Rose in Bloom by Stephanie Laurens

Author:Stephanie Laurens [Laurens, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Avon Books
Published: 2011-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

Three

Rose began the next day determined to keep her distance from Duncan, at least until she could understand just what was going on. Lust—particularly with him—was not something she'd come prepared for. She'd spent most of the night in a mental tizzy, a state that had never afflicted her before.

Then again, no man had kissed her like that before.

She entered the breakfast parlor more wary, more uncertain, than ever before in her life. She took her place beside Jeremy, close to the foot of the table, not far from the comforting presence of Lady Hermione—and a long way from Duncan.

Only to have Duncan prowl up, with Clarissa, once more sweetly smiling, on his arm. Duncan just looked, a distinctly feral glint in his eyes; it was Clarissa who spoke.

"We thought, seeing the weather's amenable, to take a punt out on the lake." Both coy and clinging, Clarissa smiled up at Duncan. "I'm quite partial to the activity"—she turned her ingenuous gaze back to Jeremy and Rose—"but we really need a party or it wouldn't be at all the thing."

Her naiveté robbed her speech of any insult. Jeremy smiled brightly. "That sounds an excellent idea." He looked at Rose.

Who reached for her teacup and took a long sip. She could feel their gazes on her, but she could feel Duncan's the most. Only a small part of the loch was suitable for punting; the rest was too deep. Punting meant hugging the banks, with the shrubs and trees and the flat loch for views, not the soaring mountains, the wild peaks. To appreciate those, you needed a rowboat, needed to go farther out on the loch or, better yet, to the island.

Punting was boring. And possibly dangerous, although she couldn't imagine how. But Jeremy wouldn't go without her, and Clarissa couldn't go with Duncan alone.

"The new punt will hold four easily."

Lady Hermione's matronly comment sent a clear message; Rose couldn't ignore it. Stifling a sigh, she looked up and smiled. "Yes, of course. Let's go punting."

Her gaze met Duncan's; she could read nothing in his eyes, his expression, other than a certain smugness which made her itch to…

Determinedly, she stood and gestured to the window, to the loch, smooth and glassy under a pale gray sky. "Shall we?"

They quit the house and strolled down the lawn, then through the extensive pinetum. The punt was waiting at the small jetty directly below the house; Duncan must have given orders for it to be brought around from the boathouse.

That was when they discovered that Clarissa, partial to the activity or not, was frightened of stepping down into the gently bobbing punt. Duncan tried to hand her in—she shied and skittishly backed, for all the world like a horse facing a float for the first time. Rose squelched the unflattering comparison and tried to encourage her. Wild eyes fixed not on the punt, but on the wide waters of the loch, Clarissa shook her head. "It's so big!" she gasped.

Jeremy went down the jetty; unlooping the rope that secured the punt, he shortened it, holding the narrow boat steady.

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