Dear heavens. Even from a distance the man is potent.
With a shaking hand, Charlotte raised her glasses and again peered across the theatre. The marquess still looked her way only now, his sensual lips were curved into a smile that fairly simmered with wicked intent. Had he responded to something Lady Sophia said or did he think of her? Just as quickly that thought left her. Of course he didn’t, not after what he’d said to her at the musicale the other night. Despite that knowledge, she moistened her lips as if she could feel the press of his mouth against hers. Flicking a glance to his companions, a soft sigh shuddered from her throat. Amherst, his daughter, as well as Alexandra, didn’t seem to notice Nathan’s wandering attention.
How silly this is. We cannot both stare at each other endlessly through these readings.
Yet she didn’t look away. Neither did the marquess. Then, he tilted his head to the right in the direction of…? Of what? Charlotte moved her gaze but the only thing she saw was the dark, empty box belonging to the Earl of Farthingham. Why? She looked again at Nathan. He’d abandoned his lorgnette and was in the process of standing. He bent close to his sister, supposedly to whisper an excuse. Then he slipped from the alcove.
Where did he go? Was he even now lingering in the corridor behind the boxes, waiting for her?
Clarice lowered her lorgnette into her lap. She leaned close to Charlotte. “It would seem a certain gentleman has come to the opera in order to see a certain woman as well.”
“How silly, Clarice.” Was that true? Charlotte’s heart tripped.
The other woman chuckled. “I advise you to stop trying to find the perfect in a man. Men are men, dearest. They all have bad things as well as good things, but the goodness does shine through the muck, and only the most discerning of women can see it. That’s when you can access the heart of the man, the part he shows to no one except his demons. The part he needs rescued from.”
Her pulse raced as she lowered her glasses then shoved them back into her reticule. She whispered to Clarice, “Then you think I should meet him?” Should she investigate? Could she be that daring or would it result in another bruise on her heart?
“Oh, most certainly. When else will you have such a chance as this?” Clarice patted her hand. “I wish you well. When you find the perfect man for you, it is quite wonderful.”
“Thank you.” With the words of both her brothers as well as Clarice’s support dancing through her mind, she softly cleared her throat. “Mother, please excuse me. I… I find I’m a bit lightheaded and need to walk around a bit for some air.” She shoved her reticule into her mother’s hands.
“Are you all right? Would you like Felix to accompany you?” Roberta whispered.
Dear Lord, she couldn’t be adventurous with her brother in tow. “No, let him stay.” Charlotte rose quickly before she could change her mind. “I shall be right as rain soon and will return momentarily.”
Her knees threatened to buckle as she exited the box through the curtains at the rear and entered the corridor beyond. The shadowy, quiet world enveloped her as she traversed the hallway. At the end, she quietly let herself into the salon. Only a few ladies occupied the space, but since they were immersed in conversation with their heads together, they paid little heed to her presence. Charlotte’s pulse roared in her ears as she flew across the room with her skirts lifted in one hand, not even slowing for decorum’s sake. Once she bolted into the corridor through a different door that led to the row of boxes on the opposite side of the theater, she paused for clarity.
I must be mad to do this, but if I do not take this chance… Well, she refused to linger on that thought.
Then a shadow separated itself from the rest near the middle of the hall and it moved toward her. Only one person had his build and height. Charlotte sucked in a breath as butterflies fluttered like mad in her belly. “Nathan,” she breathed and urged her feet to carry her in his direction. There were times in a woman’s life when madness wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“I wasn’t certain you understood my signal,” he whispered when they were close enough to talk.
She raked her gaze over his person. Though the shadows clung to him, the dark dress clothes fit his form to perfection. The length of his legs and muscled thighs were on display while the wide breadth of his shoulders strained the tailored tailcoat. Her heart trembled in time to her belly. “I couldn’t believe you came to the theater tonight of all nights. I nearly didn’t,” Charlotte confessed. The urge to touch him, comfort him, tell him she knew of his history and it didn’t change her opinion of him blazed through her, but she tamped it. There would be time enough for all of that. “If you’d like to visit, we can go to the salon or perhaps move to the foyer downstairs.” Remembering to keep her voice low to not disturb the people in the boxes behind the drawn curtains was vexing.
Nathan held out a white-gloved hand. “I didn’t invent this impromptu assignation merely to converse in a hallway. However, to clear any doubts from your mind, allow me to profusely apologize for my behavior toward you the other night.”
“It’s forgotten.” When she put her gloved fingers in his, he released a quick breath. “You have many ghosts riding your back. I imagine the strength of bearing them provokes angry words occasionally.”
“Yes.” His eyes glittered. “I wish to make up for the scene, nonetheless. Allow me to give you the dalliance we were denied that evening of the rout.”
She gasped as he pulled her down the corridor, then when he drew the heavy velvet curtain of a box aside and bade her enter, she could scarcely follow instruction as her legs held all the strength of pudding. “This is Farthingham’s box.”
“Yes, but he rarely attends the theater and most certainly won’t tonight as he is with his mistress at the moment.” By the time he’d resituated the curtain across the entrance, her pulse had calmed. He drew her against his chest then conveyed them both into one corner behind another set of curtains partially opened across the front of the box, just as she’d seen it from her seat across the theatre. “If we are quiet, no one will be the wiser,” he said against the shell of her ear. “It’s rather like skulking through Spain without the threat of being shot or taken hostage, but just as thrilling.”
His words invoked the pictures she’d imagined in her mind of his detention in that terrible camp. His apples and cedar scent wafted through her nose—both familiar and comforting. Warmth spread through her veins from his proximity. “Tell me about your time in Spain.” She kept her voice at a barely audible whisper. Even so, the orations from the dramatic readings echoed throughout the chamber and covered her words. “I’ve heard stories, and they were horrible enough, but I want to know the truth from your own mouth. I… I want to help you.”
“Oh, Charlotte.” Nathan framed her face with his hands. He rested his forehead against hers. “I promise to explain in-depth later, when time isn’t of the essence and desire doesn’t cloud my thinking, but for now, will you please let me kiss you?” Heavy emotion graveled his voice, emotions she couldn’t identify properly in the dark but desperately wished to. “I need nothing else for the moment.”
How could she deny such a request? “Yes, but answer me this answer first.” She planted a hand against the hard wall of his chest. His heartbeat raced beneath her fingers even through the layers of fabric. He was as excited as she. What would he look like sans clothes? The thought kicked her pulse into another race.
He cupped her cheek. “Anything.” His breath skated across her skin.
“Why did you say those things at the Armenstout musicale? With such a sensation as you made simply by coming, I assumed you’d finish the evening with at least a dance instead of harsh words.”
“I wanted to, but when I saw you speaking with Armenstout then he warned me away from you with very specific language, all I wanted was to—”
“Flee, get some distance before things fell apart and the conflict escalated?” She finished softly. “You didn’t want your ange
r to take control.”
“Yes, among other things.” He grasped one of her hands and pressed a kiss to her gloved palm. “Needless to say, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind, and doing the pretty wouldn’t have been possible anyway. You wouldn’t be so fond of me if you witness me in a full temper, and what I showed you that evening was merely the light side of things.”
The flutters in her lower belly increased and she lost a piece of her heart to him in that moment. If given the chance, he would have sought her out. I knew my instinct wasn’t wrong. She dared to stroke her fingers along the side of his face. “My poor marquess. Perhaps one day you will trust me enough to put me to the test. A few growls and outbursts of temper won’t frighten me away.” Though she wished she weren’t wearing the gloves that prevented her from feeling his skin, she didn’t want to waste the time it would take removing the elbow length sheaths.
And she couldn’t wait any longer.
Without preamble, Charlotte looped her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his. She pulled slightly back and stared into his dark eyes. “Nathan, please, just one kiss. You did promise…”
He obeyed with alacrity. The marquess wrapped her into his embrace and claimed her lips that seared her from the inside out. Nibbles at the corners of her mouth turned into meandering explorations of the curve of her bottom lip. Then he drew the tip of his tongue along their seam and prodded until she invited him in. When she did and he deepened the kiss, Charlotte whimpered and crowded as close as she could to his body. She mimicked every action he did with his tongue, even went so far as to take the initiative and move the proceedings into something more splendid.
But Nathan wouldn’t be rushed, and she moaned in frustration even as he prolonged the kiss with exquisite skill. He maneuvered his hands to her back, slid them down then cupped her bottom, pulling her flush to him so tight she felt the evidence of his regard insistently against her belly. It was much like that night in his study, without the urgency, but with all the intimacy. She was consumed by him. From the crush of their bodies to the slight rasp of the trace of his stubble on her cheeks to the warm stability of his hands on her bum, everything he was became her world. She breathed him in, drank from his lips, exchanged breath with him as if he alone could tell her all the secrets of the ages, gave herself piece by piece until shivers of delight and longing chased each other up and down her spine and a pleasant throb made itself known between her thighs.
Only the discreet clearing of a masculine throat at the corridor curtain brought her back to reality. Seconds later, the curtain was pulled back by a white-gloved hand and her brother poked his head into the box. “I apologize for the interruption, but the dramatic readings are nearly complete and the house lights will be lit soon,” Felix said in an even whisper. “It would behoove you both to return to your respective boxes before people start milling about the halls.”
Charlotte frowned as Nathan released her and stepped away. “Don’t go.”
“My dear,” the marquess took possession of one of her hands and kissed the middle knuckle. “If we remain here much longer, I cannot guarantee your sterling reputation.”
There was such heat glittering in his eyes and wicked promise in his words that a shiver zipped down her spine to lodge deep in her core. “Oh my.”
He let go her hand and moved backward toward the curtain where Felix still waited. “Will you accept my intentions to call on you this weekend?”
“Yes.” Charlotte grinned as her stomach quivered. “That’s only two short days away. I suppose I can manage to wait that long to see you again.” Being in Nathan’s company made her feel daring and exciting and very naughty, and she couldn’t wait to experience all of those things again. Was this finally the turning point they both sought? But what of his engagement?
“Excellent. We shall talk again at that time.” He bowed to her then nodded to her brother. “Swandon. Please schedule some time for me within the month. I shall need to bend your ear on important matters soon.”
“I look forward to it, Ravenhurst.” Once Nathan had departed, Felix stared pointedly at Charlotte. “You’d best hurry. It won’t do to get Mother’s dander up, and please, straighten yourself. You know how sharp she is at observation.”
For once Charlotte didn’t mind her brother’s highhandedness. “How did you know I’d be here?”
He rolled his eyes. “Clarice dropped the hint in my ear. She was concerned that things might become too heated, so I was pressed into playing chaperone. A good thing too. What did you intend, sister o’ mine? To let yourself be thoroughly ruined in a semi-private theatre box?”
“Silly man, of course not, but imagine the thrill if I had.” She fairly skipped out of the abandoned opera box. “Oh, Felix, now I understand exactly what you went through when you courted Clarice.” In her excitement, she forgot to keep her voice low.
“Devil take it, Charlotte, whisper. You can little afford to announce yourself to the world before matters have been settled.” He slipped her hand through his bent arm and pulled her along the corridor. Leaning close, he whispered, “You were almost compromised back there. Some would say you actually were. I cannot believe your daring at times.”
“Actually, it’s not the first time, and this was tame compared to the other instance when Nathan and I came together.”
“Please tell me you didn’t—?”
“No, but oh how wicked it was.” She squeezed his arm and stifled the urge to laugh at his consternation. “Brother dear, I took courage from your words and Oliver’s. If I want a thing to happen in my life, perhaps the best course of action is to precipitate it for myself.”
“I hope he marries you soon,” Felix whispered as they neared the salon. “I rather think you’d enjoy courting scandal as his mistress way too much. The last thing our family needs is a cheeky courtesan in its ranks.”
Charlotte grinned but said nothing. The marquess was a challenge and one she dearly wished to take up. He was a man who wouldn’t wilt beneath domesticity or marriage. All they required was time and the fortitude to see the complications through.
Never had she been so delighted.
Chapter Nine
“Sanders, I cannot tell you how happy I am it’s Saturday,” Nathan mentioned to his butler a couple of days later as he accepted a cup of tea from the man. It was mid-morning and, to his knowledge, his sister was still abed. At least she wouldn’t badger him over the breakfast table. This, in turn, meant he had another day to ruminate on exactly how he would tell her Lady Sophia wasn’t his ideal and that Lady Charlotte was. No matter how he broke the news to his sister, there was sure to be an argument.
“Indeed, sir. The workaday world does tend to grate on the nerves at times,” Sanders replied. Nothing in his tone betrayed agreement or annoyance for he was still working even though it was the weekend.
“Yes, but today is the day I intend to do something to change my life for the best, my good man.” The marquess took a sip of his unsweetened tea, grimaced then added a fragment of sugar from the loaf. “It’s quite time for me to begin a courtship.”
“Ah, very good, sir. Shall I congratulate you now?”
“That would be premature, don’t you think?” Nathan grinned. “I shall announce the news when it’s ready.”
“Well, it’s about time.” Alexandra bustled into the room, clad in a black silk wrapper and her blonde hair bound in a thick braid. “Leave us, Sanders,” she ordered as she sat opposite Nathan at the table.
He stifled a groan as the butler shuffled out. Damn and blast. “Alexandra, what a surprise. I thought you’d sleep until at least early afternoon. You weren’t at home by the time I came in last night.”
“I stayed rather late at the Tremaines’. However, I suspected you were plotting something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, so I made certain I’d be awake to catch you at it.” She commandeered the teapot, poured herself a cup then leveled a cold glare at him. “Have you decided to m
ake an offer for Lady Sophia?”
“No.” For the better part of the last two days, the only woman on his mind had been Charlotte. The time he spent in her arms was without equal, and he wanted even more of it. Beyond that, he wished to begin knowing her as a person apart from the heat. “As I’ve told you before, I have no plans to leg-shackle myself to the duke’s daughter.”
“But you seemed so content the night we went to the opera.” She narrowed her eyes. “When you excused yourself, where did you go? I forgot to ask earlier.”
Nathan remained quiet. If he didn’t tell her, he could enjoy another few days of her complacency.
“Oh, good God.” Alexandra stood. Her hazel eyes flashed with anger. “You met the Darrington woman that night, didn’t you?” A flush rose into her face. “I thought I heard voices in the box next to ours, and I distinctly recall someone saying her name, but simply figured it was rude patrons who refused to whisper. Now it makes sense: your absence, your lifted mood, everything.”
“Charlotte makes me happy. Wouldn’t you rather I pass the remainder of my life enjoying myself instead of suffering through a loveless marriage?” His gut clenched and the old feelings that assailed him just before a conflict left his blood cold.
“I want you to make an offer for Lady Sophia. You are obligated to do this for me. I don’t care how you feel about it.” Alexandra’s smile held more animosity than mirth. “I expect you to do your duty.”
“This is how I’m fulfilling my duty.” Nathan shot from his chair as a wave of rage swept through his body. “She is the one I want. She is the one I will marry. If all goes well, perhaps I’ll secure the line with the woman I’m halfway in love with. What else is there?”
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