Authors: Kathryn Caskie
She was going to be rich.
Rich!
Why, just today, she was making fifteen pounds. It was a fortune!
In no time at all her debts would be paid in full. Soon,
shops
would open their doors to her again. And with a full
p
urse, the keeps would surely offer her a cup of tea, or
sh
erry, like they did when someone of the Quality entered the
ir
establishment. And she would sip her beverage quie
tly
while all the latest fabrics were paraded before her.
Yes, it was all quite clear to her now.
A lady she would b
e
—
i
n her own way. If not through birth, or marriag
e
—
f
or it was ridiculous to believe the
Fea
thertons' scheme to engage the viscount would ever survive the light of da
y
—
t
hen by her own hand.
62
Jenny smiled brightly to herself, quite liking the notion.
******************
Jenny opened her bedside table drawer and fished inside for her gloves. Instead she found a stub of candle, wound with tag-along pieces of scarlet thread, three shell buttons from her gray morning gown, and the crumbs of a biscuit she'd smuggled home in her reticule from the Fire and Ice Ball.
Blast! Where were her gloves? They couldn't have walked off on their own.
Oh, it was those wretched scullery maids. She just knew it. Er
m
a probably sneaked in that afternoon and stole them while Jenny had been shopping for the ribbon she needed.
Jenny started for the door, ready to twist the chit's fool head off for thievery, when she saw Meredith at her chamber door.
"He's here!" Meredith bounced on her toes, hardly able to contain herself.
"Already? But it's not even four yet."
"Still, he's in the drawing room with my aunts. But don't you worry, Jenny. Once you appear, they've promised to disappear for a time."
"But I can't see him now. Those scullery maids have made off with my gloves."
Meredith's eyes sparkled with mischief. "You are missing your gloves? Really?" Then she pulled a parcel from behind her back. "Then maybe you can make use of these."
"What have you done, Miss Meredith?" Jenny smiled
63
as she took the parcel and sat down on her bedstead to open it. She could scarce believe her eyes. There inside the wrappings were the most beautiful, certainly the softest, ivory kid gloves she'd ever seen. She looked up at Meredith, feeling her eyes fill with wet heat. "Oh, Miss Meredith. They're lovely."
"I'm sorry you thought the maids took your gloves. I had to borrow them to make sure of the fit." Meredith grinned. "No harm done though ... right?"
Jenny laughed as she eased her hands into the cool satin-lined gloves. "No harm done."
Meredith drew Jenny up from the bed and smoothed down the deep red gown. "I can't believe what you've done with this dress. If I didn't know better, I'd think it'd come straight from France."
"Well, don't look too closely. I haven't had time enough to do a proper job. The dress is barely tacked together."
Meredith cringed. "Best not move around too much then."
"Exactly my thought." From the grin on Meredith's face, Jenny knew she expected a giggle in response, but she just couldn't manage it. The thought of her gown unraveling before the viscount was all too horrifying.
Gingerly lifting the dress, Meredith glanced up at Jenny. "Do you need help dressing?"
Though amused at the irony of the lady offering to dress her own maid, Jenny shook her head. "I'll be fine, really. But thank you."
"I'll wait for you above stairs. Try to hurry above st
a
irs though. Don't want to keep Lord Argyll waiting."
Jenny's heart pounded in anticipation as she eased
h
erself into the gown. Then giving a pinch to both her
64
cheeks, she took one last appraising glance in her oval looking glass and headed above stairs.
Meredith was waiting for her in the entry hall. "Much more appropriate! I'll leave you here. Good luck, Jenny." Meredith leaned close and gave Jenny a quick peck on the cheek. "Just make sure
this
is the only kiss you receive, young lady."
Jenny nodded and watched Meredith disappear down the passageway. She laid her hand on the door handle and was about to enter the parlor when she heard the viscount's deep voice.
"I know 'twas a long while ago, but if ye can remember anything, anything at all, it might have meaning. She was yer kin, she must have come to call."
Jenny pressed down the handle and allowed the door to open just enough to peer inside.
Lady Viola blanched at the question. Within the time it took Jenny to open the door another inch, Viola's face actually became as white as her snowy hair.
Just then, however, Edgar, who'd somehow sneaked up behind her, reached over Jenny's head and pushed the door wide.
Jenny glanced up and gasped at the look in his eye. She'd been caught spying on her employers. Edgar was sure to inform her mothe
r
—
a
s if she wasn't already in enough trouble with her mum.
As the door swung wide, Lady Letitia caught notice of Jenny and used her appearance to redirect conversation.
"
Lady Genevieve.
Lord Argyll has come for an interview. Do come in, gel, and sit down."
Immediately Lord Argyll came to his feet and looked into Jenny's eyes in such an interested way that she actually colored.
65
"Yes, ma'am," Jenny muttered, then made her way to the settee.
Within seconds, Edgar stood before her with a silver tray of sherry. His aged eyes were blazing. Jenny glanced at Lady Viola, who nodded to the diminutive glasses.
Jenny lifted the stem of the crystal glass between her fingers, tossed the amber liquid down her throat, and replaced the empty crystal on Edgar's tray with a smile. But her smile fell cleanly from her lips as she noticed the look of horror on both the Feathertons' faces.
From the corner of her eye, however, she saw the viscount's mouth twitch with amusement and decided that perhaps her blunder had not been so great after all.
Lady Letitia made an exaggerated point of looking around the room.
"Oh, dear, the sherry is nearly gone. Perhaps you will join me, Sister, in locating one of the special bottles Father kept."
"Why can't Edga
r
—" Lady Viola began.
"Oh,
no.
He would never know which I meant, Sister. Though he could fetch it down for us once we've identified the correct bottle." Lady Letitia waggled her thick white brows and threw a meaningful glance in Lord Argyll's direction.
"Oh! Of course you are right." Lady Viola turned to the viscount. "How could Edgar know which bottle you
m
eant? Silly me."
One corner of the viscount's mouth lifted, but he nodded and rose as the ladies departed the room with M
r
Edgar. When the door closed behind the trio, Argyll turned to Jenny with a decidedly wicked gleam in his eye.
"
Alone at last, my bonnie lass."
Well, that didn't take long, Jenny mused. Did he
66
think he unnerved her? Well, he was sadly mistaken. She'd fended off more roguish footmen when she was a girl of ten and four. No, the challenge he offered her now would be pure sport. For she had the advantage. He thought her to be a proper lady, an innocent, something Jenny, for better or worse, was not. And besides, there was no chance in the world that the viscount would ever truly make an offer for her, so why not have a little fun?
Jenny batted her eyes. "Please temper your words, my lord, the ladies are bound to return in but a moment."
"A moment is all I need, lass."
She knew that to maintain the ruse the ladies had concocted, she should faint, or at the very least wilt at the thought of his overt gesture. But then, her dress might come apar
t
. .. and as she looked into his eyes, glinting with the sparks of passion she longed to ignite, for some reason she didn't care about the ruse anymore.
Maybe it was the sherry that warmed her belly, maybe 'twas her below stairs upbringing. But something made her mind forget what was proper, and in the next instant, Jenny reached out and carefully slipped her arms around the viscount's neck. And pressed her moist lips to his.
She had half expected her brazenness to shock him, to repel him. But it seemed to do neither.
His arms eased around her waist, then one hand slid slowly up her back, coming to rest at the nape of her neck. He held her mouth close as he ran the tip of his tongue over the bow of her top lip, then down along the fullness of her lower lip. Then he slipped it inside her mouth, exploring the soft slickness inside, swirling his tongue with
67
hers," until she shuddered and felt a seam beneath her bosom come open.
In an abrupt jerk, Jenny pulled back and quickly crossed her arms beneath her breasts, covertly pinching the seam closed with her thumb and index finger. "Yo
u
—
y
ou ... are not the gentleman you pretend to be, my lord."
He laughed deeply, wickedly then, a sound that sent goose bumps over the whole of her body. "And ye are not the lady you pretend either."
Oh, dear.
Had her impulsiveness destroyed the game so quickly? Her thoughts tangled in a nest of worry. "May I ask exactly what you mean by that, my lord?"
He chuckled at that. "Oh, dinna fret, dear one. I dinna doubt yer lineage. But there's a most unladylike passion inside of ye just waitin' to be freed."
"You overstep, my lord." Jenny did her best to appear appalled, as she knew she should be.
"Ye may call me Callu
m
," he told her in that low husky voice of his. "All me lovers do."
"Callum,"
Jenny whispered huskily, quite unintentionally.
"And what shall I call ye?"
And the word slipped out unbidden again. "Jenny."
My heavens, what am I saying!
Jenny stared at him as if truly seeing him for the first time. And indeed she was. "
I
—
I
have
no
intention of becoming you
r
—
y
our
lover
"
"Dinna ye, Jenny? Yer kiss told me differently."
Still gripping the loose seam with her left hand, Jenny poked her right index finger outward and met his
m
uscled chest, which she used as leverage to push away. "You are a rake of the first order."
68
"Aye, but I told ye as much when we met. And I believe ye know, for I admitted as much, that I never lie."
Just then, the door opened again and the Featherton ladies emerged from the passageway.
"Here we are, and with the
special
sherry!" Lady Viola sang out.
Callu
m
whirled around to face
t
hem. "I fear I must take my leave, fer I have some matters to attend to."
A dual sigh fell from the Featherton sisters' mouths.
"Shall we meet again, my lord?" Lady Viola asked sweetly. "We are taking the waters tomorrow noon, a little later than usual. Mayhap we will see you then?"
Callum's mouth lifted into a crooked smile. "Perhaps, my lady. Perhaps indeed."
And, as seemed to be his way, he departed abruptly with nary another word.
Good riddance, Jenny thought. She wasn't about to have her life ruined by a blue-blooded rogu
e
—
t
he way her mother's was. And the longer he remained in her presence, the more likely that became.
If only he wasn't so damned handsome.
Chapter
F
ive
Im
possible!
Gentlemen and ladies, all bathing......
together?
Jenny wondered if her mother knew about this. Or Mr. Edgar! Maybe if he was aware that the
ton
saw nothing wrong with bathing together, then he'd stop threatening the kitchen girls with the sack just for kissing the footmen.
Dressed in what Jenny took to be the appropriate bathing uniforms, baglike marigold frocks cord-cinched beneath their bosom, she and Meredith wheeled Lady Letitia to the steps, helped her down into the steaming water, then eased into the blissfully warm water themselves.