Finn’s hands clenched into fists as he fought for breath. The wager, as despicable as it was, paled in comparison to the rest of what she’d heard. Lady Beaumont had said more than enough to terrify an innocent virgin like Miss Somerset.
The wager, his mistress, his mysterious dark desires—those were the sins he had to answer for, and he’d answer for them now, right here, in her bedchamber, with her furious blue eyes on him, piercing through his every lie and his every defense.
“Why, Miss Somerset, should you think you’re my second choice? Tell me.”
She let out a bitter laugh. “Come now, my lord. Let’s have honesty between us, shall we? You chose me only after Lady Honora was betrothed to Lord Harley.”
He wanted to look away from her, but instead he took a step closer, because if he looked away now, he’d never look her in the eyes again. “But how could you possibly know that? Supposing it’s true, of course.”
“Do you deny it’s true?”
It took courage to look him in the eye and demand an answer she must not want to hear. “I don’t deny it. But you didn’t answer my question. How do you know you were my second choice, after Lady Honora?”
Say it. Because you were there, and you heard every word.
Her chin rose. “Because I heard your mistress Lady Beaumont say so, Lord Huntington, that day in Lady Fairchild’s garden.”
Finn flinched, but this was the truth he’d wanted, as ugly as it was.
“You have appalling taste in mistresses, you know,” she went on, with a little toss of her head. “I don’t suppose she was at her best that day, but even so, she’s…well, she’s a bit of a viper, isn’t she?”
Despite his shame and embarrassment, a reluctant smile rose to Finn’s lips. “I didn’t choose her for her estimable character.”
“Yes, Lady Beaumont is quite…well, I won’t say I admire her, precisely, though I suppose I can understand why a gentleman whodidadmire her might find a less, ah, experienced lady”—she gestured to herself with a wave of her hand—“not as intriguing.”
He’d made more than one disparaging comment about the tediousness of innocent maidens, but now she’d echoed his sentiments, Finn couldn’t fail to hear how unfair it was. “Are you making excuses for my disgraceful behavior?”
“Oh no, my lord. I think you’re awful enough. But I’m not as naïve as I appear. I’m well aware aristocratic gentlemen keep mistresses. On reflection, I wasn’t terribly surprised to find you have an arrangement with Lady Beaumont.”
“I don’t have an arrangement with Lady Beaumont, Miss Somerset. Not anymore.”
It was true enough, but the fact that he’d broken with her felt a bit like neatly coiling the noose after hanging an innocent man. That one feeble decency didn’t make him any less guilty.
“Yes, I gathered as much. I confess it surprised me you’d dispensed with her, though perhaps not as much as it surprised Lady Beaumont.”
“It wasn’t the only thing that surprised you. There’s more, I think.”Much more. “What else did you hear?”
“I won’t pretend I wasn’t surprised by the—the…well, the business about the…” Her voice trailed off, and her cheeks went scarlet, but she straightened her shoulders, and her gaze met his. “Dark desires.”
Surprised by it? It was a wonder she hadn’t toppled headlong into a rosebush in a shocked swoon. For an innocent lady who’d overheard his mistress describe in salacious detail how he’d taken her against her dressing table, Miss Somerset was remarkably composed. He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed with her stoicism, or appalled by it.
“But what Lady Beaumont said, my lord, about the cravats and blindfolds and such, and your, ah…insatiability?”
She squeezed her eyes closed, and in the next breath he was next to her, close enough to inhale the faint scent of soap clinging to her skin. “Look at me.” He waited, his fingers hovering under her chin.
Don’t touch her.
But when she wouldn’t meet his gaze, he let one finger slide along her jaw, tipping her head gently until she looked up him. “Were you frightened by that? Disgusted by it?” She should be both. She should tell him she couldn’t bear to look at him, that she was afraid of him. “Do you think I would hurt you? That I hurt Lady Beaumont?”
Her warm breath drifted over his face as she let out a little sigh. “Why do you want to know? What difference can it possibly make now?”
All the difference in the world, or no difference at all. Finn didn’t know which, he only knew he had toknow. “It makes a difference to me.”
She did look at him now, her eyes a darker blue than he’d ever seen them. “No. I don’t believe you’d ever hurt a lady, Lord Huntington. I never would believe it. But you don’t care for me. Not inthatway. Lady Beaumont was right about one thing. It’s a mistake for you to marry a lady who won’t be able to satisfy you. A mistake for you, and for the lady in question.”
Finn caught his breath. “You think I don’t want you?”
Wasn’t it true? It had been, at one time, yes, but now…he was still touching her face, and her soft, warm skin under his fingertips dulled each of his other senses, and made everything else in the room fade away.
