His scowl answered for him.
“Then go. Learn who else shares your interest. Possibly get Grandfather’s machine running again.” She gave his face an arch look. “A much better pastime than fighting, if you ask me.”
Before he could respond, the bright smile slid from her face. “Daniel. I came because I needed to see how you got on.” Her gaze flicked over to the window behind him, then she focused on his face. Her beautiful eyes were somber, sadder than they should be. “I know where your mind tends to dwell on days such as this.”
He wondered whether she knew he was expecting her husband. That he had other, even more pressuring, topics on his mind. As always, when in the company of anyone save Cyclops, he carefully considered his words before he spoke. “Meeting someone shortly. ’T-tis what snares my attention.”
Well, that and Penry’s note.
“Oh, posh.” She dismissed his excuse. “No one ever calls this early.” Elizabeth rose and gripped his clenched fists. He hadn’t realized his fingers were tangled until she applied herself to unknotting them. “What’s on your mind?”
“I’ve not been sleeping well,” he admitted, startled when the truth slid from his tongue with such ease. “Not sleeping much at all. Not since pa-pa-parting ways with Louise and— D-damn me! I should not have said that to you.”
Red crept over her sun-tinted features, rendering her as cherry bright as one of the tomatoes she grew with such pride. “Daniel,” Elizabeth chided, and he saw how she busied her hands arranging the folds of her dampened skirt in order to avoid his gaze, “lest you forget, I am a married woman now. I daresay you may speak of your…your paramours without any fear of censure from me.”
Bemused by her attempt at sophistication, he was nevertheless taken aback when she added, “As to that, if you cannot sleep for the lack, though how one could miss that coarse wretch I cannot fathom, then why not simply find another?”
A single time, well before her own recent marriage, Elizabeth had stumbled upon him and Louise during one of their rare public outings. A new Egyptian exhibit had opened and apparently both women had fancied seeing a mummified cat. Likely the only thing his sister and former mistress shared in common, given how Elizabeth possessed elegance and sweetness and the most tender of hearts, qualities the self-serving, sometimes crude, always lusty Louise could never hope to attain.
“You’d recommend I find another coarse wretch t-to warm my bed?” He didn’t try to halt his chuckle at her look of outrage.
“Never that, you wicked fiend!” She swept up her frilly parasol and playfully swatted his shoulder with the side. “You are the best of men and deserve only the best of women. Louise could never be that for you and I’m relieved you finally saw it. I do think it’s time you found a wife though. Someone to love—”
“A wife? I think not.” He cut her off by snaring the pointy end of her parasol. It might not be one of her hair ribbons he’d filched but it would do. He set off, tugging her round the room as he had when they were younger, swerving between furniture, orreries on display and book-lined walls as he steered her toward the exit. The subject of a wife was not one he chose to contemplate, not today. Especially when he’d yet to respond to Penry’s note. “Let me amuse myself with at least one fine mistress ’ere I fall upon the bu-bu-blade of the parson’s mousetrap.”
SEDUCTIVE SILENCE—Mistress in the Making, Book One
Lord Tremayne has a problem. He stammers like a fool—at least that’s what he learned from his father’s constant criticism and punishing hand. Daniel now hides his troubles, limiting his speech and getting by with a few close friends. His well-fought privacy is all for naught when he goes looking for a new mistress and finds a delightful young woman who makes him, of all people, want to spout poetry. He thought he had a problem before? Avoiding meaningless dinner prattle is nothing compared to the challenge of winning the heart of his new lady lust.
Recently widowed and increasingly poor, Thea’s been reduced to sharing her rented room with rodents and arguing over every morsel (the mice usually win). When a friend suggests an alliance of the most intimate sort, Thea’s reluctantly intrigued. But given her lackluster marriage, she doubts her ability to entice an experienced man. The considerate, if quiet, Lord Tremayne attracts her mightily, so she sets aside her misgivings. That is, until Thea realizes she’s about to break the cardinal rule of mistressing—that of falling for her new protector.
Mistress in the Making Trilogy
Lady Scandal, 2nd Edition Copyright © 2011 and 2020 by Larissa Lyons
Published by Literary Madness
First Paperback Edition: June 2020
Second E-book Edition: June 2020
ISBN 978-0-9834711-6-5 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-949426-14-4 (E-book)
All rights reserved, including the right to decide how to market this book. By law, no part of this publication may be copied, uploaded or transferred to illegal recipients. Please respect the hard work of this author and only read authorized, purchased downloads. All characters are fictional creations; any resemblance to actual persons is unintentional and coincidental.
Proofread by Judy Zweifel at Judy's Proofreading; Edited by Elizabeth St. John; Copy edits by ELF at [email protected]; Cover by Victoria Cooper
At Literary Madness, we strive to create a book free of typos. If you notice anything amiss, we’re happy to fix it. [email protected]
About Larissa
A lifelong Texan, Larissa writes sexy contemporaries, spicy regencies and upbeat-ending erotica, blending heartfelt emotion with doses of laugh-out-loud humor. Her heroes are strong men with a weakness for the right woman.
When not bowing to the whims of her fluffy felines, Larissa avoids housework one word at a time.
