Netherby Halls

by Claudy Conn

  Sassy smiled and said her name softly, careful to avoid the marquis’s penetrating gaze.

  “Sassy? What is that for?”

  “Sassandra.”

  “Why—how divine, and how wretchedly jealous I am, for how can my insipid name compare to such as that?” she complained, half in earnest.

  “Sophia is a lovely name,” Percy said at once and most sincerely as he came to take his place beside her once more.

  Not to be outdone, Lord Grey jumped to the occasion. “Exquisite name, Sophia—soft and bubbling.”

  “Oh mush!” Percy exclaimed. “Must you go on so, puppy?”

  “I thought his compliment extremely gratifying, Percy, and do not appreciate you referring to my being called soft and bubbling as mush!” the lady in question complained with a pout.

  Again, Sassy’s eyes found the marquis’s blue one, and again amusement was shared. What was she going to do? He was the man of her dreams. She knew that, for whatever reasons, he had been chosen by her inner magic to be her mate. Would he feel the same about her? She was so completely mesmerized by him, but was it real?

  Suddenly Sophy took Sassy’s arm and pulled her aside. “Come, Sassy, let us leave these awful men and sit comfortably together.”

  Sassy allowed herself to be guided down the aisle until they arrived at an empty pew. Sophie pulled at her sleeve and said, “Here.”

  It seemed an age, but at last the sermon, which Sassy thought dull and uninspired, so very different than her father’s sermons, was at end and the congregation began filing outdoors.

  During the long monotone Sassy could not stop thinking about her father and how much she missed him. Unbidden, a tear formed and fell, and for one moment, Sassy’s composure was threatened.

  She felt alone, so totally alone. Feeling thusly, she inched away from Sophia, who had become involved in the bantering between her two admirers at her back.

  “Miss Winthrop.” His voice was low, deep and concerned, as he took a seat beside her.

  When she turned her face to him without thinking, he frowned and said, “Why, Miss Winthrop, it is as I suspected, for I could not help but note that something was amiss.”

  She was surprised and touched by his concern. She looked at her gloved and folded hands in her lap. He was a virtual stranger, and she should not allow him to see her thusly undone. “’Tis nothing, my lord …” Her voice broke on the words, and she gulped.

  He took her hand, and his touch even with gloves on both their hands was absolutely riveting. It was as though her entire body immediately leaned towards him looking for more of the same, wanting this—his touching.

  “Come,” he said as he gently pulled her up out of the pew and steered her away from the gathering crowd.

  “I-I … do beg your pardon,” Sassy managed after an interval. “I am making an absurd cake of myself,” she said, brushing at her damp cheek.

  “My dear Miss Winthrop, I have no real notion what the source of your agitation is, though I am inclined to suspect it was that belabored soliloquy we have just had the misfortune to have endured.”

  Sassy giggled almost wildly and then caught her breath and shook her head. “Thank you, I needed that.” She sighed. “Papa was such a wonderful vicar—a truly great man—and for a moment,” she said, holding back a sudden urge to cry, “I missed his voice and wished I was away from here and—”

  He cut in then and said, “Ah, well, in that you are not alone, my dear. I too have been wishing I was anywhere else but in this church.” Though the marquis spoke gravely, his blue eyes twinkled at her.

  Once again Sassy had a good laugh, and the marquis continued, “So then, your papa was a vicar in Sutton Village?”

  She eyed him sharply and said, “Yes.”

  “I am glad you did not ask me how I knew it was Sutton, for I think you and I remember one another—don’t we?”

  What was he asking? What was he doing? Had he felt what she felt in that dream when she first saw him in person across the avenue in Sutton? Was her magic growing and playing tricks on her? Had he seen her on his bed as she had seen him—naked? What was happening to her?

  He cocked a look at her that sent another flurry of heat through her, and she couldn’t speak. She was so flooded with confusion and emotion that she simply could not answer him.

  “I see that you do remember. You ran from me then. Tell me why?”

  “I-I cannot say …”

  “I can, but I would like you to tell me. I would like to get to the bottom of this, and I think you know what is going on between us—do you?”

  “Stop, oh please, I don’t know!” She wanted to run from him and was saved at that moment by Sophy, who came rushing at them.

  “Sassy, oh Sassy, I need a favor.” Sophy touched the marquis’s sleeve. “I really need the favor from you, Justin. Percy and Lord Grey are impossible. I am in dread of their drawing swords at any moment. Do go and see if you can manage them, please?”

  Sassy saw the flicker of irritation in the marquis’s bright blues as he said, “Really, Sophy, as much as I would like to oblige you, I must point out that Percy is a man fully capable of handling himself. And as to that puppy forever hanging about, he needs some schooling!”

  “Oh, but, Justin, you don’t understand. They are raising their voices in the midst of the crowd, and it won’t do.”

  “I should think you would be thrilled to have two suitors doing open battle over you,” the marquis said dryly.

  Sophy seemed too taken aback by his refusal to help to say anything; however, Sassy jumped in. “Ah, now, my lord, anyone can see that Sophy is not flattered by their behavior and does not wish to have her name bandied about in public. It won’t do, and it won’t help either suitor shine in her parents’ eyes, now will it?”

  This gave his lordship reason to pause. He inclined his head. “Your powers of reasoning—and persuasion—leave me no choice but to obey,” he said with a smile in his eyes for her as he bowed. When he came up their gazes locked. “But we will take up where we left off, and soon, my beauty,” he whispered softly, “very soon.”

  “Well!” Sophy declared, linking her arm through Sassy’s. “You certainly have him twisted around your finger. I cannot recommend him to you, though, for I find him ill mannered.” Sophy giggled and added, “And still what a feather in a woman’s bonnet when he looks her way.” Sophy gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes.

  Sassy found she liked this new side of Sophy and laughed. “You are incorrigible. You already have two very estimable gentlemen paying you court, and more for all I know.”

  Sophy laughed. “Oh I am sorry for my behavior yesterday. I was out of sorts, and then there you were, so beautiful, and Percy was being attentive to you …”

  “I take it Percy is the one you are interested in much more than Lord Grey?”

  “I adore Percy. I have never loved any other man or will love any other man. It has always been Percy, but I shan’t be allowed to marry him. My family thinks I must have title and wealth beyond imagination, and I cannot think of a solution. I suppose I shall have to marry Lord Grey and take Percy as a lover.”

  Sassy gasped. “Sophy! No—how can you plan such a thing?”

  “It is done all the time. I have heard about it from all my friends, and I hear my mother and her friends talking incessantly about friends who made marriages of convenience and have taken lovers. My aunt told me something of the sort just the other day.”

  “She didn’t! Oh, I am persuaded she could not have.”

  “She did. She said, Sophy, you must make a marriage of convenience, and after a time, if you are discreet, you may go on as you please. So I ask you, Sassy, what else can that mean?”

  “Oh, Sophy, I am sure that wouldn’t do for you. Imagine having to kiss a man you don’t love and then have him … have him … well …?”

  Sophy grimaced. “I know, I know. And I have thought of that, because when Percy kisses me, it takes me away and makes me w
ant more—more kisses, more touching, and intimacy—but when Lord Grey kissed me the other day, it was horrid. I so wanted to slap his face.” She wrung her hands. “What is to be done? Mama says I may have a separate bedroom from my husband if I wish, but what if he visits me and I don’t want him to? And Percy? Percy would be raw with jealousy. Only look at him when Lord Grey kisses my hand, and he doesn’t know about him kissing my mouth, and—”

  “Oh Sophy, a solution must be found,” Sassy said on a note of distress.

  “Do you know, you are the only friend who has understood? My other friends tell me I am foolish and that I could do what my aunt says I should.” She shook her head. “I think I would detest such a life—” She cut herself off. “Oh—there is Mama waving. Sassy, Mama is having an ‘at home’ today. I want you to join us, for you and I shall be friends forever. Please do come … please?”

  “You are very kind to invite me, but, Sophy, I don’t think your mama would approve of you inviting me.”

  “Nonsense. Mama says she knows your mother’s side of the family and that they are very high in the instep. She also said that they just might wish to re-establish you in the family, because she heard talk about it.” Sophy shrugged. “Besides that she and Miss Graves have been friends for years, and she has her over for tea all the time. I would take it as a favor if you would drive home with me and Lord Grey so that I won’t be alone with him. I can’t go with my parents, as they are the ones that trapped me into going home with Grey, and if I went off with Percy, Mama would go off in convulsions, and—”

  “I see,” Sassy said, putting up her hands and sighing. “What a mess, to be sure.”

  “Oh, I knew you would understand,” Sophy wailed thankfully.

  A young choirboy appeared at that moment, cleared his throat, and said loudly, “Excuse me, but Miss Sallstone says she is leaving, if you would like to return to the school with her.”

  Miss Delleson took over and said, “Thank Miss Sallstone and tell her that I am abducting Miss Winthrop for the afternoon and shall see to it that she is returned to Netherby safely later—much later. Thank you.”

  The boy ran off, and Sophy said with some excitement, “Oh, we shall have such fun, although if Mama notices the way the marquis is looking at you—even now, she will not be pleased and will pitch Lord Grey at me even harder.”

  ~ Eleven ~

  LUNCHEON AT THE Delleson home was a lively affair. However, Sophy had two younger sisters who attached themselves to Sassy and greedily kept her in conversation throughout the meal. More than once, Sassy’s gaze met that of the marquis, and she could see he was greatly amused at her predicament.

  At long last Mrs. Delleson banished her youngest daughters to another part of the house and sent her husband off with his crony to play chess in the library. This done, she announced that she had to speak with cook and left the salon with one steady look at her Sophy.

  Sophy and Sassy exchanged glances, and Sophy whispered, “She is leaving us unchaperoned?”

  “I am one and twenty—perhaps she thinks me chaperone enough?” suggested Sassy, which caused them both to laugh.

  Lord Grey put down his empty glass of port and moved to flank Sophia. Percy, not to be undone, inched his way closer and glared at his rival.

  Sassy sighed and moved away only to find the marquis at her elbow. “Ah, you have been put upon this day. Are your ears still operating?”

  She laughed. “They did have an awful lot to say. It was fortunate they did not require much more than, ah, as a response.”

  He reached for her ungloved hand, and she thought she would swoon from the sensation that shot through her. What was this? Why such extreme reaction to him? She touched her ring, and a feminine voice in her head whispered, The one … the only … .the one …

  He looked at her ring and would have touched it had she not withdrawn her fingers from his. His voice was low, his gaze intent as he said, “An unusual ring. I have only seen that stone once before.”

  She nearly put her hands behind her back but controlled herself. “I think I’ll just sit for a bit.”

  He saw her seated on the sofa and sat close, perhaps too close to her. She tried to bring the conversation away from her ring. “Indeed, I am not sure I was ever that talkative, even at their ages.”

  “Did they make your head spin?” he asked casually.

  “Yes, I must say they nearly did. All they need is a bit more reining in and a pinch of self-control, and they’ll do.” Sassy smiled ruefully.

  “A bit? I wanted to box their ears.” His blue eyes glittered with amusement. “I don’t suppose you allow such behavior from your students?”

  “Oh, they are a wonderful group, but I suppose they will have their days,” she mused.

  “And when those days arrive, will you, I wonder know how to handle them?” returned the marquis.

  “Do you not think I can?” Sassy arched a look at him, thinking his eyes were bluer than the sky, his lips so lush and desirable, his shoulders so large, his chest so broad …

  “Don’t pick up the cudgels with me, little beauty. I only wonder because you were an only child I think and never trained for the life you are presently leading,” he answered softly.

  A hint of admiration lined his tone, and she looked at her hands, folded in her lap. “One must find a way to do what is necessary.”

  “And so you have,” he answered quietly.

  “How kind. Thank you,” she said simply.

  “A truth, and it won’t be the last in our relationship,” he answered. “And I hope you may soon trust me with the same.”

  Shock tinged her response. “Relationship? We do not have a relationship, my lord.”

  “Ah, but that hurts. Never say you are rejecting my friendship?”

  She laughed and shook her head. “Oh no, my lord, I am not so hasty, I assure you. When your friendship is offered, I will carefully give it my consideration before accepting or rejecting it,” Sassy replied, giving him a saucy look.

  “Then what do you think I have been offering you from the moment we met?” he asked, looking intently into her eyes.

  “Curiosity,” she answered as her hands fluttered. “Flirtation.”

  “And friendship, I do hope you will believe that.”

  “Do you? Perhaps I shall try to, then,” she said and once again realized that any trepidation she felt when with him wasn’t his fault. It was hers—her magic was filtering through her to him. Her magic was giving him pictures of her in his head and taking the same from him. Her magic had decided he was her mate and was teaching her to accept the decree. But she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t be guided or ruled by her magic.

  Her mana was hers, not the other way around. Her magic belonged to her; she did not belong to it. She bolstered her self-control and managed to shut off the extreme desire burning through her body because it had moved her closer to him without her even being aware.

  He looked intently at her and whispered, “Miss Winthrop.” He got up from the sofa. “Allow me to fetch you a sweet cake?”

  She was surprised but was also thankful. What would she have done next? Thrown her arms around him? “Yes, oh yes, I would like that.”

  * * *

  The marquis’s experience had embroiled him with many sorts of lovelies, and he had not reached the age of twenty-seven without learning to handle himself in all given situations. He had even thought himself in love once or twice but had become quickly disenchanted.

  He had never been kept at arm’s length, and he had no doubt that this beauty was attempting to do just that. Why? He was quite used to women trying to ensnare him for his title and wealth.

  He wanted Sassy Winthrop, and his wanting had already sent him into obsession. He dreamed of her and what it would be like to hold her, kiss her, touch her, and that dream had been so real …

  He was aroused beyond the norm, and he could not deny that in addition to the lust he felt for her, he liked her. He liked her spirit, and he li
ked the manner in which she held and conducted herself, but she wasn’t someone he could use and forget. She was someone a man should treasure. That wasn’t for him.

  He handed her the small china plate with the sweetcake and watched her spoon some into her mouth. When she moaned, the sound went through him. His dick, already hard, wanted out of his breeches.

  “This is delectable. I shall have to walk a few miles after I am finished,” she said, smiling.

  “You are too thin and can well afford a few pieces of cake,” he said thoughtfully and then added, “You thanked me for my offer of friendship, but you doubt my sincerity.” He was piqued in spite of himself.

  “Do I doubt it?” Sassy returned, and the light in her green eyes nearly took his breath away.

  What the hell was wrong with him? He felt like a schoolboy with his first crush. “Hang it, woman! Do not answer my question with a question. Tell me instead, what have I done that has not been an act of friendship?

  “Ah, let us review,” Sassy said, her green eyes twinkling at him, and for him, no one else was in the room. Everything faded and turned into a place where only this beauty with the speaking eyes stood before him. He had to get control over himself, and he attempted to banish such fantasy.

  “Indeed, let us review,” he agreed, a smile curving his lips as he stared at hers.

  “You, my lord, very kindly offered me assistance on the road when my carriage broke down—an act of chivalry—but then offered me insult when you referred to me as a ‘bird’ when you thought I could not hear you speaking with Percy.” She put up a finger to stall his objection. “You have offered me a strong shoulder during my weakness this morning, and perhaps that was an act of friendship, but I think it was to further your purpose and add another feather to your over-laden cap.”

  “Add another feather?” He was actually just a bit stunned by her directness and all the more captivated.

  “What all rogues are forever doing, aren’t they? Seduction, isn’t that what you have been playing at from the moment we met?” Sassy mitigated these words with an amiable laugh. “I know … outrageous of me to speak of such things, but there it is—I am, I’m afraid, outspoken.”