Page 24 of A Relentless Rake

“Did you get the dress you wanted for the ball?” he countered.

She managed a self-pleased smile. “Is it too much to request that the gown be blue?”

“Yes,” he growled.

Without warning, he swept her into his arms, carried her to the bed, and deposited her on the mattress before she could think to cry out. Then he surprised her again by pulling the coverlet over her body and up to her chin to tuck her into bed.

“Good night.” He placed an impossibly chaste kiss on her forehead and moved toward the door to escape back through the dark school to the street below. “And the next time you find a strange man in your bedroom,” he warned as he cast a longing look back at her, “scream.”

Then he was gone.

Seven

Alec raised the glass of Madeira to his lips and glanced across the crush of bodies in the ballroom of St James House. Olivia Everett was late to the ball.

Last night’s visit had been interesting, to say the least. He couldn’t think of another time when he’d experienced such an exhilarating exchange in a woman’s bedroom that didn’t involve removing clothing. For that matter, he couldn’t think of any time when he’d been in a woman’s bedroom andnotremoved his clothing, although she had no idea how close he’d come to removing hers.

She was nothing like the other women he knew…those world-weary society wives and widows whom little could shock, those virginal debutantes who were shocked by everything. Olivia Everett was singularly different, right down to her bare toes.

Brilliant and beautiful, challenging and fearless, alluring yet innocent… He’d found himself wanting to do more last night than simply tuck her into bed. He’d wanted to crawl right in on top of her, strip off that dowdy robe and night rail, and run his hands and mouth over her beautiful body until she begged to be taken. He’d been semihard from the moment she naïvely tugged up her skirts. All it would have taken was a whisper of surrender from her.

A virgin schoolmistress…Good God.That alone should have had him fleeing as fast as he could run because he would never seduce an innocent. But paradoxically, it also had him longing to teach her about arousal and satisfaction, bodies and the pleasures they could give. Half of his gut wanted to turn her into a debauched creature; the other half wanted to keep her pure. Butallof him had wanted her.

He chuckled to himself. The little hellcat had the audacity to blackmail him! And not for money or position but for a dress, of all things.

His amusement faded into a frown. Unfortunately, he’d gotten even less than she had from last night’s exchange. He’d uncovered just enough to confirm that both she and her brother were capable of working the equations on the fragment of building plans Clayton had found at the warehouse. But there wasn’t enough information on the charred slip to prove any connection to the bombing, and there was no reason why Scepter needed either Everett sibling to provide mathematical equations or how any building plans fit into their assassination attempt.

That was why he’d searched the school. He’d hoped to find a full copy of the building plans that matched the charred fragment, plans that would surely provide more answers. But his search had turned up empty, and questioning Olivia Everett directly had gotten him nothing except a lecture on architecture.

So he now intended to take a different approach. Tonight, he would charm information from her, and he very much planned on enjoying himself in the process.

“Ah, beauty,” he murmured against the rim of his glass as she appeared in the doorway. “There you are at last.”

She handed her invitation to the master of ceremonies and was announced to a roomful of people who couldn’t have cared less that she’d arrived. Except for one. Andhislips pulled into a slow smile.

She wore her blackmailed gown. One of his sister Elizabeth’s from last season, he’d had it delivered that morning by a porter whom he’d threatened to within an inch of his life to not reveal the identity of her mysterious benefactor. Alec had hoped that she’d look attractive in the dress. He was wrong.

She was simply stunning.

In a shade of light blue that matched her eyes, the satin gown shimmered in the light of the chandeliers as she glided into the ballroom. She blended well with the society ladies in that dress with its high waist and skirt that cascaded straight down to her slippered feet and a tight bodice that revealed just enough of her breasts to tantalize. Thin straps of ribbons over her creamy shoulders made his fingers itch to untie them and let the bodice fall away. Surely it was a sin to imagine undressing an innocent when she appeared so angelic. But he couldn’t help himself. The bluestocking school manageress he’d met had been transformed like Cinderella, and the difference was breathtaking.

She stopped to sweep her bright gaze around the room, most likely searching for anyone she knew in the crowd. Yet her beautiful face didn’t register even the slightest recognition of him as her gaze passed by.

Pricked at the unwitting cut, he tossed back the rest of his wine.

Whywouldshe have noticed him, though? She’d seen him without his mask for only a few seconds on a busy footpath two days ago and most likely didn’t remember him at all. It was the masked man whom she’d sparred with in the alley and in her bedroom, whom she’d teased and taunted. Not him.

He placed his empty glass onto the tray of a passing footman and snatched up a full one. He needed plenty of drink to get through this evening.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Alec.” Elizabeth Sinclair sidled gracefully up to him and wrapped her arm through his. She gave him an affectionate squeeze. “It would have been absolutely dreadful without you.”

At twenty-three, his sister was in the middle of her fifth London season. And her last. She’d settled on marrying Arthur Mullins, a young bureaucrat currently serving in the Treasury. He was from a good family of landed gentry in Kent and possessed an income large enough to see them settled in comfort, a position that garnered respect, and a promising career ahead of him. What mattered, though, was that Mullins doted on Beth and loved her. Alec expected the man to ask for her hand any day now.

He was happy for her. She’d found the love match he’d long ago given up for himself.

“You would have suffered through the evening just fine without me.” He kissed the top of her head as he’d done since she was in braids, then turned his attention back to Miss Everett.

With a bright smile, Olivia curtsied to the Duke and Duchess of Strathmore and to the Duke of Dartmoor who stood with them. Dartmoor, that blackguard, gave her a flirtatious look that made Alec grit his teeth.