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.Durham sat down on the only piece of furniture in Gigi’s over-furnished and frothily feminine chamber that did not appear to be at risk of collapse with the weight of a man.Gigi immediately settled herself on the Marquess’ lap.Durham felt a twinge of irritation.Her lush body seemed to overflow the silky negligee she wore and while usually her voluptuousness would stir him immediately, he found himself wishing she were somehow more subtly sensual.She had no discretion, but she was not supposed to.Mistresses were like ripe peaches to be plucked and enjoyed.He forced himself to brush away the memories of the subtly sensual woman of whom he was thinking.Give Lady Delia Ellsworth time, he told himself to think, and she very well might be indistinguishable from Gigi.“Wine, my darling? Brandy?” She kissed his temple and her warm fingers deftly untied his cravat.Her small warm hand slipped under his shirt and she kissed his mouth while she caressed him.“Brandy would be fine,” said the Marquess, not wanting to make excuses for refusing refreshment.Maybe then she would be quiet and he could pretend… He rose after she climbed down from his lap to fetch a drink and shrugged with difficulty out of his immaculately tailored coat, cut perfectly to fit his broad shoulders.Wearing nothing but a blood red confection of lace and silk designed to reveal more than it concealed, Gigi’s generous curves danced in front of him as she moved seductively toward the bed, carrying a crystal decanter and two glasses on a silver tray.“Voila, my lord,” Gigi said as she poured a snifter of brandy.“And where have you been this evening,” she asked moving closer to him, “to neglect me for so long?” She pouted as she stripped off his shirt, pressing her breasts against his chest.Durham did not reply but she gently pressed him backward to sit on the bed.She knelt on the floor to remove his boots.When she looked up, Gigi immediately noticed that the Marquess had finished his drink and she rushed to refill it.Durham noted this and wondered.He resolved to nurse the next glass as Gigi moved up to unfasten his breeches.“My lord?” Gigi’s red lips parted as she looked up at the Marquess.“Yes?” Durham stood and shed his breeches.Gigi turned and pulled him, naked, onto the bed.“Have you ever been to France?”“Of course.What a nonsensical question, Gigi.” Durham thought her question odd and continued with the innocuous, “I toured the Continent for the required two years after leaving school, as does everyone.I have since visited regularly, when politics and schedules permit.Why do you ask?” Gigi laid on the bed next him, her full breasts spilling out of the lacey bodice of her negligee.“Did you like it?” she asked, in her heaviest accent.“Is that why you like me?” The Marquess smiled at her but wondered at her aim.“Or,” she continued, “is it French brandy that really catches your attention?” she finished, swirling a glass that she then sat down on the bedside table.“France’s brandy is not nearly as intoxicating as its women, my dear,” Durham said, resolving to evaluate her questions at another time and hoping she would stop talking.When she opened her mouth to ask another question, he crushed her mouth with a kiss.Chapter 14The next day, as the Marquess sat in his library with his feet up, inattentively reading the Times, wondering at Gigi’s strange questions, and finally achieving some success at trying not to think of Lady Delia Ellsworth, Harriet tumbled in, a book in her hands.She tossed it into his lap and sighed.“What a lovely novel! Mason, will you take me to Bond Street to buy another book by this author? My maid is ill and I would so like to go out…and have an ice, too.” Harriet smiled up at him, batting her eyelashes.Her brother feigned a groan of misery and then stood up.“You are positively shameless, Harriet.And yes, I will accompany you.What book is this that you are so insistent to purchase?” He stood and called for the carriage, then escorted Harriet to the front door.“Oh it’s a tremendously good book—it’s called Annabelle’s Adventures—and it’s about a beautiful young lady whose evil brother-in-law tries to—““Oh I see,” said Durham with mock disapproval.“One of your lurid romances, is it? I confess I am disappointed.I had rather hoped you desired another learned treatise on the Ostrogoth’s or Byzantines.” Lady Harriet laughed at him and lightly slapped his arm.“You know quite well, dear brother, that I am already accounted rather an expert on near-East history.Tell me: do you know the relevant dates as among the Visigoths and Ostrogoth’s? You probably don’t even know in what year Alaric sacked Rome! I can see from your face you haven’t the faintest idea.I thought not! I am perfectly entitled to less improving literature, given my accomplishments on occasion, am I not? And one of those occasions happens to be right now.”Durham indulged her chatter on the way to Bond Street and it occurred to him that what he thought was his baby sister was actually a very clever young woman who was threatening to become daily more and more of a challenge.Despite her superficial silliness, she was a rather fierce intellect.He wondered how he would deal with her when she finally came out.Upon their arrival at the bookstore, the Marquess helped Harriet down from the carriage only to look up directly into the feathered bonnet of a Lady Anne Burke and her daughter, Felicity.After Durham had handed Harriet down from the carriage, Lady Burke introduced Harriet to Felicity and the girls fell immediately into conversation, leaving he and Lady Burke with relative privacy.“My dear Durham,” said Lady Burke with a smile, “How lovely to see you.You are buying books today?”“Indeed, Lady Burke.Harriet will not rest until she has devoured every lurid romance the city has to offer—though she is quick to remind me that she is such a model pupil that she is permitted more lighthearted reading on occasion.Far better educated on tribes of the late Roman Empire than I am, I discovered today,” Durham said as he smiled with irrepressible pride at his sister.“Well I am so very pleased to hear it!” Lady Burke responded with alacrity.“However, my dear Durham,” she continued in a lowered voice, “I really must speak to you seriously for a moment.” Mason looked surprised and bent his dark head down closer to the lady’s fair one.“Is something the matter, Anne?” he asked solicitously but with utter sincerity, “Do you need anything?”“Oh, no indeed! Not for me at all.You see, it is this terrible gossip about the late Lady Ellsworth’s daughter, Delia, about which I am particularly concerned.” At once Durham’s head jerked back and his brows knit as he frowned down at her.“The vulgar gossip of the Smythe-Dunstons is hardly consequential, Lady Burke.Certainly no one pays it any heed?” Lady Burke looked extremely displeased.“Then I take it you are entirely innocent in this affair? Do not give me that look, Durham, it is not as if you are possessed of a spotless reputation!” His friend Lady Burke teased, but she was not incorrect in her assessment of how the ton regarded the Marquess.“I am well aware of your exploit but I have always known them to be with mature and consenting widows and married ladies.Lady Sabrina Ellsworth’s daughter is a different matter altogether.I am certain she is entirely innocent in the affair [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]