Courtesan's Kiss (2 page)

“You’re not going to London?”

The girl had a brain, Mia could tell that, but she did seem to take everything quite literally. “No, I am going to Derbyshire to see the Duke and Duchess of Meryon.” She picked a small bit of the lemon bar and nibbled, enjoying
the sweet tart flavor she loved as she decided how best to explain the visit. “You see, the duke’s wife is my guardian. Indeed, she has been my guardian since long before she married the duke last year. The duke’s brother is escorting me as he has just finished business in the Cotswolds near where I was visiting.”

“A house party. You are going to a house party at the Duke of Meryon’s estate?”

“Yes, yes. It will be grand,” Mia lied. She picked at the rest of the lemon bar on her plate and Miss Cole did the same.

Mia would not call a gathering of family a house party. Especially one where she would have to explain why her engagement had ended. Please, she prayed, not in front of Lord David. But no matter how private the discussion, the facts would dampen everyone’s good spirits.
Mia is back and we have no idea what to do with her
.

Well, she now had an answer for that. If she did not, never had, fit in anywhere, she would create her own life and live it on her own terms.

No tears, she commanded herself as she felt them threaten.
If you cry people will think William broke your heart
.

The door burst open, again, and an even more impatient Lord David leaned into the room. “Miss Castellano, the horses grow restless.”

“No, my lord, I am not yet ready.”

“Yes, you are, Miss Castellano. Now.”

He aggravated her so much that she did not even deign to answer the boor.

Lord David came fully into the room and she could feel his anger. She stood up to face him.

“No, Lord David. We can leave after I have finished this conversation.”

“Miss Castellano, this conversation
is
finished.” Lord David grabbed her cloak from the hook on the wall, swirled it around her, and then swooped her up in his arms and headed for the door.

Oh my
. The sensation of power overwhelmed her even in the arms of a man she detested. A thrill flashed through her and she wanted to struggle against him with the secret hope that he would know her rebuff was really a longing for more. How romantic it would be to be mastered by someone who could read her mind and not take no for an answer when she did not mean it, someone she actually found attractive. Not a man who had witnessed the most hideous moment of her life.

Not Lord David Pennistan.

Mia looked over his shoulder at the shocked Miss Cole and made herself smile. She might have lost the battle but the war had just begun.

The rose crushed between them did little to mask Lord David’s scent. Not cologne. Only a gentleman would use something that refined. His coat smelled of tobacco as well as leather and pine as though he spent a lot of time out-of-doors, in a saddle.

Thinking of herself as an actress on an informal stage, she buried her face in Lord David’s shoulder and trusted that other travelers would think her overcome with fatigue or grief.

Mia decided that, under the right circumstances—that is, with a different man—this could have led to a very interesting adventure.

The way he dumped her into the carriage and slammed the door made it clear that Lord David Pennistan did not share her excellent imagination.

D
AVID SLAMMED THE DOOR
and threw the rose she had been wearing to the ground. Crushed between them, its sweet smell had blended with her perfume. The scent lingered, tangy, steeped in spices that reminded him of incense and flowers like carnations and jasmine. A heady mix that aroused him almost as much as her beauty.

Damnation, I have work to do
. Work that did not include accompanying a stubborn woman to Pennford.

The cotton mill
, he reminded himself.
Forget her and think about the mill
. He was so close to securing what he needed, so close to success.

Tonight he would complete his presentation for Thomas Sebold. The man’s financial support was as essential as the plans he was going to share for the mill.

David set a pace to match that of the much-too-slowly-moving coach. The letter that made this trip mandatory lay
burnt to a cinder in Gabriel’s fireplace in Sussex. David did not need it in front of him to remember the wording.

Since you are coming north, the duchess would appreciate it if you would escort her ward. Since she and Viscount Bendasbrook have ended their engagement, we both feel it would be wise for Miss Castellano to retire from society, for as long as a year, and spend the time at Pennford with us
.

David wondered how much the duke and duchess knew about the scandal. The ton lived for details behind the obviously unhappy end of the engagement between Miss Castellano and Lord William Bendasbrook. No doubt someone would have sent the details north to Derbyshire.

Surely Lord Arthur had known she was engaged to the viscount when they kissed. What David had wondered for weeks now was whether Mia Castellano had wanted Lord William to find them in the embrace. Surely she had not expected him to be with William.

God only knew what either Arthur or the girl had been thinking, if they had thought at all. Reasoned thought did not appear to be one of Miss Castellano’s strong points.

Escorting her was not a test of his control, merely a chore he could not refuse. Meryon’s last line made that clear.

If you write to the trustees, I will have the estate’s half of the funds for the support of your first manufacturing effort ready when you arrive
.

The duke knew David would balk without the promise
of that reward. His brother could have saved ink and paper if he had just written “Bring her and you can have the money.”

David reminded himself of the greater goal. The cotton mill would take him one step closer to financial independence on his own terms. He ignored the irony in the fact it would take his brother’s money to do it. He refused to even consider the truth that he had failed at a bid for independence once before. Only in his nightmares did he consider the consequences of failing again.

Mia Castellano should be the least of his headaches. Would it be better to ignore her antics or force her to accept that he was the one in charge?

“S
IGNORINA
!” M
IA’S MAID
grabbed the strap as the coach lurched forward, even before Mia settled on her seat. Losing her balance, Mia fell to the floor and Janina screamed, which did not help at all. Mia should have been the one screaming and Janina should have been helping her up.

Mia stayed on the floor. It smelled of dirt and brandy, but that did not bother her as much as the fact that she would have bruises tonight.

Once the coach settled into a more comfortable rhythm, Mia found her way from the floor onto the seat. Her skirt had a tear at the seam, easy enough to fix if Janina had brought her sewing kit. Her hair felt all in a tangle and she reached into her reticule for the traveling set that Elena had given her last Christmas. Mia pulled the combs
out of her hair. They had taken so long to fix properly. She began to ruthlessly work the knots out.

Without a word, Janina sat beside her and took the comb in hand. “More gently, Mia. Your hair deserves the same kindness you give the rest of your body.”

Mia smiled. Sometimes Janina’s English made for very interesting mental pictures. The feel of Nina gently combing her hair helped Mia relax. Someday her lover would do this for her, and as relaxing as it might feel, she knew it would be as erotic as a kiss.

Mia drew a deep breath and closed her eyes. Not that she could rest. When Janina held a comb she felt it an invitation to speak.

“Oh, Mia, I told Romero this trip would be horrible, but now I fear it is ill-fated.”

“Because Lord David is in as bad a mood as I am or because you had to leave Sussex and Romero?”

“Well, both,” Janina admitted honestly. “But once we are settled Romero can come to me and he will find work wherever we live.”

“He told you this?”

“Yes, he promised. Since he will travel in his work as a master gardener, he can make his home anywhere that I am, because you know, Mia, that if he works with a great landscape architect there will be much demand for his presence at each site to install what the architect devises.”

While Janina chattered on, Mia wondered if she should tell Janina of the risks of having a beau or even a husband who traveled so much of the time. A vow of fidelity
came easily when you rested in your lover’s arms but proved much harder when miles separated you.

Mia had seen that firsthand the one time she had traveled with her father and the other musicians. She had spent her days with the courtesans who flocked around them. The women were like a gathering of peacocks after the time Mia had spent with the mother hens of her home, her aunt and her governess.

The lively group of cyprians had laughed and played with her as though she were a treasure they had discovered. Her “unseemly fascination,” as her aunt called it, had begun then. She watched for courtesans in the theater and when they were out shopping, and knew by the way they smiled which one her father was the patron of.

Courtesans were only one way a man could be tempted. Janina herself was proof of that.

Ah, well, Mia knew better than to give advice to someone as lovesick as Nina. Besides, she and Romero were nowhere near married yet, despite the fact that by the time Janina had refreshed her hair the girl had already named their first child.

They sat back and Mia did her best to find a spot that would induce sleep or at least a light doze. She tried to let herself be soothed by the sway of the carriage and the warmth of the noontime sun. But the road had so many ruts and bumps that the carriage could not settle into a rhythm.

And how could she forget that as soon as Janina did not have a distraction the travel sickness would start? Her maid’s dislike of travel counted as another reason why this
trip could prove less than pleasant. “Janina, you must let me know if you are going to be unwell.”

“Oh, I will be fine.” The young woman waved her hand as though carriage travel was not, for her, a preview of hell.

“I wonder why you do not travel well. Papa and I never had a problem with it, except on very rough seas. And you have as much of his blood as I do.”

“Oh, please, Mia, do not remind me of that crossing when I finally came to England. It is so much better that you were not with me.”

“And I am so happy you finally agreed to brave the crossing. I missed you so much last year.”

“And I you. Do you know how I sneeze around cats?”

“Yes.”

“I think that and travel sickness come from my mother.” She rummaged through her bag.

“More than that. Your beautiful smile and delicate hands.” Mia looked at Janina’s hands. “What is that? Are you sure you should eat it?”

“Oh yes.” She took a bite and then another of the sweet that she took from the box in her bag. “Romero gave me these. His mother made them and he says they are made especially to soothe a nervous traveler, but they taste like ordinary lemon bars. Sprinkled with some nut crumbs, I think.” She closed the lid on the box, then used a cloth and some water from the bottle strapped to the carriage wall to clean her fingers.

“They smell like lemon with lots and lots of honey.”

“Oh, would you like one?” Janina said as an afterthought.

“No, no, thank you. I ate quite enough lemon bars at the posting house.”

Janina pressed the box to her heart before putting it back into the traveling bag next to her.

“Would you like to lie down and rest?”

“You are too kind, Mia. But no, thank you, if we talk I will not even think about vomiting. So tell me if Lord William will follow you. It would be so romantic.”

“No, he will not. I am the one who broke the engagement.”

“Oh, that is what must be said when an engagement ends.”

“Yes, but his lack of trust insulted me so that I insisted that we part.”

“Mia, we both know that he thought your flirtation with the Duke of Hale’s son too intimate. And, cara, we both know it was.”

“In light of what happened I suppose you are right.” Mia closed her eyes. “I will never forget how William looked when he found us together. Honestly, Nina, we were only kissing. Nothing more.”

“He could not believe you would kiss someone else when you were engaged to him. It was not unreasonable for him to be hurt.”

“But all I wanted was to make him a little jealous. Who knows what would have happened if Lord David had not been with William.”

“You think it was Lord David who convinced him to cast you off.”

“No, no, not at all. But if you could have seen the way Lord David looked at Lord Arthur—as though he was on the verge of a challenge, and then suddenly remembered that I was not
his
fiancée.”

He had ignored her but it was clear that her stock could not be much lower in his eyes. Being around him made her feel the worst slut in the world, when all she had wanted that evening was proof William loved her with a passion that would last forever.