Without another word, she strode out of his bedroom, out of his mansion, and out of his life for all he knew, leaving him more alone than perhaps he’d ever been in his life.
A series of questions ran rapid-fire through his mind. What had he done? With Lady Olivia . . .Olivia? Had he just ruined his chance of finding the thief? Of finding a wife? Of securing Mina’s future?
He shot off the bed, his feet beating a resolute tattoo toward his dressing room. Another bout in Gentleman Jackson’s ring was in his very near future.
Within a thing of beauty could, indeed, lie the seeds of one’s undoing. In fact, that was where they would most likely lie.
~ ~ ~
Olivia sat perched on the carriage seat, her eyes squeezed shut, her thoughts running faster than she could catch them.
That won’t work for us.
For a moment, she hadn’t been able to breathe.Us. Two separate entities, combined, one.
She’d gone lightheaded. From lack of breath, surely, not from that word, the warm, seductive invitation of it. That word didn’t have to change anything. This tryst was a purely physical occurrence. She was the same person. She still had the same goals. What had been lurking between her and Lord St. Alban—Jake—was out in the open now. They could be free.
But, oh, this feeling knotting her insides didn’t feel like freedom. It wanted more. It wanted to become bound to a budding addiction. She could easily envision a future of enslaved dependence on that man, on what his body could provide hers. The thought caused the tender flesh of her sex to swell and ready itself for him again.
She bit back a groan borne of frustration and want. This must end here. She must envision a different future, the one she’d spent years cultivating, one of self-reliance. Never again would she open herself to the uncertainty and unpredictability of dependence on another for her happiness. The inevitable pain of disappointment and abandonment ran too deep. It wasn’t worth the pleasure.
Her racing pulse spoke a different truth. She would ignore it.
Eyes clenched tight, she fought for clarity. Her mind evoked the image of her white marble column. As she attempted to relax into it, she couldn’t. Something was amiss with her column. Usually, it stood tall and proud, unassailable. Today, it skewed ever so subtly to one side. Not enough to topple over, but . . .off. Try as she might, she couldn’t make it stand straight.
The carriage slowed to a full stop, and her eyes flew open. She’d arrived at Lucy’s school. Before she could compose herself, Lucy bounced into the carriage, her usual ebullient self.
“Hello, Mum.” Lucy leaned across the carriage floor for her customary kiss on the cheek. “Whoa, you smell like . . . like . . . like what?”
“Cloves?”
“Oh, yes, that’s it. How is that?”
“I’ve been out and about.”
Lucy accepted this and began recounting her day. Just as Olivia relaxed into the excitable rhythms of her daughter’s girlish voice, Lucy said, “Mum?”
“Yes?”
“You know who else smells like that?”
Olivia braced herself, her heartbeat doubling its rate, and shook her head.
“Miss Scace.”
Her breath released.
“You must bathe immediately when we arrive home.Immediately.”
Olivia looked through the carriage window at passing London streets. It had begun to drizzle. “I intend to, Lulu. I’ll wash off every last trace.”
Even as she spoke the words, she knew they were a lie, that a trace of him would always remain.
Had she truly rid her system of Lord St. Alban . . .Jake? Or had she set herself up for a lifetime of knowing just what she would be missing?
Chapter 16
Next day
