The Reluctant Suitor (34 page)

“Please forgive my tardiness,” Adriana murmured to the occupants of the room, diligently avoiding Colton’s gaze after managing to avert her own. His unswerving stare was no less tenacious now than it had been before he had propositioned her in his lantern-lit carriage. Considering the perusals to which she had been subjected in years past, she deemed his inspection far bolder. At least other men had had the decency to size her up with discretion, but Colton made no attempt to hide his penchant for caressing every minute detail
and
at very close range. Indeed, beneath his slowly assessing scrutiny, she felt as if she were literally being devoured. Since his eyes fed upon her every curve, it seemed far-fetched to believe that he’d leave her some meager shred of clothing in his mind.

Stepping behind a Tudor chair, Colton tucked the walking stick beneath his arm and clasped both sides of the tall, ornately scrolled back as he moved it every so slightly toward her. “Come sit down, Adriana.”

In the presence of their parents, Adriana saw no other option open to her. No matter how she yearned to flee back to her bedchamber, she could hardly decline his offer without causing some dismay among the elders. She perched rather rigidly upon its edge, fearful of coming in contract with those lean, hard, beautiful hands.

As expected, her efforts failed to keep Colton at bay. The tip of his walking stick returned to the costly rug cushioning the floor as he moved around to her side. Leaning close over her shoulder, he breathed in the scent of her hair and lowered his head further still until his warm breath brushed her cheek. Adriana nearly closed her eyes at the unexpected pleasure his nearness elicited. Indeed, it seemed as if her efforts to remain detached from the man were being seriously undermined by the yearning she felt within the depths of her body. It not only threatened to destroy her cool reticence, but to send her fleeing to the stables.

“Relax, Adriana,” he breathed warmly. “I’m not going to eat you . . . at least not yet.”

Of a sudden, Adriana found herself trying to collect the fragments of her aplomb from the four winds to which he had just scattered them. His persuasive voice seemed to bombard her very being. She had never known her name could sound so warmly evocative when spoken by a man, or that she could feel as if she were melting inside when those soft, mellow tones stroked across her senses.

A memory of his rage from years past proved sufficient in cooling her mind and in strengthening her resolve to remain aloof from this man. Even more effective was the suspicion that he had been plying his persuasive charms upon Felicity, who had likely accepted them eagerly and without restraint. Considering his indecent proposal after Mrs. Jennings’s funeral, Adriana could only wonder if he had used a similar invitation with the miller’s granddaughter.

Adriana eyed him obliquely as he pulled another chair alongside hers, bringing the pieces so close that the wooden arms of each were nestled snugly together. She couldn’t resist a bit of sarcasm as she offered, “I can move over if you need more room, my lord.”

Her barb was not lost upon Colton. Laughing softly in response, he leaned toward her again. “The settee is occupied, my fairest Adriana. Otherwise, I’d have directed you there and taken a place beside you.”

“Whatever for?” She feigned bewilderment. “Surely you have no interest in closely assessing the choice your father made for you years ago when you stood at the threshold of manhood. Truly, my lord, I thought we were here to discuss your plans for dissolving the agreement.” She elevated a brow challengingly. “Was I mistaken?”

Colton managed a contrived grimace, as if sorely pricked to the core. “Though my eyes detect no evidence of a shrew, my dear, there are times when you definitely make me think I’ve been deceived.

Forsooth, maid, you can draw blood with the injuries you inflict.”

Adriana scoffed, winning a chiding frown from her mother and another amused chuckle from Colton. She couldn’t fully explain why she should feel so many confused emotions whenever she was with the man.

On occasion, she was sure that a porcelain figurine or a heavy pot would serve her untold delight if she were to crown him with either. Then, just as often, she was forced to do battle with those disturbing little bubbles of delight he elicited within her. When she was thoroughly convinced that he was merely going through the formality of considering their courtship for his mother’s sake, and that at an appropriate time he intended to deal a death blow to it, she had to wonder why she should be so susceptible to him.

“No doubt, my lord, your conclusions have been drawn from your vast experience,” she rejoined coolly.

“To become an authority on termagants, one must meet them on a fairly frequent basis. No doubt you’ve had many such experiences during your absence, perhaps even a few since your return.” Lifting her gaze to his, she waited for her taunt to strike home, but he only smiled ambiguously. Reading nothing from his expression that lent evidence of her barb’s success, she prodded with a more pointed stick, “Or do you cast the blame upon my poor tongue merely to ease your own conscience as you diligently strive to withdraw yourself from the contract?”

For the very first time since her beloved Sedgwick initially proposed a betrothal between their son and Adriana Sutton, Philana felt a spark of hope that a marriage would actually take place between the pair.

Colton was too good-looking to be ignored . . .
or
rejected by the fairer gender. Most young ladies would be tempted to fawn over such a handsome man and, no doubt, offer their bodies as a token of their infatuation. She found it enormously refreshing to see how adroitly Adriana put her son in his place.

Coolly rejecting his advances would likely set the handsome scamp back upon his heels, and deservedly so. He was too confident of his persuasive charm with women and probably wouldn’t know how to handle a rebuff.

Missing the real import of his daughter’s jibe, Gyles pressed, “Is that true, your lordship? Do you wish to withdraw from the agreement?”

Slowly straightening, Colton smiled as he lent his consideration to the elder. “On the contrary, Lord Gyles, I wish to proceed with the courtship with all possible haste. Since being informed of my father’s contract with you, I’ve read with great care the document you both signed. According to the provisions set forth, I have three months of earnest courtship in which to decide my fate . . . unless, of course, the lady is otherwise inclined.”

Cocking a magnificent brow inquiringly, he peered down his noble nose at Adriana, awaiting an answer.

When she maintained a cool reticence, he again settled in the chair beside her and bent toward her with a grin. “What say you, my dear? Do you have any objections as to the date upon which such a testing of our emotions should commence? If you have none, then may I suggest that we start today?”

The sooner to be through with me,
Adriana mused derisively, feeling her hackles rise. Although strongly tempted to reject Lord Sedgwick’s edict rather than leave herself open to the many antics of his handsome son, she couldn’t actually bring herself to the point of doing so. As much as her pride would’

ve benefited from releasing Colton Wyndham from the obligations to which he had long been averse, she knew that she’d have to yield him that distinct privilege, for she couldn’t bear the thought of hurting Philana or shaming her own parents by being the one to negate their hopes and wishes for the future. “If you wouldn’t mind a short delay overmuch, my lord, I’d prefer to mark the beginning of our courtship with the date upon which the Autumn Ball takes place, the twenty-first of October.”

“So long a wait? Why, that’s fully a month away!” Colton was taken aback by the idea of such an extended interval. His primary reasons for agreeing to the courtship was simply to prove to his mother that love could not be forced by a mandate drawn up by one’s parents. Once that reality had been established, he’d be freed from his commitments. At least, then, if he wanted to marry Adriana, it would

be entirely his own decision, not because he felt compelled by his father’s dictates. In his opinion, the protracted wait before the initiation of their courtship made the arrangements even more arduous.

Bracing a finger alongside his cheek and his chin upon his thumb, Colton assumed a contemplative pose as he considered Adriana at some length. He was a man who had made his own choices for most of his life, but after viewing this lady in his bath, he had never known so many sleepless nights. As much as he yearned to appease his manly appetites with her, how could he, like some lapdog, blandly accept his father’s will over his own? Somehow he’d have to get through the courtship without yielding his heart, his mind, and, more difficult to be sure, his body to the temptations that would be ever at hand. Only then would he remain his own man. Once he managed to accomplish that feat, then he could turn his mind to more serious considerations . . . courting the lady without having to hide his own desire to solidify their union. “The twenty-first, you say?”

“Or whenever you wish, my lord, as long as the Autumn Ball has begun,” Adriana answered aloofly.

Colton was curious to know where the girl stood with the miller’s son. “And what of Roger Elston? Will you allow the apprentice to visit you until then?”

Adriana felt her cheeks growing hotter by the moment beneath his close perusal. How dare he question
her
after he had taken it upon himself to visit Felicity. “Prior to your return, my lord, I had given Mr.

Elston leave to attend the ball. For the sake of propriety, I must inform him of the need to halt his visits, but ‘twould seem somehow less rude if I were to tell him at the conclusion of the ball.”

Colton teased a curling strand that seemed wont to nestle against her cheek. Such a delicate little ear, he thought, and wondered how she’d react if ever he’d run his tongue into the tempting crevices and fragile ridges that formed the outer configuration. Devilment shone in the gray eyes as he laid a finger aside the lady’s chin and turned her face toward his. Probing those dark orbs, he questioned softly, “

Would you object overmuch, my dear, if I were to lend my attentions elsewhere that evening? It seems only fair . . . since you will be otherwise engaged.”

Adriana presented her profile to him again and aloofly elevated her brows in a quick, upward shrug. She didn’t need to be told the name of the woman he had in mind. “I shall not be otherwise engaged, my lord.

I merely gave Roger permission to attend the ball if he so desired, but please do whatever pleases you. I have no claim upon you.”

“Oh, but you do, Adriana.” Capturing the lustrous curl that teased her cheek, he rubbed it between his fingers and admired its natural tendency to curl softly about his digit. The silken strands were as fragrant as the lady’s body, and he could feel his senses reacting as surely as if he had quaffed a strong potion. “

We’re bound by a contract as surely as if we were already betrothed. That alone gives you entitlement to say yea or nay when it concerns my conduct with other women. And if we’re affianced, doesn’t that mean we’re as good as married?”

“That’s hardly the way of it in this case!” In some irritation, Adriana flung up a hand as if brushing a pesky insect away from her cheek and in so doing managing to break his grasp on the coiling strand. “

We’re
not
married, my lord, and even if we
were
truly betrothed, I’d give you permission to lend your attention to whomsoever you please . . . just as long as you’d agreed to leave me alone in the process. . . . Now stop that!” she snapped in fiery indignation and slapped the back of his hand as he reached out again to entrap the curl. “Leave my hair alone!”

“Adriana!” her mother gasped, taken aback by her daughter’s display of temper. “For shame, child!

Slapping his lordship, what will he think?”

“Tsk, tsk!”
Colton chided through a widening grin as he leaned toward the enticing beauty. “I think you have little regard for me, Adriana.”

“That may well be true, my lord,” she retorted hotly. “After all, you’re no more than a stranger to me. . . .

”

“Adriana!” Christina was shocked by her daughter’s bluntness.

“You’re presenting a definite challenge to me, Adriana,” Colton accused, amusement gleaming in his gray eyes. “I’ve never before known a woman who seems so loath to accept my attentions.” If anything, he had become inured to the fairer gender fawning over him. It was fairly refreshing to be on the opposite end of the spectrum from whence he normally found himself. To chase after a young, beautiful lady who seemed totally devoid of any interest in him? Most intriguing . . . and
challenging
!

Adriana’s tone was snide as she yielded to a strengthening urge to reproach him. “I’m sure you’ve left many a heartbroken maiden in your wake, my lord, but I shall try not to offer adulations that have no doubt become hackneyed to you through numerous repetitions.”

It came as something of a shock to Colton to realize that he was enjoying this feisty tête-à-tête perhaps as much as he had ever relished the final capitulation of a beautiful, well-versed enchantress. The women he had known had all been experienced in the game of love, and he had never once doubted his appeal.

That was certainly more than he could say for himself in this instance. Still, a little more kindling seemed in order to thoroughly test the true depth of the girl’s tenacity.