threw off the cloak and untied the sash holding two pillows, one at her front and the other in the small of her back. ‘It’s not funny. I am dashed hot.’
He tamped down the urge to smile. Fought the allure of her lush body. His first wife had been tall, elegant and slender, while Lady Tess was all soft curves and tempting dimples. But it seemed in temperament, the ladies were much the same. The last thing he wanted was to be drawn into Lady Tess’s orbit.
He retreated into studied indifference. ‘This really is beyond the pale, you know,’ he said in bored tones.
‘It was the only way to escape the house unnoticed.’
He frowned. ‘That is not what I meant and you know it. No lady should visit a gentleman’s abode in the middle of the night.’ He glanced at the clock. ‘Good heavens, girl, it’s gone one in the morning.’
‘I had to wait until everyone was asleep.’ She grinned and he had to stop himself from grinning back. ‘Also I thought I might be more likely to catch you at home after midnight.’
Naive child. In his wilder days, he’d rarely come home before three in the morning, and if he was home, she might have caught him at home with a houseful of guests enjoying themselves in ways no respectable lady should be aware of. These days, he preferred to spend his time in the conservatory, with his plants. He narrowed his eyes. ‘Do you do this sort of thing often?’
‘Not any more. When I was at school in Bath, I and some of the other girls used to sneak out to get decent food, like cake and ice cream.’
‘Good Lord! What a hoyden you are.’
She waved a dismissive hand. ‘That is not important. Have you found Freeps?’
‘As promised, I sent a man to Kent the moment I came back from our drive.’
‘When do you expect his return?’
‘Tomorrow or the day after. I had some other errands for him to perform while he was there.’
She shook her head and paced to his desk, picking up the silver letter opener and putting it down again. ‘He will be too late.’
‘What is the urgency?’
She stared at him. For a moment he thought she might tell him the whole story. She shook her head. ‘Circumstances beyond my control.’
The worry in her eyes gave him pause. She wasn’t the sort to worry. She was the sort to solve a problem. Case in point, her visiting him at his office and her arrival at his house tonight. A most irritating sort of a woman. The managing kind. Yet for some reason her expression of anxiety still troubled him. Hester, his first wife, had done things she wasn’t supposed to just because someone told her she couldn’t. Lady Tess, however, seemed to have a purpose behind her mad starts. For some reason far beyond rational thought, he wanted to uncover that purpose.
Rider brought in the tea tray. His eyebrows climbed to his hairline when he saw this new version of Jaimie’s guest. He put the tray down with a decided bang. Cups and saucers rattled ominously.
Jaimie glared at his butler, but the man was right. This situation was completely improper and had to stop. And it would as soon as he’d solved the problem that had brought her to his door. ‘Sit down. Have a cup of tea.’
‘I can’t stay long. Someone might go into my room and find Mims there instead of me.’ But she did sit.
To his surprise, he liked the sight of her sitting in front of his teapot.
She gave him a startled look when he sat next to her rather than opposite. Dammit, she really was an innocent. If she had gone to any other man’s house at such a late hour she might have discovered herself in serious difficulty.
He waited until she had poured the tea, had drunk it and eaten a biscuit. ‘Perhaps you would like to tell me exactly what circumstances have changed?’
She put down her cup. ‘Things are moving more quickly than I anticipated. Freeps may be able to put me in touch with someone I need to speak to. Urgently.’
‘Then why not say so before? My messenger could have asked him for this other person’s directions. Why are you being so dashed secretive?’
‘Some secrets are not mine to tell.’
He stilled, instinct honing in not on the words, but the softening of her voice and the sadness in her expression.
‘A man?’ he asked, his voice icy. He should have seen this coming. This was just the sort of romantic idiocy Hester would have engaged in.
She swallowed, looking torn. He didn’t care what came out of her mouth, a man was involved. And she was dragging him into the mess. Hester had played him for a fool more than once, and in the end it had caused her death. But he had learned his lesson far too well.
He stood up and carried the tea tray to his desk. ‘I’m sorry, there is nothing more I can do. I will pass along the information regarding Freeps when my messenger returns and that will be an end to it. It is time for you to leave.’
When he turned back, she had risen. The look of betrayal in her remarkable brown eyes stopped him short. Against his better judgement, he gentled his tone. ‘I cannot assist you in some sort of clandestine relationship, Lady Tess.’
Her gaze slid away. ‘It is no such thing, I swear it! I cannot imagine why would you think so.’
He prowled towards her. ‘Can you not?’ Then he must make her understand. Give her a lecture of the avuncular sort. Point out the error of her ways, and the possible consequences...
But as he gazed into her lovely face, the words he sought escaped him.
She lifted her chin, gazing up at him with a tiny frown on her brow. Without another thought, he leaned closer and brushed his lips across the silk of her luscious mouth. Tasted the lush plump curve that had been a temptation from first sight.
Her lips parted on a gasp of shock, but she did not draw back. If anything, she leaned a little closer.
He firmed the kiss, lingering over the soft sweet pressure of her mouth on his, feeling her body soften, hesitant and trembling, but eager. She made a small sound low in her throat, half moan, half something he couldn’t name. He stroked a finger down her cheek, tasted her sigh.
He flicked his tongue along her bottom lip, a tiny little sip of innocence that was only a beginning.
Innocent.
He broke away, stifling a curse. What the devil was he thinking? The woman was far too alluring for her own good was what he was thinking.
She gazed at him wide-eyed. Her tongue touched her bottom lip in a brief exploration, as if she, too, could not quite believe what had occurred.
Should not have occurred.
‘That is why you should not come to a gentleman’s lodgings in the middle of the night. It could lead to something...untoward.’ He kept his tone cool, but damn it all, his blood was running hot. And his breathing was nowhere as steady as it should have been. ‘When my messenger returns I will give you
