Lady Cornell!
As well as having an obsession with gothic novels, Lady Cornell had taken to inventing fairy stories. “Don’t presume to know me. You don’t have the first clue what I want or need.”
The harpy — for the labels ravenous and predatory did most certainly apply in this case — moistened her lips as her hungry eyes scanned his bare chest. “Oh, thou dost protest too much. Now lie back and let me show you why we belong together.”
Vane shook his head. Why the hell was he still sitting in bed with this woman? He threw back the coverlet and came to his feet.
“How in the devil’s name did you get in here?”
A smile touched her lips as her gaze shot to his cock. “Impressive. Let me see what I can do to get his attention.” She came up on her knees and palmed her full breasts. “Come to bed, Vane. I did not come here to talk.”
“I shall ask again. Who let you in?”
He strode over to the chair, grabbed his breeches and thrust his legs inside swiftly. Sometimes his cock had a mind of his own, and while flaccid now, he’d not give this woman even a twitch of encouragement.
“No one. I simply broke a pane of glass in the door leading to the servants’ entrance, reached inside and turned the key.”
“Then I shall be sure to send your husband the bill.” Vane found his shirt and dragged it over his head.
Unperturbed, Lady Cornell stretched out in the middle of his bed, her legs spread wide in invitation. “I know you’ve not bedded another lady since you returned from Italy.”
“And how could you possibly know that?” Vane considered how he might get her out of his house without using force.
She giggled. “Oh, please tell me you’re teasing. Surely you know that your conquests compare notes. How else would I know that you have a fetish for dominance? That you like it hard and rough.”
“I fear you have been ill informed on both counts.”
Her confident smile faltered. “You mean you don’t have a preference when it comes to dalliances in the bedchamber?”
“I mean I have no need to slake my lust for I am already satisfied beyond measure. And what I choose to do in any aspect of my life is no concern of yours.” Vane rounded the bed, scooped up the pile of clothes on the floor and threw them at her. “I shall wait outside while you dress.”
He had almost reached the door when Lady Cornell made an odd mewling sound. “So you have taken up with that strumpet from the apothecary shop. I did not include her in your conquests as it is clear she is of a different class. It’s amazing what a shilling can purchase these days.”
Vane stopped and clenched his teeth. He was a man who cared nothing for other people’s opinions. Yet he would not permit anyone to slander Estelle Darcy.
“That lady has more dignity and grace in her little finger than you could ever hope to possess. And when it comes to you, Lady Cornell, do you honestly think I would entertain the woman who played a part in my sister’s ruination?”
Uncertainty flashed in her eyes. “Your sister’s ruination? Why would you think I had anything to do with that?”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Did you not tell your husband that we were intimate?”
Guilt flashed in her eyes. “I did not tell him directly. I … I might have mentioned to a few gossipmongers that you admired me, that you had suggested I be your mistress.”
“To make him jealous?”
She shook her head. “No! In the hope you might warm to the idea and make the offer. But in any event, was Lord Martin not to blame for what happened to your sister?”
This woman thought she had all the answers, thought it was all a silly game.
“Your husband believed your tales and blackmailed Lord Martin to ruin my sister, purely as a means to hurt me.”
Lady Cornell appeared genuinely shocked. She gathered the bedsheets up to her chest to cover her modesty and sat there with slumped shoulders as the gravity of what she had done brought tears to her eyes.
“Had I known my husband was capable of such a vile thing I would never have said anything. It was just gossip. I didn’t know anyone would get hurt.”