The Kiss of a Viscount by Linda Rae Sande

Author:Linda Rae Sande [Sande, Linda Rae]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-01-03T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Meeting a Mistress for the Very First Time

Suddenly nervous and wondering for at least the tenth time that day what she was thinking when she made the odd request of George Bennett-Jones, Elizabeth took a quick look in the cheval mirror. She might have been wearing a dinner gown, its peacock silk overskirt shimmering in the early evening light from the nearby window, but with only a pair of drawers and stocking and without a corset or even a chemise beneath, she felt almost naked.

Oh, what was I thinking? she asked herself again. She could, of course, simply send a note of regret with whoever was in the coach when it came to fetch her. It was a woman’s prerogative to change her mind, after all. But what a coward she would seem to be if she backed out now! And she might be many things, but ‘coward’ was not on the list. What if George had had plans and suddenly changed them to accommodate her request? But, no, he had been the one to set the time and place. She had merely made the request, and implored him as a friend to consider it. But come to think on it some more, she hadn’t really begged. She’d merely told him what she wanted.

And not in her typical Elizabeth Carlington manner.

She’d been so nervous she could barely walk and breathe at the same time. That George had so readily agreed to her request had surprised her; she expected him to request some time to think on it before giving her an answer, and then, after an interminable two or three days, probably give her his regrets, saying he could not in good conscious do something so salacious to a lady of the ton.

And the biggest surprise of all – he intended to ask for her hand in marriage if she did not accept the earl’s suit! Did he say that out of a sense of honor? For what he planned to do to her went far beyond kissing – it would be considered ruination by almost anyone. He promised he would leave her a virgin, a condition she hadn’t even considered. She must have sounded like a wanton when she made her request! But, if he found her curiosity anything out of the ordinary, he did not indicate it in his response nor in how he behaved toward her the rest of the afternoon.

“Lady Charlotte’s town coach has arrived, miss,” Anna said from the doorway. “Looks to be fairly new.” She gave her mistress a quick look and added a hairpin where a curl threatened to come loose. “What will you take for a wrap? It may get a bit chilly later, and I think it’s about to rain.”

Anna always thought it was about to rain. Trouble was, she was usually right. This was England. And it rained more often than not.

Butterflies were circling inside Elizabeth as she considered what to wear over her gown. “My mantle with the

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