She wanted to hit him with her reticule.
The carriage stopped, jolting him awake. He reached for the door’s latch. “My apologies, Eva. My only excuse is I was in a saddle most of the day.”
“There is no need to apologize.”
He stepped out and handed her down. She had walked three steps to the door when she remembered Sarah’s request. Considering Sarah’s generosity, it would be ungrateful to pretend it had slipped her mind when it had not.
“My cousin asked me to invite you to dinner tomorrow night. It will be a small gathering, and I am sure you will find it very dull. It is also a long way to ride from Albany Lodge just for a meal. I will explain that you are tired from your travels and—”
“I would be happy to attend.”
“It is not necessary.”
“I will stay in town tonight at the Kings Arms. Tell her to send word of the time if it is other than nine o’clock.”
She stood there helplessly, trying to find a good reason why he should change his mind.
He stepped closer and she jumped back. She hurried to the door so he could not kiss her, if that was his plan. His low laugh followed. That made her furious. He turned back to the carriage.
“Go and sleep, Eva, so you may recover from the malady that infected you tonight.”
She ran up to her chamber. She called for broth, so Sarah would not think her instructions had been ignored. After she ate it, she went to bed. She did not sleep easily, however.
An image occupied her mind and would not give her peace. In it she was naked in the carriage, while Gareth sucked her breasts until she was delirious from pleasure.
***
Gareth lounged on his bed at the Kings Arms, debating whether his friendship with Eva Russell were making him a fool. He sipped at some port. The more he imbibed, the more an ass he felt.
He had intended to return to Albany Lodge tonight, yet here he was at an inn, with no purpose other than dallying away the time until he could attend the same dinner as she. It was the sort of fawning strategy to be in a woman’s company that he had not employed since he was twenty, and then the lady had promised unimaginable erotic lessons should he find favor with her. The ultimate prize had been well worth the inconveniences.
That was not the situation now. The problem might not be that he was a fool, but that Eva was not one.
Perhaps that was her attraction. It was a hell of a thing when the quality that made a woman interesting to a man was also the quality that ensured he should never have her.
She looked lovely tonight in that silvery satin. A mature woman, not some girl like her sister, and self-possessed. She had brought Rebecca to the city to try and find her a match, it appeared. More likely Eva would be the one to receive a quick proposal.
He got up, stripped off his clothes, and washed. Yes, she had looked lovely in that silver dress. Only he had not seen it much. He spent most of the time at the theater seeing her naked, bending this way and that to his command, while passion set her free.
A pointless fantasy, and he would not indulge it in the future. He had apologized, and she had uttered the appropriate discouraging words. He would not succumb to the temptation to tease her, or even flirt. They would both retreat, with dignity, and all would return to how it was a week ago.
CHAPTER10
Sarah was good to her word about the next night’s dinner. Eva produced Mr. Fitzallen with his aristocratic connections, and Sarah produced three young men who might be suitable matches for Rebecca. Two elderly female friends rounded out the table. The last two performed their social duties quietly, politely, and unobtrusively.
Eva had allowed Sarah to press one of her dinner dresses on her to wear. Eva did not resist very long, and enjoyed slipping into the primrose silk. Her decision to appear better than she might had nothing to do with Gareth Fitzallen’s acceptance of the invitation to join them. Nothing at all.
The meal proved a much better one than Eva had enjoyed in her own home for many years. Sarah spared no expense, and even served turtle soup. Servants hovered and offered and poured nice wines. Wesley, Sarah’s husband, showed impressive social grace in presiding over it all.
The three gentlemen invited for Rebecca’s sake were all youthful members of Wesley’s industry—the casting of small objects in a variety of metals. For the first twenty minutes, they all seemed more intent on talking to one another than to any of the ladies at the table. Then Sarah took matters in hand. All but tapping the table for attention, she exerted her hostess’sprerogative to address each one and to pose questions, always including Rebecca in the conversation that ensued.
Eva watched carefully, to see the reactions to her sister. That all three gentlemen were impressed went without saying. Only a fool would not recognize her beauty. Rebecca, on the other hand, seemed to favor the quietest of the three, Mr. Trenton. Eva hoped that was not because Mr. Trenton, with his large dark eyes and longish dark hair and somewhat careless dress, appeared to be impersonating a French poet.
Concentrating on the table’s conversation allowed her to ignore as much as possible the man sitting beside her, placed there by Sarah in her ignorance. Also seated next to Wesley, Gareth appeared more than content to converse with his host, however. It went without saying that Wesley proved more than happy to gain better acquaintance with a man with Gareth’s connections.
“You have an admirer.”
The low comment entered her right ear. Gareth had taken advantage of his host’s distraction, caused by his wife’s insistence he give an opinion on the state of the banks.
