Netherby Halls (12 page)

She was surprised and touched by his concern. She
looked at her gloved and folded hands in her lap. He was a virtual
stranger, and she should not allow him to see her thusly undone.
“’Tis nothing, my lord …” Her voice broke on the words, and
she gulped.

He took her hand, and his touch even with gloves on
both their hands was absolutely riveting. It was as though her
entire body immediately leaned towards him looking for more of the
same, wanting this—his
touching.

“Come,” he said as he gently pulled her up out of the
pew and steered her away from the gathering crowd.

“I-I … do beg your pardon,” Sassy managed after
an interval. “I am making an absurd cake of myself,” she said,
brushing at her damp cheek.

“My dear Miss Winthrop, I have no real notion what
the source of your agitation is, though I am inclined to suspect it
was that belabored soliloquy we have just had the misfortune to
have endured.”

Sassy giggled almost wildly and then caught her
breath and shook her head. “Thank you, I needed that.” She sighed.
“Papa was such a wonderful vicar—a truly great man—and for a
moment,” she said, holding back a sudden urge to cry, “I missed his
voice and wished I was away from here and—”

He cut in then and said, “Ah, well, in that you are
not alone, my dear. I too have been wishing I was anywhere else but
in this church.” Though the marquis spoke gravely, his blue eyes
twinkled at her.

Once again Sassy had a good laugh, and the marquis
continued, “So then, your papa was a vicar in Sutton Village?”

She eyed him sharply and said, “Yes.”

“I am glad you did not ask me how I knew it was
Sutton, for I think you and I remember one another—don’t we?”

What was he asking? What was he doing? Had he felt
what she felt in that dream when she first saw him in person across
the avenue in Sutton? Was her magic growing and playing tricks on
her? Had he seen her on his bed as she had seen him—
naked
?
What was happening to her?

He cocked a look at her that sent another flurry of
heat through her, and she couldn’t speak. She was so flooded with
confusion and emotion that she simply could not answer him.

“I see that you do remember. You ran from me then.
Tell me why?”

“I-I cannot say …”

“I can, but I would like
you
to tell me. I
would like to get to the bottom of this, and I think you know what
is going on between us—do you?”

“Stop, oh please, I don’t know!” She wanted to run
from him and was saved at that moment by Sophy, who came rushing at
them.

“Sassy, oh Sassy, I need a favor.” Sophy touched the
marquis’s sleeve. “I really need the favor from you, Justin. Percy
and Lord Grey are impossible. I am in dread of their drawing swords
at any moment. Do go and see if you can manage them, please?”

Sassy saw the flicker of irritation in the marquis’s
bright blues as he said, “Really, Sophy, as much as I would like to
oblige you, I must point out that Percy is a man fully capable of
handling himself. And as to that puppy forever hanging about, he
needs some schooling!”

“Oh, but, Justin, you don’t understand. They are
raising their voices in the midst of the crowd, and it won’t
do.”

“I should think you would be thrilled to have two
suitors doing open battle over you,” the marquis said dryly.

Sophy seemed too taken aback by his refusal to help
to say anything; however, Sassy jumped in. “Ah, now, my lord,
anyone can see that Sophy is not flattered by their behavior and
does not wish to have her name bandied about in public. It won’t
do, and it won’t help either suitor shine in her parents’ eyes, now
will it?”

This gave his lordship reason to pause. He inclined
his head. “Your powers of reasoning—and persuasion—leave me no
choice but to obey,” he said with a smile in his eyes for her as he
bowed. When he came up their gazes locked. “But we will take up
where we left off, and soon, my beauty,” he whispered softly, “very
soon.”

“Well!” Sophy declared, linking her arm through
Sassy’s. “You certainly have him twisted around your finger. I
cannot recommend him to you, though, for I find him ill mannered.”
Sophy giggled and added, “And still what a feather in a woman’s
bonnet when he looks her way.” Sophy gave an exaggerated sigh and
rolled her eyes.

Sassy found she liked this new side of Sophy and
laughed. “You are incorrigible. You already have two very estimable
gentlemen paying you court, and more for all I know.”

Sophy laughed. “Oh
I am
sorry for my behavior
yesterday. I was out of sorts, and then there you were
, so
beautiful,
and Percy was being attentive to you …”

“I take it Percy is the one you are interested in
much more than Lord Grey?”

“I adore Percy. I have never loved any other man or
will love any other man. It has always been Percy, but I shan’t be
allowed to marry him. My family thinks I must have title and wealth
beyond imagination, and I cannot think of a solution. I suppose I
shall have to marry Lord Grey and take Percy as a lover.”

Sassy gasped. “Sophy! No—how can you plan such a
thing?”

“It is done all the time. I have heard about it from
all my friends, and I hear my mother and her friends talking
incessantly about friends who made marriages of convenience and
have taken lovers. My aunt told me something of the sort just the
other day.”

“She didn’t! Oh, I am persuaded she could not
have.”

“She did. She said,
Sophy, you must make a
marriage of convenience, and after a time, if you are discreet, you
may go on as you please
. So I ask you, Sassy, what else can
that mean?”

“Oh, Sophy, I am sure that wouldn’t do for you.
Imagine having to kiss a man you don’t love and then have
him … have him … well …?”

Sophy grimaced. “I know, I know. And I have thought
of that, because when Percy kisses me, it takes me away and makes
me want more—more kisses, more touching, and intimacy—but when Lord
Grey kissed me the other day, it was horrid. I so wanted to slap
his face.” She wrung her hands. “What is to be done? Mama says I
may have a separate bedroom from my husband if I wish, but what if
he visits me and I don’t want him to? And Percy? Percy would be raw
with jealousy. Only look at him when Lord Grey kisses my hand, and
he doesn’t know about him kissing my mouth, and—”

“Oh Sophy, a solution must be found,” Sassy said on a
note of distress.

“Do you know, you are the only friend who has
understood? My other friends tell me I am foolish and that I could
do what my aunt says I should.” She shook her head. “I think I
would detest such a life—” She cut herself off. “Oh—there is Mama
waving. Sassy, Mama is having an ‘at home’ today. I want you to
join us, for you and I shall be friends forever. Please do
come … please?”

“You are very kind to invite me, but, Sophy, I don’t
think your mama would approve of you inviting me.”

“Nonsense. Mama says she knows your mother’s side of
the family and that they are very high in the instep. She also said
that they just might wish to re-establish you in the family,
because she heard talk about it.” Sophy shrugged. “Besides that she
and Miss Graves have been friends for years, and she has her over
for tea all the time. I would take it as a favor if you would drive
home with me and Lord Grey so that I won’t be alone with him. I
can’t go with my parents, as they are the ones that trapped me into
going home with Grey, and if I went off with Percy, Mama would go
off in convulsions, and—”

“I see,” Sassy said, putting up her hands and
sighing. “What a mess, to be sure.”

“Oh, I knew you would understand,” Sophy wailed
thankfully.

A young choirboy appeared at that moment, cleared his
throat, and said loudly, “Excuse me, but Miss Sallstone says she is
leaving, if you would like to return to the school with her.”

Miss Delleson took over and said, “Thank Miss
Sallstone and tell her that I am abducting Miss Winthrop for the
afternoon and shall see to it that she is returned to Netherby
safely later—
much later
. Thank you.”

The boy ran off, and Sophy said with some excitement,
“Oh, we shall have such fun, although if Mama notices the way the
marquis is looking at you—even now, she will not be pleased and
will pitch Lord Grey at me even harder.”

~
Eleven ~

LUNCHEON AT THE Delleson home was a lively affair.
However, Sophy had two younger sisters who attached themselves to
Sassy and greedily kept her in conversation throughout the meal.
More than once, Sassy’s gaze met that of the marquis, and she could
see he was greatly amused at her predicament.

At long last Mrs. Delleson banished her youngest
daughters to another part of the house and sent her husband off
with his crony to play chess in the library. This done, she
announced that she had to speak with cook and left the salon with
one steady look at her Sophy.

Sophy and Sassy exchanged glances, and Sophy
whispered, “She is leaving us unchaperoned?”

“I am one and twenty—perhaps she thinks me chaperone
enough?” suggested Sassy, which caused them both to laugh.

Lord Grey put down his empty glass of port and moved
to flank Sophia. Percy, not to be undone, inched his way closer and
glared at his rival.

Sassy sighed and moved away only to find the marquis
at her elbow. “Ah, you have been put upon this day. Are your ears
still operating?”

She laughed. “They did have an awful lot to say. It
was fortunate they did not require much more than,
ah
, as a
response.”

He reached for her ungloved hand, and she thought she
would swoon from the sensation that shot through her. What was
this? Why such extreme reaction to him? She touched her ring, and a
feminine voice in her head whispered,
The one … the
only … .the one
 …

He looked at her ring and would have touched it had
she not withdrawn her fingers from his. His voice was low, his gaze
intent as he said, “An unusual ring. I have only seen that stone
once before.”

She nearly put her hands behind her back but
controlled herself. “I think I’ll just sit for a bit.”

He saw her seated on the sofa and sat close, perhaps
too close to her. She tried to bring the conversation away from her
ring. “Indeed, I am not sure I was ever that talkative, even at
their ages.”

“Did they make your head spin?” he asked
casually.

“Yes, I must say they nearly did. All they need is a
bit more reining in and a pinch of self-control, and they’ll do.”
Sassy smiled ruefully.

“A bit? I wanted to box their ears.” His blue eyes
glittered with amusement. “I don’t suppose you allow such behavior
from your students?”

“Oh, they are a wonderful group, but I suppose they
will have their days,” she mused.

“And when those days arrive, will you, I wonder know
how to handle them?” returned the marquis.

“Do you not think I can?” Sassy arched a look at him,
thinking his eyes were bluer than the sky, his lips so lush and
desirable, his shoulders so large, his chest so broad …

“Don’t pick up the cudgels with me, little beauty. I
only wonder because you were an only child I think and never
trained for the life you are presently leading,” he answered
softly.

A hint of admiration lined his tone, and she looked
at her hands, folded in her lap. “One must find a way to do what is
necessary.”

“And so you have,” he answered quietly.

“How kind. Thank you,” she said simply.

“A truth, and it won’t be the last in our
relationship,” he answered. “And I hope you may soon trust me with
the same.”

Shock tinged her response. “Relationship? We do not
have a relationship, my lord.”

“Ah, but that hurts. Never say you are rejecting my
friendship?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Oh no, my lord, I am
not so hasty, I assure you. When your
friendship
is offered,
I will carefully give it my consideration before accepting or
rejecting it,” Sassy replied, giving him a saucy look.

“Then what do you think I have been offering you from
the moment we met?” he asked, looking intently into her eyes.

“Curiosity,” she answered as her hands fluttered.
“Flirtation.”

“
And friendship
, I do hope you will believe
that.”

“Do you? Perhaps I shall try to, then,” she said and
once again realized that any trepidation she felt when with him
wasn’t his fault. It was hers—her magic was filtering through her
to him. Her magic was giving him pictures of her in his head and
taking the same from him. Her magic had decided he was her mate and
was teaching her to accept the decree. But she wouldn’t. She
wouldn’t be guided or ruled by her magic.

Her mana was hers, not the other way around. Her
magic belonged to her; she did not belong to it. She bolstered her
self-control and managed to shut off the extreme desire burning
through her body because it had moved her closer to him without her
even being aware.

He looked intently at her and whispered, “Miss
Winthrop.” He got up from the sofa. “Allow me to fetch you a sweet
cake?”

She was surprised but was also thankful. What would
she have done next? Thrown her arms around him? “Yes, oh yes, I
would like that.”

* * *

The marquis’s experience had embroiled him with many
sorts of lovelies, and he had not reached the age of twenty-seven
without learning to handle himself in all given situations. He had
even thought himself in love once or twice but had become quickly
disenchanted.

He had never been kept at arm’s length, and he had no
doubt that this beauty was attempting to do just that. Why? He was
quite used to women trying to ensnare him for his title and
wealth.