A Season to Be Sinful (41 page)

Lily waited until Sherry returned to his chair before she spoke. I dont think Sister Mary Joseph can have been my mothers cousin, Sherry, but mayhap I will write to the abbey. I do not know if she is still there, or even if she is yet alive, but no one will stop my correspondence from reaching her now. If there is an explanation to be made, it should come from her. She turned her attention to Lady Rivendale. Please do not add Mr. Binghams name to your list, or the names of any other relations you think I might have. I would rather there was no list at all, but if you cannot help yourself, confine the names to your dearest friends who can be counted on not to spoil our wedding with gossip about what might remain of my family.

She stood, her bearing a trifle stiff, her self-possession a fragile thing. If you will excuse me. I am for bed. She put out her hand when Sherry started to rise. No. I dont require an escort. Good night.

Sherry stood anyway, but he didnt move away from the table as Lily turned and left the room. When she was gone, he sat slowly and regarded his godmother. You might have said something to me. It was rather more than she was prepared to hear.

I did not realize how little either of you knew about her family. That she was kept so much in the dark is unconscionable. I understand not speaking of it to her when she was yet a child, but as she became a young woman Lady Rivendale shook her head and her mouth flattened disapprovingly. And when she was sent off from the abbey, well, she should have been apprised of the whole of it then.

I do not know the whole of it, Aunt, and neither do you. You are speculating.

Do you think Lily is not also? She is afraid to know the truth now, and I cannot say that I fault her for it, but she has retired to her room so she might do so in peace. I doubt she will find any sleep tonight. To have been through so much, then to be confronted with the prospect of being a bastard, really, it is more than anyone should be made to bear.

It does not matter to me if she is Caroline Binghams child.

It matters to her

Sherry drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. What is to be done?

Whatever it is, Sherry, it is not for you to do. You cannot affect a solution for everything. Lady Rivendale picked up the list, skimmed it once, then folded it neatly and began to tear it into quarters. There. It is my contribution to your happiness.

Thank you for that, Aunt.

She shrugged lightly. A woman can dream. She pushed the confetti shed made to the center of the table. Why have the banns not been read, Sherry?

I have only just placed the announcement of our engagement in the London papers.

I am not fooled by that. That is bait. Oh, do not look at me in such a manner as if I cannot possibly know what Im saying. If neither of you desire a wedding with more than a few of your intimates present, then that announcement had but one purpose: to draw the baron out. Is it that she has agreed to marry you but will not do so until it is settled with him?

I am all admiration, Sherry said, meaning it more than not.

Do you think it is wise, Sherry, to tempt him in such a manner?

It is necessary.

What if he does not come?

He will. Do not forget that my acquaintance with the baron is far and away more substantial than your own.

Yes, but you have never fully explained how he is known so well to you. It continues to puzzle.

Sherrys smile was purposely enigmatic. And it shall remain so. But consider, Aunt Georgia, when Woodridge arrives it could very well be that his plan will not be to disrupt my engagement but to secure one of his own.

Lady Rivendales eyes widened as the bent of Sherrys words became clearer to her. With me, you mean?

You cannot be so surprised. Did you not say that he had proposed twice, and you were in expectation of a third?

Yes, but now that you are engaged to Lily, surely he would not dare to make an offer.

Why not? Do you believe he thinks for a moment that she has been forthcoming with me? Sherry shook his head. No, Aunt, he will come to Granville Hall because he desires to deliver us all from Lilys wickedness. That is the true nature of the man. He believes it is his purpose to save us from ourselves.

Wycliff Standish, Baron Woodridge, regarded the Gazette notice for the third time since returning to his carriage and ordering his driver to make way again. He held the announcement carefully, letting it dangle between two fingers so that he would not inadvertently tear it. He had been equally cautious removing it from the paper four days earlier, sharpening the blade of his knife before he applied it to the border of the notice. After reading then rereading it, he had folded it in precisely creased thirds and placed it under his silk-lined waistcoat just above his heart. It amused him to suppose that someone privy to this gesture might mistake it as a romantic one. It was not. Woodridge was confident that his heart had no romantic leanings, that what he experienced was something more extraordinary than what other men knew.

What was in his heart was righteous passion. Sometimes his hands actually trembled with the strength of it. He had learned to draw on that strength, pulling it back into himself when that was what was demanded of him, then calling upon the reserve when the mission demanded it.

In London, when hed first seen the announcement, hed known a moments uncertainty that he would be able to control himself, but by the time hed tucked the piece into his waistcoat, he had already contained that passion. Looking at the notice now, his fingers shook slightly. He did not fool himself into believing the bouncing of the carriage lay at the root of that unsteadiness. He recognized the fever that was upon him and knew it would have to be assuaged.

It was not so much a question of whenfor he knew he would always be able to pick the momentbut of precisely how he would satisfy himself. To that end, he returned the notice to his waistcoat, leaned back against the plump leather cushions, and brought the harlot Lilith Rose Sterling to mind.

She deserved rather more than had been done to her before. It was clear to him that he had not taken her in hand as completely as hed thought. She should not have been able to leave him; she should not have wanted to. He had always been the one who set the terms of the arrangement he enjoyed with women. Even his own wife had acceded gracefullyand gratefullyin the end. He would have sent her anywhere she wishedthe Continent, the Americas, even Indiabut she could not bring herself to leave him. Jane, his dear Jane, the mother of his children, had sworn she would rather die than leave him.

What choice was left to him but to oblige her?

Lilith, though, had been a provocation from the outset, making herself undesirable to him to turn aside his interest, then running from him when he discovered her perfidy. Hed followed her, though, and hed won her confidence. He thought he would tire of her soon enough, as he had with those before her, yet she enticed him again and again. Debased, yet somehow never humiliated, soiled and used in every manner he could conceive, she had nevertheless seemed to remain untouched.

A virgin.

Woodridge grimaced wryly at the notion, yet understood it was not far off the mark. She served his needs too well, her purity compelling him to make use of her, and her pride fairly demanding that he make every attempt to diminish it.

Had she been something less than what she was, there would have been a different end. She would have been long out of his life, and he would not be on the road to Granville Hall now to reclaim his sacrificial lamb.

Lily snuggled more deeply against the comforting heat at her back. She was on her side facing the window, and the same cool breeze that shifted the curtains made her wrinkle her nose. She was not yet quite awake, but neither was she unaware of her surroundings. Behind her she could hear Sherrys light, even breathing. It was his arm curving over her waist, his knee that had nudged hers apart.

She didnt recall him coming to her room. It was just as well. She would have sent him away. Theyd agreed on the evening she accepted his proposal that he would no longer slip into her bedchamber. At least shed thought he had agreed. Perhaps hed only said that his door would be closed to her.

Her nightshift was bunched around her hips and her bare bottom was cradled snugly against Sherrys groin. His erection pressed hot and hard against her cleft. She heard his breathing catch, then quicken, then he was easing himself inside her. She pressed back, accommodating his entry, and the delicious feeling of warmth, of being filled, made her murmur contentedly.

He moved slowly, without urgency. The languor of his rhythm seemed suited to the early morning hour and the sense there was more dream here than reality. Lily found his hand and drew it between her thighs. She guided his fingers to the swollen hood of flesh hidden in her moist sex and showed him what she wanted.

Allegro, she whispered. Sherrys sleepy chuckle caused wisps of hair to shift against her nape and tickle her. She shivered as much from the prickling of sensation there as she did from his far more intimate caress.

Ahh. Lilys hips jerked. Pleasure spiraled, scattered, then began to rise more strongly than before. Reaching behind her, she laid her hand on his hip and urged him again. She felt his mouth in her hair, just at the back of her ear. He nudged aside a curl with his lips. The damp edge of his tongue darted against her skin. He whispered something she could not quite make out, but the husky timbre of his voice communicated his purpose anyway.

Lily hummed her pleasure. He drew aside the neckline of her shift and his teeth nipped her shoulder. It made her toes curl. Her entire body arched when he kissed her in just the same spot.

Do you like that? he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he did it again and received the same response, inarticulate but communicating everything that was important.

Lily was not certain that either of them was fully awake until the moment pleasure shuddered through them, and even then it was so exquisite as to not seem grounded in any reality.

She did not know how much time had passed before she became aware of Sherry again. He was on his side, his head propped on an elbow as he looked down on her. She was lying on her back, the neckline of her shift restored to modesty, though beneath the sheet and thin blanket, she could tell there was a great deal that had not yet been put to right. Reaching under the covers, she lifted her hips and pushed at her shift, wriggling until the hem reached her knees. Satisfied, and undisturbed by Sherrys rather wicked smile, she asked, Did I fall asleep?

We both did. Dont worry. It is not so early yet. We can lie abed awhile longer.

I thought we were agreed that we would not share a bed before our wedding. When Sherry merely arched an eyebrow at her, Lily reconsidered. Perhaps not. Reaching up, she brushed aside a lock of dark hair that had fallen over his forehead. Will it be today, do you think?

I hope so. If not today, then tomorrow.

I do not think my nerves can tolerate a great many tomorrows, Sherry. What if we are wrong, and he doesnt come? He might not see the notice. He might ignore it if he sees it. He might

Sherry pressed his fingertip against Lilys lips, silencing her. You have never once doubted that he would come for you, else you wouldnt have hidden away these last years. Dont doubt your instincts now; theyve served you well. If he misses the notice, he is certain to learn of the engagement from others. Recall that he has an interest in more than one matter here. I figure largely in the disposition of my godmothers fortune, and he has come lately to believe that he should be the heir. Failing to convince her of an entailment that does not exist, he apparently believes she can be persuaded to marry him. So his interests are threefold: you, me, and Lady Rivendale. How can he stay away?

She nodded faintly. You will not call him out?

I have already promised I will not.

Lily searched his face. You really believe you can persuade him to agree to an honorable silence?

I do. Its what he taught me, Lily. Persuasion. And he taught me well. I have not left anything to chance. I will know before he does when he is bound to arrive.

Word came to Sherry that afternoon, delivered by the advance guard of two of his trusted retainers. Sherry had entertained the notion of pressing Gibb and Conway into service but dismissed it. While they had experience that could certainly help him in dealing with Woodridge, they were also too well known to the baron. If Woodridge glimpsed them on the road or at an inn, he would be immediately suspicious. He might not associate their company as having anything to do with Sherry, but it could be enough to make him turn back to London.

Instead, Sherry had selected the footman Tolley and the head groom Kennerly to travel to the inn at Westin-on-the-Narrows and remain there until Woodridge arrived or his carriage passed. It was not so far from Granville that they could not overtake him, and they would arouse no suspicion in doing so. They were, in fact, beneath the barons notice.

When Sherry learned that Woodridge would be arriving within the hour, he cautioned Lily and his godmother that they must stay away. They could keep each other company for the tune it would take him to conduct his business with Woodridge, but he would not have them presenting themselves and distracting him from his purpose.

Lily was all for not setting her eyes on Woodridge again, but her ladyship wanted the opportunity to give him the cut direct.