Taris Wellingham was a man who might trace his ancestry back through all the years of history and yet he had conceded the argument to her with grace. She wondered suddenly whether he had done so by choice, as there had been a tone in his words denoting empathy that she found disconcerting.
The quick flash of her husband ‘correcting’ yet another opinion came to mind and she pushed it back, all the laughter and discourse in this room as far from the big Ipswich house as she could ever be.
Lifting her glass of punch to her lips, she dragged her eyes away from the enigmatic and mercurial Lord Wellingham and wished the hour before everybody would leave away.
Everyone was gone. Almost everyone, she amended and looked again to see that Taris still sat on the blue sofa in her salon.
‘I could stay if you want…?’ Elspeth was uncertain as she gazed towards the room.
‘I am a twenty-eight-year-old widow, Elspeth, and sense is my middle name.’
‘Still, a man like that could—’
She did not let her finish. ‘Look at me, Elspeth. A man like that is here merely to speak to me and I am very happy to listen.’
‘You are not as plain as you might say, Beatrice, and sometimes when you argue a point so very cleverly every male in the room looks at you in the way of men who are wanting much more than just words.’
‘A sentiment I shall receive as a compliment. But you forget I have no wish to take any such flattery further.’
‘Very well, then. But I shall be back in the morning to make certain that…’
‘And I shall look forward to the company.’
Bea was pleased when her friend finally allowed her to shepherd her out; turning, she walked into the salon, shutting the door against the bustling of servants clearing away the last of the plates and the glasses in the dining room.
‘Thank you for allowing me to talk to you privately,’ he said and waited as she sat next to him.
‘If this is about my conversation with your sister…’
He raised his right hand and she came to a stop. ‘Did Mr Bassingstoke ever “correct” you, Beatrice?’
Her world spun in a receding dizzy arc as she clutched at the arm on her end of the sofa. Had he seen the movement? For the first time since knowing of his blindness she was glad of it.
‘All my arguments were purely theoretical, my lord,’ she returned, her voice sounding almost normal, ‘and I could easily take umbrage should you think a man might rule me like that.’
‘A lack of sight has some benefits, Mrs Bassingstoke. One of them is the ability to determine the cadence of untruth.’
She was silent.
‘At Maldon you limited our liaison to just one night. I would like to negotiate for another.’
‘One night…?’ Her voice was squeaky.
‘More if you are offering.’ His smile made his eyes dance and the glasses gave him a rakish appearance. His cane lay untouched against his thigh as if, for the moment, he was comfortable and relaxed. Still, he looked much too big for her small salon, a tiger readied to pounce, the amber in his irises predatory. She could not move, could not rise and say nay to any of it, could not remember the promise that she had made to herself of ‘never again’.
The clock on the mantel chimed the hour like a harbinger.
Ding…say yes!
Dong…say no!
Outside she could determine the muffled clatter of a carriage winding home in the lateness.
Ten o’clock. On a Wednesday. Already some lights in the street were out and the transport that had brought him to her door was departed. At his request?
Who indeed might know if she were again to say yes? And freedom was found not only in the choice of a good book and a night alone. Another few moments and the maids would be finished. Easy to dismiss them to their beds and then to go to hers. With him. The very idea of it made her heart beat faster.
‘I am not the kind of woman to depend on this sort of arrangement, my lord. The freedom I spoke of today is important to me.’
‘I am not looking to shackle you into something you might live to regret.’
At that small set-down she reddened. Of course he would not be interested in a more lasting relationship. Still, she could not quite let it lie.
‘Why are you here, then?’
‘Because I like you.’
She sat speechless, for such a simple and uncomplicated reason negated all the more tangled arguments that spun around in her head.
He liked her? No expectation for anything different, no change or carefulness involved in maintaining a facade that might keep him happy? The admission was suddenly as freeing as the way he had conceded his argument on property rights, his lack of malice so unlike her dead husband that it had made her almost dizzy with the contrast.
And now an offer of more, and nobody else’s business save her own.
A clever man and a private man. A man who kept the world at bay so very easily.
Could she enjoy him without fear of all the other ties that drained a relationship in its never-ending complications? Simply be? Simply step into his arms and be?
‘I would not expect promises.’
The smile he gave her back melted her heart.
‘Of course I did not mean that you were even suggesting anything like that—’ She clamped her lips together to stop the babble further.
‘Bea?’
‘Yes?’
‘Be quiet.’
She began to laugh. ‘It is just that I should not wish you to think I was easy.’
‘Lord.’ His expletive was vexed as he removed his glasses and laid them down on the small table next to the sofa and when his hand reached out towards her the ring he wore on his finger glinted in the light, a soldier’s insignia engraved in gold.
‘Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man…’ The small ditty turned in her mind. What else had he been? When his thumb traced a line from her wrist to her elbow she took in a breath and leaned back, the warmth from the fire on her face and the heat from his touch lighting a fervour more intemperate even than the naked flame.
‘It cannot be here,’ she whispered as his touch skimmed across the bodice of her gown.
‘Then where?’
‘Upstairs. If you give me time to give the servants their leave to retire.’
His fingers stilled and pulled back.
‘It should just take me a moment.’ But he did not answer as she stood and scurried from the room.
After dismissing the staff for the night, Bea stopped in front of the mirror above the mantel in the dining room and met her reflection.
Fervent. Excited. Basked in promise.
‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘Do not hope…’
The thin line between her eyes reappeared and although her dimples were attractive there was much more on her face that was not.
‘Just enjoy,’ she said more softly before taking a breath and opening again the door to the blue salon.