Every Time We Kiss (5 page)

“You could do me the honor,” he said just loud enough for her to hear.

Her black eyebrows rose and her lips twitched as if she found the idea perfectly amusing. “I have just the person.”

She walked away before he could stop her. His preference would have been Jennette, not someone who would sit quaking in the chair next to him. Nonetheless, he couldn’t stop himself from watching her work her magic on some poor young girl whose face suddenly blanched as Jennette spoke with her. After a quick nod, Jennette led her toward him.

“Miss Amelia Sheldon, may I introduce Lord Blackburn,” Jennette said with a smile to them both.

Matthew stood and bowed over Miss Sheldon’s quivering hand. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sheldon.”

“Th—Thank you, my lord.”

“I would be truly honored if you joined me.” He had to keep from rolling his eyes back into his head. The girl couldn’t be more than eighteen and appeared scared even to let him bow over her hand. Perhaps he should set an age limit with Jennette. No women under twenty-one. He had no idea why she chose the youngest of the Sheldon women, unless Jennette assumed Amelia would be the easiest to manipulate.

Miss Sheldon sat in the seat next to him and pulled out her fan. Staring straight ahead, she made no attempt to draw him into conversation. Matthew’s attention skipped to Jennette. She’d taken a chair three rows in front of him but to the right. He could just make out her profile and delicate, long neck.

After a quick shake of his head to clear his errant thoughts, he tried to get Miss Sheldon to speak to him.

“Are you looking forward to the Season?” he asked gently.

Her eyes widened with either fear or surprise that he had the audacity to speak with her.

“Yes,” she said in such a soft voice that he had to strain to hear her. She glanced around the room as people turned to stare at them.

“Will this be your first Season?”

She shook her head. “No, my second.”

Well, at least he received a three-word answer instead of one. “Did you enjoy your last Season?”

“No.”

“No?” he queried.

“With four older sisters out, my mother would prefer I don’t draw too much attention to myself.”

And it appeared Amelia had done a fine job of that until tonight. By sitting next to him, she’d gained the attention of the entire room. Every few moments, someone looked back at her as if to make certain she was still alive. As people continued to watch, he noticed a gleam of pleasure enter her eyes.

“I see,” he finally said. Well, he didn’t really but he couldn’t say that to her. “Will you be performing tonight?”

“No, again too much attention with aging sisters,” she said.

Lady Sheldon stood and walked to the front of the room. She introduced her eldest daughter, Beatrice, to start the night off with a sonata. As Beatrice took her seat at the pianoforte, Matthew let his gaze settle on Jennette again.

He’d noticed her glancing back at them before the music started, but now her head faced the pianoforte. What was it about her? Was it the way a few hairs had escaped her pins only to fall against the soft skin of her neck? A neck so perfect his lips wanted to touch that sensitive place where her shoulder met her neck.

Dear God, he was insane!

He should not feel attracted to Jennette. This was madness. There had to be something he didn’t like about her.

Her shopping habits, he decided. The woman was known for her fashion sense and style. And he didn’t like it. She was most likely driving her brother into huge debt over clothing.

Although, the violet silk gown she wore tonight deserved applause. The color suited her perfectly. And then there was that curving neckline framed with a hint of fine lace, drawing attention to the gentle outline of her breasts.

Before he knew it, the sound of clapping alerted him to the fact that the eldest Miss Sheldon had completed her music for the evening. Lady Sheldon next introduced her two middle daughters, who would sing a selection of songs for them.

Matthew forced his concentration on the two young women. It was then that he realized they must be twins. He couldn’t tell the two apart. Both had light brown hair, dull hazel eyes, and freckles over the bridge of their noses. His gaze slid to the woman next to him. He now understood why Lady Sheldon insisted Amelia do nothing to call notice to herself. Amelia Sheldon was the only beautiful lady of the Sheldon family.

She was exactly what he’d told Jennette he was looking for in a woman: petite, blond, quite pretty, and from a fine family. With no sons to inherit, Lord Sheldon had been quite vocal about the small fortune he would give in dowry for the women.

So why didn’t he feel drawn to her? After her initial nervousness, he’d noticed that she relaxed when the music started. She’d even glanced over at him a few times with a shy smile.

He should court her. Put all his efforts into making her want to marry him. After all, he only had a few weeks before he either married or faced selling off his properties. Amelia Sheldon would do.

When the musicale finally finished with a violin solo by the fourth Miss Sheldon, he turned toward Amelia. “May I get you some lemonade?”

Her thin pink lips turned upward. “I would like that.”

The refreshments were in the dining room and this could be his opportunity to converse with her. “Would you accompany me?”

“Thank you, my lord.” She rose with the grace of a swan then hooked her arm with his.

He watched her as she looked around the room with a smug smile on her face. Blowing out a small breath, he understood exactly what she was doing.

“Are you enjoying the attention?” he whispered.

“Yes, I am,” she replied just as quietly. “I do hope you don’t mind. It is very rare that anyone notices me when my mother is constantly pushing her older daughters on any man she can.”

“I see.”

She glanced up at him with sympathy. “I know what you are about, my lord.”

“Oh?”

“You think to marry a wealthy woman. The gossips have spoken of nothing else for days.” She looked forward but continued in a hushed tone, “But it won’t be me, my lord. I have my sights set on another.”

“Indeed?”

“Yes.”

While he should have been disappointed, it was relief that washed over him. For some inexplicable reason, he had no desire to have her as his wife. So as they walked into the dining room, she using him to draw attention to her, and he using her to help gain some respectability, he smiled.

Jennette shoved her pins into her reticule, thrust some money inside, too, and then strode from her bedroom. She had to do something with this anger eating her from inside and there was only one thing that would soothe her frustration: shopping.

The image of Matthew’s face as he entered the dining room with a smiling Amelia Sheldon on his arm had kept Jennette up all night. She should be ecstatic that they both seemed so pleased with each other. Happy, even. The last thing she should be was overwhelmed with tension and frustration.

“Are you ready, miss?” Molly asked as Jennette entered the salon.

“Yes,” she answered back harshly.

Hopefully, her maid would understand that she had no desire for conversation today. Jennette climbed into the carriage, then sat back and waited for the usual calm that settled over her when she shopped. Picking at the fingertips of her gloves, she wondered just how long it would take peace to come to her.

This annoyance was illogical. He had done exactly what she’d wanted him to last night. Amelia’s reaction to Matthew, however, had surprised Jennette. She thought of Miss Sheldon as shy and retiring, not alluring with that secret smile of hers. And she was the epitome of what Matthew had said he desired in a woman.

Curiosity picked at Jennette’s inquiring mind. Did Matthew call on Amelia today? For all Jennette knew he could be at the Sheldons’ home right now having tea and biscuits, making polite conversation while he courted her.

Therefore, Jennette should be pleased with herself, not about to rip off the tips of her gloves. She did not love the man. She never had.

But there was something about him.

Something tempting that made her think wicked thoughts she shouldn’t about him. Lurid thoughts about what he looked like without his shirt. Was he as muscular as he appeared? Or had he taken to padding the shoulders of his jacket, as did so many men? She highly doubted he had.

Closing her eyes, she pictured his chestnut hair and thought about what it would feel like to her fingers. Soft and silky? Thick and coarse? And his lips…would they feel as wicked against hers as they had that morning? How could the memory of that ever-so-brief kiss have stayed with her all these years?

Thankfully, the carriage slowed to a stop on Bond Street before her mind went further down that disquieting road. She and her maid walked down to the draper’s with a footman following closely behind them. She put Matthew out of her mind and concentrated on what she’d come for today.

A little bell rang as she entered the shop. Bolts of cloth lined the small room.

“Lady Jennette, how wonderful to see you again,” Mrs. Greenwood announced.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Greenwood. Did you get the fabric I wanted?” She had no time for polite conversation with the amount of items she needed today.

“Of course, wait here.” Mrs. Greenwood went to the back of the store and returned carrying a bolt of forest green velvet.

Jennette removed her gloves and caressed the soft fabric. “This is beautiful.”

“It will make a lovely gown for you.”

“I will take it all.”

Mrs. Greenwood’s mouth dropped. “All of it, my lady?”

“Yes.” She would need all that fabric for what she had in mind.

While Mrs. Greenwood wrapped the cloth in paper to keep it clean, Jennette wandered the room looking at all the fabrics. She would miss Mrs. Greenwood’s shop. The woman could find any fabric Jennette ever wanted. Mrs. Greenwood handed the bolt to the footman, who hefted the cloth over his shoulder.

“Good day, Mrs. Greenwood,” Jennette called as they departed for the next shop.

After a trip to the cobbler’s and then a stop for gloves, hats, and stockings, Jennette had finished. With the footman and Molly weighed down, she carried four of the boxes herself. Just able to peer over the top of the teetering boxes, she walked down the street toward the carriage. Several people smiled or laughed as the group ambled forward.

Approaching the carriage, she noticed a man standing nearby. As she tried to get a better look, her hat blew in the wind, half-covering her eyes.

“Allow me,” the deep voice said.

One by one, the man lifted the boxes out of her arms until she could finally move the offending hat out of her eyes. And then she saw him.

“Busy day, Lady Jennette?” Matthew inquired with one brown eyebrow raised.

“Yes.”

He watched with disdain in his gray eyes as the footman placed all the boxes into the carriage. “I’d always heard the rumors of your shopping but thought they were largely overstated. I can see I was wrong.”

“I think you are vastly mistaken, my lord.”

He turned toward her and bowed. “I can see that I am not. Good day, Lady Jennette.” And then he was gone, striding down the street as if she’d done something wrong.

“Mat—” Jennette quickly covered her mouth realizing how that might sound if she were overheard using his Christian name. “Lord Blackburn!”

But he never turned back.
Bloody stupid man,
she thought. She’d been known to shop in excess for herself but what harm did that cause? Banning had been more than generous with her allowance and now with her grandmother’s inheritance, she need not worry about money. She could never spend it all if she tried.

Besides, she only used shopping as a method of calming herself at times. Of course, her bad habit had started almost exactly five years ago. After what she’d done to John and then hearing the rumors about Matthew, she’d needed something to do. Painting and shopping were her only options.

As she sat in the carriage, she realized just how much she missed painting. When she and her mother moved into Avis’s former house after Banning’s wedding, Jennette had never unpacked her canvases and paint pots. She’d told her mother there wasn’t enough light in any of the rooms. When in truth, there seemed no point as she would be leaving for Florence in three months. And now her departure was only weeks away. Once she arrived and settled in, she would take up painting again.

This restless energy was driving her mad. The image of Matthew’s scornful face as he helped her with her packages just wouldn’t go away. She needed to talk to someone.

After getting the attention of her driver, she said, “Please take me to Miss Reynard’s home.”

Sophie would understand Jennette’s need to have a friend listen without solving her problems, as Avis and Elizabeth would attempt.

Sophie’s lips twitched but she quickly gained control over her desire to smile. Things were progressing nicely so far. Jennette’s reaction to Blackburn was exactly as Sophie had hoped when she’d seen the vision of him.

“He wouldn’t even let me explain,” Jennette complained for the second time. “He just stormed off.”

“Well, the man is having financial difficulties, Jennette. Surely you can understand that he might be envious watching you spend money without a care.”

Jennette slammed her teacup down. “It most certainly wasn’t without a care.”

“I realize that but he only knows what he hears about you from others. And you do have a reputation for fashion.”

“Of course I do. But I am not much different from most of the other ladies of the
ton
. And at least I am now spending my personal money, not that of my father, or brother or husband.”

Sophie desperately wanted to laugh. Poor Jennette looked so put out by all this. “What are your plans for tonight?”

“Lady Cantwell is having a dinner party. I’ll deliver everything after Elizabeth’s literary salon tomorrow night.”

Lady Cantwell was due here for a tea reading in an hour. Sophie smiled. The tea leaf reading was bound to tell her that Lord Blackburn must be invited to dinner or something dreadful might happen.

“You are welcome to join us tomorrow night for the salon,” Jennette added with a smile. “You know we love your company.”

“Perhaps, but not all of Society agrees with that sentiment. I am quite the thing as long as I stay in my place and don’t venture into your world.”

“Regardless, come along,” Jennette pleaded. “I could use the support. I have a very strange feeling about introducing Susan Whitmore to him.”

“Why are you introducing him to Miss Whitmore if you believe he might be happy with Miss Sheldon?” Sophie watched Jennette’s reaction with a smile. Her friend’s face tightened, her hands fisted, and a deep frown brought her eyebrows downward.

“Because there is always the possibility that he and Miss Sheldon won’t suit. Or her father might decide not to let Blackburn court his daughter.”

“Very well, then. What has you so concerned about Miss Whitmore?” Sophie asked softly.

“She and her mother were too agreeable. They know all about him and were willing to put aside his reputation for an introduction.” Jennette frowned. “It makes no sense.”

“Hmm, I haven’t heard of any rumors regarding the girl. Perhaps after three Seasons, they feel Blackburn would be their best option before she’s on the shelf.”

“I just cannot believe that, Sophie.” Jennette reached for her teacup. “He is not received and therefore anyone he marries takes the chance that she will be scorned unless her reputation is sterling.”

“What do you think is the reason, then?”

Jennette looked away. “I fear she might be with child and trying to trap any man she can.”

“Very well, then. I will attend and I’ll try to perform a reading on her.”

Sophie picked up her teacup and sipped as she thought. Getting Jennette and Blackburn together might be more difficult than she’d imagined. She needed an accomplice in this mission. Someone who knew them both. And as much as he would hate her for asking again, there was only one perfect man for this mission.

“I can usually sense a pregnancy. May I bring a guest with me tomorrow?”

Jennette’s black eyebrows rose in question. “Of course. Anyone I might know?”

Sophie smiled. “Yes, but just a dear friend of mine.”

Matthew couldn’t help the frown from forming on his face as he picked up a glass of sherry from the refreshment table. Lady Cantwell’s invitation to dinner shocked and pleased him. He had no idea how Jennette managed to wrangle an invitation out of the oldest and most eccentric matron in the
ton
. But he supposed he would have to thank Jennette for it.

After seeing the truth of her shopping habits thrown in his face this morning, he had no desire even to speak with her. John had told him that her father and brother spoiled her. Her actions today only confirmed his assumption that she was frivolous and spoiled.

He watched her as she spoke with Lady Cantwell. Jennette’s blue eyes flashed with what looked like anger but she smiled at the older lady. Lady Cantwell glanced over at him and then back at Jennette. Finally, Jennette nodded.

Lady Cantwell moved away from Jennette and ambled toward him. The older woman pressed heavily on her cane as she walked. He had no idea how old she was, but he would guess somewhere in her mid-eighties.

“There you are, my boy,” she said as she reached his position. “I wanted to welcome you to my little party.”

Little party? There had to be at least fifty people here tonight. His own dining room wouldn’t seat half these people.

“Thank you, my lady,” he replied and then bowed over her ancient hand.

She tilted her head and sized him up. “Perhaps the gossips have been wrong about you.”

“Oh?”

“I see nothing that would make you unwelcome amongst us. In fact, I believe somewhere beneath that scoundrel mask is a gentleman.” Lady Cantwell made her declaration and moved on toward another guest, her cane tapping a slow rhythm as she left.

“She
is
a widow. Perhaps you can charm her in the next two weeks.”

Matthew slowly fisted his hands. “Good evening, Lady Jennette.”

“Lord Blackburn,” she replied with a nod. “However did you get invited here?”

He whipped around to face her directly. “What do you mean? You arranged this, not me.”

Her eyebrows rose. “No, I had nothing to do with your being here.”

“Then…how?”

She shrugged and smiled as if trying not to laugh. “Maybe Lady Cantwell is after another husband.”

“Do be quiet,” he whispered. He glanced at her burgundy-velvet gown and wondered if it was part of the collection she had bought today. “Fetching dress, by the way.”

“Thank you. I do hope no one notices that it is last year’s style.”

“I’m quite certain no one but you would notice such a thing.” Try as he did, he couldn’t keep the bitter tone out of his voice.

“Then you really do not understand women, my lord.”

“Of course I do.” He took a sip of his sherry before continuing, “God forbid you wear a gown more than once. Heavens, someone might remark about it!”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “You pompous, arrogant…man.”

“Spoiled, little b—”

“Well now,” Lady Selby came up to them both. “I do believe I need to speak with you, Jennette.”

Jennette’s eyes flashed at him. “Avis, I think we can talk later. You are interrupting my conversation with Lord Blackburn.”

Lady Selby smiled at both of them as she hooked her arm with Jennette. “Yes, I am, before you two cause a bigger scene than you already have.”

“Oh, please, Avis. How many times did I break you and Banning apart from your arguments?”

Lady Selby’s lips twitched in obvious humor. “Yes, you did, many times. And see how we ended.”

Lady Selby looked over at Matthew with a little smirk.
Oh dear God,
he thought. The woman probably thinks he and Jennette were arguing because of deep-seated desire for each other. Complete and utter nonsense, he thought. After seeing Jennette’s true colors today, he would squash down any ardent feeling he might have for her.

The only thing he needed Jennette to do was find him a bride. Any woman would be a better option than the frivolous, self-absorbed woman walking away from him.

Jennette stood next to the potted palm with her arms over her chest in what she knew was a very un-ladylike posture. And she did not care. She wasn’t spoiled.

“Lady Jennette, please at least try to look like you are enjoying my party.”