to you.”
“I shall burn with unrequited passion and adoration until then,” he said, and he bent his dark head andset his lips to the lady’s for a brief moment.
“It promises well,” she said. “Alas that only half the afternoon has passed. But we should return to thehouse for tea, sir. Separately, I do believe. I wouldnot have it said that I dally with handsome strangersin the absence of my husband.” She laughed merrily.
He bowed to her. “Far be it from me to sully the brightness of your reputation, ma’am,” he said. “Ishall remain here for a while and discover whetherthe beauties of nature will be more apparent in theabsence of your greater loveliness.”
“How absurd you are,” she said, turning from him to walk back to the house in virtuous solitude. “Andwhat a flattering tongue you have been blessed with.”The young lady who had been an unwilling witnessto this tender love scene was partly amused and partlyshocked—and wondered how long the gentleman intended staying at the lily pond admiring the beautiesof nature. He sat down on the grassy bank and drapedhis arms over his raised knees.
Mr. Bancroft probably needed the rest and the solitude as much as she did. He was a busy gentleman. She had been passing his room quite early this morning, bringing Mrs. Peabody a second cup of chocolate,which by rights her maid should have been doing,when the door had opened and Flossie, one of thechambermaids, had stepped out looking rosy andbright-eyed and slightly disheveled. Behind her as sheclosed the door there had been the merest glimpse ofMr. Bancroft in his shirtsleeves. It had not taken agreat deal of imagination to guess that at the veryleast the two of them had been exchanging kisses.
At the very least!
And now he had made an assignation to spend the night, or at least a part of it, in Mrs. Delaney’s bed,tasting and feasting and worshiping. It was really quitescandalous. When Nancy confided to anyone who wasprepared to listen, evident pride in her voice, that herintended husband was a rake, she was making noempty boast.
And then an insect landed on the young lady’s bare arm, and she slapped at it without thinking. The slapsounded rather like the cracking of a pistol to herown ears. She held her breath and directed her eyesdownward without moving her head.
He had obviously heard it. He turned his head first to one side and then to the other before shruggingslightly and resuming his contemplation of the lilypond.
It amused him to break hearts. Oh, no, that was not strictly true. He supposed it might be mildly distressing to cause real suffering, real from-the-heartsuffering. He always instinctively avoided any entanglement in which it seemed likely that the lady’s heartmight be seriously engaged.
It would be more accurate to say, perhaps, that it amused him to deflate expectations. Many of his acquaintances avoided eligible females as they wouldavoid the plague, terrified that they would somehowbe caught in parson’s mousetrap no matter how warilythey stepped. Not he. He liked to live dangerously.He liked to see how close he could come to a declaration without ever actually making it or feeling that honor compelled him to do so.
He enjoyed watching young ladies and their mamas setting about entrapping him, believing that their subtleties went quite undetected by him. He liked watching them tread carefully at first and then become quitevisibly triumphant as they preened themselves beforeless fortunate mortals. He was never quite sure whatthe full attraction of his person was, since he alwayspleaded poverty into those ears whose accompanyingmouths were most sure to spread the word. A baron’stitle was not exactly equivalent to a dukedom, afterall, especially when it was a mere future expectation.His uncle was not yet sixty and was the epitome ofhealth and heartiness. And one could never be quitecertain that his uncle would not suddenly take it intohis head to marry again and start producing sonsannually.
But he knew that he was considered a catch. Perhaps his reputation and his elusiveness was the attraction. Just as men felt compelled to pursue women with reputations for unassailable virtue, even if theywere not wondrously beautiful, he supposed thatwomen might feel a similar challenge when presentedwith a rake.
And so after paying casual court to the rather pretty and definitely wealthy Miss Nancy Peabody for muchof the Season, he had accepted the invitation to spenda few weeks at Holly House, even though his friendshad made great sport of both the invitation and hisdecision to accept it, pulling gargoyle faces and making slashing gestures across their throats and pronouncing him a sure goner. They all clamored loudlyand with marvelous wit for invitations to his wedding,and one of them volunteered to be godfather to hisfirst child nine months after that event.
The pretty and wealthy and conceited Miss Peabody amused him, as did her gracious and pompous mamaand her silent father, who appeared to be a nonentityin the Peabody household.
This visit, after all, afforded him a few weeks of relaxation in the country with congenial company andprospects enough with which to satisfy his sexual appetites. He might have made do with the buxom andeager maid who had made herself very available tohim both yesterday morning and this morning, hintingof her willingness even before he had thought tosound it out. But Flossie was of that lusty breed offemales who invited him with raised petticoats andparted legs to the main event without any preambleand then bounced and bucked with unabashed enthusiasm while he delivered. Just as if they ran a race.He doubted if it had lasted longer than two or threeminutes either yesterday or today. And then she hadbeen up and straightening her clothes and pocketinghis guinea and going on her way to continue withwhat she had been busy at, almost as if there hadbeen no interruption at all.
He needed more. He would get more—considerably more—from Mrs. Delaney, whose reputation wasquite as colorful as his own, though he had never yethad her himself. Tonight he would, and he would feaston her as he had promised, slowly and thoroughly,and several times more than once. He had no doubtthat he could expect little sleep of the coming night, but sleep was always worth giving up in a good cause.
He would have her for perhaps a week and then be overcome with an onslaught of conscience over hermarried state before sounding out one of the two orthree other prospects that the guest list had presentedto his experienced intuition. Two for certain. Thethird probable.
Oh, yes, it would be an amusing few weeks. Not the least amusement would be that derived from lookinginto the faces of Miss and Mrs. Peabody on the dayhe took his leave of them, his leg still quite, quite freeof a shackle. It was perhaps unkind of him to lookforward to the moment. Undoubtedly it was. But then,what did kindness have to do with anything?
It was as he was thinking along these rather uncharitable lines, enjoying the quietness of his surroundings and the rare interlude of solitude and relaxation, thathe heard the sound. He could not identify it, but itwas unmistakably a human sound. A glance to eitherside showed him that no one was coming through thetrees toward the lily pond, but the edge of his visioncaught the lightness of some fabric up in the old oaktree close by. It was a dress. Worn by a woman or agirl. Someone who had just been entertained to theevents leading up to an assignation. He was verytempted to punish her by sitting where he was for anhour or more. But he was too curious. He had notlooked directly at her. He did not know who she was.
“Are you not getting cramped up there?” he asked after five minutes, not looking up. “Would you notlike to come down?”
He expected confusion, stuttered apologies, a scrambled descent. A cool voice answered him without hesitation.
“No, thank you,” it said. “I feel safer where I am.”
“Do you indeed?” he said. It was the voice of a young woman. A light, pretty voice—a cultured voice.“Are you afraid I will pounce on you and ravish youhere on the ground?”
“I imagine,” she said, “that you expended enough energy in that direction this morning with Flossie. AndI would expect you would wish to conserve energy fortonight with Mrs. Delaney. But I would rather be safethan sorry.”
He felt a gust of very genuine amusement. The voice was very matter-of-fact, neither frightened noraccusing. He was reluctant to look up. He was veryafraid that the person would not live up to the voice.
