Double Deception (32 page)

But this was not enough for her, not nearly enough. She was anxious to move on to the next step and was wondering how to nudge this man into behaving more like her dream lover when he spoke again.

"It never occurred to me that a lady of quality might entertain such ... such ... well, such
explicit
thoughts as any gentleman."

A sound alarmingly like a giggle escaped her, partly stifled by the folds of his cravat. "Well, let me assure you that they do," she managed to say at last. "And perhaps I should remind you that I am no longer fresh out of the schoolroom."

He chuckled, and Athena wondered what outrageous remark he would make next. She snuggled her nose into his cravat and waited impatiently.

"Thank you for setting me straight on that point, my dear," he said dryly. 'Then I trust—since you have admitted to the explicit nature of your dreams—that you can tell me exactly what happens next."

Athena went rigid with exasperation. She lifted her face from the pillow of his chest and stared up at him belligerently. He was doing it again, she thought with growing alarm. He was toying with her. The wily devil was going to escape giving her the kiss she had been yearning for long before setting foot inside the library. He was talking himself out of it just as he had the other evening on the terrace.

But this time she would not be fobbed off so easily, she vowed under her breath. This time the unprincipled rogue would learn that no one, not even an earl, might trifle with Athena Standish. She wanted to be kissed by the man who had invaded her dreams with a passion and enthusiasm that had whetted her appetite for the real thing. She would not be denied a second time.

Athena's anger slowly dissipated. No, she thought, she would not be outsmarted by this slippery rogue. She smiled up at him, the slow sensuous smile she had employed so often in her dreams to bring this man to heel. Her heart pounding at her own temerity, Athena took up the challenge.

"Of course, my dear Sylvester," she cooed. "Although I had not thought you in need of instruction in the art of flirtation."

"Is this a mere flirtation, then?"

"Not in my dreams it is not," Athena retorted daringly.

"Nor in mine." His voice was suddenly husky, his breathing unsteady, and his mouth so close that Athena was sorely tempted to reach up to claim it. She was so close to him that she clearly saw the corner of his lips twitch teasingly when he spoke.

"What do I do in your dream, my love?"

This was so clearly another challenge, that Athena responded without a second thought for the propriety of her action.

"You kiss me," she breathed,
you slow-top,
she added under her breath, her eyes holding his as if daring him to continue this teasing game they were playing.

Before she had time to consider how much longer she could resist without claiming the kiss she craved, Athena felt his hands on her waist and felt herself crushed intimately against a lean, hard body that fulfilled all the erotic expectations of her dreams. It also confirmed her suspicions that the clever rogue had known all along just what the next moves in this sensuous game entailed. There was little doubt that he was as ready for it as she was, and after that first little gasp of surprise, Athena pressed herself against him, more than eager to explore the feel of him.

Through a haze of desire, Athena realized that she was trembling, and that her hand had climbed his waistcoat again, and slipped round his neck in the most familiar manner imaginable. The dark curls tickling her arm were no dream this time; neither was the mouth that hovered over hers, brushing her lips so lightly that Athena moaned in anguish.

"Like this, my sweet?" he murmured against her eager lips.

"Yes, oh, yes!" Athena stood on tiptoe to reach up to him. But still he hesitated, a deep chuckle rumbling deep in his chest.

And then Athena heard a warning bell ringing frantically somewhere in the distance. She had lived through this scene before, she saw with a flash of clarity. All this had happened on the terrace, except that Perry had interrupted them and the kiss had remained unconsummated.

Not tonight, she prayed. Oh Lord, let it not happen again tonight.

Her prayer apparently fell on deaf ears for at that precise moment the door of the library burst open, and a flood of candlelight from the hall illuminated them starkly before they sprang apart.

"Father!" Perry's voice cut across the silence as he peered into the dim room. "What are you doing here in the dark?"

"My dear Perry," a deep baritone rang out in the hall, which Athena suddenly realized was more than usually crowded, "it appears to me, old chap, as though we are all very much
de trop.
Unless, of course, your father has any news of a particular nature to impart to us."

"Lud, Martin," Lady Ridgeway exclaimed impatiently, pushing her husband aside and sweeping across the room to grasp Athena's hands, "have you no tact at all? Now tell us, my dear," she lowered her voice so that it was no longer audible above the babble from the group now spilling into the room, "has he come up to scratch?"

Feeling her breath catch in her throat, Athena stared at her in astonishment.

She was saved from having to dredge up an answer to her ladyship's leading question when Sir Henry's ample figure appeared beside Lady Ridgeway, a broad grin on his face.

"Well, my dear?" His jovial bellow rang out loudly above the voice of Lady Sarah instructing the butler to light the candles in the library. "Are we to wish you happy, my girl?"

Athena gaped at him, an uneasy sensation taking up residence in the pit of her stomach.

"Whatever are you talking about, Father?" she managed to get out through stiff lips. She dared not glance at the earl, who had stepped over to the sideboard to pour himself a glass of brandy.

"My love," Aunt Mary chided, sweeping her into a tearful embrace, "now is not the time for coyness. Has his lordship ..." Her voice tapered off as Athena gazed at her with a frozen expression on her face. "Oh, dear," she muttered under her voice, patting her niece ineffectually on the shoulder. "Oh, dear me."

"But..." her father spluttered, looking blankly from his daughter to the earl. "The two of you have been shut up in here for over half an hour, Athena," he said, a distinct note of reproach in his voice. "Has not St. Aubyn told you, lass?"

"Sylvester," Lady Sarah barked imperiously, "do you mean to stand there and tell me that—"

"I have no intention of telling you anything, Aunt, standing or otherwise," the earl said tersely, gulping his brandy down as though he were in dire need of its restorative powers.

Athena thought he looked unusually put out, and she did not blame him. She was put out herself, and not a little alarmed at the implications of being discovered alone in the semidarkness of the library with a gentleman, even if that gentleman was her host.

"Father," Peregrine said, his eyes dancing with unholy amusement, "then it is true what Sir Henry has told us that you and Athena—"

"Enough!" Lord St. Aubyn exclaimed harshly. "Where are your manners, lad, that you come bursting into a room without knocking?"

"Oh, but I did knock, Father," Perry countered with what Athena could only call an impudent grin. "Knocked twice, to tell the truth, as God is my witness. But since you did not answer—"

"Did it never enter your addle-plated skull that I might not have wished to be disturbed?" the earl said icily, his face pale with annoyance. "And that will do, thank you, Jackson," he snapped at the butler, who was systematically lighting every candle he could find in the room. Athena suspected that the venerable Jackson was all agog with curiosity and wished nothing less than to be able to convey fresh gossip to the kitchens.

"I will not have you taking your bad temper out on the servants, Sylvester," Lady Sarah declared in her strident voice, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen after Jackson's unhurried departure. "Come, Mary," she added, turning towards the door. "I believe we have time to finish that chapter you were reading to me when Sir Henry made his astonishing announcement. I can see now that it was all a hum." She cast a withering glance in the baronet's direction before sweeping regally out of the room. Athena could hear her ladyship loudly holding forth on the deplorable habit of gentlemen not knowing their own minds, and their inability to act upon it even when they did, as she marched down the hall and mounted the stairs.

It seemed to Athena that they stood for an unbearable length of time listening to Lady Sarah's aggrieved voice fading slowly into the distance as she climbed the stairs to the drawing room above.

When silence had once again settled upon the tense little group in the library, Athena heard Lord Ridgeway chuckle under his breath.

"It appears that we have been somewhat premature, Sir Henry," he murmured, amusement at this glaring understatement causing his rich voice to quiver with laughter. "I suggest we withdraw to the billiard room and amuse ourselves with a game or two while St. Aubyn here gathers his wits together sufficiently to put an end to this Canterbury farce."

"But..." Sir Henry protested weakly, his troubled blue eyes glancing from his daughter to the earl. "No doubt this bumble-broth will sort itself out, would you not agree, Ridgeway?" He looked hopefully at Lord Ridgeway, who merely shrugged with his usual nonchalance.

"One way or another, things usually do fall into place," his lordship replied laconically, giving Athena a decidedly lewd wink before sauntering out of the room, leaving a hesitant Sir Henry gazing after him dubiously.

Athena threw her father a despairing glance as he paused in the doorway. "Please, Father," she murmured, making a pleading gesture with her hand towards her departing parent.

"You have nothing to worry about, love," Sir Henry said gruffly. "Lord St. Aubyn will do the right thing by you, I can assure you of that." This faintly threatening pronouncement was accompanied by a speaking glare at the earl, who stood rock-still, staring at his empty glass as though it held the answer to his present dilemma.

"Yes, Athena, you have
my
word on that," Perry said earnestly, striding forward to grasp both her hands in his and carry them to his lips. Suddenly, his face broke into a grin and he chuckled. "Father may be a slow-top," he murmured in a stage whisper, "but he will do the honorable thing, I swear it, my dear." His grin broadened. "I cannot tell you how happy I am that things turned out this way, Athena." Quite unexpectedly, he gave her a crushing hug that lifted her feet from the floor, then strode out of the room, whistling as though he had not a care in the world.

Peregrine's words sent a chill through Athena's small frame, and she glanced desperately at Lady Ridgeway, who had been watching the gentlemen neatly ease themselves out of the picture. Her friend returned a dazzling conspiratorial smile.

"Come along, Sir Henry," the countess said firmly, linking her arm through the hesitant baronet's and propelling him towards the door. "I think I shall join you gentlemen in the billiard room. I am accounted a pretty fair player, you know."

Realizing that the last of her supporters were about to abandon her, Athena made as if to follow. "Jane," she cried in a strangled voice, "I think I will join you if I may."

Lady Ridgeway turned a startled face, her eyes darting to Lord St. Aubyn, who was staring at Athena for the first time since they had been interrupted.

"I think you should stay here, my dear," Lady Ridgeway said gently. "Would you not agree, my lord?"

Athena heard a distinct challenge in her friend's voice, and she suddenly felt that she was being maneuvered into a situation from which there was no possible escape. It had become abundantly clear to her as she listened in horrified silence to the unfolding conversation that everyone who had witnessed her compromising presence in the library alone with the earl expected St. Aubyn to repair her reputation as only a gentleman could. To her befuddled senses it even appeared as though her father had deliberately engineered her presence here to force the earl into making her an offer. And now Lady Ridgeway was suggesting the same impossible solution to her embarrassing situation.

"I agree entirely, my lady," the earl said stiffly, with a palpable lack of enthusiasm, Athena thought miserably.

"Well, I do
not"
she sniffed defiantly, determined not to become a party to this subterfuge. "I will join my aunt in the drawing room if it is all the same with you, my lord."

She did not dare look at him, but his reaction was immediate and unmistakable. He strode over to the door and shut it forcefully in Lady Ridgeway's startled face before Athena could escape.

"You will stay here, my dear," he said conversationally, as though they were discussing the weather. "There are certain things that need to be settled between us."

He was standing with his back to the door, barring her escape, and Athena felt it would be undignified to protest a decision that had obviously been made for her. She stepped back and glanced up at him. His eyes were dark blue again in the light of the candles, and Athena turned away from him with a sigh, wondering sadly where her dream lover had gone.

"I cannot imagine what you mean, my lord," she said stiffly.

"I thought we had agreed on Sylvester, my dear."

Athena laughed shortly. "You must have been dreaming, my lord," she replied with a touch of asperity.

"You cannot know how sorry 1 am that you were subjected to that mortifying scene, Athena," he began. "It was not my intention to—"

"I can well believe it, my lord," Athena interrupted quickly. She could indeed believe that the sly rogue had not intended to be caught embracing her in the dark library. "But there is no need to apologize, my lord. I see that, as usual, I am as much to blame for this awkward situation as you are. I should not have dallied here alone with you. It was imprudent of me, I confess it."

Ah, she thought sadly, but what a delightful dalliance it had been while it lasted. Not that it had lasted nearly long enough to satisfy her craving for this elusive man. However much she might wish he had truly compromised her beyond any question, Athena's honesty obliged her to admit that he had done no such thing. This had not been a scene from her dreams, after all, where there had been no question that she had been thoroughly and delightfully compromised. Possessed and pleasured by the most enchanting rogue imaginable.