Victorian Vigilantes 01 - Saving Grace (10 page)

“Cue Franklin,” Lord Torbay muttered beneath his breath as he stood up. “Now you must excuse me. I have to be somewhere. I shall leave you in Isaac’s capable hands, Lady Eva, and see you tomorrow.”

“Oh, very well, Lord Torbay.” She stood and dipped a curtsey, wondering if it was a woman’s company he so urgently sought. “Good night and thank you.”

Lord Isaac led her from the dining room back into the small salon they had occupied that morning, waited for her to seat herself and asked permission to sit beside her on the sofa she had chosen.

“By all means.”

An expectant silence engulfed them, pulsating like an unspoken promise. Eva’s heart rate accelerated. It was the first time she had been alone with either gentleman and she wondered if that situation had been deliberately contrived. Did Lord Isaac expect something from her in return for protecting her? Married women who didn’t take their vows seriously were considered fair game in society’s circles, and Lord Isaac knew very well how she felt about her particular vows. What he could not know was that she had no interest in adultery, not out of consideration for William, but because she saw no point in it. However, if that was what it would take to ensure they kept their word and rescued Grace then it would be a small price to pay. Eva glanced at Lord Isaac’s noble profile and felt ashamed at the turn her thoughts had taken. She had been with William for too long and had forgotten that once a gentleman gave his word, it was his bond.

Lord Isaac ran his arm and along the back of settee, tickling her nape with delicate fingers. It was a bold, over-familiar gesture that she ought to have taken exception to. Her protest stalled on her lips when instead of the anticipated revulsion, a ripple of excitement cascaded through her. How peculiar. Intimacy in all its guises disgusted her. She tolerated the weight of her husband’s body covering hers as he panted and groaned his way through the sexual act because she had no choice in the matter. She survived the ordeal only by separating her mind from what was happening to her and thinking about something else.

So why did the mere touch of Lord Isaac’s fingers on the back of her neck affect her so pleasurably? She could not understand it.

“He doesn’t deserve you.” Lord Isaac’s breath peppered her neck as he leaned close, speaking in a soft, pensive tone that filled her with a bewildering paradox of pleasure and longing.

“Few of us get what we deserve in this world.”

His fingers were now digging into her rigid shoulders, almost painfully, and yet she welcomed his touch. “You’re far too tense.” His heavy gaze, dark and intense, bore into her profile. “I can help you to relax, if you will let me.”

Her breath caught in her throat and her heart beat far faster than it ought to as she contemplated his offer.

“We shouldn’t be having this conversation, Lord Isaac, and well you know it.”

To her intense disappointment he removed his hands from her shoulders and retreated to his side of the sofa. “Then we shall not have it. What would you like to talk about instead?”

Damn him, he was calling her bluff. “You are asking me to break my wedding vows?”

“I am asking you to trust me.” His fingers returned to her shoulders and danced across them, sending renewed shivers down her spine. “I want to make you aware of what you actually are. I don’t believe you have any idea.”

She cast him a look of utter confusion. “I fail to understand you.”

“I can make you understand, if you will permit it.”

She wanted to laugh at the ridiculousness of this situation. He was offering to seduce her and at the same time expected her to trust him. She should definitely tell him the truth and get the matter out of the way once and for all; then they could concentrate on the far more important matter of freeing Grace from her husband’s clutches.

“Thank you, sir, but you are wasting your talents with me.” She cleared her throat, embarrassed but determined to lay this matter to rest. “Just so that we understand one another, you might as well know that I am frigid.”

She expected surprise, sympathy, all manner of reactions other than the one she actually received. Lord Isaac shot her an incredulous look, then threw his head back and roared with laughter.

“I am glad you find the situation so amusing,” she said primly.

“My apologies.” Lord Isaac traced the curve of her face with his forefinger, his gossamer light touch causing the tremors in her spine to reignite and spread through the rest of her body. “I am not amused, but I
am
challenged.”

“Whatever do you mean by that?”

“I mean you mistake the matter, and I intend to prove it to you.” He shook his head, sending blond curls dancing across his face. “A less likely candidate for frigidity I have yet to encounter.”

Eva was willing to concede he
had
managed to talk her into an erotic daze. If even half the books she had read on the subject were to be believed, then such states could exist for women.

Some women. Just not her.

Why would so many married ladies risk everything by engaging in affairs if there was no carnal pleasure to be had from them? Passion was supposed to overcome common sense in such situations, but Eva had never believed that. Not for the first time, she wished she had a close female friend with whom she could discuss the matter. Her mother had told her nothing at all about what to expect from the marriage bed and the reality had been a brutal shock.

She returned her attention to Lord Isaac, who was regarding her with an intense expression, almost as though he understood her inner turmoil and was leaving her to make her own decision. How could he possibly understand? Besides, words were cheap, and this compelling gentleman was impossibly arrogant. He knew nothing about her or the torment her life had become, so how could he possibly know how she would react in such a situation? And what was she doing, even thinking about his proposition, if that was what it was?

“Would you prefer to discuss the weather?” he asked with a disarming smile. Perdition, that smile made her feel most peculiar.

“You assume too much,” she replied, looking away from him. “You know nothing about me.”

“I disagree.” He reached out a hand and his fingers worked their way lazily down the length of her neck, distracting her. “It is a very long time since I met a more sensual woman. It was the first thing that struck me about you when you arrived here today.”

Eva shook her head. “You are quite wrong about that.”

Lord Isaac’s slow, intimate smile continued to play havoc with her emotions. “There’s an easy enough way to prove I am right.”

She tossed her head. “I hesitate to ask what that might be.”

“Since you claim to be frigid.” He cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but this situation calls for plain speaking. I assume you have never received any pleasure from sexual relations with your husband.”

Eva shuddered. “Absolutely not. I find the entire business abhorrent.”

“And yet, talking about it with me excites you.”

She offered him an arch smile. “There’s a difference between theory and practise.”

“Then let us turn our minds to practise.”

“I’m not sharing my bed—or should I say Lord Torbay’s bed—with you.”

“I am not inviting you to.” His smile took the sting out of his rejection. “But I am inviting you to join me in a more suitable location. And there I will demonstrate that you are not frigid. What’s more, I will do it without laying so much as one finger on you.”

She laughed. “That is impossible.”

“Then you cannot lose,” he replied, abandoning her body and leaning casually into the corner of the settee again, legs stretch out in front of him, elegantly crossed at the ankles. How could he possibly look so unruffled, so sure of himself, when she was a bundle of uncertainty and embarrassment? “You are bound to receive satisfaction of one kind or another. Either I will succeed in giving you sexual gratification, or you will have the satisfaction of proving me wrong.”

She opened her mouth to decline but the full force of his tantalising gaze, focused and intent as it seared into her, caused her treacherous body to develop a mind of its own. An alien heat spiralled through it and suddenly her stays felt too tight, her breasts too sensitive. She didn’t want to even think about the sensation she felt between her legs. A sensation she had never known before and which ought to have shocked her.

She was experiencing sexual desire. There could be no other explanation. Her curiosity was now well and truly piqued but still, she couldn’t possibly accept Lord Isaac’s challenge.

Could she?

“I know you have great confidence in your abilities,” she said in a voice that sounded far huskier than her own. She cleared her throat, causing Lord Isaac to smother a smile, and tried again. “That is hardly to be wondered at, since I feel persuaded you receive a great deal of attention from members of my sex, but we are not all easy conquests. In fact,” she added, pleased with her restraint, “some of us find your charms easy to resist.”

Lord Isaac’s throaty chuckle was deep and compelling. “Liar,” he said.

“Really, you are the most arrogantly self-assured person it has ever been my misfortune to meet.” She tossed her head, causing Lord Isaac’s chuckle to deepen. Clearly she was fooling no one, especially not herself.

“You won’t be saying that an hour from now, if you let me prove my point.”

Eva tried to ignore her tormentor’s offer and change the subject. It got her nowhere. He merely fixed her with a passionate look that made her forget who she was supposed to be. For the first time she gave his proposition serious consideration. He has said he wouldn’t actually touch her, had he not? As a gentleman he would keep his word. Technically that would mean she had remained true to her husband, even though the thought of being unfaithful to him didn’t especially concern her. If she did finish up beneath his roof again he would accuse of her of disloyalty, whether she had been or not. It had happened often enough in the past. William’s possessive jealousy was legendary and so she might as well do something to earn the punishment she would ultimately receive at his hands.

Lord Isaac continued to observe her but made no further effort to persuade her, which is when something inside of her changed and she was filled with a capricious need to rebel. She had spent her entire life being dutiful, putting the concerns of others ahead of her own, and the reckless desire to experiment suddenly consumed her. Hundreds of married women had dalliances, which is all this would be.

Desire? Is that what spurred her on? Could it really be? Was it her or was the room overwarm? She opened her mouth to ask the question and then closed it again. It was definitely her. Her core temperature had increased for no reason other than that she had secured the attention of a handsome gentleman who was anxious to help her compensate for all the time she had wasted with regrets.

Making up her mind so quickly she shocked herself, she nodded decisively.

“Very well,” she said. “I cannot believe I am agreeing to this. I don’t know what has come over me, but I shall be happy to prove you wrong. What do you require me to do?”

Isaac ought not to have made the suggestion to Lady Eva. Whatever had he been thinking, and why had she not given him a good setting down for his forwardness? It had not been his intention to proposition her, especially since she was a guest in this house and might feel compelled. Heavens above, he had known her for less than a day. To have acted upon his desires so quickly was a record, even by his standards. There was just something about the charged atmosphere when they found themselves alone together, about the increasingly powerful draw he felt towards her, that had made him act on impulse. Even so, he might still have left matters as they were, until she claimed to be frigid, which was when the die was well and truly cast. It would take a better man than he would ever be to resist such a challenge.

Triumph surged through Isaac when she agreed to his proposition. Breaking through Lady Eva’s barriers was no small achievement, but it was only the beginning. Now he had a point to prove. Keeping his hands to himself was going to be difficult, but a promise was a promise. Demonstrating to Lady Eva that she was a sensual woman with a deeply passionate nature was a privilege he had no intention of exploiting for selfish reasons.

“Have your maid prepare you for bed and then dismiss her,” he said. “I will come and get you shortly after that.”

“Get me?” She looked confused. “But I assumed you would—”

“Yes.” Isaac sent her a penetrating look. “What did you assume, Lady Eva?”

“Well, I…that is to say, my husband always, er—”

“The only commonality between myself and your husband is that we both happen to be men. You will discover before the night is out they some men are very much more worth knowing than others.”

“I didn’t mean to imply—”

“I shall keep my word, but in return you must do everything I say, without question and without hesitation.” His tone was deliberately provocative, his expression resolute. “Do we have an agreement?”

Lady Eva moistened her lips, doubt briefly clouding her eyes. He wanted desperately to reassure her but disciplined himself to remain silent. No coercion, he reminded himself. She must do this because she wanted to—because he had excited her curiosity as thoroughly as he intended to excite her passions.

“Very well,” she said and Isaac released the breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding. “I will do as you ask.” A flare of provoking laughter slipped past her lips. “At least for now.”

She stood up and he did too. Now wasn’t the time to tell her that unless he had gravely miscalculated her nature, after tonight she would be more than willing to do whatever he asked of her. Isaac’s triumph was curbed when Jake’s warning rang loud in his ears. Damn it, he was right as usual. She
was
married, and he must never lose sight of that fact. She belonged to another man and could never be his.

Isaac sat a little straighter as the nature of his thoughts struck home. Surely his intentions did not run that deep? And yet…and yet, Lady Eva had awoken a dormant feeling deep inside of him that transgressed the mere physical. Isaac was unable to put a name to that feeling because he had never known anything like it before.