“You will not ride with me on a carriage nag. I will provide you with a suitable mount.”
“Very well. Do you still need to speak with my father?”
“No,” he said.
“That’s good because he is not here,” she confessed, “and if he came home now and found us, I believe this is precisely the type of behavior of which he would disapprove. Our being alone, I mean.”
Lord Mercer suddenly had a hunted look on his handsome face and took a quick step away from her.
“You should have told me at the outset. And then the appropriate thing to do would have been to call a maid to stand with us.”
“It is too late now,” she reminded him, eager to write down every nuance of their encounter as well as how fine he looked in his cream-colored, buckskin breeches that molded to his impressive thighs.
“In any case, my lord, I have a letter to write, and it is urgent.”
“Are you dismissing me?” he demanded.
“Not if you have something more to say.” She stared up at him. “Do you?”
He pursed his lips. “I shall pick you up for Breadalbane’s ball at eight o’ clock on Friday. Please be ready. I hate to be kept waiting, and make sure you have a suitable chaperone. I cannot afford to risk your father’s ire and, thus, his help.”
“Yes, my lord. That is the plan.” Aunt Lucinda would undoubtedly be ready by the stroke of six and seated in the parlor awaiting her chance to take the baron’s measure.
“Weshall see you then.”
PHILIP CLIMBED INTO his carriage feeling out of sorts. He knew Miss Bright meant her and her chaperone when she said “we,” but he’d heard tell the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth, referred to herself in the plural. It rubbed Philip roughly, especially when Miss Bright had all but sent him away over some blasted letter-writing nonsense.
That young woman needed to be taken down a peg. Bringing her into his world of well-bred ladies would suffice. Let her see the females with whom he usually mingled, not to mention with whom he shared his bed. Each and every one was glad of his company!
The next forty-eight hours crept by with Philip dodging anyone who seemed to be a representative from Lord Perrin or his brother Waltham. Sir William said he would send a strongly worded letterafterthe first assembly providing all went well.
Finally, Philip was at Miss Bright’s door again, hoping his money had been well spent and she would be presentable to thebon ton.
What if she’d chosen a garish pattern or a color unbecoming an innocent young lady or even an unsuitable style with a neckline that left her cat’s heads on display?
Not that he wouldn’t like to see such an exhibition, but he didn’t want to be responsible for keeping her respectable for six weeks if she was an outlandish flirt.
Ushered into the parlor, Philip was rendered not only speechless but thoughtless, too, with his head emptying of anything except the incomparable sight that greeted him.
Chapter Four
“Mercer,” Miss Bright’s father greeted him, and Philip had to tear his gaze from the young lady who was literally shimmering.
Still, he was at a loss for words. He could barely recall his own name. Luckily, he didn’t need to provide it. All he had to do was mumble something.
“Good evening.” And then he went back to staring at Miss Bright, whose lips were moving. He had to make himself listen and not merely gawk at her radiance.
“Good evening, my lord,” she said, curtseying perfectly.
He must have seen a gown like it before — a pale rose iridescent silk with silver flowers embroidered across the bodice and around the hem, but if he had, he’d never seen a more beautiful woman wearing it. Her light-brown hair was dressed up in that mysterious way only women knew how to do and which men could only destroy by pulling out the pins.
Her loose curls, with a silver ribbon artfully arranged throughout, made him itch to feel their silky softness.
“Yes,” he murmured, entirely bewitched. “Isn’t it?”
“I beg your pardon.” These words were from a stranger, so he ignored the biddy in dark gray satin until Sir William coughed and Miss Bright lowered her gaze.
“Good evening, Miss Bright,” Philip managed, sounding more like himself, and then he turned to the woman who must be her chaperone.
