accompanied her.
Beside Drew, Heath straightened, his gaze focused on the beauties sitting with Miss Loring in the open barouche. “Those are Arabella’s sisters?” he asked Marcus.
“Yes. The dark-haired one is the youngest spitfire, Lilian. And the blonde is the lovely Roslyn.”
Drew’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he caught sight of the golden-haired Roslyn. There was something vaguely familiar about her…the graceful shoulders, the elegant bearing, the slender, delicate figure with the high, ripe breasts. And her face…He had glimpsed those perfect, fine-boned features in the moonlight not so very long ago.
Drew slowly straightened from where he was leaning against the column, his stomach muscles clenching in recognition.
At his irrepressible start of surprise, Marcus smiled with knowing amusement. That, however, was the last consideration he gave his friends for some time. As soon as the cavalcade rumbled to a halt before the front entrance, Marcus bounded down the steps and went to meet his bride and her sisters.
He assisted first Miss Roslyn and then Miss Lilian from the barouche, then offered his hand to Arabella. Accepting it, she stepped down into the circle of his waiting arms, her expression radiant with love as she gazed back at him.
But while Marcus only had eyes for his bride, Drew couldn’t take his gaze off the fair-haired Roslyn. He would never forget that exquisitely memorable face, even though he’d been afforded only a fleeting glimpse of it in the moonlight.
She was the same woman. The mysterious beauty who had turned down his offer the night of the Cyprians’ ball.
She kept her eyes carefully averted from him as she stood to one side, waiting for the rest of the bridal party to alight from the other carriages. But when Drew slowly descended the church steps, she stole a glimpse at him. The faint blush that stained her cheeks would have confirmed his suspicions, yet he didn’t need that telltale sign to know he wasn’t mistaken.
Miss Roslyn Loring indeed was his mystery woman.
She was currently garbed in an Empire-waisted gown of rose-hued silk, not a provocative shepherdess’s costume. But her distinctive loveliness couldn’t be disguised by a wig or a mask. And even if he hadn’t seen her entire face that night, he would recognize that luscious mouth anywhere. He had kissed that delicious mouth, tasted those ripe breasts, felt that slender, arousing body pressed against his…
His loins stirring in remembrance, Drew slowly advanced upon Roslyn, while annoyance and anger warred with surprise inside him. The elusive Cyprian who had left him intrigued and enchanted that night was not only a genteel lady, but
What the devil had she been doing at a notorious ball for lightskirts? Was she merely kicking up a lark or searching for more sinful pleasures?
Whatever her purpose for attending, it could have spelled disaster for him. He damned well would have compromised her if they’d simply been discovered alone together in such a place. And if he had succeeded in actually seducing her as he’d wanted…It didn’t bear thinking on.
Drew clenched his jaw. At least her identity explained why she had run from him the moment she saw him- because she didn’t want him to recognize her later. At his approach now, Roslyn pressed her lips together stoically, apparently resigned to formally meeting him.
He was saved from having to request an introduction when Marcus stepped forward to present the bridal party: Arabella’s two sisters, her mother and stepfather, and some of her close friends and neighbors, including the patroness of the Freemantle Academy for Young Ladies where all the Loring sisters taught.
Drew was interested in only one person, however. He stopped before Roslyn, deliberately holding her gaze as he took her gloved hand to offer her a bow.
At the contact, tension, hot and rapid as summer lightning, arced between them. Giving him a startled look, she withdrew her hand quickly, while Drew cursed under his breath. His damned loins had tightened in response to merely touching her. Utterly inappropriate, given her status, but the instantaneous spark of desire he’d felt for her that moonlit night was still deplorably potent.
He kept his own expression cool when he said, “You look familiar, Miss Roslyn. Have we met before?”
Her chin lifted slightly at his mocking query, yet she didn’t reply directly. “I believe I would remember meeting you, your grace.”
Her voice held the same honeyed warmth he recalled, but Drew fought the allure, just as he tried to ignore her startling beauty. In the morning sunlight, Roslyn looked fresh and lovely as a dew-speckled rose. Of course, the last time he’d seen her, she had looked deliciously wanton.
When her gaze dropped to his mouth, he knew she was recalling precisely what had happened between them that night, as he was.
Her eyes were blue, he noted-a warm sky blue-while her face was a classically shaped oval.
“I’m certain we must have crossed paths before,” he mused.
“Surely you are mistaken.”
At her prevarication, his patience faded. Lightly grasping her elbow, he urged Roslyn aside a few paces, so as not to be overheard by her relatives and friends. “Does Danvers approve of your dangerous escapade?”
The flush returning to color her cheeks, she conceded the futility of denying their meeting any longer by giving a small sigh. “Lord Danvers doesn’t know about my escapade…and I don’t intend to tell him.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t wish to distract him when he and my sister are celebrating their nuptials.”
Drew favored her with a piercing look that had been known to make most mortals quake. “I expect an explanation, sweeting.”
Roslyn arched a slender eyebrow. “Do you indeed?” When he remained sternly silent, she responded pleasantly, “My reasons are my own, your grace, and none of your affair.”
“Perhaps so, but when the ward of one of my closest friends is offering herself for sale, I think he has a right to know about it.”
Roslyn’s blue eyes flashed at him. “I am not in that particular trade, I assure you.”
“You will understand if I take leave to doubt you.”
“You may doubt all you like, but my conduct still is not your concern.”
“But it is definitely your guardian’s concern. And I collect I have an obligation to tell him about your subterfuge.”
“Oh?” Her gaze was a challenge. “Are you in the habit of bearing tales then, your grace?”
“Are you in the habit of kissing perfect strangers?”
That took her aback. “
“But you allowed it.”
“I couldn’t very well protest without giving myself away-” Roslyn stopped suddenly and took a deep breath, then managed a disarming smile. “I don’t intend to spoil my sister’s wedding, and I won’t allow you to do so, either. Perhaps you would condescend to continue your interrogation at some more convenient time?”
Drew felt a surge of annoyance tinged with amusement at being so summarily dismissed. “You may count on it, Miss Loring. We shall resume our discussion after the wedding service.”
Her smile never faltered. “I fear I will be extremely busy afterward. We have six hundred guests attending the wedding breakfast, and I am responsible for seeing that everything runs smoothly. Now, pray excuse me, your grace. The ceremony will be starting shortly.”
Surprised to discover that he was enjoying sparring with her, Drew was reluctant to let her go. “Allow me to escort you to your seat.”
“I can manage on my own, thank you.”
“One might think you are eager to avoid me,” he said dryly, repeating the words he had used when she had tried to escape him on the balcony.
Her answering smile was just as wry, although more charming. “One might indeed. It is perfectly understandable why you are so full of your own consequence, your grace, but you shouldn’t expect every woman to
