To Seduce a Bride

at satisfying her lovers in bed. In short, the ideal mistress.

At the moment, however, there was no sign of her usual sultry affability. Instead, she was surveying him with grave concern.

“I saw you follow Lily from the ballroom, my lord. You cannot deny it.”

His brows drew together as he contemplated what he should say in answer. “Very well, I won’t deny it, Miss Irwin. But is that a crime?”

“It would be if you seduced her.”

Heath felt his gaze sharpen defensively. “My encounter with Miss Loring is a private affair, but you may be assured, I did not seduce her.”

“No?” Fanny said acerbically. “It is obvious that you have been employing your usual seductive methods on someone. Your hair is tousled and flaked with straw, as if you’ve just been enjoying a roll in the hay with a farm milkmaid.”

She reached up to pluck at a stray wisp from his hair. “Ordinarily I wouldn’t dream of interfering with your conquests, Lord Claybourne, but I am Lily’s friend, and I cannot sit idly by while you exploit her for your sport.”

Heath took a slow breath, controlling his impatience. “I admire your concern for your friend, Miss Irwin, but you have nothing to worry about from me.”

“How can I possibly trust your assurances?”

It rankled that she would question his word, yet realizing that Fanny was genuinely troubled, Heath decided to make allowances.

“What would you say if I told you I had just promised Danvers to keep an eye on Miss Loring while he was away on his wedding trip for the next month?”

That much was certainly true, Heath thought. A short while ago, when he and Drew had said farewell to Marcus and reluctantly drunk a toast to the demise of his bachelorhood, Marcus had coerced them into agreeing to look after the two younger sisters while he was gone.

But Fanny did not seem reassured. “This is how you keep an eye on her?” she responded, her tone a bit caustic. “Trysting with Lily in a stable?”

“We weren’t seen together, if it is any consolation.”

“But someone could have discovered you. With your reputation, just being alone with Lily could give rise to gossip. Given their family history, she is more vulnerable than the usual lady of quality. She and her sisters are finally moving beyond the past scandals now that Lord Danvers has made such a concerted effort to reinstate them into society. But you could so easily ruin her.”

“I certainly don’t intend to ruin her.”

“Then what are your intentions toward Lily, my lord?”

It was an impertinent question at the very least. And Heath didn’t have an immediate answer, since he wasn’t certain himself what his intentions were toward Lily. Before tonight, he would have said none, but after kissing her, holding her…

Admit it, man, you don’t want to give her up. The thought came unbidden and made Heath frown.

When he remained silent, his gaze arrested as he distantly regarded the bank of palms, Fanny continued in a softer, more pleading tone. “You cannot seduce her, my lord. There would be no hope for her then. If you were to compromise her, her only recourse from disgrace would be marriage. And I know Lily quite well. She would never agree to marry you-or anyone else, for that matter.”

Slowly he glanced back at Fanny. “What if I said my intentions were entirely honorable?”

Fanny looked startled at that. “Honorable? You? You are the worst heartbreaker in England, Lord Claybourne. You aren’t the least interested in matrimony…are you?”

At her obvious shock, Heath’s mouth twisted with wry humor. It was true that he had a reputation for breaking hearts, although he wasn’t solely to blame for the fact that any number of women had fallen in love with him while he’d kept his heart whole. Although he loved the fair sex in general and delighted in their attentions, he’d never met the woman who could tame him and cause him to willingly relinquish his cherished freedom to settle down in staid matrimony.

But he had never encountered any woman like Lily, either.

“I am not suggesting that I propose this evening,” Heath said slowly, testing the prospect in his mind, “but if I were courting her officially, there would be little gossip or risk of scandal.”

“I suppose not. But you cannot honestly be thinking of marrying Lily.”

“She might make me a good marchioness.”

Fanny’s laugh was uncertain. “She has the birth and the breeding, true, but you are forgetting one crucial detail. There is no possible way Lily would ever allow you close enough to court her. Not considering her fervent opinions about men and marriage.”

Heath couldn’t help but smile as he remembered Lily’s adamant declaration about her aversion to matrimony. “Her notions are rather prickly. I discovered that just on our brief acquaintance.”

“Indeed.” Fanny shook her head firmly. “No, my lord. You should just abandon the whole absurd idea.” Her gaze measured him. “I doubt you will mourn the loss, however. You have countless love-smitten females to pick from. You should choose one of them.”

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “But regrettably, I am not interested in any of them.”

Fanny’s gaze narrowed. “I hope you are not planning to pursue Lily simply because you relish a challenge.”

He couldn’t deny that the challenge greatly appealed to him. Among his boyhood friends, Heath had been the most adventurous and daring, the most willing to court danger. His need for thrills and excitement had led the three of them into escapades and scrapes more times than he could count. But the challenge Lily presented was not her major allure.

“That is only part of it,” he replied honestly to Fanny. “My interest in her is due much more to her uniqueness. I find her novelty refreshing.”

“I can see why someone so unconventional as Lily would intrigue you,” Fanny said after a moment. “She has no compunction about thumbing her nose at society’s strictures regarding the proper behavior of genteel young ladies. Indeed, she often behaves more like a man-she excels at any kind of physical activity such as riding and driving and archery. Compared to her sisters, Lily is the most passionate and expressive. However…”-Fanny’s voice dropped and became earnest-“…she is also the most sensitive. Of the three of them, Lily feels the most deeply. She was terribly hurt when her mother abandoned them to follow her heart, heedless of the scandal that ruined their futures. And Lily’s bitterness toward men is deeply rooted in the past, in the way her father treated her mother.”

He had sensed that vulnerability in her, Heath realized, feeling an odd tug at his heart. The emotion that stirred in him was not one he usually felt for young ladies. It wasn’t pity, exactly. It was more tenderness. Along with an undeniable lust that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

Fanny broke into his thoughts again. “I would imagine Lily is far more to your tastes than the typical debutante-possibly enough to consider wooing. But are you truly serious about matrimony, my lord?”

“A woman like that might induce me to marry,” he said slowly.

Fanny regarded him with worry. “Perhaps so, but I pray you…don’t even think about pursuing her unless you are completely sincere about following through.”

“That much I can assure you,” Heath said with confidence.

Still looking uncertain, Fanny hesitated a moment longer. “Thank you, my lord,” she said finally. “And I hope you will forgive me for my unwanted interference, but I care deeply for Lily and don’t want to see her hurt.”

“Your concern is duly noted, Miss Irwin,” Heath replied, keeping his tone easy. “But I am not in the habit of hurting women.”

A smile flickered on her lips. “Not intentionally, I know. Indeed, your reputation for giving pleasure is legendary. But unintentionally? Please…just take care with her, my lord.”

“I will, I assure you.”

With that, Fanny gave him a respectful curtsy and left him.

Coming out from behind the palms, Heath returned to stand on the ballroom sidelines, absently watching the dancers. The Danvers wedding ball was a crush by anyone’s standards. The press of perfumed bodies, along with