Lily nodded. No doubt he recalled how a thirteen-year-old Annie used to hide behind the banister at the top of the staircase in their parents’ house and giggle when Colton would come to pay a call on Lily.
She shook her head. That was all a long time ago. A very long time ago.
Colton’s voice held a note of sarcasm. “No doubt your sister will be as sought after as you are.”
Lily shrugged. “Annie doesn’t know the dangers that await her in the marriage mart, but her heart remains set upon a debut and I would do anything to make her happy.” Lily waved a hand in the air, dismissing the subject. She rang for Evans. “Would you care for some tea, my lord?” she asked in a deceptively sweet voice.
“No, thank you.”
Lily sighed. Lord Colton’s dark eyes tracked her every move. They seemed omniscient, as if he knew her secrets. Could he tell how relieved she was that he’d refused the tea? Cream and sugar were as precious as gold.
“I’d prefer a brandy,” he quickly added.
“It’s half two,” she replied with a disapproving stare.
And brandy isn’t cheap either
.
His hooded eyes showed no emotion. “Your point?”
The muscles in Lily’s cheeks ached from keeping the fake smile plastered to her face. She let the smile fade and turned to the sideboard where she splashed only a bit of brandy into a glass for Lord Colton. The man was exactly like her father, a drinker and a gambler.
And she’d known no one as useless as her father.
“I see in addition to your renowned gambling and your rakishness, you’ve also turned to the bottle. Are you trying for all seven of the deadly sins?”
His voice was calm. “And I see in addition to your renowned flirtations and your fickleness, your skills as a hostess leave much to be desired.”
Hmm. Well-played.
Smile firmly in place, she turned back to begrudgingly hand Lord Colton his drink. His gaze flicked to Leopold. “I see you’ve still got your mongrel.”
Leopold lifted a floppy ear and growled again.
Lily stiffened her spine. “I would never part with my Leo.”
Lord Colton smiled a smile that made Lily wonder why it was so hot in the salon of a sudden. Some dark emotion kindled in his eyes. “You never could resist a stray.”
Lily gave Colton a blatant once-over. Oh, no, they weren’t talking about Leo anymore. She delicately cleared her throat. “Do tell me, what brings you here this afternoon?”
He waited for her to sit first, of course, before taking his place in the chair across from her. His size made the piece look like doll furniture. Her gaze traveled from the tip of his black Hessians up his long legs stretched in front of him, encased in biscuit-colored trousers. Her eyes lingered on his narrow hips and broad shoulders, before moving up to the decidedly irritated look on his perfect face.
Confound it
. The man looked even better than he had five years ago. Five
long
years ago.
Lily shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. She folded her hands in her lap. “Tell me why you’re here,” she repeated. “And I shall attempt to seem as if I care what you have to say.” She smiled prettily.
Colton’s eyes narrowed. “I’d be surprised,
Countess,
if you did not already know the reason for my call.”
She bristled at his not-so-subtle emphasis on her title. If he hoped for a reaction to his veiled barb, he was about to be disappointed. The title was hers. She’d paid for it dearly.
She refused to let him see it bothered her. “Is that so? Should I guess then? Stop me as soon as I am correct.” She took a deep breath, prepared to rattle off a list of innocuous motives.
He thrust up a palm, stopping her. “That is unnecessary. I’m here to discuss a certain pamphlet that has been circulating in the company of young, unmarried females. A pamphlet entitled
Secrets of a Wedding Night
.”
Lily kept her face blank. As if on cue, the butler carried in a tea tray and set it on the table in front of her. “Thank you, Evans.”
Lily busied herself with pouring the tea. “Hmm.
Secrets of a Wedding Night
. Yes, I’ve heard rumors of that scandalous bit of writing.”
Colton crossed his long legs at the ankles. Casual. Perhaps too casual. She could be that casual if she chose.
“I assume you have also heard, then, my lady, that
you
are widely rumored to be the author of that particular piece.”
She kept her eyes downcast and dropped only one costly lump of sugar into her teacup. She stirred slowly, set the tiny silver spoon aside, and raised her chin to stare him in the eye.
“Me?” she asked in a falsely shocked voice.
“Yes, everyone knows you and Viscount Medford are thick as thieves. He’s been known to publish that sort of drivel.”
“Keeping track of my friendships, are you, my lord?”
“Only when it affects me, my lady.”
She clucked her tongue. “Ghastly thing, gossip.”
“Well?” His voice held an edge.
This called for an innocent look, and Lily just so happened to have
perfected
an innocent look. “What are you asking, my lord?”
Positively saintly
.
His black eyebrow arched, his gaze pinning her in a way that made her teacup shake a bit on the saucer.
Drat!
She hastily set the cup on the table and snatched her hands away.
“Did you write it?” He drew out the words slowly. His deep voice echoed off the salon’s aging wallpaper.
“My, my, my, Lord Colton.” Thank heavens she’d also perfected tinkling laughter. “I must say you’re the very first person to come out and ask me.” Disconcerting.
Most
disconcerting.
“Did. You. Write. It?” he repeated, sounding like a man who was used to having his questions answered the first time.
Lily retrieved her teacup and took a tiny sip. Ah, yes. This was one of the reasons it hadn’t worked between the two of them—one of the many reasons. “I’d forgotten you were this direct. Direct, domineering, and completely used to getting your way. Tiresome qualities in a man.”
He set his glass aside and snapped the leather riding gloves he still held in his hand. “I won’t ask a third time,” he replied with his own type of smile—a decidedly angry one—that Lily was sure
he
had perfected.
She stirred her tea with the spoon and spoke slowly. “I assume you’re here, asking these questions, because…”
His new smile was tight. “Because my affianced bride, Miss Templeton, just cried off, and according to her distraught mother, it was a direct result of her reading your pamphlet.”
Lily averted her eyes. A strange sensation tugged at her. Guilt? No. Not possible. She tapped the spoon on the side of the porcelain cup.
Ping. Ping. Ping
.
Hmm. This little episode had the potential to become quite messy.
“I’m very sorry to hear that,” she lied. “Though I cannot say I blame Miss Templeton. Marriage is not all it’s purported to be. Awful business, really.” She shuddered.
Colton did not look amused. “Did you write that blasted pamphlet or not?”
Lily raised her cup to her lips, hiding her expression behind it, watching him. Why, the cad was nearly shouting at her. Not to mention the swearing. Did she write the pamphlet? Of course she wrote it, and she happened to be exceedingly proud of it. But she couldn’t very well admit it and still maintain her place in Polite Society. And she needed her place in Society, for Annie’s sake.
“Tsk, tsk. Such language, Lord Colton.” Another sip of tea. “If I wrote it—and I am not saying I did—I would stand behind its contents. Young ladies should know exactly what they’re getting into, after all. That pamphlet provides a much-needed service to the uninformed.”
She dropped her gaze. No use trying to make him understand. He could never know the fright of a wedding night, married to a man old enough to be your grandfather, someone you didn’t know, didn’t love. All with no choice in the matter. It was enough to shatter a girl’s dreams. Just as Lord Colton had helped to shatter hers, though she’d die before she’d admit it to him.
He clenched his jaw and leaned toward her, bracing his forearms on his knees. His maddeningly masculine scent found her nostrils, a mixture of horse leather, the barest hint of expensive cologne, and something indefinable. Probably that blasted confidence.
His voice was silky, yet menacing, and held a promising tone that made it seem hot in the room again. “That pamphlet is a pack of lies told by a woman who hasn’t been bedded properly.”
She gasped. Good heavens. She should slap him and order him from her house for saying such an indelicate thing. Instead, his words caused a rush of heat to singe her nerves. But she refused to be shocked by him. She would give him back as good as he gave.
Lily kept her eyes hooded and leaned toward him. “Surely you’re not implying that
you
are the authority on bedding women properly? Even
you
couldn’t possibly be that arrogant, my lord. Or do I give you too much credit?”
The growl that followed was meant to intimidate. Lily was sure of it. Instead, it served to delight.
Finally
. She’d scored a hit in their war of words.
“I imply nothing,” he ground out, mirroring her action by leaning toward her, his mouth merely inches from hers. Their eyes met. “I know
exactly
how to bed a woman properly.” Lily sucked in her breath sharply, but she refused to look away. He stared her down. “Furthermore, I
accuse
you of writing that libelous bit of rubbish, and I
demand
you retract it.”
Lily snapped her head to the side and bit her lip. Another flash of guilt—she was now quite convinced it was guilt—swept through her. He wanted a retraction? That’s what he was after? He couldn’t possibly be in love with the girl. Could he? She pressed a hand against her sinking stomach.
Giving her head a shake, she turned back to face him. “The fact that your fiancée allowed some silly pamphlet to scare her off may tell you something you don’t want to know, Colton. Or have you never considered that?” She swept her hands across her lap and squared her shoulders. “At any rate, this conversation is entirely inappropriate, my lord. I think it would be best if you take your leave now.”
Leopold’s furry head shot up and he growled softly, watching his mistress as if ready to defend her if necessary.
Lord Colton gave the dog a distasteful glance and made no move to go. Instead, he stared Lily down again, a muscle ticking in his jaw once more. “Oh, no you don’t. You cannot go about destroying people’s lives without answering for it.”
Lily stared right back. “Resorting to intimidation now, are you, my lord?” Time to put an end to this ridiculous conversation. And she knew just how to do it. “I realize you need to marry an heiress. Everyone knows your father left your estates completely penniless, and your own heedless gambling hasn’t helped the situation, but it seems you’ll just have to find another young woman to lure with empty promises.” She smiled a fake-sweet smile. “Perhaps one who is less well read?”
Colton slapped the black gloves against his thigh, his dark eyes blazing. Leopold propped himself up on his two front paws, poised for action.
Colton’s deep voice came through clenched teeth. “I want you to write a retraction. I want you to tell Miss Templeton what you wrote is only one young lady’s experience.”
“Souls in Hades want a drink of water.” Lily gripped the arm of her rosewood chair until her fingers ached. “You may be used to ordering about your servants and your timid little Miss Templeton, but you certainly shall not order
me
about. I am quite through with being ordered about by men.” She leaped from her chair. Leopold sprang up and bared his teeth at the marquis.
Colton surged to his feet. He squeezed his gloves so hard, the whites of his knuckles showed.
Good
.
Lily stretched to her full height. Though her own diminutive size of three inches over five feet was no match for him, she would not allow him to intimidate her. She had to strain her neck to stare up at him. “By the by, this is what it looks like,
my lord,
when someone fails to kowtow to you. No doubt it’s a foreign concept, but one that exists, I assure you.”
The muscle continued to tic in his jaw. “You
will
write a retraction.”
“Will I?” she asked, nonchalant, struggling not to let him see how deeply he’d affected her. Her hands trembled. “And how exactly do you intend to force me to do that?” She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her black slipper on the carpet, awaiting his answer.
Lord Colton pulled on one glove and then the other. He bowed to her, though anger still emanated from every pore. “I intend to prove to you that your bloody pamphlet is wrong. I intend to show you how a real man pleasures a woman.” He stared her straight in the eye.
Sparks leaped between them. Lily’s heart thumped in her throat.
“I
intend
to seduce you, Countess.”
Lily’s jaw dropped, and one second later, he spun her into his arms. She tried to push away, but his mouth swooped down to capture hers. Her hands struggled against his broad shoulders. The brush of his bold lips made her dizzy. Her head fell back. She stopped thinking. His hot, insistent tongue invaded her mouth, and Lily’s stomach dropped in a way it hadn’t in … five years.
Blast it
. She whimpered. Her hands crept up to wrap around his neck. She melted against him.
Lord Colton pulled his mouth from hers and took a step back. His breath came in heavy pants. His perfect hair was slightly mussed. Something akin to bewilderment flashed through his dark eyes. If Lily hadn’t been intently watching, she might have missed it. She touched her fingertips to her burning lips.
Colton turned abruptly and strode toward the door. “Consider that an opening shot across your bow, my dear. You have been warned.”
CHAPTER 2
Devon Morgan descended the stone steps of Lily’s town house with ground-devouring strides. He mounted Sampson, his chestnut gelding, and tugged on the reins to head toward the park.