Dizzy Dilemmas (13 page)

“They believe we are perfect fo
r each other and would make a love match!” he replied nonchalantly. “As their close friend they would like to me to find as much happiness in my marriage as they have in theirs.”

Dizzy snorted. “I can only surmise that they have bats in their belfry if they think that! Surely you told them of our first encounter and they must have noticed our mutual horror when we inadvertently crossed paths again at the museum. Of course if they witnessed your performance earlier on it could have given them the wrong impression but
I am sure if we go back to our original plan and avoid each other as best we can, then all will be well.”

“
No Gherkin my mind is made up; I will play your lovesick swain for the remainder of the season,” he announced.

Dizzy leapt up and stomped the few paces over to the sofa where Marcus still reclined and with hands on hips, glared at him. “Absolutely not! I refuse to adhere to such a ridiculous scheme that benefits no-one but will vex me no end!” When he just beamed at her she continued. “Glenmore, I mean it.”

Stretching out his arm, Marcus grabbed hold of the material of her skirts and tugged. So unexpected was it that Dizzy lost balance and toppled onto his lap in a tangle of limbs and fabric. Frantically scrabbling to try and extricate herself whilst inwardly squirming because she was lying indecorously across his lap, only succeeded in tying her more intricately in a froth of skirts and petticoats.

“Always in romantic fiction, the damsel lands elegantly on the hero’
s lap,” Marcus bemoaned.

A muffled tirade came from somewhere beneath his armpit but unfortunately or perhaps fortunately none of the words were distinguishable which was probably just as well for he was fairly sure some of them were swear words that would make a pirate blush! However there was no point wasting an opportunity to provoke her further.

“I am sorry Gherkin, I didn’t quite catch that.”

In response Dizzy ferociously renewed her efforts to disentangle herself and Marcus became the recipient of several blows to his person.

“Ouch! You have the boniest elbows and knees imaginable, Pickle! Keep still and let me help you.”

After a final struggle
and a frustrated growl Dizzy lay still and allowed him to untangle her skirts and help her into a sitting position. Taking a few deep breaths in an effort to control her temper and the tingly effects his touch was having on her person, Dizzy was forestalled from launching into a scathing tirade by Marcus who without preamble, kissed her gently on the lips before drawing back a little way. Satisfied that he had silenced her and that no protest was forthcoming he leaned in and claimed her lips again, this time more demanding; wanting a response from her and when it came, he deepened the kiss. His hand, the one not pinning her to his chest, came up to cup the back of her head, and held her while he explored her mouth. He nibbled on her lower lip and tugged it gently with his teeth. When he felt her relax he ran his tongue along it and asserted enough pressure to make her open for him. Delving inside he took the kiss to a new level whilst keeping it gentle and sensual so that she would not become unnerved by it and withdraw.

Dizzy initially held herself rigid, shocked that he was kissing her; shocked
too at her own reaction to it and when he began kissing her for the second time, she felt herself succumb. Every ounce of commonsense urged her to end it; to extricate herself from his embrace as quickly as possible but it was overruled by the desire that his touch had ignited. As his tongue and lips caressed hers she responded, kissing him back tentatively at first and then more boldly. It was only when an involuntary groan escaped her did she regain some of her senses but before she could summon the willpower to pull away. Marcus ended the kiss though he still held her.

“
Just as I thought; tart and sweet all at the same time and definitely a delicacy worth savouring,” Marcus murmured, referring back to his comments in the garden earlier.

“Had you planned to kiss me all along?” Dizzy asked suspiciously.

“In my defence I did tell you outside that I wanted to taste you Gherkin,” he replied.

“I don’t believe this!” She shook her head and sighed heavily. “This should not have happened and it must never happen again. In fact, let us agree that it did not happen this time.”

“Yes it should, yes it must and yes it did!” he responded and when she looked puzzled he reiterated. “Yes it should have happened because I have wanted to kiss you ever since you deliberately tipped drink on me. Yes it must happen again because I will not be able to resist kissing you when the opportunity next arises and yes it did happen because there is no way I am going to pretend it did not.”

“You were angry and wanted to strangle not kiss me when I inadvertently spilt water on you, there will be no further opportunities to kiss me and I will deny it happened even if you state otherw
ise,” Dizzy stated emphatically and folded her arms across her chest in a way to convey she meant business. Unfortunately that only resulted in pushing her breasts up so that they strained against the fabric of her fashionably low cut dress and although Marcus knew that as a gentleman he could not take advantage as much as he would have liked to, there was no reason he should not enjoy the view of those perfectly formed orbs as they threatened to break free of their fabric constraints.

“As I am going to be your
most ardent admirer over the next few weeks then there will be plenty of times when I will kiss you including right now, Gherkin,” he told her and tightened his hold but this time Dizzy was prepared and stopped him by placing her hand across his mouth. Unfairly, or so she thought, he then began to nibble on her fingers in the most distracting way. How she was to respond to this however did not become issue as at that moment there was the unmistakable sound of the door handle being rattled as someone tried to gain entry.

The two occupants of the room froze, hoping that whoever was beyond the door, finding it locked, would just walk away but it was not to be as they heard a voice say. “This door was unlocked not half an hour ago.”

“Here let me try,” said another voice. “Perhaps it is just stuck.”

“It opened easil
y enough before but be my guest,” and there followed some more rattling of the door handle.

“That’s Ross.”
Marcus whispered into Dizzy’s ear. “I told you he was a sneaky devil didn’t I?”

Dizzy did not bother to respond but as quietly as possible climbed off his lap and crept towards the window.

“What are you doing?” Marcus was close behind her.

“Exiting through the window!” s
he whispered back.

“I was not serious, w
hen I suggested that earlier!” he grabbed her arm as she clutched her skirts and began to clamber onto the sill.

“There is no other way and I am not going to b
e caught alone with you in here,” she told him.

“They cannot get in the door is locked and
they will soon tire and go away,” he assured her but as he finished speaking Trevellyn was heard to say, “I shall just fetch the key from the butler or failing that ask Robert. You wait here, Brockton.”

“That’s Gideon with him,
” Dizzy told Marcus unnecessarily.

“Up you go then,” h
e assisted her onto the sill. “For God’s sake hold on tight and stand still. When the coast is clear I will come over to help you in.” When he was sure she had her footing he reluctantly let her go and warned her. “Do not move!”

Dart
ing back to the sofa, Marcus just had time to snatch up Dizzy’s shoes from the floor where she had left them and to throw himself onto the sofa before the door burst open and in strolled Trevellyn and Brockton accompanied by Robert Prentiss.

“What on earth...” yawned Marcus giving a very good impression of someone who had been awoken from a deep and pleasant sleep.
"Must you make so much noise?”

“Sleeping were you, old friend?” Trevellyn asked in a tone of voice that stated quite clearly that he didn’t believe it for a second.

“You yourself recommended this room and these very sofas for a quick nap,” Marcus reminded him.

“Why did you lock the door?” Gideon asked.

“To avoid being trapped by some man devouring debutante,” he shuddered. “You know what they are like. One sniff that an unmarried man is snoozing in a room and they are there, crying seduction!”

“
That is unlikely to happen at an Aunt Tess gathering,” Robert informed him.

“This is the first one I have attended and was not prepared to take the risk. Thank
you Brockton for the invite, by the way.”

“Think nothing of it,
” Gideon mumbled as he wondered round the room as if he were looking for something.

“Have you lost something?” Marcus asked. “Only you seem to be searching for something.”

“No, not at all. I am just pacing you understand and admiring this charming room,” Gideon answered.

The three men looked at each other as if perplexed whilst Marcus lay relaxed on the sofa with his hands interlocked behind his head and his ankles crossed, looking as if he had not a care in the world. Inwardly however, he was frantic and berating himself for allowing a girl who could not keep her balance when standing still and was renowned for her clumsiness to stand on a ledge one floor off the ground. He had to get rid of these three meddlesome gentlemen as quickly as possible without arousing
their suspicions further.

             
Dizzy listened for a moment to the conversation that drifted to her through the partially open window for only a few moments before looking around to take stock of her situation. She was standing on a ledge about fifteen inches wide which meant her feet fit comfortably on it and even gave her room to spare. Along the wall she could see the next window which also happened to be partially open and Dizzy thanking God that the warm day had prompted the servants to throw up the sash, she began to tentatively edge along the wall. Although she was not afraid of heights, she reasoned that she was better not looking down as she was more likely to trip. By brushing her hands along the wall behind her and keeping her eye on her goal; namely the next window, she hoped she could defy her clumsiness and refrain from falling to serious injury if not death.

“Bitterballens!” s
he muttered as she stepped on a small, sharp stone. “That will teach me to discard my shoes so casually!”

The window was within a few feet and Dizzy was beginni
ng to congratulate herself on her achievement when a pigeon flew down to land on the ledge. Who was more startled would be difficult to say but the result was a lot of flapping of wings and arms; the wings in an effort for the bird to take to the skies and the arms in an effort for Dizzy to remain upon the ledge. Within moments, although it seemed much, much longer, the pigeon was flying away and Dizzy found herself sitting as if on a perch. With a sigh of relief she decide it was too risky to attempt to stand and therefore crawled the remaining distance where she clambered none too gracefully through the window and landed unceremoniously in a heap on the floor of what looked to be a study.

‘Thank goodness for thick carpets’ she thought as she allowed herself a few moments to stop  her limbs from trembling and to regain her composure, though she was aware that it would probably take much longer for her to
suppress the grin that portrayed the sheer joy she felt at her achievement. Her next novel, she decided, would definitely include her heroine escaping a murderer by walking a ledge, only she would not be so stupid as to discard her shoes beforehand.

             
The spacious room was definitely the domain of a gentleman going by the décor and furnishings. A large, oak desk was positioned near the centre of the room. As well as the requisite ink and nib stand there were also several files stacked neatly on one side. Along one wall were floor to ceiling bookcases housing tomes on a wide variety of subjects though a quick glance led Dizzy to believe they were all reference books rather than fiction. A selection of decanters and glasses rested on a cupboard to one side of an ornate fireplace and Dizzy was tempted to pour a glass of something strong just to calm her racing heart; after all men always seemed to head for the brandy if they had suffered a shock no matter how small.

             
Standing up, she was just brushing down her skirts when the sound of male voices could be heard through the door that stood slightly ajar. She froze; even going so far as to hold her breath as she listened intently. There could be no mistake; the voices were getting louder as they approached along the corridor and one of them most definitely belonged to Gideon. With speed rather than accuracy, Dizzy dived under the desk sustaining injury to her head, knee and elbow in the process but in such cramped conditions she could not even rub the bruised areas to ease the pain and mouthing ‘bitterballens’ was not nearly as satisfactory as saying it out loud.

“
Would you care for a drink, Gentlemen? I have a particularly fine brandy here in my study,” Robert Prentiss pushed open the door as he spoke giving the others a view of his well appointed office.

“Thank you Robert, but another time perhaps
,” Ross answered.