The Reluctant Suitor

by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

  Adriana was immensely thankful that Roger hadn’t taken it upon himself to come to the wedding. Although that would have been at the very height of audacity even for him, since he hadn’t been invited, he had not been above making unexpected appearances when it met his mood. If he had been upset after she had collided with Colton at Randwulf Manor, then he’d certainly have been riled at the attention she was presently receiving. Her admirers stood in a wide circle round about her and did indeed prove themselves a jovial group copiously inclined to rag each other about their limited chances with the lady.

  “My lords, your pardon,” the young knight, Guy Dalton, begged with a broad grin, claiming the consideration of both Riordan Kendrick and Stuart Burke. “I’ve heard it said that the man who stands nearest to Lady Adriana is usually the first to fall from her favor. If I were either one of you, I’d allow someone else to stand there in your stead.”

  Stuart hooted at the younger man’s ploy. “You, I suppose?”

  Lord Harcourt lifted a well-defined brow as his mouth curved in a lazy, self-assured grin. “If it’s all the same to you, Sir Guy, I’ll take my chances here at the lady’s side. But, please, continue salivating in hopeful expectation of that event. One of us may yet change his mind . . . in my case when the netherworld freezes over.”

  An exaggerated sigh of lament came from Sir Guy. “Well, as a friend I’ve done my best to advise you both. Go ahead and ignore my warning. Little do I care if the lady tosses you both aside for one perchance as wise and handsome as myself.”

  Not the least bit remorseful, Riordan chuckled at the other’s attempt. “You’re a friend indeed, Sir Guy, but I suspect there is that tendency in any man to search out opportunities to benefit himself, even if it means usurping a better man’s advantage.”

  “Please, please,” Adriana begged through her laughter. “Desist with this bickering or I shall have to send the lot of you out of my sight.”

  She swept her gaze around to encompass the entire circle of admirers in her threat, but, upon coming to a breach in their ranks, was shocked to meet through that narrow space the unwavering stare of Colton Wyndham, who stood a short distance away with a hand braced against the stout trunk of a tree.

  Garbed in dapper attire that would’ve come close to putting the bridegroom to shame, the Marquess of Randwulf was the very quintessence of a wealthy aristocrat. Percy had joined him underneath the spreading canopy of limbs and newly reddening leaves, but was chattering incessantly on, glancing hither and yon at this guest or that, completely oblivious to the fact that his companion’s gaze was focused entirely upon her. Beneath the brim of an elegant, gray silk top hat, the shadowed gray eyes seemed to glow with a radiance of their own as they fed upon her every word, gesture, or smile.

  The intensity of her observer’s stare held Adriana’s gaze firmly ensnared until his eyes lowered in a leisurely feast that consumed nearly every hollow and curve she possessed. Of a sudden, her robin’s-egg-blue woolen frock seemed meager defense indeed from those burning, ravaging eyes that seemed to set her very nipples aflame. At no time before, while fully clothed, had she felt so completely naked beneath a man’s stare. The fact that he knew exactly what she looked like underneath her garments only seemed to solidify the evocative sensations. She had never experienced the like of such delicious heat pulsating within her secret parts or felt the exact degree of warmth infusing her cheeks, her throat, her brow, her very being. If it were possible for a maid to be ravished from a distance, then Adriana was sure she had just been stripped, fondled, and deflowered all within the mind of the man who stared at her so intently.

  Good heavens! The words, though unspoken, seemed to blare with deafening volume through her mind.

  Shaken to the core of her being by the desire smoldering in those dark gray eyes, she turned aside to beg leave of Stuart Burke and then faced Riordan Kendrick, making some incoherent excuse about feeling a bit chilled (as if that could’ve been even remotely possible) and wanting to go to her father’s carriage. Gallantly the handsome marquess presented his arm and tossed a victorious smirk over his shoulder at the other gentlemen who voiced protests copiously punctuated with jocular threats upon her escort. After handing her into the conveyance, it was Riordan’s wont to stand at the open door of the landau and chat with her, which, of course, encouraged the other gentlemen to flock around. Adriana hardly expected Colton to move to another vantage point, but that’s exactly what he did, strolling to the front of the church where he could view her without restriction through the throng. There was nowhere else she could go to escape his vigil, and until the bride and groom came out, it remained as constant as the sun in the sky.

  The wedding breakfast was an achievement worthy of praise, or so Melora reiterated before being assisted by her groom into a chair at the head table. Adriana, however, had cause to wonder who had switched the place cards in the seating of family and guests, for she soon found herself shoulder to shoulder with Colton Wyndham. It didn’t help her composure one whit to realize he splintered her poise as efficiently as he had earlier that morning. A wan smile was the best she could manage beneath the confident grin he bestowed on her.

  “Your pardon, my lord, but I do believe that place is reserved for my aunt,” she informed him, willing to send him anywhere in the world rather than submit herself to his close scrutiny.

  “On the contrary, Adriana, I think you’re the one mistaken.” Reaching across the table, Colton flicked the card from its silver holder and handed it to her. “I should be able to recognize my own name after all this time.” Challenging her with gleaming eyes, he questioned, “Were you not expecting me?”

  “Well, no, I wasn’t,” she admitted, wanting to pin the blame for his proximity on Melora. It would be just like her sister to do such a thing, especially after Adriana had made certain that Colton would be seated with his uncle and mother.

  The Marquess of Randwulf pulled his chair closer to the table, obviously intent upon staying where he was. “I suppose after being surrounded by a legion of men you must find it boring to have to limit your consideration to merely one, but I shall try not to belabor that fact overmuch, however slighted I felt at the time for not being permitted to join them.”

  Her chin sagged in astonishment at his outrageous charge. “I never said you had to keep your distance from me.”

  The shining gray orbs challenged her above a lazy smile. “Oh? Perhaps I misunderstood. You did say our courtship was to begin after the Autumn Ball, did you not? Was I not to keep my distance until then?”

  She sighed heavily, convinced that he was not much changed from that puckish rascal who many times as a youth had teased her unmercifully until she had been tempted to scream, and scream she had, then. However, it would hardly be suitable for her to do so at her sister’s wedding. “I was merely talking about the courtship itself, my lord. After granting Roger’s request to be allowed to attend the ball, it seemed impolite to retract my permission.”

  “Have you often been of a mind to yield the lad such favors?”

  Considering that Roger would’ve likely taken it upon himself to intrude into the affair, she had thought it would be less vexing to her family and to herself if she just granted him permission to come. She couldn’t count how many times since arriving at that decision that she had wanted to kick herself, especially since Colton’s return. Roger wouldn’t take her intended suitor’s presence in stride.

  “You have quite a following of admirers,” Colton remonstrated as his eyes skimmed over the bachelors who had been among her audience earlier that morning. They were now eyeing him enviously and with keen attention. Smiling, he nodded a greeting to Stuart and then noted that the man wasn’t nearly as cheery as he had seemed outside the church. “Are you sure you haven’t extended any of your aficionados comparable invitations?”

  “Nooo,” Adriana moaned impatiently. “You’re making much ado about nothing.”

  He cocked a brow dubiously. “Well, I wouldn’t
necessarily say a score and three men are naught to worry about, especially when every one of them seemed to be drooling in his eagerness to have you. A lone man has to be careful against such odds.”

  “There didn’t seem to be that many,” Adriana stated, wondering if he had exaggerated.

  “What? You didn’t bother to count them for yourself?” Colton laughed. He had to admire her for that; most women would have considered such a number a testament of their appeal and be wont to boast of it. “I can vouch for my ability to count, Adriana. There were indeed that many.”

  She tossed her head, miffed that he would do such a thing. “Well, you needn’t concern yourself about any of them, my lord. I intend to fulfill my part of the agreement whether you do or not.”

  “Oh, I intend to, Adriana,” he averred warmly. “After all, ‘tis my father’s wish that I consider you as my future wife.”

  “Why? You really don’t have any interest in adhering to the contract beyond the length of the courtship, do you?” She laughed sharply. “I’d really be surprised if you did.”

  “Let me just say that I shall enjoy the opportunity to mull over that matter at my leisure while courting you. I have that right, do I not?”

  “Yes, you do,” Adriana reluctantly acknowledged, certain he would do so only because it suited him. Beyond the moment wherein he’d lose patience with it all, there would be no guarantee.

  She glanced around, wondering what had happened to her kin and finally espied Aunt Tilly sitting beside Alistair Dermot. At the moment, the woman was involved in an animated conversation with the man, but it wasn’t long before Tilly glanced around, as if sensing her niece’s stare. Lifting a small name card from the holder in front of her, Tilly shrugged rather impishly as she smiled at Adriana and began to fan herself with it.

  Adriana understood all too clearly then. Her aunt had been the culprit who had revised the seating arrangement in at least one small area. Reluctant though she was to apologize, Adriana leaned toward Colton. “I fear I jumped too quickly to my own conclusions, my lord. For that I must apologize. I believe I now know the one who exchanged the name cards.” She swept a slender hand gracefully about to bring his consideration to bear upon the older woman. “ ‘Twould seem Aunt Tilly has discovered your uncle. He is a very handsome man, and of course, she is a widow.”

  Colton glanced around to find the older woman smiling at them rather guiltily. He winked at her and grinned, winning a vivacious laugh. Her light-hearted mirth drew Alistair’s notice, and as the man presented an inquiry, Tilly indicated the younger couple. The elder exchanged smiling nods with his nephew and then bestowed his curious attention upon the beauty sitting at Colton’s side. He grinned broadly and lifted his wine-glass in salute to his kin, silently commending him on his good taste in women.

  “Your uncle seems fairly pleased with himself,” Adriana commented, missing the whole gist of the exchange. “Of course, he has much to be proud of, considering you became a national hero after he deemed you worthy of his support.”

  “I believe he was applauding your beauty, my dear,” Colton corrected. “He obviously has cause to think you’re my intended.”

  Adriana was clearly astonished. “Oh, but your mother . . . She wouldn’t say anything about the agreement, would she?”

  “Perhaps the culprit isn’t so much my mother as my sister.” Noticing an airy ringlet dangling against Adriana’s nape, he stretched forth a hand and rubbed the coiling strand admiringly between his thumb and forefinger. “She’s convinced that someday you’ll become my wife.”

  Adriana realized her insides were melting again, as they always did when he touched her in some manner. Sloe eyes lifted from underneath a fringe of jet lashes to meet the softly shining gray orbs, and for what seemed an eternity in the heartbeat of a moment, their gazes gently melded before his own descended to caress her lips yearningly. The unexpected craving to snuggle her cheek within the palm of his hand seemed very strange indeed to Adriana, yet it was no more odd than sensing his lordship was battling a desire to kiss her. Softly she breathed, “I shall have to talk with your sister about her wagging tongue.”

  It seemed nothing short of a century since Adriana had sat beside Colton at the wedding breakfast, when in reality it had only been three weeks. The Autumn Ball was in progress, yet she had delayed joining the guests. Instead, feeling as restless as a caged cat, she prowled through the upper halls of her family’s Tudor mansion. It certainly didn’t elevate her mood knowing that sometime within the next several hours she’d have to tell Roger that he would have to halt his visits to the manor and to stop following her about hither and yon. Aware of how diligently the apprentice had sought to win approval as well as permission to marry her, she dreaded being the bearer of such news. She just hoped he wouldn’t create a scene.

  Had she given serious thought to the consequences of yielding to his first unannounced visit to Wakefield Manor months ago, she’d have turned him away right then and there, refusing his gifts of flowers and a second book of sonnets. Yet she had been reluctant to be so harsh, for it had been painfully obvious at the time that the young man was lonely and feeling out of kilter with the small populace of Bradford on Avon. But then, she’d have probably done him an enormous favor by doing so, for he would’ve then been forced to make friends among the citizens of that small town. And she would’ve certainly saved herself the anguish she was now suffering, for his first visit had led to another . . . and then another . . . and soon he was popping in unannounced on a regular basis, not only at Wakefield Manor, but at Randwulf, too.

  She wished now that she would’ve allowed her father to tell Roger that he could no longer call upon her. Her parent, in his own efficient way, would’ve dealt with the matter and suffered no qualms while doing so, but she had been of the belief that if the news came from her, the apprentice could deal with it better. Now, here she was, coping with an incongruous feeling that she’d be kicking a poor, stray dog that had been starving all his life for a few crumbs of kindness and affection. Yet, as arduous as the task promised to be, she saw no help for it. She was committed by contract to another, and as much as Roger was aware of that fact, he seemed reluctant to leave her alone.

  Adriana straightened her spine and rolled her shoulders to ease the prickling that in the last hour had intensified in her nape. No matter how difficult the deed looming ahead of her, there was no escaping it. Procrastinating wouldn’t help; it would still be confronting her until she spoke her peace. Perhaps her tensions would even ease some slight degree once she put the task behind her. She could only hope so, for she felt terribly beleaguered now.

  Lightly skimming a slender hand over the darkly ornate balustrade, Adriana made her descent of the stairs as her eyes followed the undulating rhythm of her bejeweled gown that flowed in shimmering, glistening waves about her long legs. Nothing of what she saw penetrated her thoughts, for her mind moved like a disembodied wraith through everything but the quandaries she faced. Would this present anguish she was suffering be remembered beyond the onset of Colton Wyndham’s courtship? Or would the self-willed man give her cause to regret she had ever gone to such onerous lengths for him?

  Once again, her mind ranged through the evocative memories left over from the wedding day of her sister. Outside the church the translucent gray eyes had all but consumed her. Then, later that morning, when she had been sitting beside Colton at the breakfast feast, she had felt like dissolving beneath the warmth of his gaze.

  It certainly didn’t help her composure now to feel a resurgence of the various sensations that had swept over her that day. Though sorely lacking experience in the realm of desire, instinct assured her the wanton yearnings gnawing at the pit of her being were nothing less than cravings that Colton Wyndham had elicited with his slow, lustful perusal. The fact that those feelings were just as potent today completely frustrated her efforts to thrust him from her mind.

  Oh, why is he the one I yearn for? her mind railed in anguish.<
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  Shaken by the onslaught of unquenchable desires, Adriana sought to devote her thoughts entirely to how she should go about dismissing Roger from her life. That quandary was as effective as being doused with a bucket of icy water. It chilled her to the bone.

  Upon facing the arched, doubled doors leading into the ballroom, Adriana took a deep breath to fortify herself for the challenge ahead as she moved toward the opening, but she was immediately halted by a guest emerging in some haste. Indeed, his alacrity gave her cause to wonder if his coattails were ablaze. The anxious glance he cast over his shoulder made her wonder who or what followed close behind. If his costly garments perhaps denoted the source of his concern, then she’d be inclined to think his tailors were scurrying after him in an attempt to collect his fee. It was certainly not to the benefit of the wastrel that similarly disparaging musings often came to her the very instant she recognized Lord Latham Harrell.

  Although Latham’s looks were nothing beyond tolerable, his tall, lean form did lend credit to his fashionable attire, but that hardly endeared the pompous man to those who really knew him. Still, the high-minded arrogance he once exhibited at Sedgwick’s funeral had apparently flagged, and she could understand why, considering Colton had dashed the man’s hopes by coming home and making his intentions clear to all. No longer optimistic about gaining wealth and the marquessate, Latham now seemed as nervous as a rabbit with a fox on its trail.

  Upon espying her, the man seemed to forget his reasons for hurrying. Collecting his composure, he swept an arm before him in a gallant bow. “My dear Lady Adriana, you are the very one I’ve been hoping to see. Indeed, it has been my ongoing desire ever since I saw you at your sister’s wedding several weeks ago.”

  “Really?” Adriana was curious to know what the man could possibly want of her, but the answer came readily enough to her mind. Her dowry! Now that he had no expectations of gaining the marquessate, he would no doubt be required to marry for wealth to support his extravagance.