A Matter of Sin (4 page)

“I thought you hadn’t read it.”

Pushing to her feet, Grace motioned Isabel to follow her from the room. “I’ve heard enough about it. Now I’m dying for tea and a biscuit, and Lady Lyndham told me when I arrived that both were forthcoming. Let us go together and face the gauntlet of your fantasy with a united front.”

Isabel linked arms with her friend and laughed, but inside she was still nervous and overwhelmed at the idea of coming face to face with Seth. She wasn’t as strong or certain as Grace was. It was going to take a miracle for her not to suffer humiliation the next time she looked at him.

Grace was right. Being in the same room as Seth wasn’t as bad as Isabel had imagined.

It was worse.

As the footmen moved about the room, refreshing the guests’ tea and offering cakes on little trays, Isabel fought with all her might not to look across the room to where Seth stood with a small group of ladies.

Every time she caught a glimpse of him, she couldn’t help but picture him as he had been in her wicked imaginings the night before. Leaning over her naked flesh, touching her in such sensual ways, whispering her name as she shattered in pleasure.

“Isabel?”

Isabel flinched at the same sound of her name, only this time spoken by her sister. She turned toward Serena with a faint smile.

“Yes, dearest?”

“Your face is all pinched and you look pained,” her sister said softly. “Is anything wrong?”

Isabel sighed. Dear God, she was not built for these fantasies and imaginings, no matter what Grace and that dratted book said.

“Your sister is quite well,” Grace interrupted as she reached out to pat Isabel’s hand. “She only had a poor night’s rest.”

Isabel glared at her friend.

Serena didn’t seem to be aware of the tension between them, though. “You did? Oh, I’m so sorry. It is perhaps best that I spent the night in Sarah’s chamber. I would have only made it worse.”

Isabel shut her eyes. There was no subtlety to Serena. “Are you telling me you would like to spend the rest of your time here sharing Sarah’s chamber?”

Serena nodded with a sweet laugh. “I would, if you don’t mind.”

“And her mother approves?” she pressed.

Her sister nodded. “Oh yes!”

Isabel sighed. Given her current state of mind, it was probably best to have some privacy at night. Especially if her thoughts were going to be so wild and wayward.

“Very well, but you must promise not to keep each other too late with gossip and foolishness. You are a lady, remember, not a little girl.”

Serena nodded obediently. “May I tell her?”

Isabel waved her sister away with a smile, one that instantly fell when Serena was gone. She peeked over her shoulder. Seth was still standing across the room. Looking handsome as ever. But this time, he was staring back at her.

Instantly, Isabel sucked in a breath and darted her gaze away.

“Oh no,” Grace whispered with a smile. “
That
wasn’t obvious at all.”

Isabel glared at her friend. “This isn’t an easy position for me, you know. I’ve never…thought about a specific man while I was, er…
reading
. I can’t look at him without thinking of it over and over. The best thing I can do now is just avoid him.”

“At a party where
he
is host and
you
are chaperone to one of the most celebrated girls of the Season?” Grace asked, incredulous.

Isabel shut her eyes. Why did Grace have to be so logical? “Perhaps it will be impossible, but I must try.”

Grace chuckled as she sipped her tea. “It is truly unfortunate that Jacinda couldn’t be persuaded to join us here this week.”

Isabel shook her head. “Why?”

“Because I think this is bound to be a great entertainment.” Grace laughed as she began to walk away. “And I cannot fully enjoy it alone.”

Isabel glared after her friend. Enjoy this? She couldn’t imagine anyone could ever enjoy the way she was feeling at present. And she could only hope the strange tingling in her stomach would come to an end soon. One way or another.

Chapter Four

“Never underestimate the power of a kiss.”
—The Ladies Book of Pleasures

“How tedious this all is,” Jason said as he took a drink from the tray of the closest servant.

Seth did the same and surveyed the crowded parlor with a sigh. “I must admit, it wasn’t exactly a
successful
day, at least in terms of a bride hunt. I couldn’t truly focus on any of the ladies enough to make their better acquaintance.”

Jason laughed. “Perhaps you aren’t doing it right.”

Seth shot his friend a look and shook his head. “I only meant that today’s tea was an exercise in being overwhelmed. It seemed everyone wanted my ear so I had no time for anyone in particular.”

“You did look a bit ragged afterward,” Jason admitted, though his roguish smile gave no indication that he felt pity for Seth.

“Croquet was little better,” Seth continued with a shudder. “Those young women were brutal. I thought they were supposed to be delicate.”

Jason shrugged. “They were all trying to impress you or force you to save them. But at least you sat next to the lovely Lady Evelyn at supper. Did that not lift your spirits even a bit?”

Seth thought of supper, which had just ended a half hour before.

“She is a very pretty girl,” he admitted.

“But?”

“But her mother must think her stupid. The woman harangued me nonstop for three courses without letting the girl…or
me
…get a word in! I have never been so relieved to see a meal end.” He slugged his drink back in one swig.

Jason shook his head. “My, this
is
dire, for it is only the first full day of the gathering and so far the one interesting experience you’ve had was with Lady Avenbury.”

Seth blinked as he found her across the room alongside her sister and a few other ladies. Just as she had done all day, the moment his gaze lit upon her, she pointedly looked the opposite direction.

“And what is
that
look for?” Jason asked with a chuckle as he followed Seth’s gaze to the lady in question. “Ah, ‘she walks in beauty’—”

“Please don’t quote Byron to me,” Seth snapped.

Jason laughed. “Why do I have the feeling that something
more
has happened to draw your interest to Isabel?”

Seth gave his friend a side-glance. “No, nothing has happened. In fact, the lady seems to be avoiding me.”

“
Avoiding
you?” Jason repeated, his face twisting like he didn’t understand the concept. Seth supposed he didn’t. No woman had ever avoided Jason. On the contrary, they flocked to him, and he took full advantage of that fact.

Seth nodded. “I first took note of it earlier but dismissed it as distraction on her part. After all, the Duchess of Jameswood arrived today, and everyone knows they are thick as thieves.”

“But?”
Jason prompted again with what had to be the most annoying chuckle in three counties.

Seth scowled. “But as the day progressed I noticed any time I moved in her direction, she moved an equal distance away from me. When I look at her, she looks at anything else. It is…odd, for I cannot think of anything I could have done to offend the lady in the span of less than twenty-four hours.”

“Hmmm,” Jason murmured as he looked at her again. “It would not be
so
very odd if Isabel did as we suspect and took your book.”

Seth rolled his eyes. “
We
suspect nothing. You are the one overly focused on that idea.”

Jason ignored him. “She does look guilty.”

Seth looked at Isabel again. Jason was correct, damn him. It was guilt that lined her face, even when it was turned partially away from him.

Jason leaned closer. “Doesn’t it make you wonder what naughty thing she has done?”

Seth pursed his lips. As much as he hated to give into his shockingly base drive to test Isabel, he
did
want to know what had changed her behavior.

“Perhaps I should investigate further.” Seth shrugged. “After all, I am the host of this party. I must attend to my guests, mustn’t I? Even if they apparently do not desire it.”

Jason leaned back with raised brows. “
You
, bait a lady? How marvelous! You haven’t played any games purely for fun in so long I can scarce recall the last time.”

Seth shook his head with a chuckle. He had never been so wicked as his friend, but not so long ago, before his life had been irrevocably changed by his brother’s death, he had been no stranger to pleasure.

But it had been a long time since he stalked any prey. He wasn’t certain he could do it properly anymore.

“I think it best to start simply,” he said, almost more to himself than to Jason.

Lifting his gaze to Isabel a second time, he held it there, observing the way her mouth moved as she spoke first to her sister and then to the chaperone of one of the other ladies in attendance.

There was no difficulty in holding the stare. He found there were so many details to admire in Isabel’s face, in the way she involved her hands when she talked, in the brightness of her smile when she flashed it. Looking at her was a pleasure.

He recognized the moment she noticed his attention not because she turned toward him, but because her shoulders stiffened slightly. Slowly, but noticeably, a marvelous pink blush crept up from the bodice of her scooped-neck gown, up the elegant slope of her neck and finally colored her cheeks.

He grinned, feeling utterly wicked but unsatisfied. He wanted her to look at him. He wanted her to
know
that he was examining her with focus and judge her reaction.

“Fascinating,” Jason said beside him.

Seth nearly jumped. He had almost forgotten his friend’s presence.

“She refuses to acknowledge you even though you are burning a hole in that pretty orange gown of hers,” Jason observed.

“Until she does acknowledge it, I refuse to alter my attention,” Seth murmured, continuing to stare at Isabel and enjoying the way she had begun to squirm ever so slightly.

“Do we dare place blunt on how long that will take?”

A grin was Seth’s only response. But before any bargains could be struck, Isabel looked directly at Seth. For the briefest fraction of a moment, their eyes met and in the rich depths of her stare Seth lost himself completely. But then she darted those eyes away, stealing the pleasure they provided.

She looked past him toward the French doors that led to the terrace, almost as if she was plotting an escape over the low garden wall that led to the countryside.

She spoke to her friend and her sister for a moment, then moved away toward the refreshment table. She poured herself a cup of punch, her back firmly and quite deliberately to him as she did so.

“Excellent,” Jason crowed softly. “A most guilt-stricken reaction if I ever saw one. I
do
believe Lady Avenbury may have taken your book.”

Seth blinked. In truth, when he looked at Isabel, everything else became secondary, including his “investigation” into who might have absconded with
The
Ladies Book of Pleasures
. And yet that was the justification he had given for making Isabel the focus of his attention.

“Either that or tupped one of your servants, eh?” Jason teased, elbowing him in the ribs.

Seth turned on him with a scowl. “That is a lady, sir, and do not forget it. You go too far.”

Jason blinked, staring at Seth with a wide-eyed and utterly amused expression. “I see a mooning look in your eyes.”

“Oh, do shut up, Northfield,” Seth snapped.

“You were intrigued by her yesterday. Today you cannot take your eyes from her, and I think that has little to do with a stolen item,” Jason continued, but now his friend’s smile was gone and his tone was uncharacteristically serious. “Seth, you are here to find a bride.”

“I know that. Do you think I could ever forget it?” Seth hissed as he broke his stare from Isabel.

He looked at all the young women in the room around him. So young and appropriate and so utterly, mind-bogglingly
boring
that it took everything in him not to scream.

“Lady Avenbury probably isn’t that bride,” his friend continued, but his tone was gentler. “She is not of an age, but even if you could overlook that, she did not provide her late husband with heirs even in all their years together. I realize that is of great import to you and to your family.”

Seth shut his eyes and drew a noisy breath. “You are the last one who should be lecturing me on familial responsibility!” he snapped, though he kept his voice low. “Now, if you will excuse me, I must return to my guests, I have wasted enough time as it is.”

He stepped away from Jason without allowing his best friend to respond or argue and paced into the crowd.

Jason spoke as if Seth didn’t know his duty. As if it didn’t slap him in the face every time he passed by a portrait of his brother or his father in the long hallways of this home.

But his friend was correct, Seth
had
let this strange interest in a woman who was utterly inappropriate distract him from the matter at hand. And the added mystery of who had taken the naughty book didn’t help.

So he intended to end that, at least, forthwith. He moved into the middle of the crowd with a smile for those around him. Of course all attention turned toward him.

“Thank you all for coming here,” he said, loudly enough that it was clear he was speaking to the group as a whole. “I hope we will share in friendship, good wine and conversation during your stay.”

“Hear, hear!” someone called from the crowd, and Seth smiled at the already tipsy enthusiasm.

“Please, enjoy your stay and do not hesitate to ask for anything you require,” he finished as he raised his glass.

The others followed suit and then the crowd ostensibly returned to their business, though Seth felt their eyes stay on him, always observing.

He smiled at a smaller group. “You know, I have heard London is abuzz about a certain book,” he said, watching the faces of those near him.

And if he was honest, he also let his gaze move to Isabel. She was standing close enough that he was certain she heard his statement. And even more certain when her fingers tightened on her glass and the pink freshness slowly drained from her cheeks. There was more of Jason’s guilt.

“Sir!” one of the chaperones in his immediate group gasped, drawing his attention back to those he had joined a few moments before. “This is mixed company.”

He arched a brow, still interested to see how Isabel would react as he pressed the subject. “I apologize, Lady Swangrove, if I have offended you. I have never read the book. Is it so very shocking?”

“Yes,” came a voice over his shoulder. He turned slightly to find that Jason had joined their group. If his friend was offended by Seth’s earlier dismissal, he didn’t show it. “You see, Lady Swangrove, a friend was meant to give Lord Lyndham a copy of the wicked little book, but—”

Seth found his gaze on Isabel again and watched her swallow hard, her face pinched. Her cheeks were a rosy red now and her hands shook. He could scarcely keep his jaw from dropping open.

Great God, Jason was correct in his ribbing. Lady Avenbury
had
taken
The Ladies Book of Pleasures
from his library. Right out from under his nose!

To his dismay, his body reacted to that revelation as swiftly as his mind. His cock began to ache and grow heavy with interest and pleasure.

“It is a good thing your friend did not do such a thing, my lord,” the shrill Lady Swangrove all but shrieked, thankfully nipping in the bud any arousal he felt. “It is trash, pure and simple. The fact that the author dares to call herself a lady is the biggest lie of all.”

Seth smiled at her in reassurance, but he couldn’t help but notice that some of the married ladies in attendance who were close enough to hear their conversation were smiling knowing smiles at the subject. And they weren’t expressions that agreed with this woman’s assessment of “trash”.

Truly, he needed to recover this book—it sounded most interesting.

“Perhaps you are right, my lady,” he soothed. “It is better I wasn’t exposed to such a thing after all. Now, I hear that you play a ruthless game of whist. Would you care to indulge me? With your lovely niece, of course, and a fourth?”

Seth forced himself to smile at the dim girl who was at Lady Swangrove’s side. She was dressed in the finest fashions, her hair was done in the latest style and there was no fault he could find in her face. But her expression was blank and had been so throughout the spirited exchange a moment ago. It was only now that she blinked and gave him a proper smile.

Wonderful. She would be a biddable bride if nothing else.

They took to the nearest table to play their cards, but as they began, Seth couldn’t help but steal one final glance at Isabel. She seemed to have regained her breath and was now leaning her head close to the Duchess of Jameswood, talking to her friend.

If he was correct and she
was
the culprit in the matter of the missing book, the gentlemanly thing to do would be to ignore the topic. But even now as he looked at her, he felt less than gentlemanly.

So he would be forced to do something about that. Or her. Soon.

Isabel’s palms were slick with sweat as she gripped
The Ladies Book of Pleasures
. Her heart was pounding too, so loudly that she was amazed she hadn’t woken half the house at this ungodly hour as she crept down the long staircase into the hallway.

In truth, she had waited until close to four in the morning to fulfill this duty for two reasons. One was that she didn’t want to bump into anyone as she had the first night she came here.

Seth, specifically. She didn’t want to bump into Seth.

But the second reason for her slowness was far more shocking. She had wanted to look at the book one last time. To be aroused and relieved by it before she returned it to its rightful place and returned
herself
to her duties.

So she had done so, dressed, and here she was, standing at the door to the library, ready to return what she had taken and pretend as if none of this silliness had ever happened.