The Reluctant Suitor (74 page)

Canting his head thoughtfully, he continued to muse aloud for Pandora’s benefit. “If I were to let it be known throughout the highways and byways of England that I’d give Alice a very handsome reward if she could provide undeniable evidence of the girl’s parentage, I think she’d be willing to give me what I seek, even if it meant putting to naught your little gambit. Alice seems the kind of woman who’d want to hold some leverage over you to make sure she got her full due . . . or perhaps even more than she had actually been promised. Have you considered what the odds are of Alice having secured irrefutable proof that you’re not Genie’s mother?”

“I’ve heard enough of your inane gibberish,” Pandora declared irately, seeing her hopes for great wealth being sundered by the man’s speculations. “I’ll be staying at the inn outside of Bradford until I hear from you, and if I don’t, I’ll let the authorities know you are twice wed and both your wives are living.”

With that, she stalked out the drawing room and, upon seeing Harrison hastening toward the door, angrily waved him out of her way.

“Thank you kindly, but I can let myself out! And may you all be damned to hell!”

Twenty-one

R
oger Elston glanced up from his bookkeeping as the bell on the front door heralded the entrance of a customer. His eyes lit up instantly when he saw the lady, for she seemed to have the same bold manner of the actresses he had once been wont to visit in London. In fact, he thought he recalled seeing this one perform while he had still been employed at the orphanage. Once upon a time, he had had to save up enough coin to indulge what had then been his favorite pastime, viewing the performers in their provocative costumes. Now he was able to afford and
demand
much more from the funds he pilfered from the mill.

Though the overflowing bosom of this one was partially covered by a robe, the pale, luscious mounds seemed to test the restraint of her silk bodice, as if eager to be free. The woman didn’t seem to mind that he stared at her overt display. Indeed, she smiled at him rather coyly before bending forward to search the merchandise laid out on the table between them, making it obvious that whatever undergarment she wore beneath, it was meant more for the purpose of enticing rather than concealing. His hand itched to explore the deep valley between those orbs and tweak the nipples that thrust impudently outward through the cloth of her gown.

Pandora smiled at the handsome young man, allowing her eyes to briefly scan his narrow trousers. He didn’t seem the least bit abashed by his display, but awaited her reaction as he offered her a half-grin. He wasn’t as old or perhaps as experienced as the men she had been enjoying as lovers in recent years, but she could imagine he’d be willing to do
anything
to please her. After Colton Wyndham’s adamant refusal even to consider her as his wife, she needed to reaffirm her appeal for her own peace of mind. At one time, she had been convinced the colonel really cared for her. Now she had to wonder if that had only been part of his persuasive charm, making every woman feel special while she was in his arms. His wife had certainly seemed to idolize him, but then, Pandora mused resentfully, it had appeared her love had been returned tenfold.

Smiling coyly at the young man, she offered an explanation for her presence. “I left my shawl in London and have need of something to keep me warm tonight while I’m here in this quaint little town. I wasn’t expecting it to turn cool this evening, but as you’ve probably discovered for yourself, it has. Would you happen to have a shawl or something that would suffice to keep me warm?”

Hastily Roger stepped to a cabinet in the corner and produced one of the mill’s finest woolen wraps. The beauty’s eyes widened in delight as he shook it out and displayed its exquisiteness.

“How lovely!” Pandora crooned excitedly, admiring the piece. Just as quickly, her brows gathered.

Pursing her lips, she feigned a look of dismay. “But as much as I desire the piece, sir, I fear it’s beyond my means.”

“For such a rare individual as yourself, madam, the piece would require nothing more than a few moments of your time,” Roger breathed, luxuriating in her sweet fragrance as he removed the robe. In its stead, he draped the ornately worked woolen shawl around her shoulders, managing to brush his hand over a ripe breast before tucking the ends of the wrap around her arms. Standing close behind her, he ogled the half-concealed melons with growing eagerness and leaned down to nuzzle her ear. “I can make it worth your while, my beauty.”

“Really?” Pandora cut her eyes askance, awaiting his proposition, and didn’t mind hugging herself to tempt him beyond his means to resist. In ready compliance her bodice gapped away from the pale orbs, bringing into view their rosy peaks. “The shawl is so wondrously warm. I’d
love
to have it.”

Roger stared at the luscious melons, seriously tempted to slip a hand down inside her bodice, but he couldn’t chance an employee finding them, for it would then be all over town that he had been dallying with a customer. “I have a private room near,” he murmured, extending a hand to indicate its direction. “

It has a comfortable chaise where we can sit . . . and talk together.”

“Do you have some port?” Pandora inhaled deeply until she was nearly out of her bodice and then released her breath, once again leaving her bosom in full view for barely an instant. At an early age, she had learned the art of enticing men and had gained much from their eagerness to savor what she had or could do to pleasure them. “I’m so in the mood for a glass of port.”

Roger smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

Stepping away, he indicated the dark hallway leading to the private room he had made secure. Never had he imagined he’d be using it so soon after outfitting it with necessities. Much to his delight, such an opportunity was now at hand, and he just couldn’t resist. He had even padded the walls to some extent to prevent workers from becoming curious about what he was doing within. Taking a nap was one thing, fulfilling his every fantasy with a wanton was another.

“Come into my private parlor, dear lady, and I shall pour you a libation and we can drink a toast to your new shawl.”

Pandora slipped an arm through his and hugged it close against her breast. “I shall never forget how generous you’ve been, giving me such a costly gift. How can I ever repay you?”

“Your company for a time is payment enough.”

Pandora’s eyes lit up as he pushed open the door of the inner room. It was furnished extravagantly with an ornate credenza upon which sat a silver tray with several crystal decanters containing different brews.

A half dozen silver candelabrum stood between a like number of standing mirrors and these in turned encircled a wide, luxurious, red velvet chaise, upon which lay a filmy red peignoir. It was fairly simple to surmise that the occupants of the chaise would be able to observe from every angle everything that transpired there.

Strolling across the room, Pandora sank upon the cushioned piece and found herself duplicated many times over in her audience of mirrors. She sighed in pleasure as she stroked a hand over her thigh, managing to hike up the hem of her gown to show a trim calf. Then she cooed in admiration as she lifted the negligee before her face and considered the room through its thin veil. “You must be rich to afford such luxuries.”

“I’m rich enough to afford this and a few other things besides,” Roger boasted, locking the door behind him.

“Such as?”

He strolled forward, doffing his coat. “A mistress who’d be willing to comply with my every desire and whim, and one with a vivid imagination of her own.” His fingers plucked open his shirt. “I’m not an ordinary man and would be very generous with a woman who could overlook a few minor inconveniences in order to please me. Is not variety your pleasure, too?”

“How generous?” Pandora asked, licking her lips in anticipation. She flicked her eyes over his chest and shoulders as he tossed his shirt aside; she had seen more manly brawn in her years as an actress, but the lad had a certain boyish appeal. It had been some time since she had felt inclined to yield her favors to a mere boy, but then, she had a need to feel young again.

Roger reached inside the credenza and produced a pair of gold earrings. Dangling them before her eyes, he murmured warmly, “This is only a small sampling. There is much more to be had should you please me.”

“Well, these will do for starters,” Pandora assured him, smiling warmly as she plucked them from his grasp. Doffing her own, she attached the heavy rings to her ears and reclined upon the chaise as she drew up her skirts to show a shapely thigh entirely bereft of pantaloons. Taking his hand, she stroked it along the shapely limb. “In return, I’m willing to give you more than a fair sampling of what I can do to pleasure a gent.”

“We’ll get to that part in good time, my beauty, but first, I have other things in mind.”

W
hat are we going to do?” Adriana asked later that night after Colton had stretched out in bed beside her.

He sighed heavily. “As much as it distresses me to search for Alice, that may be our only option if we intend to prove that we’re legally married, my love.”

“Do you think we are?” his wife asked worriedly.

“I can almost promise you we are, my sweet,” Colton murmured, wrapping an arm about her shoulders and pulling her close against him. “Pandora became very nervous even at the first when I started asking about Reverend Goodfellow, which leads me to think that he was no rector at all. Perhaps he
was
her brother or some actor she had promised to pay once she received monies from me. I’m not sure exactly what I’m missing here, but from the moment you bared Genie’s bottom and found nothing more than a faded blotch, something has been nagging at me, some detail or fact I fear I may be overlooking.

Perhaps ‘tis nothing more than a memory or an event from the past, but as much as I try, I can’t seem to bring it clearly to mind.”

“It seems rather wicked to make love when we’re not sure if we’re married,” Adriana ventured beneath his warming kisses a moment later.

Colton pulled back to view her worried face and gave her a teasing grin as he tugged the sheet down past the lustrous orbs. Gently he plied a forefinger around a soft nipple, evoking a shiver of pleasure from the one who watched him with adoring eyes. “Haven’t you ever wanted to feel positively wicked once in your life, my love?”

His tongue replaced his finger and moved with intoxicating slowness over a pliant peak, causing Adriana to catch her breath at the sensations he created within her. At the gentle urging of his hand, she readily opened herself to him, making no pretense as to her own desires and cravings. Threading her slender fingers through his thick crop of hair, she whispered with bated breath near his ear, “If this is wickedness, my love, then surely I am doomed, for I have become your most ardent slave.”

B
entley had taken Philana to the Wyndham residence in London two days previous. The following morning a small army of servants accompanied her to the Kingsley residence in Mayfair a short distance away. She wasn’t looking forward to sorting through the possessions of her late niece, but she had determined to put the ordeal behind her. Even as loyal as their servants were, she couldn’t leave them with such a perplexing task, for they wouldn’t have any idea what to do with the furnishings and everything else that had belonged to the young couple other than pack it all up and load it into endless carts. If there was anything that could be donated, sold, or thrown away prior to storing it in the attic or upper rooms of their house on Park Lane, then it would indeed save on the labor of getting it up there and the available space.

What Philana came across as she directed the servants in the careful wrapping of family portraits made her cease her work and return to the Wyndhams’ Park Lane mansion posthaste. The next morning, Bentley lent her a helping hand into the landau, and just before dinner that evening, she arrived at Randwulf Manor. After hurrying up the stone steps to the front portal, she swept into the house and then went in search of Colton, having been told by Harrison that her son was working in the library on documents he intended to present before Parliament.

Having missed the earlier sessions because of his most recent wound and his three-month recuperation during his honeymoon, Philana knew that Colton felt pressed to make up for lost time. In that quest, he had also been making preparations to move his family to their London mansion where they would remain, at least for the most part, until August when Parliament would again adjourn well in time for the hunting season.

Adriana had spread a quilt out on the oriental rug in the library and had settled on it to play with Genie.

The two of them were well in view of Colton whose laughter was often evoked by the playful antics of the child, who seemed to delight in wrinkling her tiny nose and flirting with either him or the lady.

When Philana entered, Adriana rose immediately to her feet and lifted the happily squealing Genie in her arms. “Mama Philana, we weren’t expecting you back for several days.”

The baby was especially delighted to see her grandmother whose eyes seemed riveted upon her. Placing a trembling hand beneath her tiny chin, Philana lifted the small face to catch the dwindling light from the glass-paned doors. As she studied the girl’s face intently, sudden tears brightened her blue eyes, and then a joyful grin swept over her whole face.