Tall, Dark & Irresistible: The Rogue's Disgraced Lady

Juliet snapped her fan closed and gave up every pretence of flirtation. ‘We both know I have good reason to be angry with you, Lord St Claire.’

‘Then I wonder you have troubled yourself to seek me out,’ he retorted.

Her smile was brittle. ‘I did not “seek you out”, as you call it, Lord St Claire. I was merely passing this way in order to talk to Lord Grayson, and it would have been rude of me not to have acknowledged you at least. If you will excuse me …? My Lord!’ she exclaimed sharply as Sebastian reached out and grasped her wrist, so that she could not escape without drawing attention to the two of them. ‘You are hurting my wrist, sir!’ Her eyes flashed up at him warningly.

Sebastian would have liked to do more than hurt Juliet Boyd’s wrist—he wanted to wring her damned neck! First she threw him completely off balance by approaching him. Then she seemed almost to have been flirting with him, before transforming into her usual waspish self. This woman was such a tangle of contradictions she had Sebastian tied up in knots!

He gave a hard smile. ‘Take my advice, Juliet, and stay well away from Lord Grayson.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

She looked so outraged. So indignant. So hurt … Yes, this woman was a mass of contradictions that promised to drive Sebastian quietly out of his mind!

His grip on her wrist gentled and he pulled her slowly towards him, watching as her eyes opened wider and wider as he pulled her ever closer. Until she stood so near to him their bodies almost touched. Until he could see the quick rise and fall of her breasts. The trembling of her slightly parted lips. Feel the softness of her breath against his throat.

God, he wanted to crush Juliet’s lips beneath his own. Just as he longed to rip the gown from her body before making love to her until she screamed out in pleasure. Until she screamed out her innocence!

The image of making love to her formed so vividly in his mind that Sebastian felt his thighs hardening. Throbbing. Aching …

His jaw clenched. ‘You are playing a dangerous game, my lady!’

Juliet blinked her confusion. ‘Game, My Lord? I have no idea what—’

‘I am sorry to interrupt, but it is time to go into dinner.’

Juliet turned blankly to look at Dolly Bancroft, where she stood beside them, smiling. The Duke of Essex stood to one side, waiting to escort their hostess in to dinner, but otherwise the drawing room had emptied of the other twenty or so guests.

Leaving Sebastian once again to escort Juliet into dinner ….

Something she was sure neither of them desired after this latest heated exchange.

Far from feeling remorse at the wrong he had done her this morning, Sebastian seemed almost angry with her. Coldly, remorselessly so. And Juliet had seen far too much coldness and remorselessness during her marriage to Crestwood to tolerate any more of it.

‘How kind of you to wait for me, Your Grace.’ She stepped away from Sebastian to place her hand upon the Duke of Essex’s arm, thereby allowing him to escort her into dinner. The Duke was far too much the gentleman to point out that she had taken Dolly Bancroft’s place.

Sebastian’s eyes blazed deeply golden as he turned from watching Juliet’s departure on the arm of the Duke of Essex. ‘Do not!’ he grated, as Dolly Bancroft would have spoken as he offered her his arm. He had no intention of discussing her husband’s conversation of this morning with her. Or indeed anything else!

‘Did I not initially try to persuade you from your interest in Juliet?’ Dolly nevertheless attempted.

‘Before you saw that my interest could be to your husband’s advantage?’ Sebastian scorned. ‘Perhaps one day I may be able to forgive you for this, Dolly—but it is certainly not going to be today!’

‘Life cannot always be a game, Sebastian.’ She sounded wistful.

Sebastian looked down at her bleakly. ‘When all of this is over I think it best if you and I do not meet again for some time.’

The hurt she felt was reflected in the deep blue of her eyes, but the inclination of her head was as gracious as always. ‘As you wish.’

What Sebastian wished was that he had never seen Juliet Boyd. Never desired to bed her. Never come to Banford Park in pursuit of her. More than anything else he wished he could just leave here today, now, and forget he had ever been told of the suspicions harboured against her.

But Sebastian’s sense of fair play, his honour, his loyalty, said that he could do none of those things. That, no matter how Juliet might one day despise him for his actions, he owed it to her to see that she was given every opportunity to prove herself innocent of Bancroft’s accusations.

Or not …

‘Are you feeling unwell, Juliet …?’ Helena hovered behind her as she sat in front of the mirror. Juliet had dismissed her cousin once she had helped her out of her gown, wishing to be alone when she removed the pins from her hair, but Helena’s glance at her reflection showed Juliet’s face to be exceedingly pale, the green of her eyes the only colour, and there was a frown of tension upon her brow.

Altogether it had not been a successful evening. Yet another unpleasant exchange with Sebastian St Claire had occurred. Followed by a lengthy dinner when Juliet had found herself seated between two gentlemen who wished only to converse on fox hunting and their hounds. She had then been persuaded into partnering Lord Grayson in a game of whist, all the time aware of Sebastian as he sat at the next table, partner to the beautiful Lady Butler. Juliet’s distraction at the other woman’s obviously flirtatious manner had been such that she and Grayson had lost miserably. Juliet had been relieved when she could at last excuse herself and retire to her bedchamber.

The greatest disappointment, of course, had been the way Sebastian had seemed too preoccupied to notice her. For the first time in her life Juliet had deliberately set out to see if she could attract the attention of a certain man, and the man had shown her nothing but indifference!

‘I have a slight headache, that is all,’ she assured her cousin ruefully. ‘But I am perfectly capable of taking down my own hair. It would please me if you would go back upstairs and rest your ankle.’ She smiled encouragingly, knowing that she wished only to be alone to lick the wounds to her pride.

She maintained that smile until Helena turned and left the bedchamber, only relaxing into dejection once she knew herself to be completely alone.

What Juliet would have really liked to do was go out onto her balcony and breathe in some of the warm summer air. But she was loath to do so after the last time she had done just that. It would be too humiliating if by chance Sebastian happened to find her there once again. If he were to assume that she was deliberately trying to attract his attention.

Not that it was particularly likely; if Sebastian had already retired to any bedchamber then it was probably Lady Butler’s!

Sebastian was sprawled atop the bedcovers in a state of disarray, drinking brandy copiously, when he heard the first scream.

It had not been easy to turn down Lady Butler’s obvious invitation to retire with her to her bedchamber, without causing offence, but somehow Sebastian had managed it. As he had also managed to procure a decanter of brandy and a glass from a footman, before mounting the staircase two steps at a time and then striding to his bedchamber to close the door firmly behind him.

Watching Gray’s solicitations to Juliet Boyd for two hours had induced a need in Sebastian not to see or speak to anyone else this evening. He had thrown open the doors out onto his balcony before undressing down to his pantaloons, his intention to lie down upon his bed and get roaring drunk before hopefully falling into an unconscious stupor.

The fear and desperation he heard in Juliet’s scream wiped all thought of sleep from Sebastian’s mind, and he slammed his glass down on the bedside table before jumping to his bare feet.

It did not even occur to him to use the door out into the hallway. He rushed out onto his balcony to vault over the top of the ridiculous barrier before throwing open the door to Juliet’s room, fearful of what or who he might find there.

The bedchamber was lit by a single candle placed on the dressing table, its reflection in the mirror behind adding more light to the room.

The bedchamber showed only one occupant.

Juliet.

She lay alone in the centre of the bed, her fingers tightly clutching the bedclothes to her chest as she tossed and turned her head on the pillow.

Her eyes were firmly closed.

Sebastian stood very still beside the bed as he looked down at her. That Juliet was still sleeping, probably completely unaware that she had cried out, was obvious.

Her hair was a midnight curtain on the pillow beneath her. Her shoulders were bare, except for the thin straps of a white silk nightgown, and the revealed swell of her breasts was full and creamy.

Sebastian felt the fierceness of his expression soften as he took in how beautiful she looked. How fragile. How utterly—

‘No!’ Juliet suddenly cried out again, her eyes still closed but her features contorted. ‘Do not! Please do not!’ She sat up abruptly in the bed, her eyes wide and fearful as she stared straight ahead. ‘Please!’ she groaned achingly once again, before burying her face in her hands and beginning to sob.

Her distress was unbearable. Certainly more than Sebastian could bear anyway!

He quickly sat down on the side of the bed to reach out and draw her into his arms. ‘You are safe, Juliet,’ he assured her fiercely. ‘There is no one here who shall harm you.’ His arms tightened about her and he held her cradled against his chest.