Again, she frowned. How had it become so late?
This was all Eldridge’s fault. If not for him and his lips and tongue…goodness it was suddenly warm…If not for him, she would have been dressed and already broken her fast, and likely been shopping, or something equally enjoyable. Instead, she had wandered around her chamber and wondered about him and pleasure.
This certainly would not do.
“Tell my brother that I will attend him shortly.”
The maid nodded and left her, closing the door, and with the efficiency that she had practiced since youth, Penelope pulled a day dress from the armoire, brushed then arranged her hair and set herself to rights for the day before she made her way to Noah’s library.
“You wanted to see me?” she asked.
He looked up from the papers on his desk and glared. “Close the door.”
Goodness why was he angry?
Penelope did as he asked and came to stand before his desk. She was used to Noah being irritated. It was an expression she and her sisters often saw after he became their guardian, but there was something different in his manner today, but she could not imagine what she had done to anger him.
“To think that I thought my days of worrying about a sister being ruined were behind me because until now, you and Patience have shown remarkable sense and I do not expect Phillipa to ever come to London or enjoy a Season.”
Oh dear. “Patience? What has she done?” Penelope asked as she sank into a chair before his desk. Patience was three years younger and Penelope had spent hardly any time with her this Season. First, she had simply been observing and bored and then she started spending all her time with the Simpson sisters. In fact, she had hardly seen Patience. Had she been more attentive, would her sister not be in trouble now?
“Not Patience,” Noah said. “You!”
“Me?” she asked in alarm. “I have done nothing that could risk my reputation.”
He snorted. “Is that so?”
“It most certainly is!” she insisted.
“Does that mean that you were not in the carriage owned by His Grace, the Duke of Eldridge last evening, alone?”
Oh dear!
“Does that mean that the five gentlemen who passed were only imagining when they saw the two of you in a tight embrace while, as it has been described to me, he was devouring you?” Noah yelled.
Penelope pulled back at the anger.
Oh, she would like to deny what they had clearly witnessed but could not. His Grace had been devouring her and she would have let him continue…she winced and bit her bottom lip.
“You know what this means.”
Her heart sank. “No…no…please Noah. Do not force me to do anything that we will both regret.”
“Such promises can only be made when a reputation is not at stake.”
“I will return to the country.” Though she loathed to do so, it was better than being forced into a miserable marriage.
Except, at least she would finally discover the pleasures that had only been hinted at.
On the other hand, Eldridge would likely resent her and thus, have no desire to kiss her again, let alone anything else. “I promise never to visit his home again. I promise not to assist his cousins. I promise not to leave the house. I promise…”
Noah held up his hand so Penelope stopped talking, though she was terribly afraid of what her future would be.
She should have pushed His Grace away the moment his lips touched hers. Except, it had been so wonderful that all caution had flown from her mind.
“I intend to call on Eldridge.”
“Please, Noah, no.” Tears filled her eyes as panic clenched her heart.
