Chapter 13

The monotony continued once Sunny completed his receiving-line duties and forced himself to circulate through the crush of guests.

Almost no one turned down his annual invitation. It was the only entertainment he hosted all year. And as debauched as Sinful Sunny might be, few missed the opportunity to accept a ducal invitation. The ton had its standards after all, and ensconced firmly at the top were rank and wealth, both of which Sunny possessed in abundance.

He dutifully danced with several young ladies, but not one of them more than once. Two turns with the same maiden would indicate serious interest on his part, and Sunny certainly did not care to find himself leg-shackled. He also stayed well away from dark corners on the veranda and in the garden, lest he encounter an enterprising marriage-minded young lady anxious to entrap a duke.

He spotted Vale with his wife, a shapely copper-haired young woman. They were standing with Cosmo and his aeronaut wife, a strikingly tall, raven-haired woman who oozed confidence. When Sunny had greeted them all earlier in the receiving line, Mari Dunsmore had regarded him warily, while Emilia Sparrow hadn’t bothered to mask her undisguised curiosity.

“It’s a crush as usual,” Cosmo said when Sunny reached them. “Everyone is anxious to see what the elusive Duke of Sunderford is up to.”

“Hardly elusive.” Sunny was often out and about in town. He just didn’t attend the same dull functions as the ton’s more respectable types. He turned to Cosmo’s wife. “Mrs. Dunsmore, it’s a pleasant surprise to see you in London.” The woman spent most of her time in the country jumping out of hot air balloons.

“I have heard your entertainments are not to be missed.” Her voice was low and throaty with a decidedly French inflection that made a man think of activities that went on inside a bedchamber. The woman was definitely sensual. Sunny could see why she appealed to his friend.

“I convinced her to come.” Cosmo gazed admiringly upon his wife. “Anything to keep her safely on the ground.”

“I should like to go up in one of your balloons,” Emilia Sparrow said. “It must be very exciting.”

“You must come and visit,” Cosmo’s wife told her. “And if you’d like, you could also try parachuting.”

Vale, Emilia’s husband, looked vaguely horrified. “In that case, don’t expect a visit from us anytime soon,” he said, only halfway in jest.

“Men,” the aeronaut said with a dismissive huff. “They think we are fragile creatures.”

“I assure you that isn’t the case.” Cosmo put an arm around his wife’s slender waist. “You’re one of the most courageous people I know. You don’t see me jumping out of those contraptions.”

As far as Sunny knew, Cosmo had only gone up in a balloon once with his wife, but it must have been quite a ride because a naughty sparkle always came into Cosmo’s dark eyes whenever he mentioned the incident. Before long, the women spotted Cosmo’s sister, Eleanor, and excused themselves to go and join her, leaving the gentlemen to themselves.

“Vale,” he said to his friend once the women were gone, “how would I go about investigating someone’s background?”

“That depends,” the former spy answered. “What is it that you want to know about this person?”

“Whom are you investigating?” Cosmo asked.

“My governess.” He couldn’t get Drummond’s strange reaction to his mention of Finch out of his mind. “I have reason to believe she is lying about her background.”

Vale made an interested hmmm at the back of his throat. “You think she’s up to something?”

“Such as abducting the children?” Cosmo interjected. “For a hefty ransom given that you are a wealthy man?”

“No, no, nothing of the sort.” Sunny dismissed the ridiculous notion. “I don’t believe she’s a danger to them. It’s just that she has a letter of reference from Harvey Drummond, one of the Earl of Winchester’s sons, but when I asked the man about her this evening he seemed to have no idea who Miss Finch is.”

“If you’re not worried about her harming the children,” Cosmo said, “what does it matter who she is or where she came from?”

Because he was damned curious about her. “While I don’t believe Miss Finch is a danger to the children, they are my responsibility and I must make certain they are completely safe in her care.”

Cosmo chuckled.

Sunny regarded his friend over the bridge of his nose. “I fail to see what has you so amused.”

“You’re behaving in a surprisingly responsible manner. I hardly recognize you.”

Vale bottomed out his champagne glass. “Engage a Bow Street Runner to track her past. I could also make inquiries.”

Sunny knew Vale maintained a number of valuable sources even though he was no longer employed by the Home Office.

Cosmo’s gaze went past them both. “I say, who is that woman with Dr. Jarvis?”

“He certainly looks enamored,” Vale noted.

Sunny scanned the dance floor until he spotted Tom and his dance partner. It took a moment for him to recognize the woman moving in tandem with Tom. When he finally did, his breath caught.

Finch looked completely different in her finery: she was entrancing in her silk ball gown, the candlelight catching the golden streaks in her straw-colored tresses as she glided across the dance floor. He watched as she moved toward her partner and then back again to join the line of women, her lithe form stepping lightly and effortlessly. Her eyes sparkled, her flawless skin glowed, and the flush of color in her cheeks was deuced attractive. Unlike her usual stolid, contained demeanor, there was a lightness to this version of Miss Finch, a gaiety to her every movement. “That’s my governess.”

“That’s your governess?” Vale repeated.

“She certainly doesn’t look like any governess I’ve ever seen.” Cosmo pursed his lips. “If I’d had a governess like that, I’d have never left the nursery.”

Vale surveyed the room. “She’s attracting attention, your governess.”

Sunny followed Vale’s gaze and noted that more than one gentleman tracked Finch’s movements with undisguised interest. A sense of possessiveness gripped him. He didn’t care for all of these prying eyes staring at his governess. And Tom’s leering was worst of all.

He watched as the dance came to an end and Tom offered Finch his arm. She took it with a sense of friendly familiarity that Sunny did not appreciate.

“Excuse me, gentlemen.” He charged over to put a stop to whatever it was that was going on between his governess and his doctor.

---

The Duke of Sunderford appeared out of nowhere just as the orchestra began playing a waltz.

Isabel had glimpsed him earlier in the receiving line, dressed to perfection in a navy tailcoat and paisley silver-and-navy waistcoat, topped with a pearl gray cravat. His dark hair was slicked back, highlighting aristocratic features and vivid eyes.

“I’ll have this dance, if you don’t mind,” the duke said imperiously to Dr. Jarvis. His tone was low, the words dark and almost dangerous, as if he dared Dr. Jarvis to object.

“I mind,” she said indignantly to the infuriating man, ignoring that part of her, in the deepest, darkest part of her soul, that was secretly flattered by the duke’s attentiveness. Reckless arrogance had led to her downfall and, until now, she thought she’d curbed that self-destructive tendency.

Dr. Jarvis stiffened but did not appear the least bit cowed, which Isabel could not help but admire. Few men of Jarvis’s position would stand up to a powerful—and apparently vengeful—duke. “It is up to the lady, Your Grace. This is not my dance.”

“How surprising,” the duke said darkly. “I thought you had a mind to take more than two turns with Finch.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the doctor said gallantly in response to Sunderford’s unsubtle implication that he intended to court Isabel. “However, Miss Finch has let me down easy.”

“She has?” The scapegrace’s stormy expression cleared. “I’m pleased to see my governess shows good judgment.”

“Which is more than we can say for you,” she retorted.

The duke’s amber brows lifted. “I see you’re in your usual agreeable mood.” He gestured toward the crush of couples dancing around them and proffered his hand. “Shall we?”

Dr. Jarvis bowed. “As you can clearly look after yourself, Miss Finch, I will leave you to manage His Grace.”

She smiled. “Thank you, Dr. Jarvis. You are most kind.”

Once Jarvis had left them, the duke cleared his throat. “Are you going to continue to cause a spectacle by standing in the middle of the dance floor? People are beginning to stare.”

She allowed him to take her into his arms. The last thing Isabel wanted was to draw attention. Strong arms closed around her, and his masculine scent filled her nostrils, causing warmth to flood her belly. She concentrated on the dance steps and tried to ignore the riot of sensation his proximity incited within her.

“I thought he would never leave,” the duke remarked.

“Dr. Jarvis is a fine gentleman. And speaking of that, please refrain from interfering in matters that are none of your concern.”

“Are you ordering me about, Finch? I must say I am unused to having those in my employ giving me direction. Also, I’ve no idea of what you speak.”

“You warned Dr. Jarvis off.”

“What of it?”

“You have no right to interfere in my personal affairs.”

“I see.” Interest lit his vivid eyes. “So your acquaintance with the good doctor is personal.”

“He is a friend.”

“He’d like to be more than that.”

“And what is it to you? Dr. Jarvis would be an excellent match for a governess. Especially one as plain as I, don’t you agree?” she added in a biting tone.

“Tom clearly doesn’t find you to be plain in the least.” He gave her a considering look. “Dare I say you’re looking exceptionally well this evening?”

Her entire body warmed under his appreciative gaze. “Especially for a woman of my advanced age.”

“And you dance beautifully. Almost as if you were born to this life.”

She forced herself not to meet his eyes. She could get lost in those beautiful silvery depths and end up another of his doxies. Why did this devil have to look like Adonis? “I have never denied being born a lady.”

“And quite a magnificent one at that. You’re drawing the eye of every man here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” But she knew there was at least some truth to his words.

“False modesty does not become you, Finch.” He regarded her thoughtfully. “I’m beginning to suspect you well know the effect you have on men. Is that why you truss yourself up like someone’s puritanical grandmother?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But of course she did. Isabel had never been the most beautiful woman in a room. But when she’d made an effort with her appearance—devoid of her humorless governess façade—when she’d laughed and danced and flirted with abandon, the carefree, devil-may-care Coco had attracted male attention. Ben used to say that she easily outshone everyone in the room, even the greatest beauties. She had a way of glowing from within, Ben had often said, that drew people to her.

She’d thought that light that Ben had often spoken of, that special luminescence, had been permanently extinguished during the darkest time of her life—when she’d lost him and everything else that held any meaning for her. But this evening, seeing the way the duke looked at her, she realized that her shine, as Ben had called it, had returned.

“Not only are you a woman who draws attention, but I suspect you enjoy the effect you have on men.” His voice was a low warm purr. “The question is, why have you been hiding yourself? It’s almost as if you’ve been hiding in plain sight.”

“I have been here all along,” she said lightly. “You never really bothered to look.”

“I see you now.”

A powerful attraction coursed between them. In that very moment, she did not regret being seen—truly seen—by this man. This new awareness arced between them as they glided across the parquet floor. He led with skill and confidence, and she felt his strength in his embrace.

He stared at her, his gaze burning into her skin, making her feel warm all over. “I am looking now,” he repeated, lowering his mouth to her ear. “And I am entranced.”

Desire shivered through her when his warm breath caressed her sensitive earlobe. She closed her eyes and breathed him in, her heart pounding hard. “Are you?”

“I want to do much more than just look, but telling you exactly what I’m thinking would shock those puritanical tendencies of yours.”

“I doubt that anything you say could shock me.” It was a dare, a challenge that she should not have issued but, caught up in the moment, she couldn’t resist.

His brows went up. “Very well then. I want to touch you.” His silky voice enveloped her, stoking the heat in her belly. “I want you so badly, I could take you right here on this dance floor.”

The naked want in his voice held her captive. Everything else fell away. She could no longer hear the orchestra playing, or see the dozens of other couples swirling around them. If she could not admit it to him, she would at least admit it to herself—her body pulsed for him.

I want you, too.

“Tell me,” he whispered. “Tell me exactly how you want me.”

Her eyes flew open. He stared at her with glaring intensity that singed her to the bone. Had she spoken the words aloud? His smile was confident, predatory—and it made her want him all the more. Even though she knew it would be a terrible mistake.

“Then I’ll continue, shall I?” He held her perfectly correctly, at a respectable distance as he led her through the steps. “I want you naked and writhing on the dining room table where I can feast on you to my heart’s content. I want you bent over the desk in my study with your pretty little bottom bare for me as I touch you and make you cry out.”

His face was expressionless as he gazed blankly around them. No one watching them would have any inkling that the duke and his governess were speaking of illicit things. “Have I shocked you yet?” he asked.

She could not find the words. She shook her head and held his gaze.

His eyes flared. It was she who had shocked him. She could hardly believe she’d spoken the truth, instead of hiding, always hiding. Just this once, after years of denying her true self, she felt inclined to take what she wanted, what she needed. To be physically close to someone—if only for a fleeting moment.

And she had never been as powerfully attracted to anyone as she was to the Duke of Sunderford, even though she knew the intimacy would mean nothing to him. That he would likely forget it the moment he spent himself and buttoned his breeches. But she didn’t care. She looked him straight in the eye. “What if I told you I want those things as well?”

“Is this a game? Are you attempting to shock me now?” They took a spin. “Do not play with fire, Finch, especially not with a man like me.”

“Maybe it is you, Your Grace, who is playing with fire.”

He halted abruptly, and it took her a moment to realize the music had stopped. “Meet me in the dining room in ten minutes’ time.” He escorted her to the edge of the dance floor and released her. “No, make that the study. In five minutes.”

And then he left her.