The Art of Temptation by Royal Lauren

Author:Royal, Lauren [Royal, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9781938907593
Publisher: Novelty Publishers, LLC
Published: 2012-11-27T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-nine

The earl’s health was failing fast.

Lord Lincolnshire hadn’t left his bedroom in two days . . . two days during which he wanted his nephew nearby. Stuck in the house for hour upon hour, Sean was at his wit’s end. He had so much to accomplish, so much that wasn’t getting done.

And he missed Corinna.

For a solid week she’d spent long days painting in the salon. Morning to evening, she’d been there. Though he hadn’t been there much himself, he’d liked seeing her portrait every night, checking her progress. He’d liked thinking that if he wanted to see her, he knew exactly where to find her.

She’d been a fixture. A comfort. A temptation.

But since she’d finished the portrait, all her time had been spent with her aunt or Lady Avonleigh. Now that he was here, she was gone. He didn’t know when he might see her next, and the house felt empty.

Fearing the situation would drag on, yesterday Sean had asked Higginbotham to have his art supplies fetched from the studio on Piccadilly Street. Thinking it was what Hamilton would do himself, he’d set everything up in the drawing room that had Hamilton’s pictures all over the walls. Then he’d summoned his secretary, Mr. Sykes.

Sykes had been in Sean’s employ for almost eight years. He was a short, dark man with round gold spectacles, a quick, precise mind, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Sean’s many and varied enterprises. During the hours the earl slept—which, fortunately, were many— the two of them worked quietly behind closed doors in the drawing room. The staff had been told that Sykes was Sean’s ‘‘assistant,’’ there to mix paint for him and such. In reality, they were allocating positions for all of Lincolnshire’s many servants.

Sean was thankful that was now done. He’d begun notifying each member of the staff of his final decisions. Were it not for the sadness of Lincolnshire’s impending demise, he suspected some of them might be singing as they worked. They were obviously looking forward to what lay ahead. And very relieved overall.

But Sean was not.

In deference to Lincolnshire’s wishes, he was neglecting his own concerns. In defiance of Hamilton’s plans, he’d been introduced as the man in public. And other than the last few days—and despite knowing what was best—he was kissing Corinna too often and growing much more attached to her than was prudent.

Nothing was working out the way it was supposed to. And lately he’d found himself wondering if maybe he could stay with her. Marry her. He kept thinking about how her brother reportedly thought him a fine man, and attaching way too much significance to that.

This had to stop.

When she showed up unexpectedly Thursday morning, he was entirely too happy to see her.

‘‘How is he?’’ she asked quietly, poking her head into the earl’s room.

‘‘The same.’’ Sean waved her to the chair next to him beside the towering bed, where the earl slumbered almost upright against a dozen pillows. ‘‘Sleeping as comfortably as I expect we can hope.

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