To Tame a Highland Earl (4 page)

“
Eve,” he rasped against
her mouth.

“
Eve?”

Erroll snapped open his eyes to find Lady
Laura Greenwood’s face a hair’s breadth from his. He jerked his
eyes to his groin. Her fingers encircled his thick member. The
liquor induced haze evaporated.

Erroll shifted his gaze onto hers. “Seducing
a man while he’s sleeping in his tub? You must be desperate,
Laura.”

She massaged his cock and pleasure streaked
along the sensitive flesh. He couldn’t repress a shudder.

A satisfied smile curved her mouth. “I know
what you like.”

The sultry quality he recognized all too well
was present in her voice, but he didn’t miss the underlying fury.
Memory clicked into place and he realized he’d called out Eve
Crenshaw’s name.

He lifted a brow. “I thought you were someone
else.”

Fury blazed in her eyes. “You prefer a
baron’s daughter to me?” This time she squeezed his
member—hard.

He bit back a wince and managed a cold smile.
“Yes.” Erroll saw the wheels turning in her mind and he seized the
wrist of the hand that still gripped him. “Release me, my dear,
before you do something you regret.”

Indecision flickered across her face before
she jerked free of his hold and shoved to her feet. Erroll gripped
the edges of the tub and pushed up, easing his wounded leg to the
floor. He’d banged the damned thing against the tub when she’d
startled him awake. The wound wasn’t bad, but it pounded like the
devil as blood flowed through the muscle. He stood, then took one
step nearer to the chair beside the hearth and snatched up the silk
robe draped over the cushion. He stuck an arm in one sleeve and
turned as he shoved the other arm into the remaining sleeve.

“
What are you doing
here?”

Her gaze dropped to his erection, which still
demanded its reward. “You should have stayed asleep another moment,
darling. You didn’t take your pleasure. You were close, though, by
your reactions.”

He was, and with a great deal of help from
her as it turned out.

Erroll closed the robe and cinched the belt.
“How did you get in here?”

“
The clerk was very
helpful.”

He remembered the innkeeper who had given him
the key to Miss Crenshaw’s room. It seemed clerks and innkeepers
were too free with information concerning their guests.

He crossed to the small sideboard near the
window and poured a glass of brandy. “Laura, I am in no mood.”

“
I beg to
differ.”

Erroll reached for the glass, then thought
better of it and faced her. He leaned his backside against the
sideboard. “I have never known you to venture farther from London
than Coventry, and then only when a certain young duke was sowing
his wild oats.”

She waved a hand. “You are as worthy as the
duke.”

“
More so, but your time is
wasted on me, just as it was with him.”

“
Erroll, we have shared
much. Do you not miss me?”

“
I have not missed you for
over a week.”

Her mouth pinched, but she said in a bright
voice, “It is all over
Town
that you were shot by your
latest paramour. I didn’t believe it, but there is the proof.”

Erroll didn’t look at his leg. “A lovers’
quarrel. You know how that is.”

“
I never shot
you.”

“
Only because you lacked
the nerve.”

“
Is shooting you how a lady
keeps your attention?” She glided across the room to him. “Really,
darling, are you going to stay angry at me forever?” She pressed
her full lips into a pout and placed her palms on his
chest.

“
I am not angry,” he
said.

She slipped her hands inside his robe to his
chest. Erroll caught her wrists and her head snapped up.

“
We are finished, Laura. I
assumed you understood that last week.”

“
So you are still angry.
That is unfair.”

He released her and straightened, forcing her
back. “I am not angry. I simply have no interest in a woman who
will pit me against another of her lovers—and a jealous one at
that. But I suspect that was what you had in mind.”

“
You know how I get,” she
sulked. “I never meant for you to get caught in that squabble. I
said I was sorry.”

“
And I accepted your
apology. Now, if you will excuse me, I have an appointment.” She
opened her mouth, but he cut her off, “You are not to interfere
with my current situation.”

Ire flashed across her face. “How could I
possibly interfere?”

“
By putting it about that
you visited me in my hotel room and had your pretty hands around my
cock.”

“
It would only be the
truth,” she shot back.

“
Just as it is the truth
that you are one ball gown away from your creditors going to Italy
in search of your husband.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “You would never
repeat that?”

“
You created the situation.
I simply do not intend to be one of your casualties.”

“
You did not consider
yourself a casualty when I let you fuck me.”

“
Be sure to remember it was
you who reduced our connection to such lowly depths,” he
said.

“
How dare you?” She drew
back her hand and Erroll caught her wrist before her palm reached
his face.

“
What is going on?” he
demanded. “This is dramatic, even for you.”

Laura yanked her hand free and took a step
back. “Nothing that need concern you, my lord.” She whirled and
stalked toward the door.

For an instant Erroll didn’t move, then he
reached her in three quick steps and seized her arm, swinging her
around to face him.

“
Let me go,” she
hissed.

“
Sit down,” he
ordered.

She looked up and he saw tears rolling down
her cheeks. He urged her two steps to the chair. Her mouth
tightened in rebellion and she didn’t sit.

“
If you want my help, do as
I say,” Erroll said.

She hesitated, then sat down. Erroll went
back to the sideboard, poured a second brandy, then picked up both
glasses and returned to Laura’s chair.

He shoved one drink in front of her. “Drink
this.”

She took the glass and drank half the
contents in two gulps.

“
You have many vices,
Laura, but drinking is not one of them. What happened?”

“
Henry has returned from
Italy.”

Erroll sipped his brandy. His head was
starting to pound, but he knew it was due more to being shocked
from the relaxed state of alcohol and arousal than an impending
hangover.

“
So your creditors do not
have to go in search of him, after all.”

She shot him a dagger-filled look.

Erroll lifted a brow. “I take it he is none
too happy with your peccadilloes?”

“
Oh fie,” she said. “If
that were all, I would be able to handle him without trouble. No.
He has seen a few of my bills and…” She sighed and took another
gulp of her drink.

“
I see,” Erroll said. “The
viscount does not mind that his wife is seen with every rake in
Town
, but he will not countenance his money paying for her
lovers.”

“
That is not the worst
part,” she said. “When he discovers I pawned my emeralds, he will
shut me up in the country.”

“
Pawned your emeralds?
Those have been in Bentley’s family for generations. You will be
fortunate if all he does is lock you up in the country.”

She tossed her head. “If he does that, I will
make him pay.”

“
I think he is paying now,
my dear.”

“
It is no more than he
deserves.”

Erroll canted his head. “But of course. How
much did you get for the jewels?”

“
Two thousand
pounds.”

“
Only two thousand? The
pawnbroker must have been delighted to see you.”

“
I did not want to owe too
much,” she said. “I was sure I could redeem them when I got my next
allowance.”

“
But you spent that as
well.”

Her eyes narrowed. “If you asked me to stay
just so that you could reprimand me I might as well leave.”

“
You are right, of course.
Send the pawnbroker’s direction to Wiggins. I will instruct him to
take care of the bill. He will redeem the jewels, then deliver them
to you discreetly. If you choose to pawn them again do not come to
me. As you know, I do not dally with women whose husbands live with
them.”

“
Why not?” she demanded. “A
married woman is a married woman.”

“
Because, contrary to what
you think, husbands do care when their wives flaunt their lovers
about
Town
. Your charms are sweet, but not sufficiently so
to risk a dawn appointment.”

Her brow furrowed in derision. “Henry would
not challenge you to a duel.”

“
I fear that you do not
know Henry at all.”

Laura regarded him. “Why are you being so
kind?”

“
Did you not come here
expecting kindness?”

She gave a mirthless laugh. “You are not
kind—men are not kind.”

“
Some are,” he said. “But
you are right, I am not.”

*****

“
As I recall, you
threatened to dismember me if I didn’t marry your daughter. Yet she
refuses to marry me.” Erroll lowered himself into the chair
opposite Tolland’s desk in his study. He felt his headache
returning and half wished he’d let Laura finish him off in the tub
that morning. After she left, he hadn’t been able to capture his
earlier mood and was left feeling even more frustrated than he’d
been to begin with.

“
Eve is balking,” the baron
said. “But make no mistake, if you do not marry her, I will carry
through with my threat.”

“
What should I do, kidnap
her to Gretna Green and force her to marry me?”

Tolland reached in the desk drawer and
withdrew several sheets of parchment. He set them on the desk and
Erroll saw the gold heading read
The Honorable J. Philips
Esquire
.

The baron slid the marriage contract in front
of Erroll. “If necessary, kidnap her is exactly what you will
do.”

Incredulous, Erroll lifted his gaze to
Tolland’s face.

“
I have arranged for Eve to
attend many parties tonight,” the baron went on. “It is the perfect
opportunity for you to whisk her off to Scotland.”

Erroll wondered if insanity ran in the
Crenshaw family, and couldn’t help asking, “How would you have me
proceed?”

“
Put her in your coach and
drive.”

“
You make it sound simple,”
Erroll murmured.

“
As I will not be chasing
you with a gun, it should be.”

“
I must admit this is the
first time I have plotted to get a woman to the altar,” Erroll
said. “Usually, I’m running in the opposite direction.”

The baron’s expression darkened. “There will
no running in the opposite direction once you are wed. Eve deserves
a good husband.”

“
Then you would do well to
choose another man, for I will make a terrible husband.”

“
Should that turn out to be
the case, I will shoot you.”

Erroll gave him a disgruntled look. “I see
where your daughter gets her charms. Do you, by chance, have
relatives in Newgate?”

Chapter Three

Erroll slowed his walk when the object of his
ruminations and her sister emerged from a shop up ahead. The
younger Miss Crenshaw carried three large packages while the older
held a single small bundle. They both wore white muslin dresses,
but the elder sister’s breasts strained against the high-waisted
bodice. Erroll recalled the lush flesh brushing his chest as he’d
leaned over her bed and he released a slow breath in an effort to
stop the thickening in his groin.

Before he allowed his passions to get the
better of him, he needed a word with the lady away from the prying
eyes of her meddling family. If there was a chance to extricate
themselves from the situation, they needed to agree on how best to
proceed.

The ladies turned up the street and strolled
away from him. Erroll allowed his gaze to fix upon her rounded
derrière, but lifted his eyes again before the sight further
incited his mounting lust. She wore no bonnet and the afternoon
sunlight glinted off her hair just as the candlelight had done last
night in her room. Erroll would wager her hair was as soft as her
breasts. An irresistible combination bound to keep him awake
tonight contemplating.

A man walking toward them stopped to greet
them. He first bent over Miss Grace Crenshaw’s hand, then took her
sister’s hand. Erroll slowed even more. From this distance, he
couldn’t see the man’s eyes, but Erroll was sure his head was
raised a tad bit too high for his eyes to linger on her hand. Was
he ogling her breasts? He confirmed Erroll’s suspicion by pressing
his lips to her hand and lingering a second too long before
straightening.

“
Hello,
Rushton.”

Erroll recognized the voice behind him and
sighed as he turned to face Montgomery Paisley. Encountering his
old friend here in Manchester only meant the gossip about him and
Miss Crenshaw had reached epic proportions.

“
Paisley, how are
you?”