Well, she was having another adventure, an amusing and fairly safe one this time. And then she sat bolt upright. Uncle Tony! He knew about this! Suddenly it wasn’t funny anymore. If he found out who her abductor was, he would come and break the door down. There would be no end of gossip, and then she would be ruined. Anthony Malory wouldn’t let it end easily, either. He would challenge the poor fellow and kill him, mistake or not.
Reggie got up and began to walk, barefoot, around the room. Oh, dear, this was becoming a dreadful predicament. She continued pacing, distracting herself by studying the room. It was done in muted greens and browns, and there were a few modern Chippendale pieces. Her cape was draped over an armchair, her slippers on the floor in front of it, her mask tossed on the padded seat. A single window looked out over a garden, dark and full of shadows. She repaired her hair using a mirror framed in the leaves and flowers of the Rocaille style.
She wondered if Tyndale really would tie her up and gag her if she started shouting for help. Better not to find out. She wondered, too, what was taking Nick so long to discover his mistake. The minutes continued to tick by on the Meissen clock on the mantel.
Nicholas watched her waltz by in the arms of some dandy wearing bright green satin that clashed horribly with Selena’s plum-colored evening gown. With those colors, they were hardly a pair one could miss, even on that crowded dance floor.
“Bloody hell,” Nicholas growled.
Percy, standing beside him, was more articulate. “Oh, good God! You’ve really gone and done it, haven’t you? I knew you shouldn’t have started this, and now you’ve really gone and done it.”
“Shut up, Percy.”
“Well, thatisher, isn’t it? Then for God’s sake who’s the bird you’ve got caged at home? You’ve stolen Malory’s mistress, isn’t that it? He’ll kill you, Nick,” Percy informed him. “He’ll bloody well kill you is what he’ll do.”
Nicholas was ready to kill his excitable friend. “You do go on and on, don’t you? The only thing that will come of this is my getting a tongue lashing from a furious woman I’ve never laid eyes on before. Lord Malory isn’t going to call me out over a stupid mistake like this. What harm has been done, after all?”
“The lady’s reputation, Nick,” Percy began. “If this gets out—”
“How will it get out? Use your head, old boy. If she is Malory’s mistress, what reputation has she to lose? What Iwouldlike to know, is what was she doing with Lady Eddington’s carriage?” He sighed, very much the misunderstood, put-upon male. “I suppose I’d better run along home and let her out—whoever she is.”
“Need help?” Percy grinned. “I’m rather curious to know who she is actually.”
“She isn’t likely to be in a receiving mood,” Nicholas pointed out. “I’ll be lucky if I only get a vase thrown at my head.”
“Well, you can manage that on your own, thank you. Tell me all about it tomorrow, all right.”
“I thought you’d feel that way,” Nicholas said wryly.
Nicholas rode home as fast as he could. He was quite sober by that point and regretting the entire evening deeply. He prayed the mystery lady had a sense of humor.
Tyndale let him in and took his cloak, hat, and gloves. “Any problems?” Nicholas asked, knowing there would be a long list. But there wasn’t.
“Not one, my lord.”
“No noise?”
“None.”
Nicholas took a long, deep breath. She was probably saving all her fury for him.
“Have the carriage brought round, Tyndale,” he ordered before starting up the stairs.
The third floor was as quiet as a tomb. The servants had no reason to be in that part of the house after dark. Lucy, the pretty maid he’d been eyeing lately, wouldn’t venture upstairs unless sent for, and his valet, Harris, would be sleeping on the second floor, expecting his master much later. At least no one in the house other than Tyndale knew about the lady’s presence. That was a break.
Nicholas stood outside Reggie’s door for a brief moment, then unlocked the door and opened it quickly. He was braced to receive a bash on the head, but the jolt he got at first sight of her was just as stunning.
She stood framed by the window, gazing at him in a startlingly direct way. There was no shyness in her look and no fear either on that exquisite, delicate, heart-shaped face. The eyes were disturbing, with an exotic slant. Such dark blue eyes in that fair face, so blue and clear, like colored crystal. The lips were soft and full and the nose was straight and slender. A thick fringe of sooty lashes framed those extraordinary eyes, while black brows arched gently above them. Her hair was raven black, too, in tight little ringlets surrounding her face, giving her fair skin a glow like polished ivory.
She was breathtaking. The beauty didn’t stop with her face, either. She was petite, yes, but there was nothing childlike about her form. Firm young breasts pressed against the thin muslin of her rose gown. It was not cut as low as some gowns were and stopped short of being provocative, yet somehow it was as tantalizing as anything he’d seen in London. He wanted to pull the rose muslin down a few inches and watch those lovely breasts spring free. He received another jolt then, feeling his manhood rise against his will. Lord, he hadn’t lost control like that since his youth!
Desperate to bring everything under control, he cast about for something—anything—to say. “Hello.”
His tone implied “What have we here?” and Reggie grinned despite herself. He was gorgeous, simply gorgeous. It wasn’t just his face, though that was striking. There was a sexual magnetism about him that was quite unnerving. He was even better looking than Uncle Anthony, whom she’d always considered the most handsome, compelling man in the world.
The comparison was reassuring. He reminded her of Uncle Tony, not only in height and appearance, but in the way his eyes assessed her. His mouth quirked upward in approval. How often she had seen her uncle look at women just that way. Well, he was a rake, she told herself. What other kind of man would abduct his mistress from the doorstep of another man’s house? Had he been jealous, thinking his mistress and Uncle Anthony were…oh, this was becoming a most amusing situation.
“Hello, yourself,” Reggie said impishly. “I was beginning to wonder when you would realize your mistake. You certainly took enough time about it.”
