To Pleasure a Lady (Courtship Wars)

I must concede I was mistaken about the earl. He has some redeeming qualities after all.

– Arabella to Fanny

“Roslyn, Lily…whatever are you doing here?” Arabella asked when she found her sisters waiting in the academy’s reception office where she and the headmistress conducted the business of running the school. “You are not scheduled to teach any classes this afternoon.”

“We came to discover how you are faring,” Roslyn replied, a look of concern on her lovely face, “and to see if you need our help. Since we couldn’t very well visit you at home, we thought this would be the best place. Tess told us the alarming news, Arabella-that Lord Danvers actually proposed to you.”

“Yes,” Lily agreed, her expression even more troubled. “How in heaven’s name did that happen, Belle? The earl has only been here for four days and already you are making outrageous wagers with him?”

Had Marcus only been here for four days? Arabella reflected in amazement. It seemed like far longer.

Debating on how much to reveal, she settled in a wing chair opposite her sisters. “Did Tess also tell you the stakes involved? Lord Danvers promised to grant us our legal and financial freedom if I can manage to resist his courtship for a fortnight. The prospect was too enticing to pass up.”

“She told us,” Roslyn said. “And we appreciate the sacrifice you are making for us-”

“But we are worried for you,” Lily interrupted. There was none of the usual laughter in her warm brown eyes. “Tess says his lordship is sinfully handsome and charming.”

And enchanting and irresistible, Arabella thought.

Aloud, she sighed. “Regrettably, he is. But I agreed to give him a fair chance to woo

me.”

She proceeded to give her sisters an edited account of what had happened between them the past few days, leaving out entirely Marcus’s lessons in passion.

“This is our opportunity to win emancipation from his guardianship for good,” Arabella concluded.

Lily frowned. “So he doesn’t mean to make us abandon the academy or force us to marry?”

“Not if I can win the wager.”

“Tess said you found him more agreeable than expected,” Roslyn added, “but what sort of man is he?”

Arabella had no ready answer for that. After seeing Marcus yesterday with her pupils, she had to concede that he was someone she could admire and respect. Or so he seemed on the surface. One couldn’t fully judge a person’s character so quickly. And thus far he was acting the ideal suitor in hopes of convincing her he would make the ideal husband.

“He is indeed much more reasonable than his solicitors’ letters led us to believe,” she admitted.

“There is no chance the earl will win your wager, is there?” Lily asked, still worried. “He won’t convince you to accept his proposal? You have always said you wouldn’t risk being miserable in a marriage of convenience, Belle.”

Arabella smiled reassuringly. “You needn’t distress yourself. I haven’t changed my opinion about marriage in the least.”

She might not be able to resist Marcus’s devastating kisses but she had no intention of wedding him. She certainly wouldn’t be so gullible as to let herself fall in love again, and true love was the only thing that could possibly induce her to brave the perils of betrothal and marriage a second time. She was much wiser now, more careful with her heart.

“Do you want us to come home and help you deal with the earl?” Roslyn asked. “We promised Tess we would finish her charity baskets by next week, but your welfare is more important just now.”

“Yes,” Lily seconded. “Perhaps we should come home to support you against the earl.”

“Thank you, but no,” Arabella replied. “I am dealing with him well enough, truly. And contributing those baskets to the war families means so much to Tess.”

She was about to inquire how her sisters were faring when she heard footsteps out in the corridor, then a soft rap on the door. When she bid entrance, the headmistress, Miss Jane Caruthers, entered, followed by a tall, athletic, raven-haired gentleman who was instantly recognizable, even before Jane announced their visitor. “Lord Danvers to see you, Arabella.”

Arabella froze as her gaze connected with a pair of keen blue eyes. It unsettled her that Marcus had shown up uninvited at her school, not merely because she had hoped to keep her sisters safely concealed from him for a while longer until she could be certain of his intentions, but because his presence here now badly flustered her.

She couldn’t help recalling that two hours ago she was lying in his arms, hot and damp and clinging, while he roused cries of pleasure from her. Arabella flushed at the memory, still feeling the warmth and strength of his hands on her skin, the eroticism of his kisses.

And Marcus, blast him, was clearly remembering too, she realized as their gazes locked for an instant. The heat in his eyes raised her temperature; the intensity of his look made her feel as if he’d put his wonderful hands on her, his sensual, sinful mouth…

Chiding herself, Arabella rose to her feet, while Lily murmured, “Speak of the devil.”