Payback… Dowager Marchioness
CHAPTER 3
It was quite by chance that Phillip happened to be in Boswell’s Bookstore on Bond Street the following afternoon. He was looking for a birthday gift for one of his younger sisters when he heard the shop’s bell ring. Feeling a surge of annoyance, he moved to the back of the shop, hoping to wait out the other customer. He had been surly and unpardonably rude all day, certain that he was to live the rest of his life a celibate.
But all of that changed the moment he heard her voice. It was Eden Norfolk. Immediately Phillip pictured her curvy form, and, miracle of miracles, there was a definite stirring down below. The old fellow was back! He could have kissed her.
Coming out of his hiding place at the back of the shop, he heard Eden speaking with the shopkeeper. Her golden curls, making a halo around her face, never staying within the pins her maid provided. Her back was to him, and he took a moment to appreciate her well-rounded hips. A man could do some amazing things gripping those hips.
The shopkeeper glanced at him, and he knew that he had to make his presence known. He made some trivial remark about danger or some other such nonsense. Eden turned to him, and her beauty struck him full force. Not only did she have a woman’s body, but she was truly a lovely woman. Some couldn’t see past her spectacles, but they only enhanced her lovely eyes.
Phillip’s cock throbbed in his pantaloons, and he hoped the shopkeeper wouldn’t notice. Sure, he thought to himself, I couldn’t bloody get it up when my mistress was fully naked trying to suck me off, but Eden bloody Norfolk comes strolling into a bookstore and I stand at full attention.
That is, until she spoke. He honestly owed her a favor. If she hadn’t have questioned his literacy knowledge, he might have had to walk around with a huge erection that someone was bound to notice. Feeling much more the thing, he decided to have a little fun with her.
It was back shortly after they had been first introduced that he had called her some pet name or another because he couldn’t remember hers. Eden, being the firebrand that she is, called him on it. She said that, if he couldn’t remember her name, he might as well not speak to her at all. He loved the fire in her eyes and in the passion, that he knew lingered just below the surface. It almost made him question his policy on innocents. However, that was not a policy he was willing to revisit.
It was, however, from that point forward that he strived to call her every pet name that he could possibly think of. He often found himself awake at night thinking up new ones and chuckling to himself, imagining her responses to them. Bless her - she always rose to the occasion.
Words like sugar plum, sweet cheeks, and dumpling rolled out of his lips like candy. He loved seeing her color heighten and wondered where the blushes started and if he would ever know. Truly it was all for naught, but sure enough, by the time she left the shop Phillip was in a delightful mood. There was something so very delicious about vexing Eden. He hadn’t the foggiest idea why he delighted in it.
It briefly crossed his mind, if he delighted so much in vexing her, to just think of how it would feel to be making love to her. But he shook that thought off as quickly as it came. Being the man that he was, he often thought of women in the sexual sense. It was true that Eden often made the rounds in his thoughts in this arena.
But he did have some scruples and morals… albeit a few. He did not deflower innocents, and he did not intend to marry. He knew that his mother had other ideas about this, and he was sorry to disappoint, but there was simply no way that a man like him could tie himself to one woman. There was simply too much of him to go around, so it was a disservice to the entire gender if he was to marry, or at least that is what he had convinced himself of.
Sadly, Phillip was in for a reality check. Upon his arrival home at the grand manor in Mayfair, his butler Joseph opened the door and stood to take his coat and hat. But instead of removing himself as he usually did, Joseph indicated that he needed a word. Intrigued Phillip followed him to the side.
“Milord, permission to speak freely,” Joseph asked in his usual dry manner.
Phillip’s lips twitched: he loved Joseph’s sense of self-importance. He doubted even the king held himself to such high standards. “Of course, Joseph, you may address any concerns that you may have without worry.”
“The dowager Marchioness has asked that her chambers be prepared here in the London residence. She is to arrive today at some point.”
Phillip paled, “You are mistaken! My mother NEVER comes to town.”
Joseph almost had a hint of a smile. It would seem he did have a leg up this time. “Mrs. Green said that she’s known three days hence and has been preparing. I did not mention that you were unaware of your mother’s plans milord, but I am not sure you have time to escape.”
“I have to try!” Phillip turned just in time to see the door open once more and his mother be ushered in, followed by his two younger sisters, Lillian and Juliana. His heart sunk in his chest.
He turned back to Joseph, who at this point was most having a difficult time hiding his smile.
“You realize that you are sacked,” Phillip muttered darkly.
“You terminate my employment at least twice a week, milord,” Joseph muttered back before moving forward to greet the new arrivals.
Phillip turned around and pasted a smile on his face, “Mother, how lovely to see you!”
Evangeline Randall, the dowager Marchioness of Norfolk, smiled at her eldest son. “You never were a very good liar, dear. Come and kiss your mother and sisters. Pray save the rest of your pleasantries for someone who believes all of that flummery.”
Phillip sighed, “Why are you here?”
His mother laughed, “I got the most delightful letter from your friend Elias. It would seem that he was paying you back for a letter you had written to his mother some weeks ago?!”
Phillip was going to find him and kill him.