Courtesan's Kiss (24 page)

She stopped him once or twice and asked basic questions, and finally he finished with “the cotton is then ready for weaving.”

“All that, and you still have so much more to do before it is calico or some such fabric.”

“Yes, and that process is as complicated. And now that Sebold has withdrawn from the partnership I have decided to reconsider where to build the mill. It will take much more study but I am inclined to favor Birmingham.” He spoke the last as much to himself as to her.

“Well, I can see why you spend so much time working.”

David nodded, his eyes already drifting back to the papers in front of him.

Not before I have my reward
, Mia thought. “I need some exercise and you need some time away from this desk. I think your shoulders are beginning to grow rounded and you are definitely starting to squint.”

He straightened and then stopped himself from raising a hand to rub his eyes.

“Shall I ring for tea or would you prefer to go for a stroll?”

He didn’t say anything, but did begin to stand.

“I wanted to thank you for confiding in me about your time away from home.” She was rather proud of her discreet description of his shipwreck and slavery, but the sense of good humor Mia had felt in him disappeared.

“It is not something I will ever talk about again.”

Not only had his good humor disappeared, anger was only a breath away.

“But why the change of heart, David? I thought we were becoming friends.”

“Your maid has arrived and the house is filled with servants again. Our quarantine is over. Life returns to normal.”

“And you will never talk to me again? I am now no more than a silly woman who is not worth any of your time?”

“Mia, do not paint me heartless. It’s just that I am no longer at your beck and call.”

That hurt, but at least he was using her given name. He had not forgotten
everything
.

“We both said things that it would be unwise to think on too long,” he went on, twisting the knife deeper. “You were, and are, in good hands now, with people who can give you better care than I can. What we shared here is in the past.”

“You make it sound as though we had a torrid affair and now it must end.”
How stupid
, she thought, swallowing
over the lump in her throat. Nothing made her more angry than stupid men.

“We may not have been intimate, but society will find that hard to believe if we continue to spend time together, to share stories better forgotten, and if we are seen as friends rather than barely cordial relatives.” He sat down again.

He shuffled a few of his papers and then looked at her. The measuring expression he wore told her the real reason he was trying to discourage her.
He was afraid that he had told her too much. Afraid of allowing her to know him any better
.

“You said once that you would never marry me,” he said. “And I have no desire to marry you, or any woman. So you had best leave me alone for the next two days lest we be forced into that situation by appearances.”

“All right, if you insist.” Mia came closer to him, determined to show him that it was not so easy to cut short what had grown between them. She half sat on the edge of the table so that she had only to lean down and turn her head to touch his face with her lips. “Thank you for taking care of me, for holding me, for staying with me all night.” She brushed her lips against his cheek. He hadn’t shaved today and the feel of his whiskers made her lips tingle.

She delighted in his warmth, in the feel of the muscles in his arm when she touched it. The smell of tobacco, leather, and ink was as distinctly a part of him as his blond hair and blue eyes. She closed her eyes and realized that she could find David Pennistan in a group by his scent alone.

Mia buried her face in his neck and could feel the pulse racing. “I want you to hold me again. Now that I am healthy you do not have to be so careful.”

David pushed her away from him. If she had not been leaning against the table she would have fallen to the floor.

“Damnation, woman! Have you ever considered being a courtesan? You have everything one needs. You are beautiful, graceful, talented, and as selfish as the best of them. And most important of all, you know exactly how to bend a man to the breaking point.”

He yanked her to him and began to kiss her with such a ferocious passion that her knees weakened and she sat on the table to keep from falling.

Pushing her legs apart, he moved his body between them, without ending the assault on her senses.

She barely had a moment to think:
Did she want this?

Yes, she did. Her body knew it was what she wanted more than anything else.

More than a sensible engagement.

More than a cautious courtship.

She wanted to be swept off her feet and into a world where nothing mattered but the way it felt to have this man lose control and share all the passion he had with her.

But a small, barely coherent spot in her brain knew it would be a mistake. Even as he pulled her hips closer to his arousal, even as he teased her breast through the thin dress she wore, even as she pulled him closer, Mia knew this was the wrong way to start. It would end before it began and he would hate her for it. They had bypassed any number of steps along the way, important steps.

“Stop,” she breathed against his neck. He didn’t hear her or didn’t listen.

“No!” she said, more forcefully. “Stop right now.” Her body arched to him, making her words a lie, and she thought that she could no more stop than he could.

“No, David. Not like this.”

Some part of him heard her and he stopped kissing her. He still held her close, both of them breathing hard as they tried to gather some self-control.

He stepped back, his face filled with anger, his body still aroused.

“If you slap me, Mia, I swear before God that I will slap you back. This is what you have been asking for since we first set out on this trip. Do not dare deny it.”

She swallowed hard against a protest.

“Now leave this room and do not come near me again in private.”

Mia nodded and stumbled toward the door. She paused and turned back to him. “I’m sorry, David.”

He made a sound like a disgusted laugh, and sat down to continue working.

W
HEN THE DOOR CLOSED
with a click, David threw his pen down and swore when ink spattered over the plans for the cotton mill. As he blotted the spots, he cursed the pen, the paper, the tabletop, yesterday’s rain, today’s sun, and the hopeless mess that tomorrow was sure to be.

He had just shown, conclusively, that if he had anything to do with it, Mia Castellano would not leave Sandleton an
innocent. So far from being her protector, David Pennistan was now Mia’s greatest threat.

Yes, yes, yes, her endless flirting made it half her fault. But if he and Mia found their way to bed, he was the one who would be held accountable.

Everyone expected trouble from Mia and everyone was so sure that he could handle it. Even that madman William Bendasbrook had been able to resist her. What did it mean that he had less control than a man years younger than he and with a reputation for wildness?

David would never forget Mia’s nightmare words, asking William why he “must be a gentleman all the time.” Damn him times ten, no one would ever accuse David Pennistan of being too much a gentleman, as he had just proved.

And she had so thoroughly rejected.

He would lock the door to this room, block it with a chair if there was no key, and stay there until the bags were loaded and the horses were chomping at the bit.

If Mia was not ready, he would leave her behind and ride on to Pennford. She could ride in that infernal dog cart her maid’s man had found. Or Lyn could send Michael Garrett if he thought that a Pennistan should accompany his wife’s ward.

Within arm’s reach there was a bottle of brandy and plenty to read that had nothing to do with cotton mills and steam engines. He could entertain himself, in more ways than one, and then drink himself into oblivion.

M
IA WALKED BACK
to the terrace in a daze, her brain working only well enough for her to reason that the breeze and the warm air would explain her tousled hair and reddened cheeks.

She sat in silence, unaware of the sun or the trees or the rhythmic sound of the scythes as the workers cutting grass moved to the shady side of the house.

Mired in guilt and frustration, Mia wondered when, if, she could ever stop making such a ruin of her life. Why had she made him stop? Because it was not the time and place of her choosing? He had not scared her. She loved that his desire for her overcame his scruples.
Be honest
, she chided herself,
it’s
your
sensibilities that frightened you
. To feel so intensely, to want beyond reason. She put her head back on the soft cushion and fell asleep before she could start crying.

Mia woke as Janina carefully spread a shawl over her lap. Mia bit her lip to keep from snapping at her. “Nina, I am not chilled. The temperature is perfect and I am done resting. I think I will take a walk down the drive.”

“Alone? Miss, you cannot go alone. And I am still not as strong as I was before. What if you weaken and faint?”

Mia suspected it would be at least six months before Janina felt herself fully recovered. “There are men everywhere today. You’re the one who told me Cantwell sent them out to scythe the grass and polish the brass at the gate. If I need help I will have one of them come for you.” She stood, and felt perfectly fine. “I have to think about what is next for me. I think best alone.”

“Yes, signorina.” Her maid’s resigned tone was as close as she would come to disagreeing with her mistress.

The trees shaded the drive very nicely and Mia walked slowly, even stopped once to sit on one of the benches that were set amidst a seemingly random planting of flowers.

It was despicable to play with David’s manliness that way, to arouse him and leave him angry. And unsatisfied. But she had been punished. David was no longer a friend. That was penance enough.

On standing, Mia did feel a slight weakness in her knees and decided that a walk all the way to the gate was too ambitious a prospect. She had just turned back to the house when she heard the crunch of carriage wheels on the drive and stepped to the side to allow whoever it was to pass.

It was a coach and four, not at all what she expected. The carriage was almost past her when it stopped, the
door opened, and a man leaped out, not waiting for the steps to be lowered.

“Miss Castellano?”

Lord Kyle? Yes, it was the duke’s good friend Lord Kyle. And he was not alone. She returned his bow with a curtsy and nodded. “Yes, Mia Castellano. Good day to you, my lord.”

What was he doing here? She knew just how to find out. “I wonder if I could ride with you and your party to the house.”

“But of course.” He was all kindness as he pulled down the steps. “We will be a little crowded but it is only for a moment.”

There were two ladies and another gentleman in the carriage, and after a slight hesitation, Lord Kyle introduced them. He spoke so quickly that Mia was left in some confusion. Not that anyone noticed. They were having a merry time of it. There was one empty champagne bottle on the floor of the conveyance and the other man was drinking from a bottle, while the two ladies waved their empty glasses.

How fascinating, Mia thought. She knew Lord Kyle was not married, and the ladies were much too forward to be true ladies. But what were they doing here?

“We thought our house party would be only four in number,” Lord Kyle said. It sounded as though he was as curious about her presence as she was about his. “Won’t we be cozy.” His guests all laughed good-naturedly. “Who are you here with?”

“Lord David Pennistan,” she answered, before she realized how they would interpret that.

“David Pennistan is here?”

The delight in the woman’s voice, the one nearest Lord Kyle, gave Mia pause, though Lord Kyle did not seem fazed in the slightest. He was looking at her speculatively.

“Kyle, we have not seen him since that boxing match last fall.”

Kyle nodded, distracted by something Mia could not guess at.

“I do so enjoy talking to him. His view of the world is so very unique.”

This woman talked to Lord David? Mia wanted to ask her what the magic words were but did not want to admit that she was not on nearly as good terms with him as this woman.

“As long as it’s only talking, Ettie,” Kyle reminded her with a cautionary glance.

“Only talking.” She patted Kyle’s arm. “But you know I find that as provocative as any other sort of foreplay. The three of us—” she began, and then stopped at Kyle’s warning glare.

“What a fine catch,” the other woman said.

“And so soon,” the other man said.

Mia pretended not to understand. “Do you fish, my lord?”

“Yes. Do you?” His expression was teasing and she realized that he, too, had drunk a fair amount of champagne. She wondered how many bottles had been tossed
from the carriage on their way from … wherever they came from today.