“I don’t suppose you have a suitable chaperone at your home, Lord Payton, and thus could allow me sanctuary there for a short while. I need a place to stay as funds from my family haven’t reached me yet. Lord Hargrove was providing such a place, but I no longer wish to remain under his protection.”
“I’m afraid I am a bachelor, Miss Talbot. If anyone else found out you were at Hargrove’s it would be bad enough, but if they thought you’d gone from his home to mine, it would be devastating to your reputation.”
Her cheeks heated. “Yes, I understand.”
She’d made her bed and now she had to lie in it.
Slowly, they went the rest of the way. Before leaving her on the doorstep, Lord Payton paused.
“I wonder if you would like to go to the racecourse with me tomorrow?”
She didn’t have to think twice. It was the first real invitation she’d had from a potential husband.
“Yes, I would.”
***
JAMES HADN’T EXACTLYpassed out, but he had certainly gone straight to sleep as soon as he’d stretched out on the Cyprian’s bed. Regardless of doing nothing more than slumbering for a few hours, when he awakened, he left money on her bedside table. She snored slightly, wearing nothing but the previous evening’s rouge, oblivious to his departure.
The streets were still quiet, except for the early-rising servants. Thus, no one who mattered saw his ignominious trek back home with his cravat in his pocket and his shirt half untucked, sticking out from under his waistcoat.
Feeling ashamed despite not having tupped the blowsabella, he couldn’t fathom why precisely. That was, until he stepped over his own threshold and realized the cause was the desirable, clever, lovely woman sleeping under his roof.
If he was going to do nothing with a woman, he would rather have been doing it with her. He couldn’t recall why he hadn’t taken her home.What had caused her to pull away from him?
Then he remembered the look on her sweet face and how Payton had come to her rescue.
Blast the man!Payton was no saint.Was he even then with Glynnis, either upstairs or at his own home on the other side of Brighton?
Taking the stairs two at a time, James couldn’t resist going to her bedroom door.
Pressing his ear to it, all was quiet. Still, he pushed it open a crack and peered inside. The curtains weren’t drawn and both of the sashes were open to catch the breeze. In the early morning light, he could see her head on the pillow, her lashes fanning her face, her hair unbraided.
His heart squeezed. Seeing her sleeping peacefully caught him with unexpected tenderness. He drew the door closed quietly. Today, when she awakened, he would apologize, and they would take the rest of the art to Prinny.
***
WHEN GLYNNIS HADN’Tappeared for breakfast, demonstrating the depth of her annoyance with him, he sent up a fully-laden breakfast tray as a sign of his remorse. While he noticed the maid carry it past the parlor to the kitchen a while later — quite empty — Glynnis hadn’t followed it downstairs to accept his apology.
Instead, promptly at one, there was a knock at his front door, and the butler admitted Payton, looking well-heeled in gray and white.
Mr. Sparks sent the maid up to inform Miss Talbot of his arrival, and James’s head felt ready to explode. Standing in the parlor doorway, the day’s mail in his hand, he stared grimly at Payton.
“What in the hell are you doing?” he demanded from his smiling friend.
“I’m collecting your beautiful houseguest to go to the horse-races after we take a ride around the town in my curricle. I’ve got lemonade and sandwiches.”
James new his expression was one of astonishment. Before he could say anything, or even wonder how Payton knew how much Glynnis enjoyed sandwiches, his friend gave a shake of his head.
“You made a muck of it last night, old chum. I know you like the fair-haired types, but compared to Miss Talbot, that piece of tail you staggered off with was as common as a barber’s chair.”
There was no time for James to retort since Glynnis appeared at the top of the stairs. Payton was right. She was breathtaking in a filmy, soft cotton gown of palest blue with a short, snug white over-bodice.
Smart white gloves and hat as well as the parasol he’d bought her completed her saucy outfit. He wanted to forbid her to go with Payton. He wanted to punch his friend in the nose for being so damned perfect and gentlemanly.
And for bringing sandwiches!
In the end, all James could do was gape as she descended the stairs, refusing to look at him. She smiled warmly at Payton, who nodded to him by way of farewell. Then he took her arm, and then they left.
