Married to a Stranger (Danger and Desire 3)

‘Donald.’ It seemed a little forward, but she did not care to seem stand-offish. ‘The earl had this part extended so the view of the lake was improved.’

‘And that charming structure?’ He gestured to a small temple-like construction on the far corner of the paving. When he lowered his hand it came to rest over hers. Sophia stiffened, but he took no further liberties and she supposed she was being intolerably provincial.

‘A little gazebo. It is the most charming spot to sit and read.’ Somehow they were strolling that way. The wash of light from the windows receded and the dusk deepened. ‘There will not be much to see now it is getting dark,’ she added, pausing on the threshold.

But Donald kept walking until they stood in the centre under the dome, the curving seat with the wall behind blocking the view of the house. ‘Delightful,’ he said, and turned so they were almost toe to toe. ‘And designed for flirtation.’

‘Whereas I am not,’ Sophia said, trying for a light touch while her heart pounded. No, she was not being provincial, but naïve. ‘Really, Mr Masterton … Donald, we should be getting back.’ If only Callum had tried to flirt, to court her, Sophia thought with an inward sigh. She would like to be courted.

‘Don’t you care for flirting, Miss Langley?’ He was blocking her way back to the house, but he made no alarming move to touch her. If she had had a little town bronze she would know how to deal with this, turn his gallantry aside with a light, dismissive laugh.

She tried one and thought it quite successful. ‘I do not. I have no idea how to flirt, Mr Masterton, and I have no intention of learning!’

‘So Callum has found himself a good girl, then?’ He was teasing her now, but there was an edge to it and she was beginning to think that her pique at Callum’s neglect had led her out of her depth with this man.

‘I hope so, indeed!’

‘So I cannot wish for so much as a fleeting kiss in the twilight?’ Donald murmured.

‘You, sir, are a rogue!’ That sounded quite confident; she was wary of sounding too alarmed for fear of arousing his hunting instincts.

‘Just one touch of your lips?’ He caught her hand and stood close, his dark eyes smiling down at her.

‘Certainly not.’ She gave her hand a little tug to try to free it. Masterton grinned, teeth white in the dim light, and stooped suddenly, his mouth planting a quick, impertinent caress on hers.

‘Let her go.’

Oh, goodness. With her hand to her lips Sophia stepped back away from Donald Masterton, suddenly aware of how compromising this tête à tête must look. As she turned she could see Callum standing just within the doorway. His face was shadowed, but the anger radiated off him like heat from a fire. Either it was relief at being rescued that was making her breathless, or excitement at how masterful Callum sounded. Perhaps both.

‘Just a little flirting between cousins,’ Masterton said with a laugh, but the dark, mocking face was wary.

‘But you are not a cousin,’ Callum pointed out and stepped into the gazebo. Sophia looked at his face in the gloom and swallowed. He appeared quite calm—and quite murderous. ‘I don’t want to send you back in there with a bloody nose and cause talk.’ He began to walk towards the other man.

‘I’d like to see you try.’

‘Callum, really, absolutely nothing of any consequence occurred—’ Callum ignored her. He was over six foot, lean and broad shouldered, but Donald Masterton topped him by an inch.

Callum kept coming, his hands relaxed by his sides. Surely they were not going to fight, not over a minor indiscretion? And then, as the other man raised his fists into a posture of defence, Callum moved, slick and fast, and Masterton was tumbling through the air to land sprawling on his back on the marble mosaic.

‘Get up.’ Callum hauled him to his feet with one hand fisted into his neckcloth. Donald swung at him and Callum ducked, twisted and he fell again, this time harder. ‘You do not flirt with Miss Langley. You do not go aside with Miss Langley. In fact, if I find you within six feet of Miss Langley again I will break your arm,’ Callum said, dusting off his hands. He waited a moment, but Masterton simply closed his eyes and let his head fall back with a muttered oath. ‘Sophia?’

‘Yes. Yes, of course, but you cannot leave him like this.’ She was babbling, she knew. ‘What if he has a concussion?’

‘I’ll live,’ Masterton said, opening one eye. ‘Go on, leave me to recover what’s left of my dignity.’

Sophia gathered up her skirts and almost ran from the little pavilion. She could feel Callum’s presence close behind her, ominously quiet. ‘Callum, I am sorry, I had no idea it was not wise to be alone with him. We were talking and it was so stuffy inside and … And it was just harmless flirtation.’

‘Will told you quite clearly that he was a rake.’ Callum took her by the arm and marched her back towards a side door.

‘Yesterday in the carriage? I am sorry, but I lost concentration and missed that.’ It sounded a ridiculous excuse, even though it was true. Callum’s eyebrows lifted in what she was certain was disbelief. Sophia dug in her heels and they stopped. ‘I have said I am sorry. I had no intention of flirting with him—or any other man, come to that—if you had not just abandoned me like that.’

‘I had hardly abandoned you; you were in the middle of my family. Plenty of company, I would have thought. And what possessed you to go to that summer house in the dark with him?’ Callum sounded every bit as sanctimoniously disapproving as her mother, she thought.

‘Because I am not used to rakes,’ she snapped. ‘Or to flirtation.’

‘And there I was thinking I was marrying a woman with a degree of savoir-faire and not a green girl,’ he said, just as tartly.

‘You know perfectly well that I have not had a great deal of experience in society. And, until you, not much with men, either!’