The Perfect Suitor (Bewildering Love Series) (8 page)

Brandon was silent as he mounted his steed. “I’m glad,” he finally responded.

***

After entering the house, Eve flung off her beaver cap, placed the flowers on the hall table, and walked into the salon where her mother sat reading the current fashion magazine.

“How was the park, dearest?” Mother set the magazine aside and poured her a cup of tea.

“It was fine. The weather was lovely.” Eve didn’t want to tell her mother about running into the earl. “We rode around for a while and then sat on a blanket beneath a lovely willow tree to enjoy conversation and sweet rolls.”

“And?” Her insightful mother could tell there was more.

“And then this dog ran by after a child’s ball, practically dragging the creature’s owner. Of course I tried to help right the situation, for the dog had destroyed the toy and the child’s mother could not seem to calm the boy.”

“And how did you help?”

“I offered to hold the dog’s leash while the man made amends with the mother and child.” Eve sighed. “Lord Bakersfield, I assume, grew impatient in my absence for he was not at all the same when I returned.”

“I see. Well some men are like that. They want all of your attention or none at all.”

“But we were having such a nice time up until then.” Eve sounded like she regretted the change in Brandon, but actually she wouldn’t have traded her encounter with the earl for anything. He wasn’t like the others courting her, but then again,
he
wasn’t courting her. Lord Devonhurst was commanding though, and more mysterious, more unattainable, and more of a challenge than all of her other suitors combined.

“Did the Marquis of Bakersfield ask to see you again?” Mother asked.

“Yes.” And he had kissed her goodbye behind the front arbor. It was a pleasant quick kiss on the lips, but nothing earth shattering.

“And what did you say?”

“I told him that sounds lovely.”

“Then all is well.”

“Yes, or at least I assume all is fine.” Eve paused, thinking of Paxton. “Sometimes men are difficult to understand.”

Mother held up her teacup and Eve clinked hers with it. “I completely agree, dearest. And yet, at other times they are so simple.”

CHAPTER NINE

Mother knocked on Evelyn’s door and then entered. “Are you almost ready? Lady Spritewater is here, and the count should be arriving shortly.” Count Vernon was escorting the three ladies to tonight’s soiree. Eve had decided to wear a dinner dress since tonight’s gathering was to be informal. Her dress was pale blue and trimmed with bands of white satin. It also had satin buttons and rouleaux. She wore a white crepe hat with damask roses around the brim. Her curled locks were pulled up with a few stray tendrils falling around her ears. Her sapphire earbobs glimmered in the candlelight. The color itself brought out the azure of her eyes.

Mother’s dress was a pale green done in the pelisse style. On her head she wore a toque, a cross between a hat and a turban in a darker green with orange feathers. As she went to stand next to Evelyn, the numerous maids smiled.

“Don’t you both look lovely,” one of the maid’s commented while she went about straightening the room.

Mother and daughter smiled. Lady Spritewater sat in the salon sipping a sherry. She was a full-figured woman who always wore full skirts and expensive cologne. She had skin the color of alabaster and her gray hair was pulled up beneath a rust colored turban with white plumes, which matched her high-necked gown. “The count is waiting in the parlor.” She stood up as Eve came to kiss her on both plump cheeks. “It has been awhile, Evelyn dear. It is wonderful to see you.” She turned to Eve’s mother. “Maddie, I do declare that your daughters become prettier and prettier with age.” Lady Spritewater
linked arms with both of them. “Come, we shouldn’t keep the gentleman waiting.”

***

Henri’s coach was sleek and unmistakably expensive. The seats were made of plush wine-colored velvet, and the two oil lanterns hanging on the walls looked to be made of real silver. The count obviously liked to travel in style. They arrived at the Tiller home and dinner was served minutes later. The table held about forty guests, and their hostess, Lady Karina had arranged the seating. Eve found herself seated next to an older gentleman who was a member of the House of Lords on one side and Henri Leverett, Count Vernon, on the other.

“Now how did we achieve such luck to be dining together?” Eve asked knowingly and with a teasing smile.

“I spoke with our hostess and prearranged our seats,” Henri replied in a very serious manner. “I do hope this pleases you?”

“Of course.” Sometimes the count was too stiff and formal, she thought. He was lacking in wit, seemed to take everything far too seriously, and didn’t seem to comprehend her sense of humor.

The crowd seated themselves and then quieted as the Duke of Tiller greeted his guests and thanked them for coming. Eve saw her mother seated to the host’s left. Peering down the table, she saw Lady Spritewater seated between two gentlemen at the other end. Her eyes were then drawn back to the middle of the table for, tucked between two ladies, sat the Earl of Devonhurst. He did not look at her when her gaze came back to him. Eve looked back down toward her mother and noticed the earl’s sister, Lady Lydia, seated opposite of her. She looked back at the earl, but he still wouldn’t look in her direction.

She watched as the earl stood and the lady next to him excused herself. The woman quickly returned, batting her eyelashes and holding his strong shoulder as he stood again and pulled out the chair for her.

Eve admired Paxton’s formal attire. He looked wonderful in his tight fitting trousers and his half-buttoned cream vest over a white shirt with a high-collared green coat.
Funny. I did not give a second thought to what Henri is wearing.

While Paxton conversed with the young lady beside him, Eve watched him as closely as she could without being obvious. She didn’t recognize the lady, but she was wearing a dark green dress with a similar cut to Eve’s.

Roasted lamb, lemon broiled fish, venison with capers, as well as creamed carrots, fresh peas, and almond covered green beans, lined the table, but Eve could not have cared less about food.

Henri noticed her attention elsewhere when he went to help her fill her plate. “Do you know the widow Lady Miriam?”

“Oh no, I…” Eve couldn’t believe she had been caught staring at the Earl of Devonhurst, and here she had thought she was doing such a marvelous job portraying nonchalance. Thankfully, Henri thought she was staring at the lady. She looked at the table covered with food and was embarrassed she hadn’t acknowledged its delivery.

She knew Paxton had seen her. Why wouldn’t he look at her?

“I’m sorry, my lord. I was contemplating something and my vision wasn’t focused on the Lady Miriam.”

Fine! If Paxton wants to ignore me, I will do the same to him.

“Would you like some of these?” Henri held the creamed carrots.

“I would love some.” Eve noticed Paxton look at her as soon as her attention was on Henri. This caused her to keep up continual conversation with the count. They spoke of horses, politics, and the government, all of which she knew little about. Henri was semi-charming, which helped her to only glance at Paxton once in a while, and each time she did, the earl was fawning over the widow.

By the time the desserts arrived, Eve was finding it difficult to be pleasant with those around her. As a silver tray of pastries went by, she plucked one; and when she was certain Paxton was watching, she went to plop the delicate pastry in her mouth in a seductive manner but the pastry slipped out of her fingers before reaching her mouth and fell down the front of her bodice, right between her breasts. She felt her cheeks heat to what was likely a deep red. She felt embarrassment down to her toes as the pink blush spread across the exposed portion of her chest.

What was she going to do? She couldn’t dig around in her bodice for a pastry.
This isn’t happening.
She closed her eyes for a second, trying to calm herself. She could fix this. She only had to excuse herself. She opened her eyes to the hungry expression of the count greeting her.

Henri Leverett was staring at the stuck pastry lodged in her cleavage. He disgustingly licked his lips. His gesture and Paxton’s intense glare were enough to make Evelyn excuse herself from the table immediately. Henri stood as she hurried off to an empty parlor to remove the pastry.

Suddenly the door to the parlor she had stepped into closed behind her. She turned to find Paxton with fists clenched and looking uncomfortably angry.
It seems my mishap riled the Earl of Devonhurst. Did he think I dropped the blasted pastry intentionally?
Of course he did, since she had given him a brazen smile before she went to take a bite.

“What are you doing here?” Eve asked hesitantly, feeling utterly stupid having any discussion with a pastry positioned between her breasts.

“Do you like making a spectacle of yourself?”

Eve didn’t move as he came toward her. He looked down her bodice at the small square dessert.

“Do you?” Eve retorted, referring to his flirtatious behavior with the widow. He had been intentionally trying to irk her with his fawning manner toward that woman, even if he was not likely to admit it.

“I know you dropped that dessert into your bodice on purpose, and if you think to play with me… I warn you, you are playing with fire.”

“Perhaps I like heat,” Eve said boldly, and with her chin held high, she met his gaze, loving the passion she saw within his obsidian stare.

***

Paxton couldn’t help himself. The woman was impossible. His cock was hardening at an alarming rate. He pulled Eve toward him, and dipping his head toward her chest, he gently removed the pastry with his tongue and teeth. “Mmm,” he murmured quietly as she stiffened in his arms. He kissed the top of her breast for good measure. A part of him realized he should not be behaving in this manner, but he justified his actions since she was the one who started the fire by toying with him in the first place.

He smiled as he felt her body tremble and weaken with desire as she leaned against him. He slowly chewed on the treat. He then stepped back and she caught herself with a hand on the stuffed chair behind her. “An innocent like you doesn’t understand the intricacies of heat.” He watched her face as it conveyed a sense of yearning and need. Lady Evelyn wanted him as fiercely as he wanted her.

She seemed to take exception to his tone, for she said, “I’m not that innocent.” She had lied and he knew it, and so he merely smiled. “Why don’t you teach me what I don’t know?” She came up on her toes, wrapped her hands around his head, and pulled him down to kiss him with all the desire he had stirred up inside her.

Paxton clutched the back of her head, increasing the depth of the kiss, sliding his tongue into the moist recesses of her mouth while pulling her up against his body and the hardened length of his arousal. He tasted her, wanted her, needed her to appease his hunger for her. At her moan of passion, reality raised his head and he quickly backed away. “What you want, my sweet, is something I’m not willing to give.”

***

Eve tried to recover from the passionate embrace. She knew her face was flushed, and she could feel an odd throbbing sensation between her legs.
Good heavens, the man removed a flaky dessert from my cleavage and slid his tongue across my breasts.
And when they kissed, she had tasted the raspberry filling from the pastry as her tongue met his in a kiss she had only imagined in her dreams. Her head swam, her heart raced, and her knees wobbled. She had never felt anything so wonderful or magical in her life. She tried to comprehend what he had said. “You don’t want me?” She cursed herself at the hurt lingering in her voice.

He was staring at her kiss-swollen lips as if he wanted to kiss her again. “Come here.”

Eve moved forward, closed her eyes, and raised her head in the hopes of receiving another intoxicating kiss.

“You can open your eyes.”

She opened her eyes and watched as he took her hand and placed it over his hardened arousal. “Proof that I want you.”

She knew her eyes widened and she felt the blush fill in her face. She tried not to move her fingers over his most private part, but her fingers twitched in nervousness.

“In my younger days, I may have taken what your offering, broken your heart, and happily walked away a free and single man. As I’ve aged, I’ve come to realize the unfairness of taking an innocent’s virtue and leaving without a backward glance. Since I don’t wish to marry, that leaves no room for virgins in my bed, which includes you regardless if the other parts of my
anatomy may wish otherwise. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a young widow who is willing to relieve me with this situation without dragging me to the altar.”

***

With those parting words, Paxton dropped her hand and left the room. He hadn’t meant to be cruel or use her virginity against her, but the lady had to understand she could not continue to tease him. He feared he wouldn’t be able to resist her potent charms forever and she’d end up hurt and broken, and he did not want that for her.

***

Eve felt deflated. On the verge of tears, she sat down on the leather settee.
Is that it then?
He had dismissed her, and moreover, he had told her he was going to have sexual pleasure with Lady Miriam. Eve tried to swallow past the lump in her throat.
Who does he think he is? He isn’t the only man here tonight.
Eve vowed, one way or another, she would change his mind about the two of them. Things were not finished between herself and the earl because she liked him too much.

She returned to the gathering where the men and women had now separated. The women were in the music room where the servants had set up tables for some of them to play cards. The men were outside in the garden enjoying after dinner drinks and cigars.

“Oh, Eve. There you are. Lady Spritewater and I are off to play whist. Would you care to join us?”

“No thank you, Mother. I promised Count Vernon a dance.”

Although it was a small gathering, more guests were arriving after the meal, and the main hall was in the process of being cleared for dancing. When the men returned, some went to play cards while others went to enjoy the music and the attentions of the young ladies.

Henri approached Eve right away. After their first dance, the count pulled her to the side of the dance floor and Eve found herself led to a group of older gentlemen. “There is someone I wish to introduce all of you to,” Henri said by way of greeting the men. “This is Lady Evelyn; and this, my lady, is the Duke of Arondale, the Duke of Clyde, and the Earl of Tennyson.” The older gentlemen were all kind, each taking a moment to speak with her and ask about her father, whom they all knew, but soon the conversation turned to government and politics and Eve grew restless.

Eve looked around the room. Earlier she had seen Paxton slip away with the widow. It seems they were back now and both were smiling. She found herself wondering if he obtained the release he sought. From the looks of it, she would say he had. Well at least she could be proud that she had been the one to spark his desire in the first place. She thought of how Paxton had removed the pastry from her cleavage before he monopolized her mind with that kiss and a shiver ran through her body.

For the next half hour, she stood with Henri and the others, not paying attention to their discussion of Bonaparte. The scene before her was far more interesting, and she took some time to observe the other guests. She watched men flirt with ladies, and then watched the ladies coy responses. She watched the colorful dancers move to the pattern of a cotillion. And she watched the Earl of Devonhurst socialize with many of the guests, male and female. She had even witnessed the earl’s sister Lydia heading into the card room.