Netherby Halls (10 page)

“Surely you don’t think that we would allow you to
walk, carrying a package, all the way back to Netherby?”

“It is of no consequence.” She felt herself blushing
in spite of her bravado.

“It is nearly dark and will be before you reach the
school grounds. Please allow us to escort you home.”

His blue eyes held sincere concern, and she felt such
a magnetism pull her towards him that she had to exert extreme
control; otherwise, she thought she just might dive into his arms
for comfort. She had been feeling very alone in the world, and
suddenly something about him made her feel as though …? She
shook this notion off and gave him a tepid smile, deciding that
rather than look foolish she would accept their offer of a ride.
“Thank you, how kind.”

As Sassy climbed into the coach, Sophy Delleson’s
attitude seemed to change and she touched Sassy’s gloved hand with
her own. “Do forgive me, Miss Winthrop. I acted quite horribly. You
would be quite correct to think poorly of me, and I would not blame
you if you did, but I would like to start anew.” She sent a smile
at Percy, who beamed proudly.

Sassy smiled warmly. “Thank you.” Her mind and heart
were racing so wildly she couldn’t think clearly. Sitting beside
the marquis was beyond titillating, but she managed to say, “I do
hope this is not taking you out of your way too much.”

“Not at all,” the marquis replied. “I have been
wanting to visit Netherby and speak with the headmistress in
person.”

Sassy was curious, but he had not left any opening
for her to take this any further. However, Miss Delleson sighed and
said, “Yes, he and Percy have some notion that they should be
school subscribers, to appease Justin’s aunt, but Justin wants to
inspect the school first. Such a bore.”

“Oh, it is my understanding that Miss Sallstone never
receives anyone without an appointment,” Sassy said on a slight
frown.

“Oh, she will see us,” said the marquis quietly.

Sassy looked up as he turned to face her. Their eyes
met once again, and she felt, literally felt, the breath sucked out
of her lungs in slow, sweet degrees. How could that be? How could
losing one’s breath be so very … thrilling?

Thankfully, neither Miss Delleson or Mr. Lutterel
seemed to notice the rise in temperature that Sassy was sure had
enveloped the interior of the carriage, and both chatted on in
total harmony with one another.

During the ride, Sassy could not help but notice that
Mr. Lutterel’s gaze seemed riveted to Miss Delleson’s elflike
features.
Ah
, she thought,
he is smitten
.

They turned onto Netherby Drive, and minutes later
pulled up the front steps. The marquis alighted and turned, but
instead of giving Sassy his gloved hand he lifted her by her waist
and set her on the ground as he whispered, “I liked your hair the
way you wore it last.”

She was still feeling the heat of his hands on her
waist when she looked up at that and said, “It would not become a
teacher.”

“Then perhaps teaching is not what you should be
doing.”

She sucked in air and pushed off from him. Was he
making an indecent proposition? She felt her cheeks burn, and he
said softly, “Steady, don’t misunderstand me.”

“Thank you,” Sassy offered gratefully. “Thank you all
for the ride.” She then hurried up the steps before them, saying
over her shoulder, “Molly or one of the other servants will take
you to Miss Sallstone.”

He stalled her. “Miss Winthrop …?”

She turned, but all at once, all she could see was
him standing in that bedroom, his bedroom—totally naked.

“I-I must go,” she said on a hushed note of
desperation.

“May I call on you tomorrow?” he stuck in as he
reached for her arm and held her gently in place.

“No … no … you must see that it would not
do. Please … oh please … I must go.”

He released her then, and she felt his gaze on her as
she skipped hurriedly all the way up the stone steps. In her mind,
she could still hear the softness of his voice, tempting her to
look back, so she moved faster, as though a dragon were on her
heels.

She ran past Molly, affectionately touching her cheek
briefly, and rushed up the staircase and down the hall for the
safety of her room. Once there, she leaned her back against the
door and tried to find her breath. How could she do that when he
had stolen it?

* * *

“Percy, why don’t you take a tour of the grounds with
Sophy? I am certain she would like that, and I’ll go have a quick
chat with the headmistress.” The marquis gave his friend a
meaningful ‘look’, and Percy was quick to understand and
acquiesce.

“Yes, you go on,” Percy said and offered his arm to
Sophy.

The marquis watched them leave and then nearly bent
over his knees. He couldn’t breathe. He barely could think. All he
could do was ‘feel’.

All he could see was this damnable chit, lying across
his bed! She was naked and exquisite. She taunted him with her eyes
and her body, willing him to touch her as though he had touched her
before.

What the bloody hell was wrong with him? He had
always had so much control.

Why did this happen to him nearly every single time
he was in her company? She was ravishing, yes, but this time it was
more than his manhood dictating to him, so much more than that..
She had spirit and a sense of balance about her that he found
intoxicating.
She was
intoxicating.

And her scent—never had a woman given off such an
alluring scent as she always did, like vanilla and heather, and
something else, exotic like that of a rare orchard. Damn but he
wanted her so much he couldn’t think.

Wrong
—this was all wrong. He was allowing his
dick to lead him around, and he knew better. He was a man of cool,
steady nerves. He was, he knew, a dominant male, and in his
group—more than that. He liked to be in control of every situation.
This was not like him.

He pulled himself together and went up the stairs. He
used the doorknocker and found the door flung wide open by a young
serving-girl, who openly gaped at him. Her mouth dropped as she
bobbed a curtsey.

He smiled warmly at her, hoping to set her at ease,
and took a card out of his inner pocket. “Would you tell your
headmistress that the Marquis of Dartmour would like a moment of
her time?”

“I would, aye, that I would,” the girl said, waving
him inside. “Would ye be wanting to follow me?”

He grinned. “Indeed, I think that might answer.”

“Aye then,” she said shyly and led the way.

Only a few moments went by before she returned and
opened the inner door wide. “Miss Sallstone says she will see you
now.”

The marquis took out a coin and flipped it to her.
“What is your name?”

She caught the coin, grinned at him brightly, and
said, “Molly, sir … er … my lord.”

He laughed. “Thank you, Molly.” He turned and walked
into the headmistress’s office and was very aware of Miss
Sallstone’s intake of breath and the hand that fluttered
flirtatiously as she offered him a chair.

~
Ten ~

TIME PASSED SLOWLY, so slowly for Sassy as she looked
at the clock. When she’d gone to the kitchen for a cup of tea and
passed the headmistress’s office, she’d heard the marquis laugh out
loud. She had cringed and hurried to her room.

Stupidly she had taken to her window to watch and see
when he left. Twenty minutes! Twenty minutes had gone by, and he
was still with Miss Sallstone. She felt a pinch of jealousy she
could not rationally explain to herself. This was absurd.

She measured the window one more time and realized
she did not have a pair of scissors. She’d seen a few in the crafts
room belowstairs, and she quietly made her way there.

She heard the door open to the headmistress’s
anteroom and then the marquis say, “What a great pleasure it has
been to get acquainted with you, Miss Sallstone.”

“Now, my lord, did I not tell you to call me Bianca?
We are about to become very good … friends,” she said with a
flirtatious inflection.

Sassy heard the woman’s tone and felt steam rise
between her ears that had no business being there. What was it to
her if the man of her dreams—and that was all he was, someone in
her dreams, nothing more—dallied with the headmistress? Yet,
something deep inside told her otherwise.

She heard his steps as he walked the short distance
to the front door and left. She sighed heavily and started for the
sewing room when a voice at her back made her turn and smile a
welcome.

“Hallo,” the doctor said, his eyes alive and lips
curved into a grin. “I came just to see you and must compliment
myself on my timing.”

She laughed. “You, I am persuaded, should have been a
sleuth, for your timing and your knack for solving mysteries is
unprecedented,” she teased and arched a look at him.

He laughed warmly and said, “I am curious about
anything regarding you.”

He was teasing, but she suspected a truth behind the
words and asked, “You have a question on your tongue—
out with
it
.”

“Perceptive beauty, I do.”

“And …?

“I am presently consumed with the desire to know how
you came to be friendly with the Marquis of Dartmour, who was just
leaving when I arrived.”

“Snooping is very dangerous,” she warned, almost
snorting.

“Is it? I shall take my chances. His reputation
precedes him,” the good doctor said meaningfully.

She raised a brow. “I have no idea what you are
referring to, but I do know that I never engage in that sort of
gossip. Besides, what makes you think I am friendly with the
marquis?”

“I was walking up from the stables when I saw him,
er, help you from the Delleson carriage.”

Her chin went up. “I have no intention of discussing
such a thing with you, sir.”

“You think me impertinent, I know, but Miss Winthrop,
I assure you, I am acquainted with Miss Delleson and her set. If
she has offered you a friendship of sorts I would be
suspicious.”

“Because I am so far beneath her?” Sassy’s temper
once again was on the rise.

“Because
she
would think so—
not I
,” he
countered. “In fact, she could never compare with you, and you must
not take it personally, for even an educated man, such as myself,
though only a country doctor, would not be high enough company for
Miss Delleson.”

She could not doubt the bitterness that tinged his
every word. “Well, as to that, Miss Delleson, though it was her
coach, was in the company of her Mr. Lutterel and the marquis when
they saw me walking back to school from town, a bit laden with a
package.” She shrugged. “I have a brief acquaintance with both the
marquis and Mr. Lutterel, and they were kind enough to offer me a
ride home.” She smiled. “You could say I was thrust upon Miss
Delleson.”

The doctor ran his hand down her arm and took her
hand to bow over it, when a draft caught their attention. They
turned around quickly and found the marquis standing there, taking
a quick observation. “Don’t let me intrude,” he said. “I had
forgotten my gloves.” He took a few steps to a wall table, where he
found them, shook them in their direction, and said, “Do,”—he
seemed to pause for affect—“carry on.” A look in his blue eyes made
Sassy shiver with something she didn’t want to contemplate as she
watched him leave.

Sassy excused herself then, saying she had work to
do, for her window wanted drapes, and hurried off.

The good doctor watched her departure thoughtfully
before turning and making his way to the anteroom, where he went
directly to Miss Sallstone’s private set of rooms and opened the
door without knocking.

He found her there lounging on her settee with a
book. She looked up and smiled hungrily. “James, my love, I have
been waiting for you.”

* * *

The marquis was deep in thought as he sat back and
leisurely enjoyed his brandy. Dinner had been a bore, watching
Percy make a fool of himself over the Delleson chit. He heartily
hoped that his good friend would see she simply was an
addle-brained young woman who was both shallow and
self-centered.

He sighed over it and eyed Percy, who had dozed off
in his chair near the fire. At least they had a comfortable suite
of rooms in the cozy cottage they had leased.

Bright green eyes flashed at him, and he wished he
could reach for her black hair and undo its tight braids.

Her luscious lips formed a pout. He could almost
taste her. The damned hard-on in his breeches made him damned
uncomfortable. He could not remember ever being obsessed with a
woman quite like this. Not ever, not even when he had been a lad
and still naïve. Emotion was something he always controlled, but
something quite threateningly out of control hovered over him,
making him experience emotions he had never known were possible.
What he felt for this damnable chit was impossible!

He tried to remember what she had looked like across
his sheets in that strange hallucination he’d had when he first saw
her in Sutton Village. Luscious full breasts with their hard pink
nipples called to him, and he could taste them, as he could her
silky flesh. Her scent was in his nostrils making him hungry,
hungry for more of her. With his eyes tightly shut he could feel
her reach for his cock and stroke it with her delicate fingers, and
it felt so damn good!

“Bloody hell!” he said out loud, but Percy did not
hear him and snored on. He got up and poked at the fire. Sitting
next to her in the coach earlier had been torture. He wanted her
alone.

He wanted to …
what?
Seduce her? Any fool
could see she was an innocent, the daughter of a vicar; Sophy had
told them both some of her background, which she had heard from her
mother.