Bright light flooded the area that only moments before had seemed to be the perfect location for a tryst. Chase found himself in something of a spotlight, with an audience ofladies of thetonpeering at him with accusing eyes.
Startled by the onslaught of gawkers, he glanced down and his blood ran cold.
Not Miranda. Not even close.
Chase was regrettably, ruinously, disastrously…spanking the wrong woman.
Chapter 5
Big Mistake
This was Chase, the man she’d dreamt about—the man she’d sighed over and cried over more times than she could count—handling her almost violently and in a most inappropriate manner
Notsimply touching her but…
Spanking her!
What on earth? Mortification. Shock. And more stinging!
She attempted to squirm off his lap, but he held her tight. And good Lord, whatever he kept in his pocket was poking up and into her…
Was he carrying a pistol?
Her realization that it most definitely wasn’t a pistol had her arching her back and twisting. “Chase! You bacon-brained—ompf! It’s me!”
The flicker of an approaching torch barely registered as she did her best to escape this humiliating attack. Before she could break free, however, the flicker brightened, causing her to stretch her neck up so that she could see where it was coming from.
In that precise instance, Chase’s hand stilled, and he stiffened beneath her.
“Lord Chaswick!”
“Lady Bethany!”
Voices chockfull of shock echoed around them.
Chase’s heart.
Literally.
Stopped.
He’d not been spanking Miranda. Not even close. He’d been spanking an altogether different bottom.
Lady Bethany’s.
Westerley’s sister!
Even as realization struck, he whipped her gown down to cover the creamy expanse of flesh he’d exposed—exposed and smacked. He took in one last glance just long enough to note the crimson print in the shape of a hand glowing a nice pink against her skin.
His handprint.
On Lady Bethany’s bum.
If he’d been a woman, he might have swooned. But since he was not, he did the gentlemanly thing and awkwardly assisted her to a sitting position. The maneuver wasn’t as easy as it ought to have been, seeing as his life was flashing before his eyes.
“I—” He needed to apologize but his voice seemed to have closed up. “I’m so--” Westerley would have no choice but to defend his sister’s honor.
“Send for her mother at once!” one of the women amongst the onlookers shouted.
