Assuming he can claim her without
doing so."
Lucas grinned." It happens all the time.
Surely you have been out in the world long
enough to know that, Victoria."
I know it." She sighed, sounding
exasperated." Don't misunderstand me.
I am well aware that most men do not
go into marriage out of a feeling of love.
They generally go into it out of necessity,
either to ensure themselves of an heir or
to get their hands on a fortune or both."
I have always found love to be a very
vague and totally insufficient reason for
doing much of anything."
She studied him through narrowed
lashes." You sound very cynical, my
lord, but I suppose that is only to be
expected from a man who is proposing
to try for what is nothing more than a
sordid, scandalous affair."
Lucas shook his head ruefully." I fear
you are confused, Victoria. You forbid me
to talk of the honorable estate of marriage
and then in the same breath accuse me of
being cynical when I speak of having an
affair with you."
Victoria bit off what sounded like a
very unladylike oath." You are right," she
conceded." It's this business of being an
heiress that confuses matters. Annabella
tells me I am extremely skittish on the
subject; too wary by half."
Lucas smiled gently, taking pity on
her obvious dilemma." Always looking for
danger in the nearest hedge?"
I suppose so," Victoria said.
Not a bad policy, all things considered."
It has certainly been a very practical
policy for me," Victoria acknowledged.
Because it has seen you safely into
spinsterhood?"
Beast." But her mouth curved back into
an amused smile." You are quite right,
however. I am a spinster and glad of
it. Furthermore I intend to keep things
that way."
Lucas's attention wandered from the
cacti to a spectacular yellow-gold bloom
he did not recognize. The flower, touched
here and there with deep purple, flared like
a crown from the green stalk that held it.
He moved toward it, drawn by the shade
of gold which reminded him of Victoria's
eyes. He cupped the regal bloom in one
hand and studied it." After what happened
between us in the garden last night, you
will never convince me that you intend to
live your entire life without exploring your&
own passions victoria.
You are like this flower, lush and sweet and full of
passionate promise."
She grinned." Really, my lord, you
needn't get carried away by a flower.
I understand your background is in the
military world, not the literary one."
Sometimes a man can learn more of life
when he is surrounded by death than he
can from all the poetry of the ancients.
Even if you did manage to ignore your
womanly passions for the rest of your days,
I doubt that you could ignore your own
intellectual curiosity."
Curiosity. You think you can talk me
into an illicit affair by appealing to my
intellectual curiosity? How very original."
It makes perfect sense to me. Any
woman who can work up an admiration for
beetles and cacti must certainly entertain a
few scientific questions concerning her own
physical nature." He inclined his head in a
small, elegant bow." I offer myself to you
in the interest of intellectual inquiry, Miss
Huntington. I'm hoping you will not be
able to refuse."
Outraged, Victoria stared at him for a
few tense seconds and then the mirth
appeared in her eyes. In a moment she
was laughing so hard she had to grab a
post for support.
Lucas watched her, his hand still cupping
the yellow-gold bloom. He was fascinated
by her wholehearted amusement. She did
not giggle in that annoying way young
woman so often did, as if trying to imitate
tinkling bells and rippling brooks. Victoria's
laughter was full of life and warmth. It
made him want to pull her into his arms
and kiss her until he converted the humor
in her into the passion he had tasted last
night.
He could do it, Lucas thought. He knew
from the way she had responded in the
garden that he could make her feel desire.
And he would use that knowledge, along
with her quest for adventure, to seduce her.
In the end she would be powerless to resist
him. As he had told her in the garden, she
would not easily find another man who
could offer the bait he was holding out.
And once he had her locked safely in
his arms, it would be only a short step to
marriage. Victoria might speak daringly of
engaging in an illicit liaison, but he knew
that she would find it difficult to actually
conduct an affair that threatened her aunt's
as well as her own position in Society. She
was, after all, a young woman of excellent
breeding and she knew both the rules and
the risks that governed the world in which
she lived.
Society required that young women of
her background save their illicit affairs
until after they were wed and had given
their husbands an heir. After that, many
wives felt free to pursue their own romantic
interests so long as they were discreet. Their
husbands, who generally kept mistresses
before and after marriage, did the same,
not always so discreetly.
But as Lucas watched Victoria's laughter
fade slowly back into a glowing smile, it
struck him quite forcefully that he did
not intend to let his unsuspecting future
bride tread the usual social path from altar
to marriage bed to a string of discreet
affairs.
He had always known that he would
never be one of those men who overlooked
his wife's infidelities. It was not in his
nature to share the woman he considered
his own. But the possessiveness he felt was
far beyond what he had expected to feel
toward the woman who would one day
bear his name.
Once she was his, Lucas decided,
Victoria would remain his and his alone.
Social conventions be hanged. He was not
going to share this half-wild, unpredictable
creature with any man.
My lord, you are impossible. Utterly
impossible." Victoria wiped the moisture
from her eyes and shook her head, still
grinning." Imagine offering yourself in the
spirit of intellectual inquiry. How very
altruistic. How very noble. You are far
too generous."
I shall do what it takes to win you."
And just how am I to be won, my
lord?"
With adventure and excitement and
passion. I will give you all of those things,
Victoria."
She looked at him, her decision in her
eyes." I will pick and choose among them,
taking only as much of any of them as I
wish and paying for them as I wish."
He inclined his head in acquiescence,
quietly satisfied with the victory." That is
your prerogative."
She hesitated and then impulsively took
one step forward, reaching out to touch
his sleeve." Lucas, do you mean it when
you say you want me, just me, not my
money?"
He lifted a hand to stroke the fine line
of her jaw." I want you."
I cannot promise you anything," she said
with grave honesty." I enjoyed your kisses
last night, but that is as far as it should
go and we both know it."
He covered her fingers as they lay on
his sleeve." I understand. Don't concern
yourself with promises now. Together we
will find out just how far this liaison of
ours will go."
She did not move for a moment. She just stood
there gazing up at him with a
barely suppressed longing that made him
want to pull her into his arms. It was not
the promise of either passion or reckless
excitement he saw in her beautiful amber
eyes now, but something else, something
sweet and vulnerable, an altogether heart
wrenching look of hopeful expectation.
If you're very sure this is what you want,
if you're sure this will be enough," Victoria
said," then I accept your offer to be my
midnight companion."
Lucas exhaled deeply." Then the bargain
is sealed." He leaned down and brushed his
mouth lightly across hers. She trembled at
the touch and Lucas wanted simultaneously
to soothe her and pull her down onto the
tile floor and make passionate love to her.
Before he could deal with the conflicting
emotions, she was slipping out of reach
and thrusting a small piece of paper into
his hand.
What's this?" he asked, frowning at
the elegant writing on the paper." A
gaming hell? A brothel? A race meeting?
A gentlemen's club?"
Those are the first items on my list,"
she informed him.
What list?" Then it hit him. He had
seriously under-estimated his opponent, a
mistake he rarely made.
Bloody hell. You expect me to take you
to a gaming hell and a brothel? Good God,
Vicky, be reasonable. A nighttime visit to a
fair or the dark walks of Vauxhall Gardens
is one thing. It is quite another matter to
sneak you into a brothel or take you to a
gaming hell. You cannot be serious."
You are wrong, my lord. I am very
serious," Victoria said, unyielding.
He looked at her and saw that she was.
Damn it, Vicky. This wasn't quite what I
had in mind."
Victoria dismissed the protest." Thursday
night would be an excellent time for our
next adventure. I will no doubt see you
at the Kinsleys" ball earlier in the evening
and we can make our final plans. In the
meantime"
Cleo Nettleship's voice broke into Vic
toria's instructions." Vicky, dear, are you