She dimpled. He saw what she was at and chuckled, noting that she immediately brightened as she looked up at him and said, “You do outshine him … at everything.” She blushed and looked away at this juncture.
“And you consider yourself judge enough to know?” he teased.
“Indeed, I do,” she said on a laugh. “My father was such a fine whip. In fact, there was none like to him … until, of course, you.”
“And you learned a thing or two at his side?” the duke pursued.
“I did,” she answered promptly.
“Well, then, my little one, here!” He shoved the driving reins into her gloved hands.
“No, oh no,” she objected, appearing horrified even as she tooled the team through the busy traffic.
“Show me what you can do,” he demanded softly.
“Not in this traffic.” She shook her head and handed him the reins back to him.
He relented, but only a bit, and said, “Right … we’ll move to a quiet road.” He made his way to the Post Road and out of the heavy hubbub of London’s morning traffic.
He kept up a steady stream of conversation by asking her about her father and what the two of them used to enjoy. She spoke freely and with great affection of her parents, and they went on comfortably for the next twenty minutes.
The sun was just beginning to peep from a clouded sky, and Felicia exclaimed that she couldn’t believe such a beautiful landscape was just a short distance from the hub of the city.
“Don’t you like London?” he asked, brow up.
“Well enough, but I rather think I miss the country and the freedom the country allows,” she answered wistfully.
“Then after your ball, we shall have to go to my lodge in the New Forest. I think you will enjoy that.”
“Yes, but after the ball, your guardianship will be over, and I have no doubt if you haven’t managed to see me engaged to some suitor who meets with your approval, you shall wipe your hands of me.”
“Do you think that, by God? Do you really?” He pulled a face at her and then handed the reins once more. “Here, vixen, show me your stuff.”
~ Thirty ~
IT WAS THE night of her ball.
Felicia studied herself in the long looking glass. Her gown of white and gold suited her provocative curves. The pearls threaded throughout her black curls made her feel exotic. Pearl drops at her ears and from the gold necklace finished off this touch.
She pouted over her reflection. Would the duke think she looked too young? Did she look too young? She wished her neckline was even lower … although she had to admit the scoop of the lace showed a great deal of her full breasts.
If she were more sophisticated, would he find her more desirable?
She hadn’t seen him in three days—not since he had allowed her to drive his team. They had enjoyed one another so very much, but she had not been able to break through the barrier he had put up. It was as though he had never kissed her … over and over, had never made wild and passionate love to her. All that was gone.
When he took her hand, he immediately withdrew it as though he had touched a flame.
What was she to do?
James Reinhart had been courting her now even more intently and diligently than he had before. She didn’t want Reinhart. There was only one man she wanted.
Now, she would have to descend the stairs and take her place among the beau monde officially.
The lilting sound of the music came sweetly to her ears. She could hear the buzz of the festivities below … it only wanted her entrance.
“Felicia?” Lady Daphne opened her bedroom door and stuck her head in. “Oh, oh,
my dear, you are simply stunning.”