Scoundrel (42 page)

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “I have a husband who is quite capable of protecting me.”

“So it would seem,” he agreed. “Sir Malcolm also told me that Sophie was injured in one of the attacks, that she will not return to Town for another day.”

Lily nodded and waited for him to continue. She sensed a tenseness in him that seemed to increase by the moment.

“When she returns, can you get her here alone, for tea or whatever it is you women do during the day? How about Friday, at three o’clock?”

“Why?” Lily’s eyes widened when Robert began to blush. He never blushed, not since he was a boy. She guessed the truth at the same moment Remmington did. “Sophie?”

“Venus?” Remmington said. “Sophie Stanhope is your Venus?”

The rare blush deepened until Robert’s face was bright red. He kept his attention focused on Lily, and she knew he was trying to maintain a hold on his dignity. “I will call on you at that time as well, and I would like the opportunity to speak with her alone. I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t tell her I will be here,” he added.

“Sophie Stanhope,” Remmington repeated. He shook his head.

Robert scowled at him. “Just what do you find so unbelievable about the fact that my affections are fixed on Miss Stanhope?”

“Why, nothing at all. Miss Stanhope is a fine young lady. A little queer in her thinking on some subjects, and superstitious beyond…” Remmington looked from Robert’s scowl to Lily’s. “Perfectly fine woman. None better, excepting my wife.”

“I’m sure I can manage to have Sophie here alone on Friday,” Lily said. “And I’ll agree to let you surprise her. Just keep in mind that she has a serious injury, so you’d best remember to contain your… enthusiasm when you greet her. I do not think she will appreciate one of those great bear hugs of yours at the moment.”

“Thank you, Lily. You’re a darling.” He stood up and offered Remmington his hand. “As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think I’ll mind having you in the family.”

They both walked Robert to the back door when he explained he’d entered that way to avoid notice. Robert told them how he could be reached if they needed to contact him, then they watched until he disappeared down a side street.

Remmington slipped his arm around Lily’s waist. “We have some unfinished business in the library.”

The moment she looked into his face, she knew what sort of business it involved. “The library? In the middle of the day?”

He leaned down to nuzzle her ear. “Mm. Yes. I’ve thought of nothing but you in there all week. Now I want you there in person. In the flesh. Very, very bare flesh.”

“I had no idea you found my clothing so fascinating.” Remmington deposited Lily in the center of his bed, then stripped off his jacket. His gaze raked over her purple silk gown, the one he had requested she wear to dinner. He began unbuttoning his shirt. “I find what is inside your clothing even more fascinating.” She sat up and started to undo the fastenings of her gown, but he shook his head. “No, let me do that. Later.”

She smiled and leaned back on her elbows, an unconscious pose that made his hands fumble at their task. The speculative look in her eyes made him slow down, aware that it was the first time she had watched him undress. Tonight there would be no more secrets between them. “I thought you meant it when you said you intended to take off all my clothes in the library.” Her delicate brows lowered into a frown, her voice thoughtful. “I’m a little glad you didn’t. What we did in there felt wicked enough.” She looked up at him and her expression brightened. “But I did enjoy myself.”

He smiled and said nothing. At the time they locked themselves in the library, he had every intention of stripping every piece of clothing from her delectable body. By the time he’d unbuttoned her bodice, he knew he couldn’t wait that long. The tantalizing sight of her partially bared figure heated his lust beyond any degree of patience. He sat her on his desk and bared her legs as well, her silk skirts frothed around her hips, her bodice pushed open to present rather than conceal. That image would never leave his mind. He knew already that he would never get another minute’s worth of work accomplished at that desk.

The act of unfastening his shirt cuffs took longer than it ever had before. As he played with the cuff links, he shrugged the smooth linen off his shoulders until the shirt hung loose around his waist. The way Lily stared at his chest made his muscles tense with anticipation. He’d never undressed this way for a woman, never thought to make it a deliberate part of his seduction. She was devouring him with her eyes. He decided to undress for her every night.

“Why did you ask me to wear this particular gown to dinner?” Her voice sounded husky, more than a little distracted. “For that matter, why did we bother with dinner at all? It’s not as if we ate much.”

“I want this night to be perfect, in every way.” He slipped his shirt off and let her stare for awhile. He scratched a nonexistent itch at the center of his chest and smiled over the way she wet her lips. “The dinner we shared tonight is the one I’ve thought about every night since we arrived.”

“Oh.” Her brows rose. “Really?”

He felt himself nod. Tonight he wanted everything just right, in every precise detail that he’d tortured his imagination with over the past week. So far, the night couldn’t progress any better. Except, perhaps, for one part.

After Lily’s brother left, he’d apologized for the way he ignored her and promised that sort of behavior was at an end. But he’d delivered that vow right after they returned to the library, while they were in the midst of another distracting activity. He wasn’t entirely certain his words made any sense. Other than that, he couldn’t ask for a more perfect night. Since Robert’s departure, he’d made love to her in his library, had lain on her bed like a lazy cat while he watched her dress for dinner, had seduced her at his dinner table, and now would make love to her again in his bed.

Once that was accomplished, only one part of his plan would remain incomplete. The best and most important part. After they made love, he would dress her in that lacy white nightgown he liked so well and then she would sit on the edge of his bed. He would take her hands in his and admit in simple, heartfelt words that he loved her, that his whole world revolved around her, that he hadn’t had a life before she came into it. With all their appetites sated during this night of pleasure, she would know his words came from his heart. Of course, such a heartfelt confession might stir new hungers, and he might have a wish to seal his vow with more than a few kisses. As he recalled, that particular nightgown .possessed an enchanting row of pearl buttons down the front.

He rubbed his hands together.

“I think Digsby is suspicious of the reasons you locked him out of the dining room.” Lily glanced down at her dress. “And your wine ruined the bodice of my gown. Did you see the look he gave me when we left the dining room? I shall probably find a bib at my place tomorrow morning.”

“I doubt it.” His hands moved to the fastenings of his pants. “And I’ll buy you as many gowns as I ruin. As long as you order gowns like this one.”

Her lips curled up at the corners. “You like gowns with shocking necklines, my lord?”

“Mm. That, too.” He reached out and touched the center of her silk bodice, then traced the tip of his finger over the long row of tiny jet buttons. She lay still as his finger traveled down to her ankles, but she shivered several times in between. “I like the buttons best. Small ones that go all the way to the floor.” “The style is not in fashion this Season.”

“Hang fashion. I like buttons. I have no idea why, but on you they make me crazy.” He shook his head and worked again on the much larger fastenings that secured his pants. His hands stilled when her fingers traveled the same path he’d just traced, long, lazy strokes from her bodice to her waist, then back up again. “Don’t do that, Lily.”

“Why not?” Her voice sounded almost like a purr.

“Because I won’t—” He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her slow, seductive movements to see if her expression revealed teasing or genuine interest. “Lily, stop. Please. This will ruin my plan.”

“Plan?” Her hand stopped moving. “You have a
plan
for this evening? As in
schedule
?”

He nodded without thinking, his gaze still locked on the row of buttons. “A very definite plan.”

“Just what does this—” Her breath came out in a small whoosh. Her hand started to move again, a little hesitantly at first, then she repeated the same bewitching strokes that made his mouth go dry.

He was naked. He didn’t remember having taken off the rest of his clothes, but somehow he was naked. Then he realized why she had lost track of her opinion about his plan. Just to make certain, he glanced at her face, reminding himself that the buttons would still be there after he gauged her reaction to the sight of him.

He couldn’t take his eyes from hers. Surely she’d caught glimpses of him before now. This couldn’t be anything new to her. He had made love to her every night, stroked and caressed her in every way imaginable, encouraged her to explore him just as thoroughly, and taught her things about lovemaking even he didn’t know. Yet he’d never displayed himself this way, never stood in the light and let her look at him. With everything she knew of him already, she somehow managed to retain her innocence, that wide, curious gaze that filled him with wonder and delight. He had to brace his knees to make certain he would remain upright. Her eyes touched him everywhere, moved in slow degrees over every inch of his body, then lingered for an incredible length of time on the most intimate part of him. He could
feel
her touching him with that gaze.

She repeated an order he once gave her. “Breathe, Miles.”

He filled his lungs with air and placed one knee on the bed, then the other, then his hands were braced on either side of her shoulders. He lowered himself onto her silk-clad body in measured degrees, his skin so sensitive that he felt her warmth rise up to greet him before he touched her.

“Lily.” He lowered his forehead to the pillow beside her, tried to remember what he had intended to do next. “I had a plan.”

“I know.” She arched up and he felt every one of the tiny jet buttons press against him. “This will be better.”

He started to kiss her, but made himself stop. “I have to tell you something.” His lips moved of their own accord to cover the pulse point on her throat. His hands began to move over her body. He couldn’t help himself. Yes, he could. “It’s important, Lily.”