Wife Errant by Joan Smith

see her mama, bathed in light from the lamp. She was idly flipping through a magazine. “Lord James is not there,”she said, and Revel let her slide to the ground.
    Her body brushed intimately against his as he lowered her. She was acutely aware of his arms pressing her waist, and the shadowed eyes regarding her. With both feet on the ground, she looked up and said in a breathless voice, “I am down now. You can let me go, Revel. I’ll go right in now.”
    “Not without my mark on you,”he said softly, and tightened his hold until she was crushed against his chest.
    She mistrusted that glitter in his eyes. “What do you mean?”she demanded, frowning at him.
    “I mean—this,”he said. His head descended, his lips touched hers and clung. Caught by surprise, Tess let him get away with it. It was a new experience for her to be kissed by such a dasher and she savored it objectively. It was rather nice.
    There was some excitement in feeling a man so close, with his skin actually pressing on hers, but she felt none of that swooning that her friends spoke of. Neither did she feel the least frightened. It was not until Revel’s lips firmed and the pressure increased that the giddiness invaded her head. She put both hands on his chest and pushed him away.
    “You promised you wouldn’t!”she accused.
    “Now who is being missish?”he taunted.
    “I take leave to tell you, Revel, I am a miss. There is nothing wrong in my being missish.”
    “I only promised not to kiss you behind bushes, Tess.”He laughed. “Your mama is no flat. She can tell the difference between a lady who has been arguing like a shrew and one who has been cuddling.”He noticed, however, that Tess still resembled the former.
    “Do I look wanton?”she asked.
    “Like a debauched seraphim.”
    “Angels have blond hair, Revel. Everyone knows that.”
    “I stand corrected,”he said, with unsteady lips. “I should have said a debauched schoolmarm.”
    They began walking to the front door. “It is odd you should say that. I have often wanted to be a schoolmarm.”
    “And not an actress? Your imagination is sadly deficient, Tess.”
    “The hurly-burly of the chaise longue has no allure for me.”
    “I never denigrate a thing until I have tried it,”he said mischievously.
    They reached the door and stopped. Revel lifted his fingers and rubbed them hard on her lips. “As you object to reality, we'll create the illusion of riotous flirtation by other means. Now go, while your lips are still red.”
    Tess ran her hands through her coiffure to tousle it while Revel watched, bemused. Odd how those few touches of the wanton improved Tess’s appearance. They removed her air of awful propriety.
    “She’ll never believe I was with you. She will think it was some flat,”she said.
    “I’ll go in and make our mutual apologies.”
    “She can be very snarky when she is in one of her moods. Let me handle her.”
    “I shall call on you tomorrow to verify your story then.”
    “Mr. Evans is coming tomorrow, but you come, too. It will increase his interest if he sees such a swell as you in the saloon.”
    Revel just shook his head in confusion. These artless speeches told him that in some impersonal way, Tess realized he was a prime parti, but it didn’t impress her. She was just using him, and she took every care to let him know it. It was a sad comedown for him. He reached the doorknob, twisted it, and said, “The door’s locked. Do you have a key with you?”
    "No, I never take a key. I don’t have one.”He lightly tapped the knocker. “Run along now, Revel.”
    His gentlemanly instincts rebelled at this, or perhaps it was at her dismissive “Run along.”He was still there when the door opened and Mrs. Marchant glared out.
     

Chapter Six
     
    “I hope you have a very good excuse for coming home at such an hour—”Mrs. Marchant’s glaring eyes espied Lord Revel and she stopped in mid-speech.
    He immediately stepped forward, wearing a