He chuckled.
And she certainly had not taken his mild protest seriously. While they were all sipping their tea in a downstairs parlor, whose French windows opened onto a terrace, she invited the marquess—no one else—to stroll with her in the garden. And she took his arm as soon as they were outside, before they were beyond the sight of the people gathered in the parlor.
''I have missed you, Jack,'' she said. ''I should never have broken our liaison. Why did that happen, anyway? Some flash of temper on my part, doubtless. You probably smiled at a dancing girl, and I was hurling glasses at your head. Was that it?"
"I can't remember," he said."But certainly not that, Serena.Would I smile at a dancer when I had you to gaze at? No, more likely you smiled at a uniformed Guardsman and I was throwing glasses at your head."
She sighed. "We were foolish," she said. "We did fight a great deal, did we not?"
"I believe our relationship was rather, ah, volatile," he said."But interesting, Serena.Undoubtedly interesting."
''I shall have Frederick ride over to Rotherham Hall with me tomorrow," she said."Or perhaps just a groom.There are trees there, Jack, and greenhouses, and the castle."
He raised one eyebrow. "And cuckold the worthy Frederick?" he said."Tut, tut, Serena."
''Ach.''She made an airy gesture with one well-manicured hand. "We have an understanding. There will be no trouble, darling."
"Except," he said, his eyes laughing down at her, "that I live in dreadful fear of the Countess of Rotherham and her disapproval, my dear. And that of all my other relatives."
"Oh," she said, turning and crooning up at him, "youwere ever a tease, darling.You afraid?I shall see you tomorrow."
He remembered as she brushed against him and set soft lips to his for the merest fraction of a second her generously curved body and the expertise with which she could use it to drive a man out of his mind with desire.
A pleasant enough memory.He had not known many women more seductive than Serena Mack.
He was amused half an hour later to find that although Diana Ingram did not openly object to his riding beside her again, she was stiff and prim and disapproving, as she had been during the first week of their acquaintance. She was indeed an enticing bundle of delight. There was going to be something decidedly dull about being back in London without the prospect of having her to tease throughout the day.
"You ate too many cream cakes, Diana?" he asked. "You look as if you have a pain."
She pursed her lips but would not look at him. "I did not eat even one," she said.
"Oh, come now," he said. "Not even the smallest one on the plate, Diana? Would you have me believe that you are able to resist temptation to all your appetites? I'll wager you ate one."
"How would you know?" she asked testily, looking across at him with flashing eyes. "You were not
there to see."
He grinned. "Ah, yes," he said, lowering his voice, "I was, er, walking in the garden with the delectable Lady Huntingdon, slaking one of my appetites, Diana, and feeling no need at all of a cream cake."
"You need not boast so openly of your conquests," she said, transferring her gaze forward again.
"They are nothing to be so very proud of, my lord."
"Ah, but I am proud," he said. "I have achieved a great accomplishment this morning, Diana."
"Making a fool out of her husband?" she said, looking angrily at him again. Her cheeks were a quite becoming shade of pink.
"No," he said, narrowing his eyes and looking quite deliberately at her lips."Making you jealous, my dear."
"What?" She drew in a deep breath and held it, and Lord Kenwood's eyes slipped to her breasts."Me jealous?Of you, my lord?"She laughed scornfully and quite theatrically. "What utter nonsense! Lady Huntingdon may have you and be welcome to you. I would say you deserve each other."
He laughed at her until her nostrils flared and she turned away from him. He suspected, by the rising color in her cheeks, that she had just realized how very easily she had fallen into his trap. Dear Diana!
"Diana and I are going to ride by the castle," he said, raising his voice so that the whole group would hear. "It is not far off our course, and she has been promising for days to show me the moat by daylight."
He had judged her right. She said nothing.
"The four of us will ride on to the Salmons', then," Lord Wendell said. "Be careful on those stone stairs, Diana, if you do any climbing."
