A Taste of Temptation (6 page)

The ladies in the doorway started talking among themselves. Olivia held her breath. Would her aunt believe such an unlikely story?

“Can’t you be any more convincing than that?” she whispered.

Lord Dugdale turned back to Olivia. “What else would you like me to say?”

Animosity emanated from him. His honey-colored eyes suddenly appeared to be dark amber. She felt chilled beneath their cold stare.

“This is your fault,” Olivia whispered, wishing she’d never stepped a foot inside this house.

He gave her a questioning look as he folded his arms across his chest. “Mine? Did you not demand I search your person?”

“No. I mean, yes, but I never expected you to take me up on it. I never expected you to kiss me and touch me in such an intimate fashion. You are supposed to be a gentleman.”

“When a woman offers herself to me, I am only a man, Miss Banning.”

Olivia gasped in outrage and quickly glanced at the chattering ladies in the doorway to see if they were listening to her and the earl. They were too busy talking about what they saw among themselves at the moment.

She glared at the earl and whispered back to him, “I did no such thing.”

In a low voice that continued to be more of a growl, the earl muttered, “You planned this, didn’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” she whispered, a shiver of apprehension racing down her back.

She saw something in his face that she hadn’t seen before—mistrust. It struck her like a sharp knife to the chest. “I am not a cunning woman. I planned nothing but a quick peek inside your room. You are the one who came in and made it much more than that.”

“The innocent act is over, Miss Banning. I now know what you were after.”

“What?”

“My name.”

She couldn’t believe what he was implying. How dare he think she wanted to trick him into marriage? The very idea was so foreign to her that it was almost laughable.

How could what started out as a simple search of the house to help her aunt turn into such a disaster?

“No. I wouldn’t do that,” she said with all the earnest-ness she was feeling. “You can’t believe me capable of such deception.”

“Yes, Miss Banning, I do. You planned this little rendezvous to trick me into marriage.”

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Four

8

W
as it anger
or surprise that stirred inside him at being manipulated?

All eyes in the room were on him. That had never bothered him before now. But this was different. He didn’t like the feeling of being backed into a corner, especially by a mischievous miss.

Andrew moved a step away from the lovely but devious young lady. He should have known immediately what the golden-haired beauty with the shining blue eyes was up to when he found her in his room, but he’d let his attraction to her rule the head in his trousers rather than the one housing his good common sense.

He should have escorted her out immediately, but she’d tempted him to linger.

Not only was his great aunt looking at him with accusing eyes, but there was also a rather tall, regal lady who he assumed was Miss Banning’s aunt looking straight at him with a gaze that looked like it could pierce steel. And if that wasn’t enough to turn an already disturbing evening into a hellish nightmare, the Lord Mayor’s robust, loud-speaking wife, Dorothy Farebrother, was eyeing him as if he were a dirty lecher ready to pounce on an innocent girl.

That might not have been too far from the truth only minutes ago. But not anymore. His hot arousal had vanished as quickly as warm breath hitting the air on a freez-ing day.

Andrew was too much of a gentleman to tell the three older ladies that the beautiful miss standing beside him was most likely a deranged young woman who first told him she was looking for a ghost and later admitted she was merely curious as to the contents of his bedchamber. And he would like to inform them all that this entire situation had been staged by her in hopes of tricking him into marriage.

But instead of the truth, he stated, “There has been a great misunderstanding here. This is not a rendezvous or any kind of affair of the heart. She and I don’t even know each other.”

“That’s not what it looked like to me,” the Lord Mayor’s wife said.

Ignoring her interrupting remark, Andrew continued calmly, “I came up here to get a handkerchief and she was peering in the looking glass. I believe there might have been something in her eye.”

Andrew had no compunction about lying to cover the reputation of a young lady no matter how designing she might be. It was especially easy when the lie would benefit him as well.

“He’s right, Auntie,” Miss Banning said as she immediately started blinking rapidly and rubbing one of her eyes.

“He did not invite me in here, nor had I any idea he would come in here. We’ve never spoken, nor have we met until just now.”

“And I don’t believe we’ve met, my lord,” her aunt said, walking closer to him while keeping a stern expression on her face.

“That’s right, Agatha,” his petite Aunt Claude said.

“You didn’t meet my grandnephew earlier. The receiving line was halted when the vase fell from the landing. Andrew, may I present one of my oldest and dearest friends, Miss Agatha Loudermilk. I believe you have already met her grandniece, Miss Olivia Banning.”
Oh, yes, indeed he had met her. He had touched her. He
had tasted her, and despite her cunning, he wanted to taste
her again.

It was a little late for formal introductions, but Andrew allowed his aunt to have her way, so he suffered through them, including the bows and curtseys.

“What I would like to know is how you missed the retiring room?” Mrs. Farebrother asked Miss Banning as soon as the pleasantries were finished. “There would have been any number of ladies in there who could have seen to your eye.”

Miss Loudermilk glared at the Lord Mayor’s wife and said, “She is my niece, Dorothy, and I will be the one to question her about this, thank you very much, and if you don’t mind, stay quiet.”

Dorothy sniffed, raised her thick eyebrows in disdain, and said, “Of course not. I just don’t understand why she didn’t leave these rooms the second she realized she was in the master of the house’s bedchamber?”

“I knew as soon as I entered it was not the retiring room,” Miss Banning said, “but I had no way of knowing this was Lord Dugdale’s private chamber.”

“With these grand furnishings?” the brash Mrs. Farebrother asked, stretching her arms wide.

Andrew noticed how Miss Banning defended herself as she unobtrusively moved away from him and closer to her aunt.

This was beginning to feel like a drunken, madcap mas-querade ball, except he could see all the faces. Andrew knew he had to take control of this situation before things got worse. He’d had enough of these women sniping at each other.

“Ladies, there has been no harm done here. Let’s forget this happened and go back downstairs for something to eat and drink.”

“Not so quick, my lord. I am not willing to concede that there has been no harm to my niece. That has yet to be determined. However, I will be happy to entertain you and your solicitor tomorrow afternoon to hear what you have to say for yourself concerning this turn of events.”

“Auntie, what are you talking about? We’ve explained what happened. It’s completely unnecessary for you to summon the earl for such an insignificant matter.”

“This is not an inconsequential matter, my dear girl.

The fact is there are witnesses to you being alone with this man in his bedchamber.”

Andrew had to give the young lady credit for knowing how to play the part of the innocent victim with conviction.

Before she’d stepped away from him her eyes seemed to be pleading with him to do something, but he’d felt little sor-row for her, considering she brought this unpleasantness on herself.

He’d fully expected her to demand marriage on the spot. He could only thank his lucky stars that hadn’t happened—yet.

Since the introductions, he’d forced himself not to look at Miss Banning for fear her aunt might think he was trying to send her some kind of secret message, but suddenly across the space between them their gazes met.

Andrew was instantly reminded of how good she felt in his arms, how wonderful the softness of her mouth felt beneath his lips, how sweet and innocent she’d tasted on his tongue.

“In my day, if a man disgraced a young lady he was made to marry her as soon as the proper bans could be posted,” the Lord Mayor’s wife blurted out.

“I don’t want to marry him,” Miss Banning said firmly, her eyes darting from him, to the Lord Mayor’s wife, to her aunt. “He did not disgrace me. You don’t know what you are talking about.”

“His hands were on your face. I saw it,” Mrs. Farebrother insisted.

“Dorothy, please be quiet and let me handle this.”

“By all means, Agatha, you should be the one to find out what was going on in here. But I’m certain they were touching.”

“Might I ask who was touching whom?” Gasps echoed like a lonesome whisper around the suddenly silent room.

Andrew’s gaze flew to the doorway just in time to see the buxom Lady Lynette Knightington stepping from behind his short Aunt Claudette to get a good look at what was going on inside.

Bloody hell!

“You may ask, but you might get snapped at for doing so,” Mrs. Farebrother said in an annoyed tone.

“I heard voices and came to investigate. What’s going on in here?” Lady Lynette asked.

“We don’t know yet,” Mrs. Farebrother answered before anyone else found their breath. “The three of us were on our way to the retiring room when Claudette noticed Lord Dugdale’s bedchamber’s door ajar. We walked over to close it and found the two of them in here in what possibly could have been an embrace.”

Heaven help him. What next? This was worse than any poorly acted comedy he’d seen at the Lyceum. He had to get all of the ladies out of his rooms before anyone else showed up.

“Mrs. Farebrother is speaking out of turn,” Miss Banning remarked, stepping forward as color fled up the column of her slender, beautiful neck and settled in the softness of her cheeks.

“Yes, she is, and that’s enough from you, Dorothy.” His Aunt Claude spoke up for the first time in quite a while.

“Indeed,” Miss Loudermilk reprimanded. “How dare you continue to insert yourself into this very private matter when you’ve been asked repeatedly to stay quiet?”

“I’d hardly call it private when the three of us witnessed their embrace. Just because we have been friends for more than thirty years, Agatha, you have no cause to speak to me in such a tone.”

“I do when you continue to offer an opinion that is neither wanted, nor is it needed. I insist on handling this delicate concern without your help.”

“I know what I saw,” Mrs. Farebrother insisted and folded her arms across her chest defiantly.

“But nobody is asking you about it,” Miss Banning said in a composed tone.

“That’s not true,” the Lord Mayor’s wife complained.

“Lady Lynette asked.”

Andrew was ready to throw them all out.

“Ladies,” Andrew said tightly as he walked past them and to the door. “I really must insist that you go back downstairs and rejoin the party. As Miss Loudermilk suggested, anything that needs attention can be dealt with by the two families tomorrow.”

“So true, Andrew,” his aunt said and joined him by the door. “It’s time we all returned to the party.”

“I trust that all knowledge of this incident will stay in this room,” Andrew said, though he knew it was too much to ask. “I wouldn’t like to see Miss Banning’s reputation tarnished over something that was of no consequence whatsoever.”

“Of course you can trust me to never breathe a word of this to anyone,” Mrs. Farebrother said.

She might have been the first to declare the vow, but Andrew saw exhilaration in her eyes that told him she couldn’t wait to get downstairs and tell others what she had seen. He wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that the stout, loud-speaking woman was one of the ladies who constantly fed information to the writers of the scandal sheets.

Even Lady Lynette, who was known to be one of the kindest of the spinsters in the
ton,
had a compassionate smile on her face, but an unusually bright gleam of excitement in her eyes.

It was uncommon for a duke’s daughter to remain unwed past her twenty-first birthday, but as far as he knew, Lady Lynette, who was nearing, if not past, thirty, had never been seriously courted. She’d been born with a dark red birthmark on the side of one cheek. It wasn’t hideous, but most people would consider it unsightly the first time they saw her. She was also taller than most men, which unfortunately added another strike against her marriage-able prospects.

To her credit, she had lovely green eyes and a full womanly figure, and she was always cheerful. She’d never let her quite noticeable birthmark keep her in hiding. She attended most of the parties each Season and occasionally she was asked to dance.

Andrew had no doubt that when this incident got out, it would be the Lord Mayor’s wife who tattled to the gossips, and not the duke’s daughter. He was certain the story would be all over the party within the hour, and highly embellished to boot.

“Please, ladies,” he said again. “I must insist you go belowstairs.”

Miss Loudermilk lifted her chin. “I’ll expect you tomorrow afternoon before tea.” She then took hold of her niece’s arm just above the elbow and almost herded her out of the room with Dorothy, Lady Lynette, and his aunt following them.

His last glance at Miss Banning caused his stomach to tighten. She was a good actress. She had a convincingly distraught expression on her face, but he was sure the entire evening had gone according to her plan.