Gentleman's Guide 01 - His Impetuous Debutante (10 page)

At least a few of her friends were
interested in some of the gentlemen who were invited so it wouldn’t
be a complete loss or waste of time, Phoebe consoled herself. Now,
as long as Noah didn’t make her spend time with the individuals,
other than in a group setting, all would be well.

Four days before they were to depart,
Phoebe sat in the parlor with her new friends. There were seven
young women who had also made their appearances this Season and
were looking forward to the house party. Sipping tea and nibbling
on cakes, they talked with excitement about the coming weekend.
Phoebe had been honest with each of them about her plans not to
marry, but that she wanted to find suitable wives for her brother
and his friends.

“
There is one problem,”
Lady Bettina began.

“
What would that be?” She
was sure she had covered all the grounds.

“
You,” Lady Bettina
offered quietly.

“
Why me?” Phoebe wasn’t
sure if she should feel insulted.

“
Not you exactly…” Lady
Bettina started.

Lady Corinna cut her off. “The only
reason your brother and the rogues will be there is to keep an eye
on you. They won’t even notice the rest of us if you are wandering
about.”

Phoebe bit her lower lip. They were
right. Noah and his watchdogs were everywhere she was. Slowly a
smile came to her lips and gleam to her eye. “You know, I find I am
tiring very easily of late. I think I will take the opportunity
this weekend to retire very early on a regular basis. You won’t be
offended, will you?”

Her friends matched her smile and
burst into laughter. “You are wonderful, Phoebe.”

So the plans were set. She would have
fun during the day, but before dinner she would retire to her room,
claiming to be exhausted. If her brother pressed for explanations
she would come up with some plausible excuse that he would believe,
though she had no idea what it would be at the moment.

*

Settling in her bed with a book,
Phoebe tried to read, but voices of those attending the house party
kept drifting up to her. It was still early by London standards.
Six months ago she would have been asleep already. Feeling restless
and unable to concentrate on her book, Phoebe dressed once again.
Not wanting to alert anyone, she crept down the backstairs and into
the night, where she strolled the gardens, in the shadows. She felt
free. What a wonderful plan she had. She was able to provide her
friends with opportunity and gain a brief period of freedom for
herself.

Noting a few people had wandered
outside, she advanced further into the shadows and began walking
the sheltered trails. Hearing whispers and quiet laughter, she
wandered further down the paths, curious as to who felt the need
for such privacy, knowing full well she should return. As usual,
she was unable to keep her curiosity at bay.

Proceeding as quietly as she could,
she stopped until two profiles came into sight. A woman, with her
back against a tree, was laughing up at a man. Phoebe recognized
the woman as one who arrived shortly before dinner, but didn’t know
her name. She could not see the gentleman’s face because it was
currently hidden by the woman’s neck.

Her face heated with embarrassment
when she saw how the man was pressing his entire body against the
woman’s. Phoebe started to retreat as the woman clutched his upper
arms and moaned. And then the man raised his head.

Grinning down at the woman was Lord
Sandlin. Phoebe’s stomach churned. He smiled seductively, slipped
his hand down the woman’s leg and began to pull her skirt
up.

“
Say it, Kat,” Sandlin
insisted. “Is this what you want?”

The woman didn’t answer, but simply
threw her arms around him and drew him down for a kiss. He kissed
her back and began lifting the skirt in earnest.

Tears flooded Phoebe’s eyes and she
turned to run toward the house, only to catch her foot on a bench.
She was slung onto the path. Stifling a scream she attempted to get
up, but found her ankle too painful to hold her weight.

Taylor tried to convince himself he
was in heaven. Katrina Patterson, a fairly young widow, had sent
hints and veiled invitations his way, but he hadn’t had the
opportunity until now to pursue her. It hadn’t taken them long to
leave the crowd and stroll into the darkness. So filled with need
over the past weeks, he availed himself to this occasion. Finally,
he would be able to banish Phoebe from his thoughts. At least that
was his goal when he began kissing Kat. Things were moving quickly
and he had difficulty keeping the seduction under control. It
appeared the young widow was more anxious than she had let on.
Waiting for his own desire to rise, confident that it would, given
there had been no difficulty whenever Phoebe was present, Taylor
began to lift the widow’s skirts.

A muted cry, not of
pleasure, came from a distance. Taylor pulled his head back to see
if Kat had somehow made the sound. Kat appeared as startled as he
and both looked in the direction of the path. He pulled away and
quietly walked down until he came upon a figure sitting on the
ground, head bent, rocking back and forth. Cursing under his
breath, he approached and realized the figure was none other than
Lady Phoebe. Of all people to come across in the garden, she was
the last person he wanted to see,
needed
to see, but should have
expected to see. As he approached her, he quickly realized she was
in pain and leaned over her anxiously.

*

Phoebe knew he was there the instant
he came around the corner, causing her eyes to flood with tears of
humiliation more than pain. Biting her bottom lip to keep from
crying out, she kept her head down and rocked, trying to keep
everything inside.

“
I should have known,” the
woman hissed. “When you are through with the child, come to me.”
She turned and stomped away.

“
Kat, wait,” Lord Sandlin
called after her. “You can’t leave me alone out here with Lady
Phoebe.”

The woman gave a dry laugh. “Does she
bite?”

“
You know what I mean. If
someone should come across us.”

“
That is not my problem,
darling.”

Phoebe looked up as she disappeared
around the bend in the path. Would she send someone out here? They
couldn’t be discovered, not like this. Perhaps if the woman named
Kat said something to Noah. He would be angry but at least her
reputation would not be ruined.

“
Do you think she will
send help?”

“
Doubtful.” Sandlin
kneeled beside her. “What hurts?”

“
My ankle,” she answered
between clenched teeth. Never would she let him know that the
anguish in her heart was the true cause of her pain.

He sat on the ground next to her and
inspected her foot. “I believe you twisted it.”

“
So I gathered,” she
retorted, angry at him and at herself for being here in the first
place.

“
Don’t get angry with me.
I thought you had retired.”

“
I couldn’t sleep after
all and decided to take a stroll.”

“
In the gardens alone? We
have had this talk.”

“
As everyone believed I
was in bed, I didn’t see the harm,” Phoebe argued back. “Besides,
we are in the country. I always walk at night when I can’t
sleep.”

“
I don’t think it is
broken, but I wouldn’t suggest you walk on it just yet.”

“
No problem, I’ll just
spend the night here admiring the stars.” She tilted her head back,
wishing he would leave.

He sat back and chuckled. “Shall I
retrieve a blanket and pillow, Lady Phoebe?”

She too began to see the humor in this
ridiculous situation, now that her ankle no longer throbbed. “Why
thank you, Lord Sandlin, that would be most appreciated.” She
smiled back at him, no longer crying, burying her inner
pain.

The look in his eyes softened toward
her. Lifting a hand, he brushed a tear from her cheek yet he didn’t
take his hand away.

Phoebe, who had never been touched
with tenderness such as this realized she had stepped beyond her
normal, comfortable parameters. Something was in his eyes she
couldn’t define. Something that had never been there before. All
she wanted to do at the moment was get away from him and try to
forget what she had seen and pretend he wasn’t with another woman,
doing things she barely understood herself. If only he would not
look at her with such tenderness. At that moment, she much
preferred the irritation she so often saw in his eyes.

She lowered her lashes. “I am sorry to
intrude on your, um, privacy,” she offered in a quiet
voice.

Sandlin pulled his hand from her face.
“It was a mistake.”

“
I know. I won’t leave the
safety of my room again.”

He opened his mouth to say something,
and then must have thought better of it. His eyes scanned the
garden. “We need to get you back to the house.”

“
I know. If you can help
me up, I am sure I can make it back on my own and you can find your
friend.” She tried not to let her pain be heard in her
voice.

“
You can’t begin to walk
back to the house on that ankle.” He scooped her off the
ground.

The impact of being held shocked her.
His touch burned and Phoebe wanted to get away. Sandlin was strong,
handsome and she felt protected. She also experienced things she
couldn’t begin to describe, such as the tingling at the back of her
legs and the odd churn in her stomach. Maybe she should have eaten
dinner.

She needed to get control of the
situation and her own feelings. Control was impossible with him
holding her. Her mind only wanted to focus on how wonderful his
arms felt beneath her knees, cradling her in security against his
body. “You can’t exactly march out of here carrying me in your
arms. Even I, lacking good judgment on occasion, know
that.”

Sandlin stopped just within the
darkness. Stepping back down the path, he walked until he found a
bench and lowered her onto it, then lifted the injured ankle for
inspection once again. After assessing the damage, he took a seat
beside her. “You certainly can’t walk back by yourself.”

“
I can hop on one foot.”
She would grasp at any hopeful option at this moment, no matter how
ridiculous.

A side of Sandlin’s mouth turned up.
“I am sure nobody would notice.”

Phoebe stifled a groan as she placed
her elbows on her knees, chin in her palms.

*

Taylor’s amusement turned to
irritation. She was completely unaware of him as a man, which
didn’t surprise him. If she had any idea how her very presence
affected him, she would run screaming from the shadows, hurt ankle
or not. She certainly wouldn’t be sitting as she was, allowing such
a sweet view of her full, creamy breasts. To make matters worse,
for Taylor at least, he was also aware she wasn’t wearing a corset,
having discovered that fact when he lifted her in his arms. He
would be surprised if she had any undergarments at all beneath the
dress, which further tortured his mind and body as he shifted to
find a more comfortable sitting position. Thank goodness it was
dark or she would be able to see her effect on him. An effect the
willing widow had been unable to produce.

“
So, what do we do?” She
finally asked.

“
We sit and
wait.”

“
For what?”

“
For everyone to retire so
I can sneak you back into the house.”

She groaned. “You don’t need to stay.
Just come back and get me when it is safe. There is no reason why
you should miss the party or…”

“
I am not going
anywhere.”

“
I am perfectly fine. It
is just an ankle.”

“
Perhaps, but what if
someone comes upon you. It is not as if you could get
away.”

She looked at him with irritation.
“I’ll scream.”

“
By then the damage would
be done, alerting everyone that you are out here alone with a
man.”

“
Not if you explain you
left me here.”

“
Much worse. Society would
love that. First you meet me alone, and then another man, in one
night. Do you truly want to avoid marriage that badly?”

“
No,” she ground out. “I
don’t. Someday I do hope to marry and have children. I just don’t
see how it is possible, or fair to the rest of my
family.”

Somehow the fact that she wasn’t
totally against marriage and wanted children made him feel better.
Though he didn’t know why, as it really wouldn’t affect where he
stood. “Then it is settled. I stay.” Assuming the same comfortable
position she had adopted, he tried not to look at her. He also
hoped nobody found them or he would have hell to pay with Felding.
There was no easy way out of this situation until all had retired
and then he just hoped they didn’t run into anyone in the halls as
the guests crept secretly from one bedroom to another, under the
cloak of darkness for promised liaisons.

“
Why don’t you think
marriage is possible and how could it be unfair to your
family?”