Read Online Patricia Rice by Dash of Enchantment - Free Book Online Page B

against
her heels and smiled down into her stunned loveliness. “I think you are about
to be granted your wish, my lady. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
    Cassandra clung to his arm a moment longer, squeezing her
eyes shut while regaining composure.
    He waited until she spoke.
    “Answer it, my lord, for I fear I cannot.”
    Sympathetically, Wyatt caressed her reddened cheek, then
hardening his resolve, he released her. “The door’s locked,” he yelled over his
shoulder to the anxious rapping. “You’ll have to find a key.”
    To the shrill exclamations of surprise and concern from the
other side, Wyatt turned a deaf ear. His body had not been so totally out of
control since he was a boy with no outlet for his sexual needs. Should anyone
walk in here now, he could not disguise his state of arousal.
    He schooled his rampaging emotions to practiced coldness.
    “My Lord Merrick, is Cassandra in there? What has happened?
Why can’t you open the door?” The high, quavering voice of Cassandra’s elderly
and respectable great-aunt pierced the heavy paneled door with anxiety.
    “There has been a misunderstanding, Lady Matilda. Cassandra
is fine. The key seems to have fallen into the bushes. I trust the butler keeps
an extra set.” Merrick turned his glare on Cassandra, who responded woodenly to
his unspoken demand.
    “I am fine, Aunt Matilda. The wind blew the door shut, that
is all. Merrick has been everything that is proper.”
    That was a bouncer that wouldn’t pass the first inspection,
but for quick thinking, it would have to do. Merrick took a deep breath and
walked to the open window. His loins still ached, but he tried not to think. He
had been successfully using that ploy since he was a youth and the victim of
his mother’s scathing tongue. It was remarkable how many situations one could survive
without thinking.
    “You had better do something with your hair,” he warned
without turning to look at the forlorn creature in the bed. He knew the
abandoned disarray of red-gold hair falling in wanton tendrils that would meet
the gaze of the curiosity-seekers outside the door.
    Cassandra obediently began stabbing pins through thick
curls. She had, after all, promised him obedience.
    When the key finally scraped in the lock, Merrick almost had
himself in control. He reluctantly turned to face the condemnation of his
peers. Too late, he discovered Cassandra’s mermaid stance in the middle of the
bed, her arms raised to her lovely tresses, her satin robe sliding loose to
reveal the bodice of her thin gown. He groaned and felt the surge of heat in
his loins return as the door flew open.
    Tiny, stooped, gray-haired Aunt Matilda entered first. No
emotion was visible from behind her thick spectacles, but Merrick rather
expected they concealed resignation. Cassandra was, after all, a Howard, and
Lady Matilda had no very high opinion of her niece’s family.
    Her gaze swerved to him, and Wyatt impassively bore her
regard. Behind her peered all the guests that he had once considered friends.
    “Wyatt!” His fiancée’s shriek cut the silence, followed by a
low moan as Catherine discovered Cassandra’s scandalous position.
    Her moan was followed by the inevitable faint. Wyatt watched
callously as one of the other male guests caught her up in his arms and carried
her off. Randolph had need of a rich heiress. They would suit each other fine.
    Their host pushed his way through the crowd, gave Merrick a
shocked look, then, murmuring something about “simple explanations,” ushered
the sightseers away, leaving Lady Matilda to hear their story alone.
    Wyatt made a polite bow. “My apologies, my lady. This was
all a simple misunderstanding, but of course I am sensible of the damage done
to your great-niece’s reputation. I will repair at once to London to seek Lady
Cassandra’s hand from Lord Eddings. I trust you will find it in your heart to
forgive what must appear to be an unseemly situation.”
    Matilda sniffed,