Wicked Temptation (Regency Sinners 6)(6)
“You would feel better if you allowed yourself the emotional release of crying—” He broke off as Prudence reared back, returned to a full awareness of what she was doing.
She pulled completely out of his arms, eyes glittering darkly, two spots of angry color in her cheeks. “An ocean of tears would not bring my sister back to me.”
He gave a pained frown. “I really am sorry for Cilla’s loss. She was so young and vibrant. I liked her very much.”
“Did you?” Prudence scorned, her chin raised. “You liked her so much that you are making love to her sister only weeks after her death!”
Titus felt the burn of color in his cheeks. “That is unfair—”
“Is it?” she challenged. “Everyone, including my parents, took note that your marked attentions were to Cilla and not me.”
He winced at the accusation. “And we both know that, after the first few weeks of our closer acquaintance, her interest was in Worthington. As my own interest was in you and yours in me.”
“No.” Prudence gave a determined shake of her head. “You shall not excuse your behavior today by passing the blame for it onto me.”
He drew in a harsh-sounding breath. “You returned my kisses—”
“Get out,” she snapped, her shoulders and back stiff and unyielding. “And do not come back.”
“Pru—”
“If you do not leave of your own volition, I will ring for a footman—several of the footmen,” she amended derisively after a glance at his superior height and muscle, “and have you physically removed you from my home.”
Titus continued to glare his frustration for several long seconds before nodding. “Very well, as I have no wish to add to your distress, I will leave without further argument. But I need to talk to you. Regarding the accident.” He had come to a decision about that since seeing Pru at the wedding yesterday. One that he knew Stonewell would not approve of but which Titus now believed was necessary. “When you are ready to hear what I have to say, perhaps you will send me a note so that I might call upon you again?”
Pru’s desire for further knowledge of their carriage accident was at war with her need for Romney to just leave her in peace.
Because she had returned his kisses, and reveled in the closeness of his warm and muscular body. She now needed time away from his disturbing presence in which to regather her defenses.
Something Pru was unsure was at all possible now that the ice was melting about her emotions…
Chapter 3
“Lady Prudence Germaine to see you, my lord.”
Titus’s brows rose as he looked up from the accounts he was working on in his study at Romney House. “Lady Prudence is here? In person?”
“Yes, my lord,” his butler confirmed evenly. “The young lady also appears to be unaccompanied by her maid.” The elderly butler did not quite manage to keep the note of disapproval from his tone.
A frown creased Titus’s brow. It had been three days since he last saw Prudence at her parents’ home in Grosvenor Square. But he distinctly remembered his last instruction had been for her to send him a note when she was ready to speak with him again and he would then call upon her there. Gardener was not the only one who disapproved of Pru visiting Titus’s bachelor establishment without even the benefit of her maid.
An occurrence which, now that Stonewell had his own agents following Prudence, Titus knew would be reported back to the duke.
He rose abruptly. “Show Lady Prudence into the library, if you please, Gardener. And bring in a decanter of brandy and two glasses.” He had a feeling that he and Pru would have need of it before the afternoon was through.
Much as the wearing of black gowns, bonnets, and lace gloves was appropriate to her time of mourning, and also gave Pru an air of fragility that was not otherwise apparent, Titus believed seeing her constantly garbed in such drab attire would grow very tiresome very quickly.
Indeed, he found the black silk bonnet she wore today distinctly unflattering. It gave her delicate features a gray cast. “Gardener will take your bonnet and cloak,” he stated firmly.
Prudence blinked at his autocratic tone. “It is not my intention to remain for long—”
Titus had his own ideas about the length of Prudence’s visit. “Nevertheless…” He held her gaze unblinkingly.
It took effort for Pru to retain her irritation with Romney’s dictatorial tone when she had spent the past three days thinking of what he might have wished to say to her that day if she had only allowed him to do so.
Finally, having persuaded her parents to depart for Bedfordshire without her this morning, Pru had been unable to contain her curiosity a moment longer. She had also deemed it wise not to involve Mary in her visit to Romney’s home, and instead sent her maid out on several unnecessary errands this afternoon. If asked, the young maid could then honestly claim she had no knowledge of her mistress ever having called upon Viscount Romney in the privacy of his home.
Pru’s mouth thinned as she now removed her cloak and bonnet before handing them to the waiting butler. “Thank you.” She gave the elderly man the ghost of a smile, waiting until he had closed the door behind him before taking in her surroundings rather than the man who dominated them.
The library in Romney House was both elegant and comfortable, with several overstuffed chairs near the unlit fireplace and a chaise in front of the bay window. The book-lined walls were filled with hundreds, if not thousands of leather-bound volumes that made Pru’s lace-covered fingers itch to touch them. She loved the feel and smell of a new book and had always been more inclined to read the classics than her sister, Cilla preferring romances when she read at all.