Amanda Quick Rendezvous

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Harry nodded, gazing out the window into the garden. "I believe you have the right of
it. Very well. See if she would like a taste of old times." He slid his friend a sharp glance.
"I will, naturally, expect both of you to be extremely discreet in this matter."
Peter assumed an expression of insulted innocence. "Discretion is one of my few
virtues. You know that." Then he chuckled wickedly. "Unlike a certain gentleman I could
name who finds himself having to procure a special license today due to a singularly
indiscreet act which occurred in a closed carriage."
Harry scowled in warning. "One word of last night to anyone, Sheldrake, and you may
as well set about composing your own epitaph."
"Fear not. I can be as silent as the tomb on certain subjects. But damnation, man. I
wish you could have seen the expression on your face when you stepped down from that
carriage with Miss Ballinger. 'Twas priceless. Absolutely priceless."
Harry swore softly. Every time he thought about last night and he had thought about
little else since he was astounded. He still could not credit his own deplorable behavior.
Never had he been so much at the mercy of his physical nature. And the worst of it was
that he was not even sorry the whole thing had happened.
He reveled in the knowledge that Augusta now belonged to him as she had never
belonged to any other man. Furthermore, the event had given him the excuse he had
needed to push for an early marriage.
His one regret, and it was a deep one, was that his own loss of control had resulted in
Augusta's failure to fully enjoy the experience. But he would soon remedy the bad
impression he had left, he told himself confidently. He had never had a woman respond to
him the way she had. She had wanted him. And she had surrendered herself to him with a
gentle, eager innocence that he would remember for the rest of his life.
Unlike that deceitful bitch Catherine.
Peter turned back toward the window. "I have been thinking, Graystone. I wonder
what the odds are of getting the Angel alone in a closed carriage."
"I would imagine that depends on how much interest you display in the book she is
writing," Harry muttered.
"Believe me, I have done nothing but talk about A Guide to Useful Knowledge for
Young Ladies on every possible occasion since you mentioned it. Damn it, Harry, why
did I have to fall for the wrong Miss Ballinger?"
"Just as well you picked the Angel. The other Miss Ballinger is unavailable. Send me
word in Dorset if you discover anything of interest about Lovejoy."
"At once," Peter agreed. "Now, I must be on my way. Scruggs is due to go on duty at
the front door of Pompeia's in an hour and it takes a while to get into that bloody costume
and those false whiskers."
Harry waited until Peter had left and then he opened Observations on Livy's History of
Rome and tried to read the first few pages to see how his work looked in print. But he did
not get far. All he could think about was how he would go about making love to his new
wife in a proper bed.
After a moment Harry decided he really was not in the mood to read a discourse on
Roman history, even if he himself had written it. He closed his own book and went to a
bookshelf to take down a copy of Ovid.
"The thing is, Claudia," Augusta said as she and her cousin went up the steps of Lady
Arbuthnott's town house. "Pompeia's started out as a sort of salon. And then one day it
struck me that it would be much more fun to turn it into a real club in the manner of the
St. James Street establishments. You may find it a bit, well, unusual."
"I am fully prepared for Pompeia's. I assure you, I shall endeavor not to embarrass
you," Claudia murmured dryly.
"Yes, I know, but occasionally you do have extremely refined notions of propriety and
some of the things you see in Pompeia's may offend them."
"Such as?"
"Such as the butler," Augusta murmured as the door was opened by Scruggs.
"Well, well, Miss Ballinger," Scruggs growled as he spied Augusta on the doorstep.
"Bit surprised to see you here today. Heard you were to be married with what some might
call indecent haste."
"That is none of your affair, my good man," Claudia announced in quelling accents.
Scruggs's mouth fell open in astonishment as he finally noticed Claudia standing to
one side. His brilliant blue eyes widened and then immediately narrowed in amazement. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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