Deceived

what a devil you are.'

'Alas,' he said as they walked back through the gardens to the house, 'I fear she does, my dear. May I come tomorrow and bring you home for tea so she may meet her future daughter-in- law?'

'St. John!' Aurora was exasperated. 'I have not said yes yet. You must not presume until I do.'

'Patience is not a virtue with me, Aurora,' he said.

'Virtue is not a virtue with you,' she riposted.

He burst out laughing, admitting, 'True. True.'

Entering the house, Aurora saw a light coming from beneath the library door. 'Good night, St. John,' she told him.

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her slowly, smiling down into her eyes, nibbling tenderly upon her lower lip. 'Good night, Aurora, my darling. How I long for the night when I shall not have to let you go to a lonely bed.' Then he whispered softly in her ear, 'I shall insist we sleep naked, and I shall caress and kiss every inch of your lovely body until you beg me to take you. And I will!' His hands were fastened about her small waist, and he held her so that her breasts just touched his chest. 'I am going to tease and taunt you until the day that you marry me, darling. I know that that little secret place of yours is even now throbbing and wet, isn't it?'

Surprised, she nodded. 'I think you are very wicked, St. John,' she murmured low. 'If you tease me, I shall tease you, and that tine fellow, as you call your member, will ache with longing for me even as it now does, doesn't it?' She daringly ran her tongue along his lips.

The library door opened, and the duke spoke sharply. 'Go to your room, Aurora. St. John, go home. I'll have no scandal in my house.'

With a chuckle Justin St. John kissed the tip of Aurora's nose, and releasing his hold on her, bowed mockingly at his cousin as he departed.

Valerian Hawkesworth had an angry look about him. 'You will remember, miss, that I am your guardian while you are here in England. You will not play the strumpet again, or I will have you confined to your room on a diet of bread and water. Do you understand, Aurora?'

'I understand that you are arrogant, my lord, even as I have always believed you to be. You may force my sister to your will, but you will never force me. I shall probably marry St. John, although I have not yet decided to do so, and if you believe that I would compromise my own good name, you are sadly mistaken. I bid you good night.' She ran up the staircase and hurried to the dowager's room, knocking politely.

'Yes, miss?' The dowager's Jane answered the door.

'If her ladyship is still awake, I should like to speak with her,' Aurora said politely.

'Come in, miss, she's been waiting,' Jane replied. She was a tiny woman with a cheery smile who always wore a neatly starched mobcap over her gray curls, and was utterly devoted to her mistress.

Mary Rose Hawkesworth was already settled in her bed, her nightcap with its blue silk ribbons tied beneath her chin. 'Well?' she demanded. 'Did he propose, and did you accept him, Aurora?'

'It was the seventh time he has proposed,' she said with a small laugh. 'I have always refused him.'

'He has proposed to you seven times, and you refused him?' The dowager was astounded. 'Gracious, child, what can you be thinking?'

'I did not refuse tonight, but neither did I accept, although I am of a mind to accept, ma'am,' Aurora told her sponsor.

'Why now?' The dowager was curious. Aurora, she was discovering, could be a most unpredictable young girl. Stubborn, Martha had said.

'He kissed me,' Aurora replied. 'I liked it. I liked it very much, ma'am. He has been so proper and so polite until tonight. He was rather masterful this evening. I found it intriguing, and quite delicious. He is not the fop I thought him to be, and now perhaps I shall accept his offer because I believe he will be a most interesting man to have for a husband. I might even be falling in love with him.'

'Ahhhh,' the dowager said, nodding with approval, her eye meeting that of her servant. 'You will not get a better offer, my child. St. John is well off without your dowry, and so he has no ulterior motive involved in asking for your hand. He has not sought to marry before now, although heaven knows there have been several most suitable young women he might have had. I suspect he has fallen in love with you.'

'He has asked me to tea tomorrow to meet his mama,' Aurora told the dowager.

'Excellent!' came the enthusiastic reply. 'I shall, of course, accompany you. It will show Mistress St. John that I fully approve of any alliance contracted between her son and our family.' There was a smile of utter satisfaction upon her handsome face. It was going well, and it was going to work out precisely as she had hoped. 'Have you thought about when we shall have the wedding, my child?' she asked.

'I have not told St. John yes yet, ma'am.' Aurora laughed.

'But you will, of course, and the sooner the better,' the old lady advised her charge.

'Would late spring be too soon?' Aurora wondered. 'I suppose we should probably wait a year not to appear unseemly, but I have always wanted to be married in the spring. Cally should be well recovered from her childbirth by then, and can be my attendant witness, as I was for her when she married the duke last winter.'

'Spring would be a perfect time,' the dowager agreed. 'April or May, my child. Mid-May would be beautiful! And who cares what the old gossips say. St. John is eager, and so, I suspect, are you now.' Her blue eyes twinkled mischievously at the girl. 'I well remember those heady kisses of my youth. None are ever quite so sweet as those.'

'I respect your experience,' Aurora told her playfully. 'Now, however, ma'am, I suspect that you would like to retire. I bid you good night.' Impulsively, Aurora bent and kissed the dowager's wrinkled cheek. Then with a quick curtsy she was gone from the room.

Mary Rose Hawkesworth touched her cheek, and a tear rolled down her face. 'Why, that sweet child,' she said softly.

'She is that,' Jane agreed. 'A pity she weren't the one we got for Master Valerian.'

'Yes,' the dowager agreed. 'A great pity indeed.'

Chapter 9

“Hold still, miss,' Martha said as she carefully laced up her young mistress. ''I've never known you to be so fidgety!'

'I've never been invited to meet a gentleman's mother before, and frankly I'm nervous,' Aurora admitted to her maid.

'The dowager will be with you,' Martha replied. 'Just let her do all the talking. Answer politely and try to appear mannerly, miss. Mistress St. John doesn't have to know you ride astride or like to swim naked in the sea. Just be what every mama wants for her son. A well-mannered, loving girl who will devote herself to her husband.'

'I haven't told St. John that I'll marry him yet,' Aurora protested.