“I do.” They had far more freedom, not to mention opportunities for improper mischief, should both parties be agreeable. Unfortunately, Lord Hewitt had retreated since the last incident in the conservatory. Pleasant enough, yet he was managing to keep her at a distance.
Martine was still warning her. “Thus, he might take advantage of you in any number of places.”
Brilliance sighed, thinking of a few where she would be happy to oblige.
“He might ruin you,” Martine declared, halting Brilliance’s happy wool-gathering, “and then where would you be?”
“Perhaps his wife,” Brilliance said.
Martine stopped in her tracks. “We have but little time left. Even if we had another week, I would say that isn’t nearlyenough time to get to know one another properly for considering a lifetime together. And if he is the type to get you alone and steal your virtue, then he isnotthe type who would offer his hand. I fear you would be at Fiddlestick’s end.”
“Do you really think so?” Brilliance hadn’t considered that possibility, not after he’d sent her from his room that first night. “He seems all square, as they say, although I am not sure whysquaremeansupright. Nonetheless, a true gentleman.” She paused, thinking of his captivating eyes and his devilish smile before adding, “A dash-fire, rum duke, to be sure, but also a gentleman.”
“Don’t you think that is what he wishes you to believe?”
This made Brilliance laugh. “No, I don’t think he cares what I believe. I think he simply wants to be left alone in the conservatory to play music.”
“Maybe he remains in there brooding, as a trap to lure you in.” Even Martine cracked a smile after uttering such a nonsensical statement.
And then, as if conjured by their words, Lord Hewitt came walking toward them.
“Well met,” Brilliance spoke first as soon as he was within a civilized distance.
“Good day, ladies,” he greeted them both. “You didn’t fancy riding, I take it.”
“No, my lord. Nor you, it seems?”
“I rode,” he replied, “but only as far as the village upon a brief errand, and now I intend to —”
Brilliance didn’t get to hear his lordship’s intent for Colonel Twitchard appeared from behind a tree as if he’d been waiting there all along.
“Just the man I wanted to see,” he said. “Good day, ladies. Come along, Hewitt. This way.”
Lord Hewitt appeared surprised by the encounter and by being summoned. However, he gave a shallow bow to Brilliance and Martine before heading off with their host.
Nearly that same scenario played out more than once over the next few days, when either Lady Twitchard or her husband would arrive a moment after Brilliance and Lord Hewitt entered into close proximity. Obviously, his cousin and her husband were attempting to keep them at a distance.
And it was beginning to annoy Brilliance. After all, their time under the same roof was limited and diminishing with each passing day. Taking matters into her own hands, she decided to come upon him when their hosts least expected it.
Thus, after supper, when they had all bid one another good night, she kept a watchful eye on Lord Hewitt. Wherever he went, she had decided to follow, even into his bedchamber.
Naturally, Martine was by her side as they headed toward the stairs with the other ladies in front and behind them. With relief, she saw Lord Hewitt slip into the conservatory instead of going up to bed. She could do nothing in that instant except appear to go to her room.
“Good night,” she said to Martine and wandered along the hallway toward her own bedroom door. Waiting until it seemed all the other female guests had retired, a mere two minutes, she turned back to the staircase, deciding to risk the terrible things her friend had warned her of — ruination and all that.
No one was on the stairs, thankfully, and Brilliance went directly to the conservatory, quietly pushing the door open. She stifled a gasp at seeing Lady Georgiana and Lord Hewitt standing so close they must be breathing the same breath.
Lady Georgiana was going up on tiptoe, and Brilliance stepped back, for she couldn’t bear seeing the frothy blonde’s mouth on her pianist!
She closed the door, and it made a loudsnickthat had her scrambling for a place to hide in case the conservatory’s occupants ventured out to see who might have been spying on their private moment.
Brilliance was shaking as she dashed across the hall to the open drawing room. Luckily, it was empty. Peering through the door’s hinge, she watched the conservatory door open quickly. Lord Hewitt appeared first, looking hither and yon, up the staircase and down the passageway toward the back of the manor.
He frowned. Then he reached behind him and yanked Lady Georgiana out into the open. She looked flushed and flustered, and Brilliance’s stomach sank. She knew that look, having worn it herself each time she’d been kissed by Lord Hewitt.
Her pianist!
“Go now,” he ordered, “before someone sees you.”
