“Yes.” Her pale face was shining with hope.
An ache rising to her throat, Vanessa prayed with all her heart that the unconventional doctor was right.
Chapter Six
Another rose lay on her pillow when she awakened. Slowly coming to consciousness, Vanessa reached out to touch the velvet petals with a fingertip. Last night’s bloom had been bloodred. This one looked almost silver in the moonlight, with faint striations of what might be coral along the veins.
“That variety is called a Shropshire Beauty,” said a familiar male voice from across the room.
Her heartbeat quickening, Vanessa raised her head and saw a pair of lazy-lidded gray eyes calmly watching her in the moonlit darkness.
He was lounging in the same wing chair, dressed casually in shirtsleeves and breeches, like any squire or yeoman farmer might. Yet with his inherent aristocratic grace, no one would have mistaken Damien Sinclair for anything but a nobleman. With his shirt open at the throat, the white cambric presented a severe contrast to his dark good looks and sun-warmed skin.
Despite her vow to keep her feelings for him under control, Vanessa felt a surge of pleasure. He had as much as promised her he would return for future late-night’tete-a-tetes, and, mad as it might be, she was glad he had come.
It seemed almost natural to rise and put on a shawl and slippers and join him in front of the hearth, where a pleasant fire burned.
Then again, perhaps she had made a mistake. Damien gave her a soft smile, ripe with the seductive charm that made strong women weak. To hide her response to that devastatingly sensual smile, she bent her head to the rose, inhaling the fragrant scent.
How far and fast she had fallen-behaving like a wanton at the first opportunity. How dangerous he was. How captivating. All he did was beckon to her and she came running like a hound to heel. But she could no more resist him than she could have repressed the need to breathe.
She tried to compensate for her brazenness by avoiding his gaze. “I inspected the entry panel to the passage,” she murmured. “I could not manage to open it.”
“I will show you how if you like.”
“Where does it lead?”
He gave her a long look, until she finally raised her head. “To my bedchamber.”
Meeting his silvered eyes, Vanessa felt her heart accelerate into a rapid rhythm. “It doesn’t seem to have a lock.”
“True. It doesn’t. You may wedge an object in the junction to prevent it from sliding open. But you needn’t look so worried. I won’t press you to share my bed without your full cooperation.”
“You are likely to have a long wait.”
He smiled. “Anticipation merely makes the pleasure all the more sweet, angel.”
She drew an unsteady breath. “Does everyone know about the passageway?”
“It’s a secret, to my knowledge. I was a boy when I first discovered it. My illustrious father used to invite… certain female guests to stay here. The first time I found him, he was with a married lady.”
“His mistress was married?”
His lip curled. “I fear I was disillusioned quite young.”
“Did you aspire to be like your father?”
“God forbid.” He took a long swallow of brandy and stared pensively into the flames. “Now he was a reprobate of the first order. You would not have cared for him… Then again, you might. He had a way with women. He kept a string of mistresses-until he became so ensnared by one that he forswore all the rest, including my mother.”
The dark edge to his tone suggested pain as well as censure, and Vanessa studied him curiously. “I confess you are not what I expected.”
“How so?”
Vanessa pursed her lips thoughtfully. At his country home, Lord Sin seemed vastly different from his reputation. She’d seen little of his rakish ways here. On the contrary, she’d seen how he treated his sister, his protectiveness and gentleness toward her. He could not be all bad if he cared so deeply for someone. “You just seem different. Not as wild and wicked as I would have thought.”
“I rarely indulge in orgies and perversions at home,” he responded wryly. “And I draw the line at adultery.”
“I am comforted to know that.”