Sally Sonhurst was stylish, sophisticated, and ravishing and probably knew how to please a man in bed. She, on the other hand, was just a green girl.
Bess watched the woman nearly take possession of the earl as her hands stroked his arms, and she had to apply herself to hear what Fleet was saying.
“His father gambled away everything they owned—everything. Came here in hopes of securing his uncle’s vast inheritance.”
“His uncle?” Bess said, only half-interested.
“Aye, it was nearly in the bag, or so the gossipmongers say, until his uncle took this boy in. Some say he is the boy’s father …” Fleet remembered himself and coughed into his hand as he allowed this to trail off.
Bess laughed. “Fleet, do you think that we women do not know what goes on? We may not speak of it in mixed circles, but we certainly do in private. So, then Mr. Dandy is cut off?”
“At any rate, some say Landau, Holland’s uncle, adopted the child last year and means to leave everything to him.”
“So, Holland is cut off then?”
“Well, as to that, no doubt he will get something, but not half of what he thought he was about to get,” Fleet said and shook his head. “I don’t like the fellow, seedy, crafty … but it isn’t an easy thing to deal with, losing one’s expectations. Drives some men to desperation.”
Bess looked at Fleet and said, “Yes, I see that it could.” She then turned to look at Holland as a notion began to form in her mind. She, however, shoved this aside—what could she be thinking?
She returned to watching the earl as Lady Sonhurst put her arm through his and led him to the buffet table. Bess sighed; all pleasure in the evening had suddenly vanished.
Time to wake up, she told herself. He will never be yours.
* * *
A soft knock sounded at Bess’s door as she removed her creamy satin wrapper and started to climb into bed. She hastily put it back on, thinking Donna needed something, and hurried to open the door wide.
She felt as though her heart had suddenly stopped beating.
She felt as though the sudden buzzing in her head would overcome her.
Dizzy, that was it. She was dizzy. She nearly swooned before she caught herself and said, “My lord?”
“M’lord, indeed,” he said, walking her backwards into the room and closing the door behind him as he swept her into his arms.
Her wrapper slipped to the floor, and as his brocade dressing gown was unbuttoned, she felt almost naked as he pressed her into him and bent to take her mouth with his own.
His lips brushed hers gently, softly, teased her with his touch. She heard the sound of pleasure in his throat, and it was at once frightening and seductive. Then his tongue found its easy path between her lips and met with her own.
Lost. She was lost to his kiss. It was the sort of kiss women whispered about, longed to have. It was what she had been wanting nearly from the moment they had met.
She didn’t need to cling to him, for he had her tightly wrapped in his embrace, but she held onto his strong arms and bent to his will.
He came away from that kiss to murmur her name, “Bess, m’darlin lass, Bess.” The sound of his voice was magic weaving around her heart as it turned her blood into a molten stream.
A knock sounded at her door, and they jumped guiltily apart.
Bess felt wide-eyed as she stared at the earl. He put a finger to his lips and quietly retreated to her ante-room.
She went to the door and said, “Yes?”
“Darling girl, I thought if you weren’t asleep yet, you might like to sit and chat,” Maddy said sweetly.
Bess closed her eyes. It was what she and Maddy often did after a rout or a ball. Maddy’s timing was, however, at the moment unwelcome, but she loved her nanny and could not hurt her. “Of course, Nanny,” she said as she opened the door. “Let me just get my wrapper, and we can hide in the kitchen like we do at home and have something sweet with a glass of milk.”
“Oh, that would be lovely,” Maddy said with a happy sigh.
She could do nothing but go with her dear nanny. Bess took up her wrapper, and with her heart pounding so hard she thought her nanny would hear it, she left the earl in the ante-room and hurried along the hall with her arm linked in Maddy’s.