“This is Miss Sudbury, sir,” Furley continued. “Her sister is the widow, Lady Worthington.”
This news made him look at the female again with fresh eyes. That explained why he’d never seen her before. The old Earl of Worthington had gone to a country parish and grabbed himself a young wife about two years prior. Then he’d unluckily up and died a couple weeks after the nuptials. The new wife had been left to fend for herself in London society, undoubtedly spending most of the time in mourning.
That also clarified this particular young woman’s intrepid nature. Her sister had done well for herself.Why not her?
Taking her hand, he bowed over it. There was that delicate perfume. As if he were a randy youth, it made his loins tighten.
“My apologies for not recalling our meeting in my receiving line,” he intoned.
She fixed him with a sardonic gaze. “That’s quite all right, Lord Marshfield. With so many guests, how could you possibly remember any one person new to you? One would almost have to do something outrageous to stand out.”
She gave a pretty smile. He returned it with a grin.
“What a thing to say!” Lady Pomony exclaimed, looking nervously from Jasper to her son, as if Furley might be tainted by something Miss Sudbury said or did.
The man should be so lucky,Jasper thought,as to be intimately connected with this minx.
During the dinner, Jasper changed his mind half a dozen times as to pursuing his interest in Miss Sudbury, watching her sip his wine, eat his food, chat with the insipid Furley on one side of her and another young buck on the other. All the other ladies, including his own current flame, Miss Louisa Tufton, seemed to pale in comparison.
Besides, Louisa was more of a flicker than a flame — a baron’s daughter whom he was stringing along while deciding whether it was worth the headache to bed her before cleanly extricating himself from any long-lasting association.
Louisa was seated on his right, not at the other end of the table, as he wouldn’t bestow such an honor on any miss in case it gave her a swelled head and too much certainty in her future. Yet he’d hardly looked at Louisa after beginning his study of Miss Sudbury, noticing everything about her from her sparkling eyes and her sweet mouth to her luscious curves. He even saw she wore a sparkling ruby on her right hand.
He sighed.
“Is everything all right, my lord?” Louisa asked, always hanging on his every word.
He nodded and sent her a reassuring smile. At the same time, he made two decisions. One, it was time to set her free. She needed an honorable young man who wouldn’t ruin her for no reason other than a pleasant hour’s diversion — someone like Furley, perhaps.
And two, he would very much like to spend such a wicked hour ruining Miss Sudbury instead. She stirred him as no female had done that year, and it was already July!
To that end, after dinner, Jasper did his duty escorting Louisa Tufton to a chair in his salon, large enough for small dances but which was now set up for an intimate concert. She looked up expectantly, ready for him to sit beside her. But he merely bowed and walked away. He was a rascal, and he knew it.
Furley and Miss Sudbury entered the room, and they seemed to be chatting like old friends. That soured Jasper’s stomach slightly.
How could he get her away from the viscount’s son without giving offense?The answer was he couldn’t, so he would be forced to offend. After all, they were in his home, his title outranked Furley’s father, and Jasper was already considered a rogue of the first order. So be it.
“I say, Furley, did you enjoy eating from my lavish spread?”
The young man’s eyes darted a little nervously toward Miss Sudbury. He didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of her, and Jasper’s words sounded almost like a challenge.
“To be sure, wot-wot,” Furley said. “Exceptional course after course.”
“Good,” Jasper said. “How about you let me have the rest of the evening in the company of the charming Miss Sudbury?”
Furley froze. His mother standing close behind the couple audibly gasped. However, the tidbit in question simply gazed at Jasper with open interest.
“Why, my lord,” Furley began, “I’m not sure that’s—”
“Merely to show your gratitude,” Jasper pressed, “for your presence in my home. And you may go sit with Miss Tufton up front? Won’t that be a treat?”
“That is not done nicely, sir,” the Viscountess Pomony said, pushing between the couple, stepping to the forefront to defend her son.
“Isn’t it?” Jasper had a smile on his face which he couldn’t wipe away because the woman with her pursed lips and flaring nostrils was as comical as Punchinello. “But it’s an honor, isn’t it, to move to the front? Otherwise, you’ll be seated back here, hardly able to see past the other guests, barely able to hear the musicians.”
Lady Pomony and her son glanced at one another, trying to discern if this was an honor or not. While they worked it out, Jasper eyed Miss Sudbury to see if she were bothered by the interruption to her evening or having her escort booted away. By the saucy way she raised an eyebrow, he guessed she was not in the least troubled.
“Hurry up, Furley, the concert is about to start,” Jasper urged. “Let me introduce you to a splendid girl. A baron’s daughter. Her father’s wealthier than Midas, I hear.”
