The Offer (Baron 2)

No, he wouldn’t ever allow himself to be a pet dog at her feet. “Yes, I’ll certainly dine here, but then I’m off. I have an engagement this evening and won’t be home until very late. Then if you like, I’ll come to you, Sabrina, or if you please, you can come to me, and we can try again to make you scream with pleasure.”

She pulled her arm back, but he caught her fist at least six inches from his jaw. “I thought you loved me,” he said.

She stared into his hazel eyes. “Yes, but I still want to kill you.”

He laughed, released her, and stepped back. At least his wife was no longer a virgin. She still wasn’t a satisfied woman, but he had time. They had the rest of their lives. He didn’t like the sound of that in his mind, but somehow he liked the feel of it in his gut.

Freedom, it was all a matter of freedom. He took another step away from her, then said, “What gown do you intend to wear?”

What was in his mind? “Rose satin,” she said. “It hasn’t yet arrived from the dressmaker.”

“It should go well with your hair.”

“I hope so. Charlie thought that it would.”

“I don’t give a good damn about Charles’s opinion about anything regarding my wife.”

That made her smile, and he saw it. “I’m not jealous of that blockhead, Sabrina.”

“Certainly not, my lord. That would be a very petty thing and if there’s anything at all I understand about you, it’s that you’re never petty.”

She didn’t know exactly what he was, but she imagined, being a wife for life, that she would discover everything about him in the years to come. Years during which he would have mistresses. And spend time with them. She supposed, fool that she was, that she’d really expected him to stay with her after last night. She’d given him everything she had.

It still wasn’t enough. She met with Mrs. Hawley and discussed new sheets.

The arrival of her rose satin gown the next day from the dressmaker’s didn’t make her smile.

35

Sabrina stared at herself in the mirror. The rose satin gown with its layers of Valenciennes lace edging the bodice and sleeves made her look more like a medieval lady than a modern one. But it was unusual and lovely. She didn’t look too bad either, praise be to God.

He hadn’t come to her. She’d wanted to go to him, but she hadn’t. She was afraid she’d smell his mistress’s perfume on him again.

He could have at least come to her once, just once, but he hadn’t.

She was reaching for a single strand of pearls when there was a knock on the door. She was in one of the smaller bedchambers. She assumed he was back in his own.

“Come,” she called out. She nodded absently to Doris and began to finger the clasp on the necklace.

“Oh, it’s you, my lord. Do come in. Her ladyship is lovely, isn’t she? I was worried about the shade of the gown, you know, but it’s very elegant.”

Sabrina was grinning at her maid’s enthusiasm when she turned around and nearly froze her tongue in her mouth. Phillip stood in the doorway, dressed in severe black, his cravat and shirt as white as new snow. It would be cold to the touch, surely. She’d never seen a more beautiful man in all her life, not that her life was all that long, but still, there could be no man on the earth to compare to him. Well, at least in London. She wanted to just spit it out and kiss him and run her hands over him, but she stood still, waiting.

He was just standing there, after he’d dismissed Doris, studying her, like a man deciding whether or not he’d buy a hunter.

Then he smiled and stepped to her. “Just one more small item, Sabrina, and all the gentlemen will fall inert at your feet.”

He was the only man she wanted inert at her feet and she didn’t want him inert at all. “Good evening, Phillip. What are you talking about? What item?”

Phillip opened a narrow jewelry box. Nestled on a bed of black velvet was a delicate diamond necklace.

It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. She just stared at it.

“I saw your gown earlier. I think the diamonds will be more striking than the pearls. What do you think?”

She picked up the necklace, watching the diamonds spill over her palm. “It’s incredible. Oh, Phillip, thank you.” She threw her arms around his neck.

He didn’t move, his arms remaining at his sides. But he did kiss her temple. “Let me fasten the necklace.”