The young Miss had not picked up on the post-coital clues. In hindsight, he probably should not have kissed her when it was clear the young innocent miss did not know what carnal pleasure was. The moment his lips had touched hers was when he’d known that she'd never been kissed either.
A naïf in the best sense. I didn’t think women like those still existed.
It was why he had stopped the intimate embrace— well mostly because of her innocence, but secondly because the men were starting to wake— and in contrast to her purity, he’d suddenly felt... foul.
“I swear you might have forgotten the ordinary social graces,” Andrew sighed. “What is wrong with making a simple friendship?”
William’s hand tightened around the glass, but his face was still impassive. His mind flew back to the simple cottage the young woman had slipped inside and knew that even such a simple act would never be simple enough. What if word got out that theDuke of Arlington, the Beast of Brookhaven Castle, wasfriendswith a peasant woman?
He could easily explain this to the two—but it felt like too much work, so he simply said, “No.”
It was enough that William was already under scrutiny as his title of Duke was simply that, a title, and until his uncle released his inheritance and lands, he had little power to work with.
He expected the two to contest his decision and push him to either reveal who the lady was or where she lived so they could intervene themselves, but Colin and Anthony only looked at each other.
“He is tempted, yes?”
“Very much.”
“How long will it take him to cave under the temptation?” Colin pressed.
“Ooh, a wager,” Andrew said giddily. “I give him two weeks, a hundred pounds.”
“Two hundred says three,” Colin replied.
Annoyed, William had the urge to swat at them as he would do a buzzing insect. “You will both fail.”
“No, I don’t think we will,” Andrew sat back in his seat, one arm slung around the back of the padded leather armchair. “Do you know why?”
“Please, enlighten me,” William narrowed his eyes.
“You’ve already gotten a taste of something you have never had before,” Andrew smirked. “You’ll go back to devour it, and nothing, not even your most laudable assertion of not following the temptation of innocent misses, will keep you from it, old boy.”
Instead of answering, William took a long, measured drink and then decisively turned the conversation to a safer topic, not because he didn’t have the mindset to debate with them on how wrong they were… but because secretly, he feared they might be right.
What would he do if he found that young woman again? Leave her be… or tempt her like the snake did with Eve?
Did it matter? Why was he even concerned for her? He had other problems to work through, first and foremost. He looked down at the paper on the table and the next name on the list, the third debt he needed to pay,Viscount Tollerman.
With a frustrated growl, he tossed back the rest of his brandy and got back to work.
CHAPTER 2
THREE WEEKS LATER
Arm in arm with Lady Eleanor Pembroke, one of her two dearest friends, Bridget stepped carefully down the garden path while gazing at the scattering of tiny white gazebos with enhanced unease.
These get-togethers were her nemesis and while they reminded her that she was, in fact, a member of the ton, the daughter of a viscount, she never felt like one.
Well, not since Father passed away, brother went to war, and I came to live with Godmother Lydia.
At three-and-twenty, and on the teetering cups of spinsterhood, wearing white felt like a fallacy. Until she was certifiably unmarriageable, there was nothing else to wear, well, not unless she wanted to draw the disproving glares from matrons and unkind rumors.
She longed for a day when she was married and would not be obligated to wear debutante pastels and whites but did not see a suitor materializing from the air anytime soon.
Wish upon a star.
Having lived a modest life for the past two years, the opulence of the other ladies with silk dresses at the height of fashion and a fortune in jewelry at their throats and ears contrasted with her simplicity and made her feel self-conscious, but she refused to allow herself to fall into the woes ofonce-upon-a-time.
