If Miss Lambert’s eyes had captivated him in the dim light of the lanterns hanging from the trees above Vauxhall Gardens, in the sunlight, they blazed with a green which nearly knocked him out of his boots. She strode closer, sparing not a glance for her father, but focusing entirely on Justin. The rich chestnut hair framing her face bounced a touch with each step, making the soft ringlets graze the long line of her neck and high cheeks. He envied the curls, especially the one resting over the swell of her breast. The creaminess of her skin was just visible beneath the fine netting of her fichu while the rest of her supple roundness was covered by a brown-silk gown in a tone to match her hair. It heightened the colour of her skin with a warmth he longed to bury his face in and inhale.
Despite the allure of her full curves, it was her eyes which continued to command him. They were intelligent, quick, hiding her thoughts, but telling him they existed, and not one was concerned with the frippery of dresses or gossip. She was playing the demure, dutiful daughter for her father’s sake, but Justin caught the steely resolve beneath the polished manners. It was the will of a woman with a plan she was as eager to implement as Justin was to establish his wine business. She’d been foolish last night, but Justin sensed it was a momentary weakness, like his proposal to Helena or the five pounds he’d spent on a bottle of wine last week, or what he was very near to agreeing to do.
He settled his shoulders, determined to resist the fleeting temptation of an attractive woman, confident she couldn’t change his mind about this match, even if the part of him low down wanted her to win him over.
‘I’ll leave you two to discuss the matter,’ Lord Rockland offered.
The duke’s words broke the spell cast by Miss Lambert’s eyes.
‘And then cry foul once the two of us are left alone. No, thank you,’ Justin protested.
It wasn’t the first time a father had tried to get him alone with his daughter in an attempt to snare her a husband.
‘I won’t cry foul. She’s been compromised enough already,’ Lord Rockland flung off as he slid the doors closed behind him.
‘Quite a charming father you have there,’ Justin remarked.
Miss Lambert dropped her hands from where she’d been demurely holding them in front of her and rolled her pretty eyes. ‘He’s the envy of the ton.’
She walked over to the small selection of drinks and picked up the brandy. She splashed a tiny drop into a glass, then tossed back the contents, shivering as it went down.
If this was meant to shock Justin it did, but there was something in the confidence of her movement, the surety with which she was executing what he felt was a clear plan, he had to admire.
‘Shall I pour you some more?’ she asked.
‘No.’ He needed a clear head for this encounter. ‘I gather you’re in favour of your father’s suggestion.’
She set the glass down with a clunk. ‘How very intuitive of you.’
‘It’s part of my job to guess what people will do before even they know. It helps me to avoid trouble.’
Her full lips turned down at the corners. ‘I’m not the trouble my father has made me out to be if that’s what’s worrying you.’
‘I’m not worried about anything, since I have no intention of marrying you.’
‘But you will.’ She crossed her arms under her breasts and the slight rise of the full mounds was distracting.
‘I assure you, I won’t.’ Justin forced himself to focus, surprised by the ease with which Miss Lambert affected him.
‘I don’t think you fully comprehend the benefits of the agreement.’ She rolled one graceful hand in the air between them, her nails short and neatly buffed.
‘Oh, Miss Lambert, trust me, I understand very well the benefits.’ He caressed her lithe body with his eyes, following the faint trace of a small waist and rounded hips beneath the flowing dress. He took the last fortifying sip of brandy to ease the heat rising inside him. He needed to reason with his brain, not his member.
She squared herself at him, sure in herself and her goal. Her confidence was currently her most appealing and annoying trait. ‘I heard most of the conversation between you and my father. I know you think I don’t want this marriage, but I do.’
‘You don’t even know me. For all you know I could be a drunk who likes to beat women.’
‘You aren’t such a man. You have too much integrity. If you didn’t, you’d have accepted my father’s offer without bothering to talk to me, set a date for the wedding and rushed through to the bedding as fast as possible.’
Justin tipped his empty glass to her. She was flattering him, a somewhat effective tactic. ‘Perhaps, but even with you standing here demanding we wed I won’t take you.’
‘What if I could be of use to you?’
He winked at her. ‘I don’t need to be married for that.’
She frowned then, the small pursing of her lips as tempting as the subtle rise and fall of her chest.
‘I mean in business. I can make my father increase his offer, especially since he’s so eager to be rid of me.’ A pain Justin recognised rippled through her eyes. She wasn’t alone in enduring the condemnations of a demanding and stubborn father. Justin knew a little something about it, too. ‘A word of support from him will have clients lining up at your door.’
‘I’m aware of this, Miss Lambert, but it’s not so much the clients I’m worried about as it is my wife.’ He set his glass down. ‘I don’t want to look around one day and find you back in Lord Howsham’s bed or in some other man’s.’
For the first time since she’d entered the room her eyes dropped from his and a flush of red washed over her creamy skin. Her shame didn’t last as she raised her head to meet his gaze again with a will as seductive as the faint scent of jasmine gracing her skin. ‘I don’t blame you for being suspicious of me and my motives, so I’ll be as honest with you as you’ve been with me. I didn’t run after Lord Howsham out of lust. I did it because I believed he’d offer me the things Lord Rockland never has, the freedom of my own home and a place as something more than a bastard. You’re worried I’ll chase after every lord who comes my way. The truth is I want nothing more to do with any of them, not even my father. If you agree to the marriage, I will maintain contact with my father in an effort to help you. I could be quite an asset to your wine business.’
‘What do you know of trade, Miss Lambert?’ She didn’t look like one to sit behind a counter all day or wander through a cellar in search of a bottle.
‘My mother’s family owned a wine shop in Oxfordshire. I assure you, I didn’t spend my girlhood learning to draw on plates, but to manage customers, inventory and accounts at my mother’s side. She was an excellent negotiator. It’s how she managed to extract Lord Rockland’s promise to support me, even after she passed.’ She swallowed hard. Justin pitied her and wanted to reach out and take her in his arms to soothe her. His grief for his own mother was as raw as hers, but he didn’t move. ‘I can garner for you the same type of deal.’
‘Can you now?’ She was certainly more experienced in the wine business than he’d imagined. He wondered what other surprising traits and talents she possessed.
She strolled over to him, allure and innocence wrapped up in the slow swing of her hips. ‘Judging from your willingness to start your own business, you’re a man not averse to taking risks. A betting man as some might say.’
‘I’ve been known to wager from time to time.’ Justin remained still, as intrigued by her offer as he was tempted by her full lips and what they would feel like beneath his.
‘Then let me offer you one now. I’ll prove to you today I can