10
AN INVITATION
The Marquess of Fordham rode along Rotten Row as if he owned it.He tipped his hat to acquaintances and smiled at every pretty lady who batted her lashes.
Temple wanted to tear his throat out.The man had tried to kill Diana, and after last night’s interlude in Diana’s room, she was Temple’s.His to hold and his to protect.His to bring to climax, too.
And no monster of a transcendent would harm her.
God, Diana had woken something strong in him, something with teeth, and he couldn’t cage it again.
“He looks almost sickly,” Sybil said, her arm linked loosely through his.“But he does not seem to care.If one ignores the shadows beneath his eyes, he’s horribly charming.If he’d take care of himself, he’d be horribly good looking.It’s a shame, really; a waste of natural beauty.”
“He’s a snake,” Temple growled.
“My, my.You are discomposed more than usual this morning.Do you know his name?”
Temple swallowed another growl, tamed his voice.“Yes.”
“And it is…?”That tone was the soft, sweet one she used to get her way.
Not in this she wouldn’t.“He is no one you need to know.”
“I think I should like to know him very well.”
Temple stopped her in the middle of the path.“Look at me, Sybil, and drop the grin.He’s not a man to be trifled with.A rogue of the worst sort.Forget him.”
She twisted her mouth to the side.“Why do you get to be charmed by him, but I must put him out of mind?”
“Do not test me on this, Sybil.Trust me.Sometimes the most dangerous birds have the loveliest plumage.”
She sighed and dragged him back down the path.“You’re a zoologist now, I suppose, as well as a baron.Why are we here again?Solely tonotlook at charming scoundrels?”
To keep a close eye on charming scoundrels.And also because Diana had told him to come here.“Hyde Park is important to this crowd.Like the ball, attending is how you show you’re wanted, part of their world.”
“Part of their world?You’ve not said a single word to a single person, Temple.As ever, the only world you belong to is your own.”
“Miss Chester said it was not necessary to speak.It is enough to be seen.”
“Miss Chester, hm?You’ve mentioned her twelve times since we set out.Is she a potential Baroness Knightly?”
Time to confess.“Yes.”
“Temple!”A gasp in her voice, a high note of giddiness.“Have you told Mother yet?Have you forged the rings?”
“No.And no.But…” He steered her toward the street, toward the carriage they’d abandoned earlier.“If you can convince Miss Chester to come with us, I was hoping she might meet Mother tonight.”
Sybil slapped his arms.“You sly man!How long have you been courting her?”
“A fortnight.I’ve known her a bit longer.”
“And of course she is already falling for you.You work fast, brother.”
“She’s not falling.”Not entirely at least.She’d certainly liked kissing him, enjoyed his attentions beneath her skirts, her body wet and eager.“She’s being rather stubborn.I am hopeful, though, that meeting our family might work in my favor.”He helped Sybil up into the carriage and took his own seat across from her.
“A miscalculation, that.You’re more likely to scare her away.We’re a… boisterous lot.”
But boisterous might be what Diana needed.“We’re going to collect her now,” he said as the carriage rolled forward.The wheels glided, their steel cores rebuffing any debris that could possibly cause a bumpy ride.He’d gotten them just right, the heat and the shape of them doing exactly as he’d hoped.If only his courtship of Diana could be shaped so easily.“But I must tell you a little about her before you meet her.”
