by Diana Quincy
Pushing her brush around aimlessly on the cold-pressed paper, Kat pretended to concentrate on her watercolor. What was Edward doing here? He stood by the bank, not far from Laurie, with Vera at his feet, conversing with Toby and some other gentlemen guests.
The last time they’d spoken alone, in the park, he’d planned to decline the invitation to the Hobart’s house party. She smiled to herself. Perhaps he’d missed her.
Lexie’s gaze remained on Edward. “He isn’t the handsomest of men, but his title more than makes up for what he lacks in looks and charm.”
“I think he is quite attractive,” Bea said. “In a hard sort of way.”
Lexie winked. “That mistress of his seems to have no problem handling him.”
Bea gasped. “Lexie!”
Lexie waved her off. “What? Everyone knows the Amazon is the earl’s ladybird.”
Kat swallowed away the instant jealousy that gripped her throat. She’d forgotten about the Spanish strumpet. Surely, Edward would give up his mistress once they married. He had to.
Any hopes Kat harbored of putting the Maid of Malagon out of her mind were firmly dashed a few hours later when the Amazon made an unexpected appearance as the guests gathered before dinner. Resplendent in a royal blue gown that showcased her bountiful breasts, she appeared on the threshold of the salon with her jet-black hair styled high atop her head, making her appear even taller.
The air whooshed out of Kat’s chest. “What is she doing here?” she whispered to Bea.
“Isn’t she divine?” Bea watched Elena with a frankly admiring expression on her face. “I convinced Mother to invite her.”
“And she agreed?” Kat said incredulously. “Surely she is not considered respectable?”
“She has the prince regent’s admiration on account of her wartime valor, so she is now invited everywhere.”
Well. That hardly seemed fair. The woman flouted convention at every turn and was still accepted everywhere, while all other females had to follow society’s rigid strictures or risk being cast out permanently. Kat couldn’t even walk alone in the park without courting ruin, yet the Amazon could go to war and have carnal knowledge of men and still be widely admired?
“Are you well, Kat?” Lexie asked. “You seem a little flushed.”
Kat flashed Lexie an angry glare before remembering to mask her true feelings. “It is a little warm in here,” she said in a bored tone.
“Hmmm,” Lexie said. “I thought perhaps your thoughts were on the Maid of Malagon.” Kat’s heart froze. Had she been so obvious? She was usually a master at masking genuine emotions; even Laurie rarely had an inkling of her true thoughts. “After all,” Lexie continued, “when she is about, you no longer command the entire room as you are so used to doing.”
“Oh, do be quiet,” Bea said. “Kat has already landed the Season’s most eligible bachelor. What does she care for the attentions of other gentlemen?”
A hush fell over the room, drawing their attention back in the direction of the Spanish woman. Kat forgot how to breathe when Edward stepped in beside Elena wearing unrelieved black formal wear with a royal blue cravat, which exactly matched the shade of Elena’s silk gown.
“Well, perhaps not the most eligible bachelor.” Lexie stared at the couple. “After all, an earl is higher than a viscount.”
Kat struggled to maintain a neutral expression despite the awful thought forming in her mind. She’d thought Edward had come for her, his future wife, but what if he’d been unable to stay away from his mistress? The color of his cravat could not be a coincidence. It was as if he’d purposely dressed to complement the gown worn by his mistress and wanted everyone to know it.
She watched Elena smile at Edward with a confidence that suggested she knew she belonged at his side. Edward’s stern expression relaxed as he bowed over his mistress’ hand, touching his lips to the gloved surface.
“She’s a bold piece, that one. Not that I care,” Lexie said with a mischievous smile. “I do not require fidelity in marriage, so long as it comes with a title.”
A heavy ache throbbed in Kat’s chest. Obviously, Edward not only intended to keep his mistress, he planned to flaunt her openly at society affairs.
After supper, the men rejoined the ladies not long after being left to their port. Laurie and many of the other men went off to play cards. When Edward slipped out of the room, Kat seized her chance to have it out with him. He moved ahead of her at a leisurely pace, which made following him remarkably easy. He wound his way down the corridor and around a corner until he came to the solarium and slipped inside. Kat melted back into the shadows when she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Servants it seemed. After they’d passed her, she emerged from her hiding place and followed Edward into the solarium.
The room was dark and steeped with the tang of citrus fruits. A long row of windows faced out onto the manor grounds. A deep-throated, feminine chuckle reached Kat, and she had no doubt who it belonged to. She maneuvered around the lemon plants until she caught sight of them.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” the woman asked Edward in that throaty voice of hers.
“Definitely.” He pulled Elena’s body up against his and kissed her with almost violent passion. The Spanish woman did not seem to mind. From what Kat could tell, she participated fully in the embrace.
The Amazon sighed when he kissed a trail down her neck. “Do you like that, my love?”
Throwing back her head, Elena drew Edward’s head against her. “Sí mi amor. Si.”
“You are so lovely,” he murmured against the woman’s throat. “So lovely.”
Kat stood frozen in place, unable to fully believe the wretched scene playing out before her: Edward’s lips on that woman’s skin, the terms of endearment, his breath heavy with arousal.
Elena’s fingers went to the placket of Edward’s pants. “Come, mi amor. I want you now.”
The full horror of witnessing Edward in the act of copulating with another woman slammed into Kat. Before she could stop it, an indecipherable utterance of shock and dismay escaped her lips, reverberating through the air like a clanging bell. Clapping her hand over her mouth, she watched Edward pull away from the Amazon to look in her direction.
“Kat?” Comprehension moved slowly across his face when he recognized her. “You shouldn’t be here.”
What had she expected? Remorse? Chagrin at being caught in a blatant act of betrayal? Some expression of guilt? Instead, his face wore a polite expression, his voice almost nonchalant, as though he hadn’t been pawing his mistress right before her eyes. She saw his hand move to his placket to assure himself that his privates were not exposed. Thank goodness they were not. “I beg your pardon for disturbing you,” she said, her tone edged with irony, hating how shaky her voice sounded.
“No harm done,” he said in a mild tone.
No harm done? She began to tremble with a combination of distress and fury. “No harm done?”
“Eduardo.” The Spanish woman spoke his name in a warning tone. “Basta.”
His courteous gaze remained on Kat. “Although I must apologize you were subjected to this unseemly display.”
“You’re sorry that I saw you?” Not sorry that he had done it. He only regretted that she had witnessed his betrayal.
“Of course, you are a maiden with tender sensibilities.”
She found it hard to comprehend what she was hearing. None of it made sense. Darting a glance at the Amazon, she said, “May I speak with Edward alone?”
“There is nothing we have to say that Elena cannot hear.” He gave the woman a fond look. “She is very dear to me.”
Kat couldn’t believe her ears. She began to shake. “You want your mistress to remain for our private discourse?”
Compassion flitted across the Amazon’s face. “I shall leave you,” she said in an almost gentle tone. Elena walked out of the room, leaving them alone.
“How could you do it?”
An express
ion of courteous inquiry came over his face. “Do what?”
“You know what I’m talking about.” Her voice shook. “Don’t insult me by pretending you don’t.”
“Oh, you mean Elena. Isn’t it obvious? I enjoy her charms. Very much so.”
“How can you love me and do…that…with her?”
He smiled in the indulgent manner of a father explaining a simple concept to a naïve child. “The intimacies you and I have shared are also very pleasant. Men are simple creatures. Most willing women will drive us mad with lust.”
She sucked in a breath. “How dare you compare me…what we share…to the unspeakable things you engage in with that strumpet.”
“Come now, it is really not so different. I am drawn to Elena, as I am to you, and would be to any beautiful woman, especially ones with whom I can slake my desires.”
His words slammed into her like a runaway carriage. His kisses, his touches, weren’t anything special. He felt the same physical need and excitement with all women. “Even if we marry, you will still pursue other females?”
He shrugged. “It is the nature of men. We are a rather base lot.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re lying,” she said heatedly. “The Edward I know would never behave as you have.”
His expression hardened, the skin stretching tight over his high cheekbones. “You are quite correct. I am not the same man. Your Edward died a thousand deaths on battlefields across the Continent.”
Her eyes filled. “So what is left of him?”
“Nothing.”
The impact of his words hit her like a blow to the stomach and she winced at the pain. “This cannot be happening.”
“Shall I escort you back?” he asked in a solicitous tone. “I do hope we shall always be friends.”
Friends. As if she and Edward could ever be friends. “Have you no feeling?” she whispered.
“No.” Darkness clouded his face. “I’ve none.”
Unable to bear the sight of him for another moment, she spun away and stumbled out of the room with sorrow throbbing in her chest. She bolted down the corridor and tried desperately to recall the route back to her bedchamber. She couldn’t possibly face the other guests.
“There you are, darling. I wondered where you’d got to.” The familiar warm voice cut through the fog of despair and misery.
The sight of Laurie standing at the end of the corridor prompted relief to flood her body. “I’m here.” She went to him and took his arm, grateful for the solid strength he offered. “Oh Laurie, I’m so fortunate to have you.”
His eyes widened slightly, perhaps because he sensed her remark was genuine rather than motivated by the flirtatious banter she usually employed with him. “I hope you shall always be so pleased to see me.” The palpable affection in his voice soothed her jumbled nerves. “Even after I’ve lost my hair and my teeth.”
She squeezed his arm under her hand. Dear Laurie. Honest and loyal. So good when she was so faithless. “Especially when you are old and toothless,” she said fervently. “I swear it.”
Chapter Seven
Edward stood motionless in the darkness of the solarium long after Kat left him, replaying her stricken expression over and over again in his mind.
“Your plan, it appears to have worked, querido.”
“Astoundingly well.” He blinked in the direction of the familiar voice. Elena stood in the doorway. “Although that’s hardly surprising. Strategy is supposed to be my strong suit.” It had, after all, won him an earldom.
“She was most distressed.” Elena moved closer, her eyes fixed on him. “It is as you wished, no?”
“Absolutely.” He swallowed against the ache in his lungs. Erasing any lingering doubts Kitty had about wedding the viscount was his final gift to her. Sinclair would give her what she deserved: a devoted, honorable husband who wasn’t mad.
“And how about you, my friend?” she asked gently. “Are you all right?”
“Of course.” He gave a harsh laugh. “Despite outward appearances, I’m quite dead inside. Surely, you of all people know that.”
Her expression softened. “I know nothing of the sort, mi corazon.”
…
“Excellent round.” Laurie bowed to Peter Fawson after a turn of fencing. “Will you have another go?”
“Not I.” Fawson headed for the door. “Breakfast is calling my name. I’m hoping to catch the Spanish strumpet there.”
Laurie frowned. “Rand’s gel?”
“The very same. She’s one hot senorita. Have you seen the dairy on her?”
“They’re hard to miss.”
“I’d like to squeeze my Thomas between those diddeys and grind her good and hard.” Lawson chuckled. “Think she’s one to take it into her mouth?”
“I’m sure I cannot say.” Laurie had no fondness for Rand’s mistress, yet Lawson referred to her as one would a common whore and the crude references didn’t sit well with him. “She seems devoted to Randolph.”
Lawson shrugged. “Word is she does as she pleases. I’d like to think she’d be pleased to entertain all sorts of possibilities with me,” he said with a wink before walking out the door.
Glad to see the back of Lawson—whose company he generally enjoyed—Laurie experienced a sense of restlessness. He continued to practice his moves, thrusting and parrying with an imaginary opponent. Kat had been in a strange mood last night, clinging to him as if he were some sort of lifeline. He often felt humored and appeased by her, but last evening he’d felt needed, indispensable even.
A Spanish-accented lilt cut into his thoughts. “Do you desire a partner?”
Turning to face the Maid of Malagon, Laurie gaped momentarily before catching himself. Randolph’s mistress wore tight-fitting breeches that hugged her lanky curves in all sorts of indecent ways. The gentleman’s apparel lingered over her hips, caressing firm, lithe thighs before the calfskin fabric disappeared into gleaming black boots at her knees.
She gave one of those smoky laughs of hers, which made his body tense in response. “I have shocked you again.”
How had this jade ever come to be accepted in polite company? She certainly defied all rules of decorum. “Most English ladies do not wear gentleman’s breeches.”
Those dark lush eyes sparkled with obvious amusement. “Nor do Spanish ladies with breeding. We are not so different from you English.”
She was certainly unlike any other female of his acquaintance. Elena moved with a confident gait and bent over to pick up the foil Lawson had left on the ground. The movement strained the breeches over her bottom, giving him an astoundingly sensual view of her nicely rounded backside.
He averted his eyes. “And yet you wear breeches?”
She straightened to her full height. “It is rather difficult to man a cannon in a skirt.” She whipped the foil around as though testing its weight. “Will you have a go with me?”
To his dismay, his prick swelled in reaction to her invitation, even though she surely wasn’t offering to shuck those breeches and give him a go at her. “You not only man a cannon, but you fence as well? I suppose I should not be surprised.”
She lifted her chin. “Perhaps you are afraid to take on a woman.”
He sighed at her obvious attempt to goad him. “Very well.” Laurie saluted her with his foil and bowed.
“The vizconde is always so polite.”
“I do try.”
They began to thrust and parry, light movements to warm up. He changed his rhythm to throw her off, but she caught on and followed seamlessly. He clearly had strength and height as an advantage, but the Maid proved to be quick on her feet. “You fence well.”
“For a woman you mean, vizconde?”
“I will not dissemble with you, ma’am.” He executed an advance lunge, but she was ready for him and danced out of danger. “I do believe ladies have no business on the battlefield…or in the fencing arena.”
She thrust, her large breasts quivering under the bill
owing white folds of her shirt. “And why is that, patron?”
He easily warded off her attack. “Because of their inherent physical weakness. The Lord, in his wisdom, made females the weaker sex.”
Her foil passed around the tip of his. “You have discounted our strengths.”
“Women undoubtedly have their own strengths, primarily related to intellect. However, I don’t see their use on the field of battle.”
“Oh!” She lost her footing and stumbled, handily proving his point that women had no business fencing. Throwing down his foil, he leaped to catch her before she fell.
She felt surprisingly soft and supple as he held her tight against him, momentarily distracted by the feel of her fleshy orbs against his chest. She blinked up at him with luminous, almost innocent eyes before a look of triumph gleamed in them and he felt the blunt tip of her covered foil under his chin.
She grinned, slow and feline, prompting the temperature of his blood to soar. “Now do you see, vizconde,” she asked, pressing the tip of her blade a little harder into his vulnerable skin, “how our female strengths assist us in our battles?”
With an inward curse, he eyed his foil, which he’d tossed away in an effort to save her. “Not all your opponents will be gentlemen who leap to save you from danger,” he said with grudging admiration.
She laughed, the throaty sound reverberating all the way down to his vitals. “But they are still men, patron, and can be trusted to react to certain womanly charms.”
With his arm still tight around her waist, he became aware of the sensual feel of her lushness pressed against him. The scent of exertion mingled with notes of cinnamon and jasmine filled his nostrils. What a cunning, lusty piece of baggage. He envied the earl his place in this woman’s bed. Then he thought of Kat and shame flushed through him. He released Elena more abruptly than he intended.
She didn’t appear to notice. “Friends?” she asked, drawing the tip of her foil away from his chin.
“Of course.”
