Forbidden by Nicola Cornick

Author:Nicola Cornick
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-09-03T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Temperance Reversed: Quarrels

HENRY SAT IN THE GOLD SALON and watched Margery hold court. It was the only way to describe it; every man of marriageable age in the neighborhood—and some who fancied themselves to be marriageable and frankly were not—was sitting in a rapt circle about her chair. It had not taken long for the richest heiress in England to attract the suitors.

On Margery’s left was young Hugo Wentworth, the son of a merchant from Bristol who had bought himself a knighthood and a local manor. Hugo was barely out of Eton. On Margery’s right was Dr. Fox, the local physician. The squire Sir Reggie Radnor had also come to pay his respects.

Radnor was not generally interested in anything that he could not shoot or hunt, but his terrifying mama had positively whipped him into the salon. Henry had heard that the Radnor pockets were to let and a rich marriage would set Reggie up to maim and kill many more feathered and furry creatures in the neighborhood.

Holding the floor at present was the aged Lord Blunt, who had buried three wives already and was boasting loudly to Margery that he still had all his own teeth, a fact that she was pretending to find fascinating. Out in the cold on the window seat was another youth, barely out of the nursery, whose mama had tricked him out in his highest shirt points for the occasion. None of them were remotely credible as suitors for the Templemore heiress and Henry was not at all sure why the sight of them panting after Margery put him in such a bad humor.

It was a fortnight since he had practically seduced Margery in the Red Saloon in front of everyone, a fortnight in which he had scrupulously kept out of her way as much for his own sanity as for her good. The swift and devastating descent into desire that night had taken him by surprise as much as it had her.

He had spent most of his time in London at the Board of Ordnance, only returning because the earl had said that he had an urgent business proposition he wished to discuss with him.

Henry needed his godfather’s investment in the Wardeaux estate, but he would have preferred not to return to Templemore to discuss the matter. As it was, his nights in London had been largely sleepless, and when he had dreamed it had often been of Margery. They were hot, explicit dreams that had left him hard and aching for her, and on one occasion spent, only to realize as he woke that her presence in his bed had been an illusion.

And now he had come back and it was clear that Margery was avoiding him. For some reason, that simply made the awareness between them more scalding-hot and uncomfortable.

He caught Chessie Alton’s eyes upon him. She smiled sympathetically. Henry shifted slightly. He did not want Chessie or indeed anyone else sympathizing with him. He doubted that she would, in fact, be sympathetic if she could read his thoughts.

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