Angel in Scarlet (Bound and Determined #4)(43)

She might once have been infatuated with him and with her own dreams, but now that she was beginning to know the man better, she certainly didn’t love him.

Although she might be fond of him—and she was becoming more than fond of specific parts of him.

“What on earth or you giggling at, Angela?” Her mother turned away from the window to glare at her. “Get yourself together. We will be greeting Lady Perse shortly, and you don’t want her to think you are still a schoolgirl.”

“I am quite sure she knows I am not still a schoolgirl, given how everyone talks as if my last days of youth are slipping rapidly away.”

“That is still no reason to act like a child.”

“Yes, Mother.” Angela pulled her face to placid calmness.

She looked out the window again. The fa?ade of the house was quite compelling, the stone almost pink in the afternoon light and the carved reliefs over each of the high windows depicting medieval valor. The house could not be that old—the style spoke of far-more-recent years—but perhaps the reliefs had been moved from some earlier castle. Angela knew that often a grand house was built upon the remains of the last. And that was if they bothered to tear the last one down at all. She’d seen homes where one piece was simply added to the last, until the building became a warren of different styles and materials. Her own home suffered to some extent, Tudor pilings mixed with more-current brickwork.

Lady Perse’s house suffered from no such hodgepodge. Whoever designed it had clearly taken only the desired pieces of the past and banished all else. It was a fine house.

And that was a fine man.

Lord Colton stood at the top of the stairs next to Lady Perse, who had come out to greet them personally. Angela’s eyes were drawn to him and stayed. Tight buckskins covered his legs, more than hinting at his strong thighs. The dark blue of his coat contrasted with the starched white linen of his shirt, stretched tight across his broad chest.

He reached out and pointed at the carriage, saying something to Lady Perse, and Angela could almost feel the strong fingers stroking her flesh. She swallowed. It was all too easy to imagine just what he might do to her. She’d followed his advice while lying in bed at night, had given his face to her French lieutenant, had brought him out of the shadows, had…

“Stop squirming. I don’t know what is wrong with you today, my dear, but I trust you will behave once we are out of the carriage.”

“Perhaps I have been sitting still for too long, Mother.” That would also be a good excuse for why her legs might wobble when she stood.

Her mother glanced over, her eyes dropping to Angela’s tightly pressed thighs. “Next time you will have to refrain from beverage on our stops. It is never good manners to refresh oneself before invited.”

Oh, so that’s what her mother thought the problem was. “I will manage to wait for as long as Lady Perse desires.”

“See that you do.” Her mother softened. “Unless you really must, and then I am sure she will understand. It was a very long trip.”

Angela reached for her mother’s fingers and pressed a kiss upon them.

Then they were pulling to a stop.

She heard the groom jump down from above even as one of Lady Perse’s footmen came to open the door and lower the step.

Her mother took his hand and slid from the carriage.

Angela did her best to follow with as much grace as possible.

And she was standing before him. Lady Perse was there, too, but it seemed impossible to draw her gaze away from Colton. He smiled and bowed slightly toward her and her mother, his eyes lingering on her, his lips curling even further in a secret message.

Yes, she did like his smile.

Had it only been two days since she had seen him? Even his entering of her dreams each night had not prepared her for being this close to him again. Her chest rose and fell, and for a moment it seemed hard to get air into her lungs as his eyes swept over her.

—

He had forgotten how beautiful she was. Or had she changed in the last two days? He couldn’t remember thinking she was more beautiful than any other young lady about, but as she emerged from the carriage, the dark green of her traveling gown offsetting her pale skin and blond curls, he could only think that no one who’d been traveling for hours should look so radiant.

And that flush upon her cheeks…She looked as if she’d just emerged from his bed—or was the lady plagued by dirty thoughts? He caught her gaze and held it, watched her color grow even darker. Why, yes, the lady was most troubled by illicit thoughts. He would have to find precisely what she fantasized about—and then they could proceed from there. Was she thinking about the dream she had told him about the other night, about her French lieutenant?

Her eyes dropped, and he could almost feel the effort it took as she turned and greeted Lady Perse, saying all the correct pleasantries.

He let himself stand back and admire her.

“Lord Colton, I was not expecting to find you here,” Mrs. Ripon stated, obviously not at all pleased with his presence.

She had probably been even more put off by his lack of proposal during the season than her daughter had been. Mothers did always take these things badly. Well, that was one bridge he would need to repair if he hoped to have his relationship—no, that was far from the right word. His acquaintance? His courtship? No, definitely not. His coupling? He liked that one, but Angela would probably scream for all that she’d proposed the game. His friendship? That was probably the best choice. And he’d lost track of what he was thinking. Not a problem he could remember having before Angela.