The Trouble with Honor (5 page)

That was not an invitation a man of
any
stripe would turn down, and George Easton least of all.

CHAPTER FOUR

H
ONOR DRESSED CAREFULLY
for her meeting with Mr. Easton. It would not do to give him the wrong impression, as she was walking on treacherous ground as it was. She remembered how he’d looked at her in Southwark, his gaze penetrating and boldly moving over her.

She needed something demure. Reserved. She chose white muslin with a high neckline, trimmed in green, and topped it with a dark green spencer. She donned a bonnet with matching trim, and dark green gloves.

Honor studied herself critically in the mirror above her vanity. It would do—no one would suspect she had gone to Gunter’s for anything more than a cup of tea or an ice. Certainly not to meet a gentleman alone, unchaperoned. “Certainly not,” she muttered and smiled at her reflection.

But her smile looked forced. As if her lips knew how dreadful she was behaving.

She dropped a few coins in the beaded reticule Prudence had made her, then made her way downstairs, taking care to avoid any place that Grace might be. She asked the Beckington butler, Mr. Hardy, to bring round the coach. As she stood waiting in the foyer, Augustine walked through the door.

“Honor!” he said, surprised to see her there. “Are you going out?”

“To tea,” she said breezily, hoping she didn’t appear as nervous as she felt. “Shall I see you at supper?”

“Supper? No, no, afraid not.” He handed his hat to Hardy and added proudly, “I’m to dine with Miss Hargrove and her parents this evening.” He glanced back at Hardy and whispered loudly, “Shall I tell you a secret?”

“Why, yes! I adore secrets.”

Augustine yanked at his waistcoat where it had inched up over his belly. His brown eyes were shining, his smile irrepressible. “I’ve not told anyone, but Papa agrees with me that Miss Hargrove and I should marry this spring.”

Honor’s heart hitched. She’d believed there would be no possibility for Augustine’s marriage to occur before the earl’s death. “This spring?”

“Yes, isn’t it marvelous? When I explained to Papa that Miss Hargrove is anxious to be wed—and so am
I,
naturally—Papa reasoned that he could very well linger for
months,
and that there was no point in putting it off indefinitely. I rather think he’d like to see me wed before...the, ah...inevitable.”

Honor tried to hide her shock behind a bright, happy smile.

“I should very much like to announce a date at our annual affair at Longmeadow,” he added happily.

The Beckingtons hosted a country-house gathering at the earl’s seat of Longmeadow before the opening of Parliament each year. The stately Georgian home had thirty guest rooms, and at least one hundred guests attended every spring.

“What better time and place?” Augustine happily continued.

“What better?” Honor echoed, her mind suddenly whirling. The Longmeadow soiree was a mere three weeks away.

“Monica is a bit anxious. I have counseled her she should not fret so, that my sisters have always been
quite
welcoming.” He looked pointedly at Honor.

“
Particularly
to dear friends, I should like to think,” Honor said. And she would like to think that precluded Monica, but there was no need to confuse the issue at the moment.

Augustine glanced slyly at Hardy, then leaned closer to Honor and whispered, “I think she feels as if the four of you might all see her as an intrusion into our happy family. I assured her
nothing
could be further from the truth. She was eased when I said so and reminded me that in any event, you will all have husbands of your own soon enough.” Augustine smiled indulgently at Honor. “I should not like to speak out of turn, but I believe she would take great pleasure in helping those happy events along in some way.”

“I have no doubt of it,” Honor said sincerely.

“You should think of it, Honor. One cannot live under one’s father’s wing forever, as I am discovering myself.”

“No, of course not.” Monica was already beginning to sow her seeds, was she? Honor was now determined more than ever to intervene before it was too late. “What a happy occasion,” she said to Augustine. “You must impress on our friend that she will not be intruding
in the least,
” she said, tapping Augustine’s chest with each word for emphasis.

The door opened; a footman stepped in. “Ah, there is your coach,” Augustine said happily. “I shall give Miss Hargrove your felicitations, shall I?”

“You
must,
” Honor insisted, and pictured herself with her hands around Monica’s neck.

“Good day, sister,” he said jovially.

“Good day, Augustine.” Honor watched him toddle off, whistling as he went. She turned to the door. Hardy was waiting, holding it open for her. “Lord help us all, Hardy,” she said as she swept past him.

“Indeed, miss.”

* * *

H
ONOR SAW
M
R.
E
ASTON
the moment the coach turned onto Berkeley Square. How could she miss him? His was an imposing figure. He was leaning up against a railing, one leg crossed over the other, his arms folded loosely across him, watching people stroll across the square. That night in Southwark she’d been properly titillated by his comely face and virile presence. She now understood why he was rumored to be London’s greatest rake, his affairs numerous. His looks stirred something deep inside her.

Honor pulled open the vent to the driver. “Jonas, please stop at Gunter’s and open the door to the gentleman in the black coat and gold waistcoat,” she called up.

The coach turned the corner and began to slow. Honor nervously adjusted her bonnet. She had only to think of Monica and an imminent wedding to find her resolve.

A moment later, she heard Jonas’s deep voice. The coach door swung open, and Mr. Easton, still perched against the railing, leaned to his right and looked inside. Honor smiled. “Good afternoon!”

He pushed away from the railing and came to his full height. He was
quite
tall, wasn’t he? With his muscular legs and broad shoulders he looked too big to fit into the coach. He strolled toward it now, his expression inscrutable. Just like that evening in Southwark, he had an uncanny way of looking at her that made Honor feel as if he was seeing right through her, seeing her cards, even the thoughts in her head. She’d felt fluttery that night, as if a thousand butterflies had nested within her chest.

She was feeling fluttery again.

He paused just outside the open coach door, arched a brow and said, “Your stepbrother must be dining elsewhere.”

Honor swallowed down her nerves. “Won’t you come inside, Mr. Easton?”

He cocked his head to one side, assessing her, his gaze nonchalantly taking her in, from her bonnet to the hem of her gown. The slightest shadow of a smile turned up one corner of his mouth. He reached for the coach handle and easily came inside, swaying the coach as he settled heavily across from her and the door swung shut behind him.

Honor had guessed right—he was too big for the coach. His knees framed both of hers, and his body very nearly filled the bench. He sat casually, one arm stretched across the back of the squabs. He reminded her of a wolf, calmly watching a hare hop across the path.

He inclined his head. “Miss Cabot.”

“Mr. Easton, how do you do?” She rapped on the ceiling and called up, “A drive around the park, please, Mr. Jonas.” She closed the vent and smiled at her guest. “Thank you for coming.”

“How could I possibly resist such an unusual invitation?” His voice was smooth and low, and it sent another little shiver winging through her, fluttering in her chest, in her groin.

The coach took an unexpected turn; Mr. Easton’s knee bumped her leg. He said nothing, but he smiled as if that amused him, too. “Well, Miss Cabot?” he asked. “What has brought on this unprecedented ride about the park in a Beckington coach? Do you desire to seduce me? If so, I am favorably inclined. His gaze slid down to her well-covered bosom. “I find seduction one of the greatest pleasures in life.”

Honor had the strongest urge to look down and assure herself that her spencer was properly buttoned.

Easton lifted his gaze. “Well? I am filled with curiosity.”

Her palms were suddenly damp, her heart fluttering still, making it feel impossible to speak. But speak she must, for here it was, the moment of her greatest folly. “I am in need of a favor, Mr. Easton.”

One brow arched above the other.

“Of you.... That is, if you would be so kind.” She smiled.

Mr. Easton’s gaze flicked over her again, lingering a little longer on her chest. “Do you believe we are so well acquainted that you might ask a favor?” He touched her foot with his boot.

“I...” She hesitated.

Now he smiled, as if he had the upper hand, as if there was no possible answer to that but
no.

He was certainly right about that—there was no possible answer to that beyond
no.
But it was his faintly smug expression that gave Honor the swell of pluck that she needed. “One might agree that one hundred of your pounds suggests I do, sir.”

Mr. Easton very nearly choked on his smile. His eyes, Honor noticed, were an amazing shade of blue, the color of pale china silk. She had a fleeting thought of what it must be like to lie beneath this man and gaze up into those eyes.

“Touché, Miss Cabot,” he said. “I have never been asked a favor in quite this manner, but you are so comely, I can’t possibly refuse. Lift your skirts, then, allow me to gaze upon the valley I shall be pleasuring—”

“What?”
she gasped as a hot bolt of awareness shot through her. “No,
no,
Mr. Easton, you misunderstand!”

“Do I?” he asked with an easy smile.

“
Yes.
I am in need of a different sort of favor. Not...not
that,
” she said breathlessly.

He laughed. “I do not frequent the same assembly rooms as debutantes.”

He didn’t what? Honor blinked with surprise. The tingling in her was momentarily forgotten in favor of her indignation. “For heaven’s sake, I am not asking you to
dance
with me. My dance card fills the moment I step into an assembly room.”

“Fills right up, does it?” he asked wryly.

“I mean that I do not arrange to meet gentlemen so that I might ask them to stand up with me. Or anything else,” she hastily added.

“I didn’t think that you invited me to ask me to stand up with you, Miss Cabot. I thought you had invited me for more obvious and—” He paused, ran his tongue over his lip as he took her in again, and added, “
Diverting
reasons. But now I am fairly certain that you have invited me here to engage in some duplicitous debutante scheme. That,” he said, “is not appealing.”

Her heart was beating wildly now, her mind sorting through all the diverting reasons. “How odd,” she said, trying desperately to ignore her thoughts. “You make it sound as if debutantes are frequently scheming.” Which, Honor was all too aware, she was doing in that very moment.

“That, or sleeping. Come now, don’t be shy,” he said, gesturing for her to carry on. “I suppose I am not generally opposed to granting favors...particularly if there is some hope I might personally
enjoy
the favor after all.” His gaze fell to her bodice again. “Open your spencer.”

“No!”
Honor said, appalled and titillated at once.

“Then I suppose we are finished,” he said, and moved as if he meant to knock on the ceiling.

Honor quickly unbuttoned her spencer. He arched a brow; she frowned slightly and pushed it back from her bosom.

He eased back, studying her casually. Honor was accustomed to the way men looked at her. But she had never felt it quite like this, so intently. Honor’s blood began to race. She wasn’t certain if she was appalled by him or entirely aroused.

“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully as he gazed at her collared gown. “That is not an improvement.”

Honor yanked her spencer closed. “As I said, Mr. Easton, I did not come here for a dalliance.”

“Apparently not,” he said. “Or you are woefully unimaginative in your seductions.” His slow, deliberate smile made the fluttering in Honor’s breast skirt merrily down her spine and land squarely in her belly. “Nevertheless, I should think it would be pleasurable for us both.”

Honor couldn’t think. Her imagination was galloping away from her.

“Go on, then, Miss Cabot. You have me on tenterhooks. If I will not be allowed to show you the pleasure your young heart has imagined, then please, do say what it is you want.”

Steady on.
Honor ignored her breathlessness, the heat in her veins, the desire to remove her spencer entirely, and said, “I will not lie, Mr. Easton. This favor involves a bit of...persuasion.”

“Even more interesting.” His gaze drifted to her lips. “I knew that you were a bold one, Miss Cabot. A young lady of your stature does not appear in a Southwark gaming hell without a river of audacity running through her veins.” He smiled as if that pleased him. “What sort of persuasion did you have in mind?” he asked, and reached out, taking the end of her bonnet’s ribbon between two fingers, rubbing the velvet.

She pulled the ribbon from his grasp. “I need you to seduce someone.”

He reached for her ribbon again and smiled so charmingly that Honor felt a bit of herself melt. “I am trying, Miss Cabot.”

She pulled the ribbon free once more. “Not
me.
”

He chuckled, the sound of it reverberating in her chest. “A pity. But I suppose you are too tender after all. Is it anyone I know, or anyone I choose?”

“Someone I know.” She prepared to explain herself, but George Easton abruptly reached for her wrist and wrapped his fingers tightly around it, the thumb pressing against her vein. Could he feel how her heart raced? Her heart skipped—she knew a slender moment of terror as she looked at his hand on her wrist; it looked enormous compared to her arm. She was so
foolish—
she had no idea if he would harm her, if he would force her—

“What the devil are you talking about?” he asked silkily, rubbing his thumb across her inner wrist.