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Chapter 4.3 (Part 2)
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2021-09-21 16:14:38Mesmerized, she has sufficient presence of mind to keep a gentle smile fixed firmly on her face but her thoughts were whirling even faster that her feet. With a superhuman effort, she forced her kids to drop, screening her eyes from his. "Oh, we Flemings have many accomplishments, dear guardian." To her relief, her voice was clear and untroubled. "But I'm desolated to have to admit that they're all hopelessly mundane."
A rich chuckle greeted this. "Permit me to tell you, my ward, that for the skills I have in mind, your qualifications are more than adequate." Margaret's eyes flew to his. She could hardly believe her ears. But Felix continued before she could speak, his blue eyes holding hers, his voice a seductive murmur. "And while you naturally lack experience, I assure you that can easily, and most enjoyably, be remedied."
It was too much. Margaret gave up the struggle to divine his motives and made
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Felix was worried. Seriously worried. Since far first night at Almack’s, the situation between Sophia Fleming and Daniel Hammington has rapidly deteriorated to a state which, from experience, he knew was fraught with danger. As he watched Sophia across Lady Langdon’s ballroom, chatting with determined avidity to an eminently respectable and thoroughly boring young gentleman, his brows drew together in a considering frown. If, at the beginning of his guardianship, anyone had asked him where his sympathies would lie, with the Misses Fleming or the gentlemen of London, he would unhesitatingly have allied himself with his wards, on the grounds that four exquisite but relatively inexperienced country misses would need all the help they could get to defend their virtue successfully against the highly knowledgeable rakes extant within the ton. Now, a month later, having gained first-hand experience of the tenacious pervers
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Felix slowly passed through the throng, stopping here and there to chat with acquaintances, his intended goal his aunt, sitting in a blaze of glorious purple on a chaise by the side of the room. But before he had reached her, a hand on his arm drew him around to face the sharp features of Clara Portland. “Your Grace! It’s been such an age since we’ve ...talked.” Her ladyship’s brown eyes quizzed him playfully. Her arch tone irritated Felix. It was on the tip of his tongue to recommend she took lessons in flirting from Maribella before she tried her tricks on him. Instead, he took her hand from his sleeve, bowed over it and pointedly returned to her, “As you’re doubtless aware, Clara, I have other claims on my time.”
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“Count me out.” Daniel Hammington threw his cards on the table and pushed back his chair. None of the other players was surprised to see him leave. Normally an excellent player, tonight his lordship has clearly had his mind elsewhere. And the brandy he had drunk was hardly calculated to improve matters, although his gait, as he headed for the ballroom, was perfectly steady. In the ballroom, Daniel paused to glance about. He saw the musicians tuning up and then sighted his prey. Almost as if she sensed his approach, Sophia turned as he came up to her. The look of sudden wariness that came into her large eyes pricked his conscience and, consequently, his temper. “My dance, I think.”
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A stone terrace extended along the side of the house, the balustrade broken here and there by steps leading down to the gardens. Flambeaux places in brackets along the walls three flickering light down into the avenues and any number of couples could be seen, walking and talking quietly amid the greenery. Unhurriedly, Daniel led her to the end of the terrace and then down the steps into a deserted walk. They both breathed in the heady freshness of the night air, calming their disordered senses and, without the need to exchange words, each drew some measure of comfort from each other’s presence. At the end of the path, a secluded summer-house stood, white paintwork showing clearly against the black shadows of the shrubbery behind it. As Daniel had hoped, the summer-house
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Relieved to find she was not crying, as he had thought, Daniel immediately caught her hand to prevent her flying from him again. Stung by the shock his touch always gave her, intensified now, she was annoyed to discover, Sophia tried to pull her hand away. When he refused to let her go, she said, her voice infused with an iciness designed to freeze, “Kindly release me, Lord Daniel.” On hearing her voice, Daniel placed the emotion that was holding her so rigid. The knowledge that she was angry, nay, furious, did nothing to improve his own temper, stirred to life by her abrupt flight. Forcing his voice to a reasonableness he was far from the feeling, he said, “If you’ll give me your word you’ll not run away from me, I’ll release you.”
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How the hell was he to get rid of her? Felix, Lady Portland on his arm, had twice traversed the terrace. He had no intention of descending to the shadowy avenues. He had no intention of paying any further attention to Lady Portland at all. Lady Portland, in the other hand, was waiting for his attentions to begin and was rather surprised at his lack of ardour in keeping to the terrace. They were returning at the end of the terrace, when Felix, glancing along, saw Margaret come out of the ballroom, alone, and walk quickly to the balustrade and peer over. She was clearly seeking someone. Clara Portland, prattling on at his side, had not seen her. With the reflexes necessary for being one of the more successful rakes in the ton. Frlix whisked her ladyship back into the ballroom via the door they were about to pass.
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Sanity returned to Sophia's mind like water in a bucket, slowing filling from a dripping tap, bit by bit, until it was full. For one long moment, she allowed her mind to remain blank, savouring the pleasure of being held so gently against him. Then, the world returned and demanded her response. She struggled to sit up and was promptly helped to her feet. She checked her gown and found it perfectly tidy, bar one knot of ribbon on her sleeve which seemed to have gone missing. Daniel, who had returned to earth long before, had been engaged in some furious thinking. But, try as he might, he could not imagine how she would react. Like Felix, it had been a long time since young virgins had been his prey. As she stood, he tried to catch a glimpse of her face in the dim light but she perversely kept it averted. In the end, he caught her hands and drew her to stand before him. "Sweetheart, are you all right?" St
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While the Duke and Duchess of Twyford and Lord and Lady Daniel exchanged congratulations all around, Lady Hillsborough looked on in disgust. “What I want to know,” she said, when she could make herself heard once more, “is if I’m to be entirely done out of weddings, even after all my efforts to see you all in person’s mouse-trap?” “Oh, there are still two Flemings to go, so I wouldn’t give up hope,” returned her nephew, smiling down at her with transparent goodwill. “Apropos of which, has anyone seen the other two lately?” No one had. When applied to, Millard imparted the information that Lord Byron had called for Miss Maribella just before two. They had departed in Lord Byron’s carriage. Mr. Francis has d
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“Sophia?” Daniel tried to squint down at the face under the dark hair covering his chest. “Mmm,” Sophia replied sleepily, snuggling comfortably against him. Daniel grinned and gave up trying to rouse her. His eyes drifted to the ceiling as he gently stroke her back. Serve her right if she was exhausted. Together with Francis and Henry, he had followed the strongly disapproving Millard to the back parlour. He had announced them, to the obvious consternation of the three occupants. Daniel’s grin broadened as he recalled the scene. Maribella had looked positively stricken with guilt, Emma had not known what to think and Sophia had simply stood, her back to the windows, and w
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Well, what had she expected? asked that other Miss Fleming, ousting her competitor and taking total possession as Felix bend his head to kiss her. Her mouth opened welcomingly under his and he took what she offered, gradually drawing her into his embrace until she was crushed against his chest. Margaret did not mind; breathing seemed unimportant just at that moment. When Felix finally raises his head, his eyes were bright under their hooded lids and, she noticed with smug satisfaction, his breathing was almost as ragged as hers. His eyes searched her face, then his slow smile appeared. “I notice you’ve ceased reminding me I’m your guardian.” Margaret, finding her arms twined around his neck, ran her fingers through his dark hair. “I’ve given
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As usual when with her guardian, time flew and it was only when a chill in the breeze penetrated her thin cloak that Margaret glanced up and found the afternoon gone. The curricle was travelling smoothly down a well surfaced road, lined with low hedges set back a little from the carriageway. Beyond these, neat fields stretched sleepily under the waning sun, a few scattered sheep and cattle attesting to the fact that they were deep in the country. From the direction of the sub, they were travelling south, away from the capital. With a puzzled frown, she turned to the man beside her. “Shouldn’t we be heading back?” Felix glanced down at her, his devilish grin in evidence. “We aren’t going back.” Margaret’s brain flatly refuses to accept
