“What the devil’s the matter with you?” Bills exclaimed the next day as the two men walked to the society for the Enrichment and Learning of Females. “You’ve got your head so high in the clouds I couldn’t even reach you with a kite! What’s on your mind?”
“Nothing,” Heath lied, his thoughts filled with the memories of Tess’s head thrown back, her cries of passion, and the feel of her body wrapped around his. Though he’d bathed, her scent still lingered in his nostrils like a heady perfume, and her sweet taste made his lips feel branded by her kiss. His body thrummed with the need to have her again, to mark her as she’d marked him.
He’d never experienced anything like this, where the coupling haunted him like a dream from which he couldn’t wake. And Lord, how he didn’t want to wake from this luscious fantasy! This morning life had kept encroaching on Heath in the form of his manservant, his messages, his breakfast, when all he’d wanted to do was lie in his bed reliving the fantasy of Tess. But to the rest of world, this morning was the same as every other morning when Heath had risen at dawn ready to attack the day.
What was happening to him?
And was she similarly affected?
“I beg to differ.” Bills intruded on his thoughts once more. “You’re acting like a lovesick pup.”
Glaring at a reckless hackney driver, Heath scowled. “I am not! I haven’t mentioned Tess the entire afternoon!”
Satisfaction flashed in Bills’s perceptive gaze. “So you admit it. Lady Golding has caught your eye.”
“She hasn’t caught anything of mine.” Heath kicked at a stone in the walkway. Had she caught him? Ensnared him like a fly in a web?
“I’ve been known as a bit of an observant fellow a time or two, and what I’m seeing is quite fascinating.”
Heath licked his lips, trying not to be distracted by the memories. “What are you observing?”
“You’re preoccupied, short-tempered. The only time you perked up was when I suggested we go to the society for females. And I wonder who it is you wish to see?”
Heath’s cheeks warmed as he veered his eyes from Bills’s shrewd gaze. “It’s very simple, I didn’t sleep well last night.” Oh, the dreams he’d had…
“But yesterday were closing arguments in the Blumenthal trial and not only did you not attend, but you didn’t even ask about it!”
Heath blinked, shocked that he’d missed it. He wasn’t required to be at the trial, but he’d made a point of being present at every notable case. To see what was happening and to be seen. It was politically prudent and kept him in the forefront of any news. How had he missed that?
“I think Lady Golding has gotten under your skin,” Bills surmised.
Evading a mangy dog, Heath increased his pace. “Bollocks.”
“You’ve no better answer than that?” Bills inquired, stepping up quickly alongside him. “The great orator finding no words?”
“Shut your trap, Bills.”
Waving his cane, Bill flashed a gratified smile. “I’m just glad you’re finally realizing that Miss Whilom isn’t the lady for you.”
Heath barely slowed his pace as he crossed the street, dodging carriages and horses. “I never said that.”
“But you’ve slept with Lady Golding.”
Heath’s boot toe jammed the curb and he almost fell but righted himself. Making a business of adjusting his coat, he muttered, “I never said that, either.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Heath looked up.
Bills pulled Heath out of the way of a passing horse and rider. “Look, I’m the last man to berate you about it. I’m simply trying to point out that you’re better off with Tess.”
“With a woman who wears scandal like a second skin?” Heath quoted Dagwood, but the words felt ugly on his tongue and he regretted them immediately. “I don’t mean that. She’s just…”
Infuriating? Breathtaking? A seductress?
His hand traced his cheek where she’d struck him. Had it all been a ruse? Nay, she’d been livid. But about what? About Dagwood finding them, probably. She hadn’t overheard anything, had she? He’d checked the door she’d gone through right after Dagwood had left. The room had been blessedly empty. Still, what had set her off like that? And could he do it to her again…?
“What is she?” Bills asked, pulling Heath’s thoughts back to the present. Bills was right; he was astoundingly distracted today.
Meeting his friend’s gaze, Heath shook his head. “I hardly know.”
“Do you think she wishes to marry you?”
Heath snorted. “She’s sworn off it.”
“Ladies are wont to change their minds. More importantly, do you wish to marry her?”
“Tess is not the kind of lady one marries.”
“Then she’s the perfect kind of lady to bed.”
Scratching his chin, Heath tried to unscramble his thoughts. “She’s not for me. I want to settle down. Have a family.”
“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
Gritting his teeth, Heath growled, “I know what I want. I want a family. A secure future. A good life.”
“No scandal to sully your name…”
“Definitely no scandal. My father tainted our family enough with his exploits.”
“Exploits? You usually call them misjudgments.”
Anger filled him. “Whatever you call them, he did us a disservice, one I will not visit upon my own children.”
“So his affairs reflected poorly on you.”
“At least my mother wasn’t alive to see it. But I was always the lad whose father had taken liberties with his betters.” Heath snorted. “His betters. As if they weren’t jumping into the bed with him.”
“Speaking of beds, I’m curious, was Lady Golding as good as she looks?”
Glaring, Heath didn’t bother to answer.
Bills didn’t even look chagrined. “Very well, then, don’t tell me. But do you still think she stole Belington’s blunt?”
Scratching his ear, Heath brought his mind back to the investigation. “I don’t know. I know she’s up to something. Her husband squandered her dowry and her entire inheritance, the bugger. He left her barely outpacing the constable. Then her father cut her off when she refused to marry his nephew.”
“So she’s without resources.”
“She’s got her book business. But it’s hard to imagine it supporting her in the life she lives.”
“Perhaps it’s all a sham? I mean, it’s been know to happen where the upper classes serve champagne in the front room while the back rooms go without two sticks to make a fire.”
“I need to get inside her house to know for sure.”
“Oh, so now you need an excuse?”
Heath grimaced. “It would probably be better if she wasn’t there so I could get a good look around.”
“I disagree. Exhaust her. Make love to her until her knees are too weak to stand. Then go about your duties. It’s the way to do it.”
Heath smiled, imagining the pleasure of executing such a plan. Seducing her was a delightful idea, but for ulterior motives? He wasn’t so sure he could do it. Still, he could go with the first half of the plan and figure out the rest later. His body hardened at the thought.
“But she may not be very cooperative. She wasn’t exactly happy about the whole thing.”
Bills frowned. “I’m disappointed in you, man. You should be more disciplined; please her, then yourself.”
Disciplined was not exactly how he would describe himself when he was with Tess. Still, recalling her passionate cries and the feel of her wrapped around him, Heath rubbed his chin. “She was well satisfied. No doubt about it.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
Heath shook his head. “She didn’t seem to want it…I mean me, any more than I’d thought I’d wanted her.”
“That makes no sense. Either you want her or you don’t.”
“I don’t want to want her. I want to want Penelope.”
“Really?” Bills’s gaze was disbelieving. “Who wants cod when you can have filet de bœuf?”
“Please don’t compare Penelope to a fish.”
“A bland, white fish, no less.”
“And I can’t marry a steak, no matter how tender.”
“As you said yourself, she’s not interested, so wedding bells don’t enter into the matter.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? I want to settle down. That means marriage.”
“Then I posit to you that you need this little affair to be able to sustain yourself for the long famine to come.” Raising a hand, Bills asserted, “I know you, once you give your word, you won’t stray, heaven help you. So you need this, my friend. Badly. Then off you go to marry your Miss Whilom. You have your cake or cod or whatever, and eat it, too.”
Heath liked Bills’s logic. Thanks to Lady Bright’s machinations, Heath hadn’t given Penelope his word yet. So technically he was free to do as he wished. But for all his justifications, Heath somehow doubted he’d be able to stay away from Tess, regardless. It would be like swimming against a powerful tide when all he wanted to do was float along with it.
“A last fling, huh?”
“Exactly. But I’m not clear on why you think she won’t be interested in another swing.”
“There’s more to her than meets the eye. She’s hiding something. There’s no doubt about that.”
“So what better way to loosen her tongue than to butter her up with a little pleasure?”
Patting his friend on the back, Heath nodded. “There’s a reason I seek your advice, my friend.”
“Seek?” Bills snorted.
“Well, there’s a reason I take it.”
“Because I tell you what you wish to hear?”
Heath smiled. “That, too.”