A Matter of Sin (2 page)

Isabel.

He’d first seen her during her coming out year, when he had been too young and foolish to ponder anything except for how stunningly beautiful she was. And then she had been swiftly married off to a man far too old for her and Seth had been left with only a strangely raw kind of ache whenever he saw her pass through a party.

Somehow they had never spoken. That was about to change.

The two approached the open door and Grayson, the old butler who had served Seth’s family for a generation, intoned their names.

“The Countess of Avenbury and Lady Serena.”

Seth was still staring as Isabel led her sister forward. Her gaze flitted over him and he stared at her eyes, the color of dark, deep chocolate.

“Remarkable,” he whispered.

His mother jerked her face toward him, her brow wrinkled with concern and confusion. “I beg your pardon?”

He shook his head. Dear Lord, he must be addled if his mind was filling with such odd thoughts.

“Ladies, welcome to our home,” he said as a greeting to them both.

His mother smiled away her confusion and refocused on their guests. “Indeed. Lady Avenbury, how lovely it is to see you again.”

The lady nodded, turning her gaze toward his mother as if he wasn’t even in the foyer. She smiled, a pretty, open and friendly expression that made her age difficult to determine.

“Thank you so much for inviting us, Lady Lyndham, Lord Lyndham. I have long heard of the beauty of your country estate and I can already tell it wasn’t exaggerated.” She turned her gaze on him briefly. “May I present my sister, Lady Serena?”

The younger lady Seth had barely noticed tilted her head. The action sent dark curls bobbing around her face prettily and accentuated her eyes…just as Seth was sure she had been taught to do. Her posturing moved him little, and he found himself looking again at her elder sister.

“Good afternoon, my lord, my lady,” Serena said, her voice a rather excited flutter.

Seth found himself nodding aimlessly as his mother said, “We are very happy to have you both here. Lady Serena, I must say you are as lovely as the gossip has implied. Is she not, Seth?”

He blinked and forced himself to look at the younger woman. She
was
pretty, but he was left unmoved.

“Indeed,” he admitted with effort, annoyed that his mother was pushing him so hard.

“My sister is most definitely a Diamond of the First Water,” Lady Avenbury replied as the two sisters linked arms in an effortless and loving gesture.

Lady Avenbury smiled down at her charge and Seth was struck once more by the uncommonly appealing manner she had about her. It was rare that he was so drawn, especially since this woman was in no way here for his pleasure.

“Grayson has a footman ready to direct you to your rooms, and your servants will be sent there shortly,” Seth’s mother said, cutting off his odd thoughts. “The ladies will all be gathering for tea later in the green parlor. I hope you will both join us.”

“Of course. We look forward to it.” Lady Avenbury nodded to his mother. “Lady Lyndham.”

Then her dark, deep gaze lit upon him again. Their eyes met, and in that moment Seth found himself edgy, his body reacting in an unexpected way.

“My lord,” she said softly.

He watched her lips form the common greeting with far too much interest, but he somehow managed to nod before the two ladies disappeared from the foyer. He stared after them for a moment too long.

“Are you quite all right, my dear?” his mother asked as she motioned him toward the hall. “You became so quiet and odd.”

Seth shook his head. “I am perfectly fine, Mother Dear.” She laughed at the old endearment. “Now, I’m off to meet with Northfield briefly before we join the rest of the gentlemen to shoot.”

His mother smiled. “Tell Jason I said hello. Somehow I missed him at breakfast this morning.”

This time it was Seth who laughed as he parted ways with her and headed down the hallway to his office. But despite his laugher, he couldn’t help but continue to think about the final two ladies who had been invited to his home.

Or at least
one
of those ladies.

Chapter Two

“For a lady to understand the nature of her pleasure, first she must understand her body. In the privacy of her own rooms, why shouldn’t she touch herself?”
—The Ladies Book of Pleasures

As Seth entered his office, the Earl of Northfield turned from the fireplace.

“It’s about time,” Jason said with a grin.

Seth noted the drink already in his friend’s hand and shook his head. “My mother sends her regards. I believe she may be fully aware of your carousing all about the village last night.”

Jason came across the room to sit at Seth’s desk and reached for the stocked cigar box on the corner. As he lit one, Jason grinned.

“The old girl has always been observant. Lovely woman. If she were but ten years younger…”

Seth flinched. “All right. Enough. I don’t want to talk about that.”

Jason laughed, his bright blue eyes sparkling with warmth and friendship, which was the only reason Seth put up with him. Well, that and his unwavering loyalty, endless supply of interesting tales and access to anything worth attending.

“So what
would
you like to talk about, old friend?” Northfield pressed as he settled back in the leather seat. “Your potential brides?”

Seth flopped into his own chair with a sigh. “Great God, no. Do you realize I had probably fifteen eligible ladies paraded by me today and not a one stirred me?”

“
Probably
fifteen?” Jason laughed. “You didn’t keep a more exact count?”

“No, how could I when they all began to blend together like so much tepid blandness?”

“Oof.” Jason shook his head with a sigh. “You do make this sound dire. I’m pleased not to be in your position.”

Seth made a face and Jason laughed.

“Now truly,” his friend pressed. “There were
none
to tempt you? Not a one?”

Seth hesitated, for if he denied any attraction that would be a lie. There was
one
lady who had captured his interest. Almost against his will, he thought of Lady Avenbury with her dark, expressive eyes.

He scrubbed a hand over his face and then looked again at Jason. If anyone would have all the information worth knowing about a pretty woman, it was his friend.

“What do you know about Lady Avenbury?” he asked reluctantly, for he hated to give Northfield even a slight advantage over him.

Jason pursed his lips as if he was thinking of the woman. “Mmmmm, Isabel. I do know the lady a little. I have a long-standing acquaintance with one of her very closest friends, Jacinda Downing, you know.”

“I had forgotten.” Seth nodded.

Jason’s acquaintance stood out if only because Miss Downing seemed to be the only woman his friend was not actively attempting to seduce, despite the blemish on her reputation that might encourage a rake like the earl. But now Jason’s odd relationship might come in handy, after all.

“And what of Isabel?” he pressed. “Lady Avenbury…”

Jason examined him for a long moment before he shrugged. “Her father was Earl of Colwyn, and he died many years ago. I believe she took in her younger half sisters and raised them as her own.”

The new Earl of Colwyn was a middle-aged man who Seth rarely spoke to, but he tried to recall the elder man with little luck. He did remember, perhaps, that the old man and his much younger bride had died of a disease.

“Isabel was married to old Avenbury when she was practically a child. What a waste,” Jason finished with a puff of his cigar.

“Indeed,” Seth mused, trying to maintain nonchalance so that Jason wouldn’t pursue. “A most fetching creature.”

Jason sighed theatrically. “You should have seen her at nineteen.”

Seth shrugged. He absolutely remembered her at that tender age, but could not say that Isabel was ever more beautiful than she had been stepping from that carriage this morning.

Jason shook his head. “Isabel must be close to our age, you know. Perhaps two, but no more than three years younger.”

Seth stared. Yes, that was probably correct, given that he recalled her coming out being during his own wild younger days. But the woman who had stepped onto his drive that afternoon didn’t look a moment beyond her prime, although a lady over twenty-five was considered unmarriageable by many in Society. Especially to someone looking to produce heirs.

“Her sister, on the other hand,” Jason continued with a wink. “Now
that
is a chit who would fit any marriage-minded man’s ideal.”

Seth thought of the younger woman. Serena, he thought her name was. He could scarcely recall what she looked like and it had only been a quarter of an hour since he stood with her. She was probably very pretty but had made no impression upon him.

Jason tilted his head when Seth was silent. “Unless you suddenly
aren’t
marriage-minded.”

Seth jerked his gaze to Jason and found his friend looking at him evenly. Seth shook his head.

“Of course I am,” he snapped as he got to his feet and motioned Jason toward the door. “I must be, mustn’t I?”

Jason chuckled as they began to walk through the house. “So you say, but if you aren’t, I’ve brought you a present from London that shall help you win the heart…or the body…of any lady here.”

Seth shook his head. “What are you yammering about?”

“That shocking little tome everyone is pretending not to read.
The Ladies Book of Pleasures
. I brought you a copy and left it in your library.”

Seth rolled his eyes. He had heard of the naughty little book from several sources. Truth be told, he
had
been interested in what it contained.

But he wasn’t about to admit that to Jason. Instead he muttered, “Great God, man. You’ll shock the entire party with your tricks. I’ll have to fetch it and spirit it away before it gives one of my guests an apoplexy.”

Jason shrugged. “My advice is that you avoid marriage with anyone who has an apoplexy when confronted with the concept of pleasure.”

Seth laughed, but as they moved into the yard where the gentlemen were starting to congregate, marriage was the last thing on his mind. He did, however, have a brief thought of auburn hair and dark eyes. One he banished from his mind, but not before it troubled him more than it should have.

Isabel sat at her dressing table in the pretty little chamber she had been provided and stared at her reflection in the glass, but she could hardly focus. The room was too quiet.

She had been meant to share it with Serena, but when her sister had realized one of her best friends, Sarah Sloane, was in attendance, the two girls had conspired to share their first night at the estate together where they could gossip and giggle to their hearts’ content. That had left Isabel to retire alone.

And perhaps that was for the best. She was out of sorts. Distracted and restless, though she had no cause to be. This day had been perfectly boring, just as she had known it would be when she departed London, Serena in tow. Nothing at all had risen above her low expectations.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. There had been
one
moment that had surprised Isabel, when she met their host, Lord Lyndham.

Their meeting in the foyer was the first time she had ever been so close to him, even though they had certainly been at the same events over the years. She had tried to convince herself he wasn’t nearly as handsome and intriguing as she had recalled.

Now she could no longer do so. The marquis was just as handsome as every woman had ever sighed. In fact, he was more so. That well-defined jaw, those full lips, those bright blue eyes that were even more shocking with his dark hair… The man had practically stepped from Greek mythology.

“Great Lord, woman,” she whispered to her suddenly red-cheeked reflection. “Gain some control over yourself. You’ve been thinking of the man all day—it’s unseemly.”

Pushing to her feet, Isabel paced away from the mirror. It was insanity to continue to think of a man so out of reach, and yet his image had been tormenting her for hours. And for what? He had only calmly introduced himself and talked with her and her sister about absolutely
nothing
of importance. He had likely forgotten her two seconds after they went upstairs.

Truly, the only excuse she could give for her distraction was her discussion with Grace and Jacinda a week before. Declaring she would take a lover had only increased her fantasies about that very subject. And now she feared the first handsome man she saw had somehow become the new focus of those imaginations.

It was foolish, girlish frivolity, and she had to put it aside. Settling Serena was her highest priority now.

Isabel sighed. She obviously needed sleep to clear her head, but it was almost midnight and her eyes weren’t heavy. What she needed was something boring to read. She had seen a library earlier in the day when Lady Lyndham gave a tour of the home to the women in attendance. In five minutes she could creep down and come back with something that would put her to sleep in short order.

She checked her reflection a second time. She was still presentable, for she hadn’t yet changed into her night shift or taken her hair down. On the off chance she met someone in the hallway, she wouldn’t shock them with her appearance.

Confident in that, she grasped her candle and slipped from her chamber to make her way to the library. Once inside, she looked around with a sigh. It truly was a lovely room. The high bookshelves were polished to a shine and a tall, stone fireplace had soft, inviting chairs placed before it. Currently, the fire had been allowed to burn down, so the room was dim.

She stood still a moment, allowing her eyes to adjust. Once they had, she peered around the room.

The Lyndham family certainly had a magnificent collection of books. From classic literature in volumes that had to be worth a small fortune to forgettable novels that were all the rage presently along with everything from books on war and politics to medical tomes. Certainly amongst their ranks Isabel could find
something
to put her into a deep and hopefully dreamless slumber.

She pulled a volume about various farming techniques down from the shelf and briefly scanned its pages. Within seconds, she felt tired and smiled. Here was just the thing.

With the book clutched to her chest, she turned, but before she could exit the room, she saw another tome sitting out of place on the table near the fire. Someone must have been reading it earlier in the night. As the candlelight cast across the cover, Isabel nearly dropped the farming volume. There, sitting right in front of her, was the slender book she had been fascinated with since she heard of its existence.

The Ladies Book of Pleasures
.

Isabel couldn’t breathe as she looked at it. It had a plain blue cover with its title and the annotation
By an Anonymous Lady
neatly pressed into it. Isabel’s hands shook as she set the farming book down and picked the other book up.

It was light, especially in comparison to the heavier volume, and was so small that it could easily be hidden within the bigger book.

“I suppose that makes sense,” she murmured, her heart throbbing. “If one needed to hide it…”

She brushed her fingers over the cover and then slowly, reverently, opened the pages. The printing was high quality indeed, obviously meant to impress the ladies it had been geared toward. But Isabel wanted content, not show, and she flipped through the pages, noting the chapter headings of “To Please a Gentleman” and “Your Body, Your Pleasure Temple”.

Isabel shivered, suddenly
very
aware of her body…er,
pleasure temple
. She opened to a random page and began to read.

…
while it is not recommended that a lady take her desire for intense, physical pleasure out into the street like a common light-skirt, why must our need for male touch and affection be hidden in our bedrooms? Unleash your desire for your partner and seduce him by—

Isabel would have continued, but behind her there was the sound of a throat clearing. She spun around, while at the same time shoving the book behind her with trembling hands.

“Great God,” she whispered as the person who had intruded upon her surreptitious reading stepped fully into the chamber. “Lord Lyndham.”

He moved toward her with a smile that made Isabel’s stomach flutter inexplicably.

“Lady Avenbury,” he drawled. “I did not expect to find you in my library so late at night. Is everything well—do you require anything I can provide?”

Isabel’s fingers tightened on the book behind her back. There was only one thing she required at present and she was more than certain that a man like Lyndham was capable of providing it.

“No!” she burst out, shocked by her own thoughts.

Isabel drew in a harsh breath to calm herself.

“No, thank you, my lord.” She corrected her tone this time, though she couldn’t quite catch her breath. “I apologize for intruding on your personal chambers in this fashion, but I—”

She hesitated. What
had
she been doing? Her brain was so turned around, she could scarce recall.

Lyndham moved closer and suddenly Isabel could smell his skin. The scent was clean and masculine and made her stomach flutter.

“Ah, I think I understand,” Lyndham said with a chuckle that seemed to dance along Isabel’s backbone.

He leaned forward and she stopped breathing entirely. He knew. He
knew
what she had behind her back and he was reaching for it, reaching…

But instead of snatching the sensual tome from her fingers, Lyndham took the book on farming that Isabel had all but forgotten from the table.

“Couldn’t sleep, eh?” he asked as he held it up. He was still close…
too
close to her.

Isabel nodded, her cheeks burning hot as she forced herself to look up at him. Dear Lord, his eyes were beautiful. So bright and light and yet somehow filled with a subtle fire.

“Well, this is the book to put you there,” he said, his voice suddenly rougher as he handed it forward.

With her free hand, Isabel took it. “Th-thank you. I hope you don’t mind.”