totally disoriented after her daytime sleep.
‘Three-thirty,’ Emily provided, a girl not much younger than Lilli herself. ‘Would you like me to serve tea to you and your visitor?’
She wasn’t in the mood to receive visitors, let alone sit and have tea with them. ‘I don’t think so, thank you,’ she replied distractedly. ‘Who is it?’ She frowned.
‘A Mr Devlin,’ Emily told her chattily. ‘I asked him to wait in the small sitting-room—’
‘Devlin!’ Lilli repeated forcefully, causing the young maid to look alarmed all over again. ‘Did you say a Mr Devlin, Emily?’ Her thoughts raced.
Patrick was here? So much for her thinking he wouldn’t ever want to see her again either once he realised who she was!
‘Yes.’ The young girl’s face was alight with infatuation—all the evidence Lilli needed that indeed it was the handsome Patrick Devlin downstairs.
Thinking back to the way he had looked last night—tall, and so elegantly handsome—she found it easy to see how a woman’s breath could be taken away just to look at him. And she had just spent the night with him!
Lilli drew in a sharp breath. ‘Please tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes.’ Once she was dressed. His last memory of her must be of her wearing only cream lace panties; she intended the memory he took away of her today to be quite different!
It took more than the few minutes she had said to don a black sweater, fitted black trousers, apply a light makeup to hide the pallor of her face, and to braid her long hair into a loose plait down her spine. But at least when she looked in the mirror at her reflection she was satisfied with the result—cool and elegant.
Nevertheless, she took a deep breath before entering the room where Patrick Devlin waited for her. She had no idea what he was doing here—didn’t a woman walking out on him without even a goodbye, after spending the night with him, tell him that she didn’t want to see him again—ever? Obviously not, if his presence here was anything to go by...
He was standing in front of the window looking out at the winter garden when she entered, slowly turning to look at her as he became aware of her presence.
Lilli’s breath caught in her throat. God, he was handsome!
She hadn’t really registered that last night, but in the clear light of day he was incredibly attractive, ruggedly so, his hair so dark a brown it almost appeared black, with those distinguished wings of silver at his temples. His skin was lightly tanned, features so finely hewn they might have been carved from stone, his eyes a light, enigmatic grey.
He was dressed very similarly to her, except he wore a fine checked jacket over his black jumper. Which meant he had been back to Geraldine’s house this morning—if only to change his clothes!
He moved forward in long, easy movements, looking her critically up and down. ‘Well, well, well,’ he finally drawled. ‘If it isn’t Just Lilli—alias Elizabeth Bennett.’ His voice hardened over the latter.
‘Mr Devlin.’ She nodded coolly in acknowledgement, none of her inner turmoil—she hoped!—in evidence.
She had chosen to go with this man the evening before for two reasons: to hurt her father, and hit out at Geraldine Simms. And at this moment Patrick Devlin seemed very much aware of that!
His mouth twisted mockingly. ‘Mr. Devlin...? Really, Lilli, it’s a little late for formality between us, isn’t it?’ he taunted.
She moved pointedly away from him; his derisive manner was deliberately insulting. ‘Why are you here?’ She looked at him across the room with cool green eyes.
Dark brows rose at her tone. ‘Well, I could say you left your bra behind and I’ve come to return it, but as you weren’t wearing a bra last night...!’
‘That’s enough!’ she snapped, two bright spots of embarrassed colour in her cheeks now.
‘More than enough, I would say,’ he agreed, his eyes glittering icily. ‘Lilli, exactly what did you hope to achieve by going to bed with me?’
To hit out at her father, to hurt Geraldine Simms. Nothing more. But certainly nothing less. At the time she hadn’t realised the man she had chosen to help her was actually the other woman’s brother. She accepted it complicated things a little. Especially as he had come here today...
She deliberately gave a careless shrug. ‘A good time.’ It was half a question—because she couldn’t remember whether or not they’d had a good time together!
He gave an acknowledging nod at her reply. ‘And did you? Have a good time,’ he persisted dryly at her puzzled expression.
She frowned. ‘Didn’t you?’ she instantly returned. Two could play at this game!
His mouth quirked. ‘Marks out of ten? Or do you have some other method of rating your lovers—?’
‘There’s no need to be insulting!’ Lilli told him sharply.
‘There’s every need, damn you!’ Patrick advanced towards her, his hand on her arm, fingers warm against her skin.
‘Don’t touch me!’ she told him angrily, pulling away, and only succeeding in hurting herself. ‘Let me go,’ she ordered with every ounce of Bennett arrogance she possessed. This was her home, damn it, and he couldn’t just come in here—uninvited!—and insult and manhandle her!
He thrust her away from him. ‘I ought to break that beautiful neck of yours!’ he ground out fiercely, eyes narrowed. ‘You looked older last night... Exactly how old are you?’ he bit out, his gaze sweeping over her scathingly.
She looked startled. ‘What does my age have to do with anything?’
‘Just answer the question, Lilli,’ he rasped. ‘And while you’re at it explain to me exactly how the haughty Elizabeth Bennett ended up with a name like Lilli!’
Her own cheeks were flushed with anger now. ‘Neither of those things is any of your business!’
‘I’m making them so,’ he told her levelly.
This man might be as good-looking as the devil, but he had the arrogance to match! Why hadn’t she realised any of this the previous evening when she had met him? Because she hadn’t been thinking straight, she acknowledged heavily, had been blinded by the fury she felt towards her father and the woman he was obviously involved with. This man’s sister... She still had trouble connecting the two—they looked absolutely nothing alike!
‘Well?’ he prompted at her continued silence.
She glared at him resentfully, wanting him to leave but knowing he had no intention of doing so until he was good and ready—and he wasn’t either of those things yet! ‘I’m twenty-one,’ she told him tautly.
‘And?’ He looked at her hardly.
‘And three months,’ she supplied challengingly, knowing it wasn’t what he had been asking. But she had no intention of telling him that she had acquired the name Lilli because the baby brother she had adored, the baby brother who had died when he was only
