Miss Foster’s Folly

by Alice Gaines

  “Well, well,” Derrington said. “It seems you’ve caught my penchant for dropping drinks.”

  “I say, have you two met?” Blandings said.

  “Figure of speech,” he said.

  “It is?” Blandings’ brow furrowed. “I’ve never heard of it before.”

  “My lord, I’m sure you remember my wife,” Mitford said.

  He bowed. “Lady Mitford.”

  She extended her hand for a kiss, which he supplied.

  “May I present Mrs. Marlow and her cousin Miss Fletcher?” Lady Mitford said.

  Miss Rhodes came to her senses first and dropped a curtsey. He bowed again and then straightened and glanced at Miss Foster. She still stared at him as if she’d swallowed something too large and it had stuck in her throat. After a moment, she recovered somewhat and curtseyed as well. This time, he didn’t bow but simply smiled at her.

  Cornered, and she knew it. How delightful. He’d toy with her for a bit before he decided whether or not to expose her as a fraud.

  “I’m sorry, Lord Mitford,” she said. “I’ve broken one of your champagne glasses.”

  “No matter.” Mitford waved to a nearby servant. Miss Foster stepped aside, and the servant did his best to clear the mess.

  “Shall I get you another?” Derrington asked.

  “Thank you, no. I think I’ve had enough.”

  “Then, perhaps you’d do me the honor of a waltz.”

  The orchestra had just started another dance. Miss Foster didn’t move, and Miss Rhodes glanced from her friend to him and then toward the floor. Awkward all the way around for the Americans. Great fun for him.

  Miss Foster brought her hand to her forehead. “I’m sorry. I suddenly have a headache.”

  Lady Mitford clucked her sympathy. “Shall I get you something?”

  “Not necessary. I’ll lie down for a bit, and I’ll be fine.”

  Before she could escape, he moved to her side and took her elbow in his hand. “Let me help you.”

  She looked up at him, and a bit of her usual fire entered her eyes. “I can manage on my own.”

  “But I insist.” He squeezed her elbow. Gently but firmly enough to show her he wouldn’t be swayed.

  “I can take care of my cousin,” Miss Rhodes tried.

  He glared at her for a moment before pushing Miss Foster away from the others and heading off.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she whispered.

  “Taking you somewhere quiet,” he replied. “So you can recover.”

  “Let me go.”

  “Not a chance in hell.”

  “I don’t have to obey you,” she said.

  “Oh, no?” He paused long enough to stare into her face. “Would you rather go back so I can tell Lord and Lady Mitford who you really are?”

  She blanched. “You wouldn’t.”

  “I wouldn’t depend on that, if I were you.” He started walking again, pushing her through clusters of people as they went.

  He found a fairly quiet hallway. People glanced as he went by, but no one interrupted them. He turned back briefly and found that Miss Rhodes had followed at a distance. He raised a brow and gave her his most imperious glare. It had been known to frighten servants and reduce his social inferiors to stuttering. It worked well enough on her to stop her in her tracks. Good. Now, to find some privacy.

  He went to the very end of the corridor and found an empty room. He guided Miss Foster inside and closed the door behind him. Not a soul in sight. A library, much like the one he’d first met her in New York. Well, that couldn’t be helped.

  Miss Foster jerked her elbow from his fingers. “You have some nerve manhandling me like that.”

  “Why did you run away from me?”

  “From you?” She laughed dismissively. Or so she tried. It wasn’t very convincing.

  “Yes, from me. Whom else?” he demanded. “Or did you ask some other man to deflower you after things didn’t work out with me?”

  Her face turned a violent shade of red, and the color spread to the flesh of her bosom as it had that day at her home. She wore a green gown this time, and it flattered her breasts every bit as much as the crimson had.

  “I’d appreciate it if you’d forget that conversation,” she said.

  “Impossible. Could you forget it?”

  She didn’t answer. Instead, she bit her lower lip in a way that made his body tighten.

  “You didn’t answer me,” he said. “Am I the only one you asked to take your virtue?”

  Her expression sickened, and she stared down at the floor.

  Oh, no. Oh, bloody hell, no. His gut clenched.

  “You didn’t…that is…you haven’t.” He gulped. “You didn’t find another man to do it, did you?”

  She stared up at him, fury in her eyes. “How can you suggest such a thing?”

  “You asked me, didn’t you?” he said. “How do I know you wouldn’t ask some other fellow?”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Because you’re not just any fellow.”

  Warmth settled in his chest and spread like the feeling of fine brandy. She hadn’t given herself to anyone else, and she obviously thought more of him than she’d let on.

  “So why did you run away from me?” he demanded.

  “I’d planned this trip anyway.”

  “And you’d planned to pretend to be a widow?”

  She lifted her chin. “As a matter of fact, yes.”

  He took a few steps toward her; she stepped backward, maintaining a distance from him.

  “You hadn’t planned to encounter someone who knew who you were, though, had you?” he said.

  She retreated farther. “What are you going to do?”

  He closed half the distance between them. “What I should have done in New York.”

  “You can’t mean…” She held her hands out in front of her. “Not here…”

  “Dear heaven, woman. I’m not going to frig you in someone else’s library.”

  She turned her head and watched him out of the corners of her eyes. “Then, what?”

  “I’m going to give you a taste of what I can offer.” He stepped closer. “And then, I’m going to leave you wanting.”

  She stepped back and back until she hit the wall and couldn’t go any farther. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “Oh, but you’ll love the reality. I promise.”

  She flattened herself against the plaster behind her and watched him approach, her eyes so wide they half filled her face. A slight tremble betrayed her fear or excitement.

  He closed the distance between them and put a hand on the wall beside her head. Now that he was going to taste her mouth after weeks of longing, he took a moment for anticipation. Her lips had parted, and her breath came softly between them. He leaned toward her, until his mouth hovered over hers. After a heartbeat or two, she sighed and closed her eyes. Temptation personified. He could wait no longer.

  When he finally kissed her, he gave her no more than a feathering of his lips on hers. Across the top one and then lingering on the fullness of the bottom one. Sweet, so sweet. Like honey and flowers. He did his best to hold himself back for fear he’d lose control. He could rein himself in with some women, but this one worked potent magic on him. Like a narcotic, one sip led to another and then another. Each a little deeper and lingering. A simple caress shouldn’t overpower him, but one from this woman very well might. Before she did, he released her and straightened.

  “Oh, my.” She opened her eyes and raised a hand to touch her lips. “I had no idea.”

  “You still don’t. I scarcely touched you.”

  She moved her hand down her throat. “Do it again.”

  “At your service.” He took her chin in his hand and tilted her head at the right angle to kiss her more deeply. This time, he explored every curve and angle of her mouth, flicking his tongue at the corners and then taking the soft lower lip between his teeth to nibble gently on it.

 
No longer shy, she leaned into him and clung to his shoulders. As lost in the embrace as he’d become. He pulled her against him, and her breasts pressed against his chest. Lower, their bodies met where his rod had already grown to full length and stiffness. How he wanted this woman. No other female had held such sway over him. He’d only just touched her for the first time, and she’d set a fire in his loins.

  Now, she was kissing him. Awkward attempts at first, as though she hadn’t figured how the puzzle pieces fit. He let her explore, though it cost him to keep himself from plundering her mouth. Her fingers made cat-like motions into his shoulders, pressing and releasing, as her lips found her way against his.

  Bolder now, she let the tip of her tongue trail over his lips. Some devil inside him made him meet her with his own tongue. No more than a brush, but it sent a jolt of excitement through him. He had no choice but to pull her harder against him, to thrust his pelvis against hers, so that his member pressed into her belly even through all the layers of their clothing.

  Madness. If he didn’t end the insanity now, he’d lose the ability to do it. His body would punish him for becoming so aroused and not getting satisfaction, but right now, he…had…to…stop.

  He managed, finally, to lift his mouth from hers. Putting space between them proved harder than ending the kiss, but he did that, too. He held her shoulders as she opened her eyes and gave him the unfocused look of a woman well on her way to full arousal. Incredible, that a virgin would respond like this. And yet, she couldn’t have lied about her innocence and expected him not to discover she had.

  “That was…” Her chest rose and fell as she struggled for air “…Remarkable.”

  Heaven help him, his gaze fastened on her breasts and wouldn’t move. He’d marveled at their beauty, and now he could touch them. He used the backs of his fingers first, drawing them over one mound and then the other. She was every bit as soft as he’d imagined, so he stroked her with his fingertips, from her bare shoulder all the way to the top of her revealing bodice.

  “Oh, yes,” she sighed. “Do that.”

  Dear heaven, she wasn’t going to stop him. He could plow her here, in a more or less public room with a party going on not far away, and she’d give him her permission. He could lay her on the floor, lift her skirts, and plunge his swollen member inside her, and she’d help him to it. Was she mad?

  No, he was. Insane enough to cup one breast, savoring its firmness against his palm. He squeezed it and flicked his thumb over the fabric that covered her nipple.

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes.”

  No. Enough. If he went any further, neither of them would end the encounter until it went to its logical conclusion. He took a shaky breath and stepped away from her.

  She leaned back against the wall and opened her eyes. Finally, a look of astonishment entered them, and she put her hand over her bosom. She stared at him for several seconds. Miracle of miracles, he’d rendered her speechless.

  He straightened his jacket and cleared his throat. “I believe I’ve made my point.”

  She nodded several times, quickly.

  “You won’t be asking any other man to touch you.”

  She shook her head.

  “Say it.”

  “No, I won’t.”

  Well, thank God for that. “And you’ll allow me to court you. Properly.”

  She nodded again.

  “Say that, too.”

  “I’ll let you court me,” she said.

  “Good, I’ll bring a carriage for you at noon,” he said. “Wear something decent.”

  For a moment, she looked as if she’d argue, but he gave her the same glare he’d given her friend in the hallway.

  “I’ll be ready,” she said.

  “I’ll see you then.” He mustered as much dignity as he could with an iron rod in his pants, turned and left the room.

  Miss Rhodes stood on the other side of the door with her hand stilled in the act of reaching for the knob. She took one look at him, and recognition of what had just happened flashed over her features, followed by shock.

  “How nice to see you again, Miss Rhodes,” he said.

  “Lord Derrington.”

  With that, he strode off. Victory.

  ***

  Juliet went on shaky legs to the nearest settee and dropped onto it. The man was a force of nature. If she’d thought she could toy with that without getting burned, she’d thought wrong. She sat, fighting to get air into her lungs, and played every moment of the contact with the Marquis of Derrington through her heated brain.

  Who knew a man could exercise such power over a woman’s body? She’d heard stories, but mostly, they told how a man could be overcome with lust. No one had ever suggested a woman might have the same feelings. And no matter how many details she’d heard about the ways of the flesh, even when every single lesson she’d learned was combined together, they could scarcely convey the totality of the experience.

  Though he’d hardly touched her flesh, the imprint of his fingers still heated her breast. And his mouth. What a wicked, delicious, talented mouth. A mouth like that ought to be illegal.

  Millie showed up out of nowhere. Juliet should have wondered about that, but in a world where a kiss to the lips could touch every part of your body, anything might happen.

  “Juliet.” Millie sat beside her and touched her shoulder. “You look absolutely stricken.”

  “I think I am.” Her voice came out low and soft. As if she’d just awakened. Maybe she had.

  “And yet, you’re flushed, too.”

  “That wouldn’t surprise me at all.”

  Millie put her hand to Juliet’s forehead. “Warm.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Very, very warm.”

  “Dear heaven,” Millie gasped. “What did that man do to you?”

  “He kissed me.”

  “What?” Millie said.

  Juliet turned to her, and some sense of reality returned. “He kissed me.”

  Millie’s brows furrowed. “Surely, you’ve been kissed before.”

  “Not like that.”

  Millie caught her chin and tipped her face toward the light. “Your lips look swollen.”

  She ran her tongue over the lower one. It still tingled. “It was quite a kiss.”

  “It must have been. Did he do anything else?”

  “He touched me.” She trailed her fingers over the exposed flesh above her bodice. “Here.”

  “That’s indecent,” Millie said. “But, I guess you have to expect it if you’re going to dress like that.”

  “I guess.” She wouldn’t tell Millie about that other thing he’d done—kneading her flesh and brushing the peak with the pad of his thumb. Nipples were supposed to be sensitive, but somehow, that friction had traveled over her nerves to the secret spot between her legs.

  “Well, I’m glad you stopped him when you did,” Millie said. “Someone might have come in.”

  “But I didn’t stop him.”

  Millie stared at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. “You didn’t stop him?”

  “Why would I? Sex is what I wanted from him.” Of course, she’d never imagined just how good the sex could be, but that only made things better.

  “You would have let him have his way with you in a library during a party?”

  “Don’t be silly. We would have paused long enough to go somewhere private.”

  “You’re out of your mind, Juliet. You can’t give a man that kind of power over you unless you’re married to him.” Millie hesitated for a moment. “That didn’t come out right.”

  “No, it came out exactly right. He would control me if I married him. And my money, too.”

  “Did he ask you to marry him again?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Millie waved a finger under Juliet’s nose. “No more evasive answers. He either did, or he didn’t.”

  “He demanded that I allow him to court me,” she said. “He issued it like an order.”
/>   “And what did you say?”

  “I said yes. He had my mind so muddled with that kiss, I would have agreed to fly to Mars with him.”

  “Well, maybe some good will come of this, after all.”

  “You know, you could be right about that.” She bit her lip in thought. Yes, courtship. Frequent meetings, flirtation, innocent touches. Even more private encounters. Allowing him to keep her company might be quite handy.

  Millie eyed her with suspicion. “I am?”

  “Yes, think of it. I’ll see him all the time. He’ll insist on it.”

  “And what will you do when he does?”

  “Get him alone whenever I can. Encourage more kisses, more intimacy.” An idea bubbled up inside her. So exciting, she had to rise from her seat. “By God, I’ll seduce him!”

  “You can’t seduce anyone. You don’t know how.”

  “But he’s taught me, don’t you see?” She paced a bit, tapping the palm of one hand with the back of the other. “He was as moved by our kiss as I was. I could tell.”

  “How?”

  “He looked the way I felt. Flushed and struggling to get air. And that other thing.”

  “You mean the one in his pants?”

  “I could feel it when he held me against him. It was erect.” And perfectly huge. Impossibly large, but she’d deal with that problem when she came to it.

  “You shouldn’t push him. You don’t know what he’ll do,” Millie said.

  “But I know exactly what he’ll do,” she said. “What I want him to do. He won’t be able to resist.”

  “Oh, dear heart, you’re toying with something you can’t comprehend,” Millie said.

  “It isn’t as if I haven’t tried to understand. The cursed man won’t frig me. How in hell am I supposed to learn if he won’t frig me?”

  “Frig?” Millie nearly choked. “Where did you ever hear such language?”

  “Where do you think?” she answered. “From the man himself. The one who wants to court me. Properly, no less.”

  “You must have driven him to it.”

  “I’ll drive him to a lot more than that.” Stupid man. Courtship, what an idiotic idea. Telling her how to dress, of all things. “I’ll drive him to distraction.”