Jack laughed, the sharp planes of his aristocratic face melting into boyish playfulness. ‘By Jove, Dulci, no one quite cuts me down to size like you do, and goodness knows on occasion I need it.’ He looked ten years younger, whatever secret cares he bore dissolving, minimising the darkness and mystery that limned him like a nimbus around the sun since his return to England. It occurred to her to wonder what he’d been like before? Surely he hadn’t always been this way? How did a man become like Jack?
‘Dulci.’ The sound of her name on his lips was an invitation to sin. It was enough and it succeeded where all Jack’s calculated foreplay had fallen short. She was in his arms in an instant, letting her body savour the strength of him, the feel of him, the almond scent of his soap, letting her mind forget all the reasons this was going to be a bad idea. His mouth took hers in a long, slow kiss, teasing her with its languorous exploration, one hand at the back of her neck, fingers entwined in her hair. The heat in her started to rise.
‘I’m sorry about the orangery, Dulci,’ Jack murmured, with sincere penitence. How could she not forgive him? Then something caught her eye over Jack’s shoulder and she froze, her mind remembering all the reasons.
Jack nuzzled her neck encouragingly. ‘Dulci, this is where you say you’re sorry too about throwing that pot and you run your hands through my hair looking for any remnants of that damnable lump you gave me.’
‘I don’t think so, Jack.’ Dulci pushed against his chest and stepped back, the moment lost to reality and disappointment. She’d been so ready to believe. She gave a flick of her head, nodding for Jack to turn around. It was the orangery all over again.
A throat cleared in the nominal darkness. A nervous, blushing page dressed in the royal livery of Hanover stammered his message. ‘Excuse me, my lord. I have an urgent message from Clarence House. I was told to find you and tell you to come at once.’
Dulci watched Jack straighten his shoulders almost imperceptibly, the boyish pleasure that had so recently wreathed his face instantly subdued. The transformation happened so swiftly, it was possible to think she’d imagined the other. Jack pressed a few coins into the messenger’s hand, no doubt meant to buy his silence regarding where and how the boy had found the viscount and sent him on before turning back to her.
‘Dulci, I’m sorry. I have to leave. May I escort you back inside?’ He was all duty now. Did this happen with all his women or was it just her bad luck? She hadn’t heard, but then again she couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to brag Jack had thrown them over for a government summons.
‘What could the king want this time of night? Isn’t he off to his own clubs and entertainments?’ Dulci had recognised the address immediately: the residence of William IV.
‘England never sleeps, Dulci.’ Jack gave her a kind smile that she found condescending.
‘Don’t patronise me, Jack,’ Dulci snapped.
‘I’ll call on you tomorrow,’ Jack offered. But she would have none of his olive-branch brand of pity.
‘I will not be home to you. I am not going to become one of your easy women who let you kiss them whenever you pass through town.’ Dulci pushed past him, angrier at herself than at him. Jack would always be Jack, whoever that really was. As much time as she’d spent listening to rumours she’d thought she’d have understood that by now. She would find her own way back inside and, after a decent interval, she’d leave. The night had lost its lustre. But he halted her with a warm chuckle that said he didn’t believe her bluff for a moment.
‘You can’t ignore me, Dulci. Very well, don’t receive me. But I will see you tomorrow night. At the Danby rout, if you remember,’ Jack called softly. ‘I’ll be the one in azure. Perhaps we can rename the ball the Blue Danby ball. It can be our private joke.’
She didn’t want anything ‘private’ with Jack. Dulci fisted her hands in her gown where no one could see, her temper rising. It was just like Jack to make a joke when she was mad. Damn it all. She’d already forgot about the wager. She allowed herself the unladylike luxury of stomping her foot in frustration on the garden path. She’d known from the start coming out here with Jack was a bad idea; anything with Jack was a bad idea as she’d proven yet again. At least she’d have plenty to berate herself with on the lonely carriage ride home.
The carriage was crowded for all that there was only one person in it, thanks to the enormity of her thoughts, Dulci groused an hour later. She felt slightly better thinking it was Jack’s fault, but that wasn’t entirely true. He’d merely opened Pandora’s box with his kisses and let loose all nature of strange feelings and emotions into her world. Hopefully common sense hadn’t got out with the rest. Maybe it still hung there like a butterfly with one wing caught in the closed box lid, the other wing struggling for release. It certainly wasn’t still in the box—tonight had illustrated that. At best, she had only half of it left.
Jack had awakened the curiosities of both mind and body. She was twenty-six and seriously doubted she would ever make a marriage that suited her temperament. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to know the mysteries of the marriage bed, the secrets of satisfying the passions of the body.
She was not so naïve as to be unaware that a certain calibre of gentleman had offered to solve that mystery for her. To date, she’d always been quick to scotch any efforts in the direction. Some risks were simply not worth taking. The kind of gentleman who offered such gratification was not the kind of gentleman who would keep her secrets. Good heavens, Amberston hadn’t even kept their horse race secret. One could only guess what someone like him would do with an even bigger secret.
Jack was different. The shocking thought nearly jolted her off the carriage seat. An idea came to Dulci. Why not Jack? Any woman with eight seasons behind her, virgin or not, knew when a man desired her and Jack had wanted her. Perhaps he only wanted her for a night, for the novelty of it.
Whatever his motives, he did want her and that was all that mattered. If his wanting lasted only a night, so much the better. She was looking to satisfy her curiosity, nothing long term. Jack had already proven he could wake her passions and he’d already proven he could be discreet. He kept secrets for the Empire. He could surely keep one short liaison from public consumption and he would never tell Brandon.
Dulci tapped her chin with a gloved finger. Hmm. Brandon might be a sticking point. She would have to overcome any resistance his friendship with Brandon might pose. Then she laughed out loud in the empty carriage at the ridiculous notions passing through her head. She was actually sitting here planning how to seduce the notorious Viscount Wainsbridge! She needed her head examined. What woman of virtue deliberately gave away her greatest asset? Moreover, in her numerous seasons she’d seen with her own eyes what happened to the young girls who’d fallen prey to various pre-marital temptations. The world wasn’t big enough for a fallen woman.
A wicked voice whispered its rebuttal: only if you get caught. You haven’t been caught yet. Jack’s perfect—discreet, skilled and in no mood to get caught himself. He might even empathise with you…
She could laugh all night at the odd ideas floating through her mind, but Dulci could not quell the growing sense that in spite of all the decent reasons not to go through with it, she just might.
Chapter Three
Jack Hanley, the first Viscount Wainsbridge for all of five years, always answered the king’s summons to Clarence House with alacrity and anxiety no matter what time of day or night it came or whose bed it found him in. Alacrity because one did not keep his monarch waiting, especially when one possessed a title as new as his. Anxiety because he knew the summons was merely a prelude to upheaval. William would not have called him if something had not been afoot that needed his special attentions. No doubt there’d been a development with the Venezuelans, but he was suspicious that it had occurred so quickly. He’d only met them an hour ago.
‘I need you to stop a war.’ William said abruptly as Jack entered. Jack merely nodded as if such statements were commonplace conversation and shut