Chivalrous Rake, Scandalous Lady. Mary Brendan

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СКАЧАТЬ it is not him,’ Jemma soothed, quickly standing up. Polly was familiar enough with her mistress’s guardian to have announced him by his name.

      ‘Who is it Polly?’ Jemma’s heart had plummeted to her stomach. Had Stephen Crabbe come to visit without the courtesy of first sending a card, and before she had properly decided how she must attack such a delicate matter as rejecting him for a second time?

      ‘It’s a Mr Speer, Miss Bailey,’ Polly announced, her eyes suddenly alight with admiration, her lips compressed to hide a smile. ‘He’s waiting in the hallway. Shall I show him in?’

      ‘No!’ Jemma blurted in a gulp. ‘That is…yes, of course. Please show him in. No, one moment…’ She again arrested her servant’s departure, but gave Polly an apologetic look for the confusion. ‘Ask him to wait just a moment, please.’

      Polly nodded and slipped away to do as she’d been bid. As she skipped along the corridor towards the vestibule she inwardly chuckled. She’d be in a dither too if such a grand-looking man came a-calling on her unexpectedly.

      ‘What do you think he wants?’ Maura whispered, her eyes as round as the saucers on the table. Now she knew that her brother had not come in high dudgeon to chastise her she looked quite comfortable perched on the edge of her chair, and agog with curiosity. ‘Surely he is not still furious at having received Theo’s letter? Do you think that he is here to again quarrel with you?’

      ‘I…I don’t know,’ Jemma croaked. And that was the truth. She had no idea why he’d come. The last time she’d been in his company his parting words to her had been that they should finish their conversation another time. She’d imagined it to be just an empty phrase tossed at her as a substitute for a proper farewell. She felt quite light-headed at the prospect of receiving him at home without knowing the purpose of his call. She knew too that she regretted having delayed her cousin’s departure with the offer of refreshment. Of course it was best for her reputation that she did not see him alone but—etiquette be damned!—she would sooner hear whatever it was he had to say in private. Closely following that thought came another to reassure her. Marcus Speer was a sophisticated gentleman. He would refrain from discussing anything of a delicate nature in front of Maura.

      After a moment Jemma realised that she would be no better prepared to deal with the situation after ten minutes of brooding on it than she was now. In fact, it would be bad manners to make him wait. She recalled the glimpse she’d had of him pacing impatiently in the hallway of Theo’s house. She guessed Mr Speer was not a man who gladly wasted his time, and she didn’t want to annoy him for no good reason. Quickly Jemma went to the door, opened it and gestured to Polly, hovering in the vicinity, that she was ready to receive him.

      Chapter Six

      ‘Will you take tea with us, Mr Speer?’

      In her willingness to appear genial, Jemma realised she had barely allowed him to set one expensively shod foot in to the room before bursting out with her offer.

      ‘Thank you. I’d like that,’ Marcus replied lightly and, having allowed Polly to scuttle beneath his braced arm to fetch another cup and saucer, he proceeded to close the door.

      Jemma then received a smile that made it clear he knew she was flustered by his unexpected visit. His amusement, though veiled, was aggravating enough to subdue some of her nervousness. ‘I should like to introduce you to my cousin, Miss Wyndham,’ Jemma plunged on thoughtlessly. A moment later she realised that an introduction was surely unnecessary.

      Five years ago, for some weeks, Marcus Speer had paid regular calls to this house. Then her papa would receive him in his study and the two gentlemen would pass the time of day over a tipple before she was allowed to greet her visitor. Her father’s sister, Aunt Cecily, would then act as chaperon whilst Marcus sat with the ladies to politely take tea. There had been occasions when the weather had been clement and they’d gone for a drive in his fancy phaeton. She remembered how she’d adored feeling the breeze catching at her bonnet as he set the horses to such a brisk trot that her elderly aunt would clutch doublehandedly at the side of the vehicle, her eyes clamped shut, her lips shivering in silent prayer. Delving into her store of memories, she recalled that Maura had enjoyed at least one exhilarating trip sitting beside her. Her cousin would have been present, too, when Marcus and his friends joined their party at an evening gathering. More recently her cousin had been invited to socialise in the Cleveland’s elite circle. As Deborah’s betrothed, it was likely that Marcus would accompany his fiancée and his future in-laws.

      ‘I believe we have already met,’ Marcus said amiably, confirming Jemma’s thoughts. ‘How are you, Miss Wyndham?’

      His greeting to Maura had sounded relaxed and sincere and that pleased Jemma. Theo’s despicable behaviour didn’t seem to have coloured Marcus’s attitude towards all the Wyndhams. Of course, what he really thought of her she had yet to discover.

      ‘I’m very well, sir, thank you. Deborah has invited me to go with her party to the concert at Vauxhall later this week.’ It was rattled out breathlessly before Maura had fully recovered from the little curtsy she was making.

      ‘How charming,’ Marcus replied. ‘Do you like the pleasure gardens?’

      An immediate nod answered him. ‘But I haven’t been for years, not since I made my come out. We were a small group on that occasion. Jemma was there, and Uncle John and my papa and Aunt Cecily. We—’ Maura dipped her head in Jemma’s direction, too engrossed in telling her tale to heed a cautionary glint in her cousin’s eyes ‘—we made our débuts during the same season, but were not as fortunate as Deborah has been in finding a husband…’ Her voice faded away. Maura’s enthusiasm to spin out a conversation with this handsome paragon had made her forgetful of how badly things had ended for Jemma, and for Mr Speer. ‘It’s a long time since we went to Vauxhall,’ she mumbled awkwardly, then gulped from her cup.

      ‘A very long time,’ Jemma endorsed with forced nonchalance. ‘I barely recall it.’ That fib caused Jemma to immediately blush and Marcus to slowly smile at his shoes.

      Oh, she remembered that scented summer evening beneath the twinkling lights strung in the trees. And, from his sardonic reaction, she knew that he recalled the sultry night too.

      With the assistance of his friend Randolph Chadwicke, he’d managed to manoeuvre her away from her friends and into one of the secluded walkways. He’d led her by the hand to a shadowy spot where boughs of whispering leaves almost disguised the sighs of secret lovers, but through the dense dark hedges could be glimpsed fragmented silhouettes. In her tender inexperience, it had seemed incredibly exciting, also reassuring to Jemma, to know that just a few feet away other young ladies were being wooed by handsome gallants. She felt her breath catch, her pulse accelerate with the memory of the sensual delight that Marcus had awoken within her.

      Swiftly she began to collect the teapot and used china and put them back on to the tray. But the stimulating thoughts bombarding her consciousness would not be put to flight. She felt her breasts begin to throb, her legs to weaken and put a hand to the table as she swayed into it for support. She’d too generously allowed him to take liberties on that occasion just as she had at the Cranleighs’ ball.

      ‘How is your friend Mr Chadwicke, sir?’ Jemma turned from shuffling cups to blurt that out. ‘I don’t recall seeing him in town for quite a while.’ The question had been spontaneous, designed to eject memories of her bodice buttons being slowly slipped from their hooks and his fingers gliding inside…Of course the distraction was ill devised. The steady intense glitter in his silver eyes, the hard smile, made it clear he knew what was on her mind and how it had led СКАЧАТЬ