why the image of another woman’s delicate eyebrows frowning in concentration or her beautifully sculpted lips compressed in thought should intrude into his consciousness at this particular and most inopportune moment. Or why, he wondered, as his lips explored Maria’s, should he be speculating on whether or not such passion could be aroused in an Ice Princess.
But Maria was far too skillful to allow a lover much time for wandering thoughts. Undoing the marquess’s neck cloth as she pulled him toward the low damask sofa, she soon made Gareth forget everything but her long, firm dancer’s legs and the hungry lips that claimed his.
Several hours later, a pleasantly exhausted Gareth slowly donned his clothes as he admired the picture she made, her nude body draped across the rich fabric of the sofa, the glow of the flickering firelight playing on her skin.
Maria raised her graceful arm to admire the sparkle of firelight in the diamonds on her wrist. “It is a lovely bracelet.” She smiled with satisfaction at the picture it made on her bare arm.
“To make up for an absent lover and the warm welcome he received despite his absence.”
“Why should I waste time sulking over his absence? The two things of most importance in my life are passion and money, and I savor them both—passion to be enjoyed for now, and money for when I am too old to enjoy passion.”
Gareth glanced in the looking glass and gave his cravat a final tweak. “You are a practical woman, Maria, a rarity among your sex, believe me.”
“What other way is there to be?” The dancer shrugged her elegant shoulders.
“What other way, indeed?” But Gareth found himself thinking not about the dancer’s practicality, but the practical streak of someone so coolly self-possessed that she could ignore everything to beat him soundly at cards.
Chapter 7
The question of practicality was most definitely a concern the next morning in an elegant drawing room in Grosvenor Square where the young woman in question was trying desperately to convince herself that the inquiries she was posing to her cousin Reginald were motivated by purely pragmatic considerations.
His own curiosity piqued the previous evening by the sight of Althea playing whist with one of the ton’s most notorious gamblers, Reginald had made it his first priority, after consulting for the better part of the morning with his tailor, to call on his cousin and discover more about the particulars of the situation.
“My dear Althea, you are frequenting very select card-playing circles indeed if you can convince Harwood to take a seat at your table, but are you sure you know what you are about? Do take care; he is dangerous company.”
“Reginald, you know that I am always careful to a fault.” Althea sighed. “I never do anything that is not perfectly becoming to the only child of the Duke of Clarendon. The Marchioness of Harwood was most gracious to Grandmama and me, befriending us and offering herself and her son as partners. In fact, she went so far as to say that we can count on seeing them regularly at all the functions Mama insists we attend. You know I find it uncomfortable to appear at these things where I know no one and Mama insists on thrusting me into the arms of one highly eligible young man after another, regardless of whether or not they can put two words together. The marchioness has been most cordial, which I cannot say of most people. She knows that Grandmama and I enjoy a game of whist, and the first time we played with her, she was so kind as to ask her son to take the place of her partner so that we could continue even when Lady Edgcumbe left because of a headache. I was not at all sure at the outset that her son was best pleased by this arrangement. He seems a rather formidable person, does he not?”
“Formidable! Unbeatable is more the word. My dear Althea, you have no idea! He has made a fortune at the tables. They say he never loses, and that he never
But Maria was far too skillful to allow a lover much time for wandering thoughts. Undoing the marquess’s neck cloth as she pulled him toward the low damask sofa, she soon made Gareth forget everything but her long, firm dancer’s legs and the hungry lips that claimed his.
Several hours later, a pleasantly exhausted Gareth slowly donned his clothes as he admired the picture she made, her nude body draped across the rich fabric of the sofa, the glow of the flickering firelight playing on her skin.
Maria raised her graceful arm to admire the sparkle of firelight in the diamonds on her wrist. “It is a lovely bracelet.” She smiled with satisfaction at the picture it made on her bare arm.
“To make up for an absent lover and the warm welcome he received despite his absence.”
“Why should I waste time sulking over his absence? The two things of most importance in my life are passion and money, and I savor them both—passion to be enjoyed for now, and money for when I am too old to enjoy passion.”
Gareth glanced in the looking glass and gave his cravat a final tweak. “You are a practical woman, Maria, a rarity among your sex, believe me.”
“What other way is there to be?” The dancer shrugged her elegant shoulders.
“What other way, indeed?” But Gareth found himself thinking not about the dancer’s practicality, but the practical streak of someone so coolly self-possessed that she could ignore everything to beat him soundly at cards.
Chapter 7
The question of practicality was most definitely a concern the next morning in an elegant drawing room in Grosvenor Square where the young woman in question was trying desperately to convince herself that the inquiries she was posing to her cousin Reginald were motivated by purely pragmatic considerations.
His own curiosity piqued the previous evening by the sight of Althea playing whist with one of the ton’s most notorious gamblers, Reginald had made it his first priority, after consulting for the better part of the morning with his tailor, to call on his cousin and discover more about the particulars of the situation.
“My dear Althea, you are frequenting very select card-playing circles indeed if you can convince Harwood to take a seat at your table, but are you sure you know what you are about? Do take care; he is dangerous company.”
“Reginald, you know that I am always careful to a fault.” Althea sighed. “I never do anything that is not perfectly becoming to the only child of the Duke of Clarendon. The Marchioness of Harwood was most gracious to Grandmama and me, befriending us and offering herself and her son as partners. In fact, she went so far as to say that we can count on seeing them regularly at all the functions Mama insists we attend. You know I find it uncomfortable to appear at these things where I know no one and Mama insists on thrusting me into the arms of one highly eligible young man after another, regardless of whether or not they can put two words together. The marchioness has been most cordial, which I cannot say of most people. She knows that Grandmama and I enjoy a game of whist, and the first time we played with her, she was so kind as to ask her son to take the place of her partner so that we could continue even when Lady Edgcumbe left because of a headache. I was not at all sure at the outset that her son was best pleased by this arrangement. He seems a rather formidable person, does he not?”
“Formidable! Unbeatable is more the word. My dear Althea, you have no idea! He has made a fortune at the tables. They say he never loses, and that he never
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