The ride wouldn’t have been so bad, the seats were certainly wide enough, but Anthony had deliberately pulled her close, draping an arm firmly about her shoulders, and she couldn’t do anything about that with James sitting across from them, quietly observing them with his misplaced humor. But then that was why Anthony had done it. Because he knew very well she wouldn’t make a scene in front of his brother.
But it had been hell, tortured bliss, feeling his thigh burning against hers, his hips, his side pressed so close. And his cursed hand wouldn’t be still for a minute, the fingers constantly caressing her bare arm between the short sleeve of her gown and her elbow-length glove. And he knew exactly what it did to her. Even though she was as stiff as a board, she couldn’t stop the quickened breath, the hammering of her heart, or the telltale gooseflesh that appeared again and again under his fingers, bringing one shiver afteranother to tell him how effective was hisinnocenttouch.
The ride had seemed to take forever, when it was no more than a few blocks around the corner from Piccadilly to Grosvenor Square, where Edward Malory lived with his wife and five children. And even though they had arrived and Roslynn could breathe normally again by putting a distance between herself and Anthony, she still knew it would be a while yet before she could escape him entirely. With the party in their honor, they would be forced by etiquette to remain together for introductions, and now she saw how long that was going to take, with so many guests to meet. But the very moment she had met the last one…
All the Malorys were present. She saw Regina and Nicholas standing with several of Edward’s offspring; Jason and his son Derek by the refreshment table, along with Jeremy, who had come over earlier to help his aunt Charlotte with the last-minute decorations, which by the looks of them had entailed raiding Charlotte’s garden of every single flower in bloom. She noticed Frances and George, and several other people she had met since arriving in London.
And then she realized the hush falling over the room. They had themselves been noticed, and she groaned inwardly, feeling Anthony’s arm slip around her waist to present a very loving picture. Was there to be no end to the liberties he was going to take tonight? It seemed not, for he didn’t release her when Edward and Charlotte appeared at their side with a small group of people in tow, and the introductions began. The only interruption was when they had to start off the dancing together as the guests of honor,and that was another excuse for Anthony to torment her with his closeness.
She soon methisfriends, the sorriest bunch of lecherous rakes imaginable. There wasn’t one who didn’t ogle her shamelessly, flirt with her, or banter with wicked insinuations. They were amusing. They were outrageous. And they managed to get her away from Anthony’s side with one dance after another, until when she finally begged for a moment’s respite, Anthony was no longer in sight. At last, Roslynn felt she could relax and enjoy herself.
“See here, Malory, either you’re going to play cards or you’re not,” the Honorable John Willhurst said in exasperation as Anthony rose from the table for the third time in less than an hour.
The two other players tensed as Anthony placed both hands on the table and leaned toward Willhurst. “I’m going to stretch my legs, John. But if you’ve a problem with that, you know what you can do.”
“No—not at all,” John Willhurst got out. He was a neighbor of Jason’s and so knew from past experience the explosive tempers of the Malory brothers, having grown up with them. Whathadhe been thinking of? “Could use a new drink myself.”
Willhurst hurried away from the table himself while Anthony shot the other players a look to see if there would be any more objections. There weren’t.
Calmly, as if he hadn’t just been on the brink of challenging an old family friend, Anthony picked up his drink and left the card room. He stopped at the place he had stopped at previously, the entrance to the ballroom, his eyes scanning the crowd until he found what was repeatedly drawing him back here.
Damnation take her, he couldn’t even play a simplegame of cards with Roslynn in the same vicinity. Just knowing she was near, but where he couldn’t keep his eye on her, destroyed his concentration, so much so that he had already lost nearly a thousand pounds. It was no good. He couldn’t stay near her without touching her, but he couldn’t stay away from her either.
Across the room, Conrad Sharp nudged James in the ribs. “He’s back again.”
James glanced in the direction Connie had indicated and chuckled to see Anthony scowling at his wife as she whirled by on the dance floor. “A face worth a thousand words, that. I would say my dear brother is not at all happy.”
“You could remedy that by having a little talk with the lady and enlightening her to the truth.”
“I suppose I could.”
“But you’re not going to?”
“And make it easy for Tony? Come now, Connie. It’s so much more fun watching him muddle through this on his own. He hasn’t the temperament for rejection. He’s bound to dig the hole deeper before he finally crawls out.”
“If he can crawl out.”
“Where’s your faith, man? Malorys always win in the end.” And here James grinned. “Besides, she’s already weakening, if you haven’t noticed. Can’t keep her eyes from searching the room for him either. If ever there was a woman smitten, it’s Lady Roslynn.”
“She just doesn’t know it, I suppose?”
“Quite so.”
“And what are you two grinning about?” Regina asked as she and Nicholas joined them.
James gave her a brief hug. “The foibles of man, sweet. We can be such asses sometimes.”
“Speak for yourself, old man,” Nicholas retorted.
“I was excluding myself, actually,” James replied, a quirk to his lips as his eyes moved over his nephew by marriage. “But then you’re a prime example, Montieth.”
“Famous.” Regina sighed in exasperation, glaring at both before she ignored them to hook her arm through Conrad’s. “Connie, would you rescue me with a dance? I’m tired of getting splattered with the blood from their slashes.”
“Love to, squirt.” Connie grinned.
James snorted as he watched them twirl away. “She puts it rather plain, don’t she?”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Nicholas grumbled, more to himself. “Try sleeping on the sofa when you have a wife annoyed with you.”
