Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The first quadrille was underway, but Lord Winstone's dance partner hadn't spoken another word. At first, he was amused by Lady Lydia's haughty pout as they spun around, changed partners, and came back together again.

But soon he missed her vivacious way and couldn't resist stoking her fire.

"Would you happen to know where a gentleman might sell a pair of lady's stockings? I find myself suddenly in possession of an extra pair."

Joseph could swear he saw steam coming from Lydia's ears as she glared at him with contempt before she was whisked away and spun around by another man. When she returned to him in the dance again, the nymph had plenty to say in a hushed and angry tone.

"How dare you speak to me in such a manner! And about a woman's private garments that you have apparently stolen! You continue to puzzle and repulse me. Why would a viscount bathe naked in a spring on someone else's property?"

"Viscounts aren't allowed to bathe? I know you think me a dirty fellow, Lady Lydia, but I wash behind my ears like everyone else. By the way, you look very clean this evening. So sparkling clean that I can't take my eyes off you. Or maybe I'm just unaccustomed to seeing you fully clothed." Joseph chuckled as Lydia was pulled away from him again and another lady took his hand.

They spun and changed partners over and over again. Every time Lydia rejoined Joseph, she lobbed a new insult that only he could hear.

"You are the stench of pond scum on a hot summer day." She stepped and spun and leaned toward him for more. "You're the sting of a bee on a horse's behind." And finally, when her hands met Joseph's again, she spoke with a most venomous tongue. "You're a rake whose nakedness does nothing for me."

Joseph stopped dancing and pulled Lydia hard against his chest. They stood in the middle of the circle as the confused dancers around them kept going after a few seconds of falling out of line.

He stared into Lydia's eyes as her breasts heaved each time she took a breath. "Then why did you stare with unguarded eyes at my nakedness, little nymph? You practically begged me to show myself to you as you stood there in next to nothing yourself."

For the first time since they'd met that afternoon, Lydia seemed speechless. "I… I wanted… I'd never seen a man before. I mean, not like that."

Joseph was perplexed by her honest answer. No more barbs, just innocent curiosity. He was intrigued to probe more into this side of her but knew they could not stand together like this for long.

However, letting go of her yet was unthinkable. He'd caught a wild nymph and might never catch her again.

Joseph could smell the soothing lilac soap in Lydia's chestnut hair and could almost see clear to the bottom of her abundant cleavage inside her beaded gold dress.

"Are you saying you were merely curious? I find that hard to believe." Joseph pulled away from Lydia and spun her around once, then pulled her to his chest again. If they seemed to be dancing their own made-up steps, he might keep her close for longer without others becoming overly suspicious.

Lydia's breathing grew harder with what Joseph guessed might be either fright or longing. He hoped for the latter.

"Yes, I was curious. I'm a curious person, Lord Winstone. I wish to know how things work." She fluttered her eyelashes, but not in the coy way of most young ladies. Lady Lydia was trying to hold back tears.

Noticing her emotional state softened Joseph's hold of her waist.

"And what did you learn about how I work, Lady Lydia?" He spun his dance partner around one more time and waited for her answer.

"I fear that is a private conversation for another time, my lord." She pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him back. "In the meantime, I suggest you learn how to speak to a lady with respect. And return my things at once!"

Lydia rejoined the dancing circle as if nothing untoward had just happened. Joseph did the same with his eyes shining brightly.

The nymph from the spring was vexing, but she was also an enticing woman and fun to tease. She was so enticing, in fact, that he would have to find a way to have that private conversation she had alluded to before the night was through.

***

After Lydia made a hasty exit from the dance floor, Joseph joined his two brothers by the refreshment table just outside the grand ballroom.

"Enjoying your big party, brother? It's a grand affair that Mama has thrown for you." Oliver slurred his words and bowed to Joseph with a sarcastic salute.

"This isn't my party, Oliver. And your overconsumption of port this early in the evening makes it seem more like your party instead." Joseph steadied his brother when he tipped to one side as their youngest brother, Henry, laughed.

"He's been pontificating in the corner as if a single soul were listening. Trust me, Oliver is less embarrassing while he's drinking than when he's talking to thin air." Henry smacked Oliver on the shoulder, stole his drink, and finished it off with a loud smack of his lips.

"Hey!" Oliver swung his arm at Henry, but he missed and spun himself around, nearly falling into the table full of his mother's prized crystal glasses and serving dishes.

"Whoa, brother! I think we need to find your wife so she can keep watch over you." Joseph righted Oliver again and looked around for Sophia's pretty blonde hair in the sea of women coming and going through the entrance hall.

"My wife? My wife? As if she bloody cares for the likes of me!" Oliver grabbed a crystal goblet and raised it above his head while his brothers worked to retrieve it and prevent its demise.

Joseph felt their mother's glare on the back of his neck before she appeared by his side.

"What is the meaning of this, Oliver Penton? We agreed that you would not indulge in any drink at my most important event of the year!" Two imposing footmen flanked Lady Winstone and waited for her instructions as she quietly chastised her middle son.

Joseph wanted to handle his brother himself, but he knew their mother would have the last word, as she always did.

"Jenson and Rogers will escort you to your room now, so you can sleep it off. When you are behaving like a gentleman again, you may return to the party. I'll let Sophia know where you are." Lady Winstone nodded at her footmen, who each took one of Oliver's arms.

"If you can find her, be my guest," Oliver mumbled as he hung his head and accepted his fate.

The footmen escorted him out of public view with as much dignity as possible, while Lady Winstone distracted the nearby guests with her exuberant chatter. But whispers and judgmental stares from some of the guests followed Joseph's brother out of the room nonetheless.

"If Oliver doesn't change his ways, he's going to be the death of our family's prominence and legacy." Joseph leaned toward his youngest brother's ear to quietly utter what he knew was his mother's biggest fear.

"We cannot know what Oliver suffers behind closed doors, Joseph. But you are right. I am at a loss for how to help." Henry looked down and spoke toward the floor for fear of anyone reading his lips. "It seems his wife keeps disappearing when he needs her the most."

"And where is your wife, young Henry?" Joseph brightened his mood to keep from wallowing in worry about things he couldn't change during a party. He ladled lemonade into two crystal glasses and held one in each hand.

"No lemonade for me, thanks. It gives me terrible stomach upset. Can you imagine that following up Oliver's scene at mother's ball?" Henry chuckled and pointed across the room. "Maria is just there, speaking with Miss Underwood."

Joseph followed Henry's gaze to see the two women conversing by a table full of elaborately decorated cakes and pastries. As usual, Henry's wife looked graceful and sophisticated. Maria glanced toward the men and waved a friendly hello to her husband and brother-in-law, but her companion was not as cordial.

Miss Wilhelmina Underwood nodded at the men, let her eyes linger on Joseph, then turned away. Since the moment she'd come out in society, Miss Underwood had developed a notorious reputation for being ruthless in her pursuit of status and wealth on her own terms. Many times, Joseph and his brothers had watched her from afar at various social events while betting on which gentlemen would earn her favor.

Miss Underwood had jet-black hair and a sinful figure she liked to flaunt. She also had a great deal of family wealth for a woman born without aristocratic blood. She was exotic and sexy in a dark way that Joseph couldn't quite describe, but he knew that getting close to a woman like her was similar to building your house over quicksand. Sooner or later, she'd swallow you whole.

Though it might be worth the tragic end to bed her just once. Even the most proper of gentlemen were sometimes enticed by the dark side. Or so says every man who's ever met her and then stayed far from Miss Underwood's clutches, just in case.

"Go save your wife from that spoiled rotten vixen, Henry. And this lemonade isn't for you."

Joseph made his way back into the ballroom and spotted Lady Lydia standing with her two sisters against the wall. He quickly returned to the refreshment table to retrieve a third glass of lemonade, then walked again toward the Carter sisters, carefully balancing the three full glasses in his hands.

"Ladies, for you. Are you enjoying the evening thus far?"

Eleanor and Charlotte Carter beamed at him and each accepted a glass. Lydia, however, waved his offer away.

"I'm not thirsty. Thank you, Lord Winstone." She curtsied and moved across the ballroom to where her parents were laughing with the Duke and Duchess of Binghamton.

"Well, then. I guess this one's for me. I wonder if you could help me win a bet with your sister, ladies. She insists that lilies are her favorite flower, but I think she looks like a woman who prefers roses. Which is it?" Joseph leaned slightly toward Lydia's younger sisters to show he meant to keep their confidence from the rest of the guests. Though he was lying that he had a bet with Lydia, he thought it might be a nice gesture to return Lydia's belongings soon along with a beautiful bouquet.

It worked. The young ladies were instantly giddy and forthcoming.

"It's neither, Lord Winstone! Lydia is one of those bookish sorts of girls who can't be bothered with glamorous blooms. I'd say she'd much prefer dandelions," Lady Eleanor whispered to Joseph with her hand shielding her mouth, then lapsed into a fit of giggles with her sister.

"Oh, yes! Lydia loves garden weeds, especially when pressed inside a stuffy, boring book!" Lady Charlotte threw her head back and howled with laughter as her sister started hiccupping between very inelegant guffaws.

Joseph shook his head and wished he'd never asked.

"Thank you for the insight, ladies. Enjoy your evening." He bowed and took his leave of the younger Carter sisters, headed for the back entrance of the ballroom.

He vowed to be gone only momentarily, but it was time to get some fresh air after only one dance. That one dance had exhausted him, and it also seemed to drain him of any want to seek another woman's hand on the dance floor. The eldest Carter sister was all he could think about as he strode through the house and out to the back garden, bound for the orangery for a few moments of peace.

But it was Lady Lydia herself that blocked his path near the cutting garden.

"Lord Winstone, may I have a word, please?" She stood with her arms crossed and a very unfriendly scowl on her face.

"Lady Lydia, this is impertinent. We should not be alone together out here. Go back inside, little nymph, before either of our mothers discover us." Joseph looked over his shoulder at the entryway, hoping not to add to his mother's embarrassment after Oliver's removal from the party.

"Please do not call me that! I am not here to speak to the intruder from the spring. I am a concerned citizen who needs to ask an important question of an esteemed viscount. Could you manage to behave like a proper gentleman for one moment?" Lydia threw her hands up in the air and seemed to be talking to the heavens.

"Very interesting, my lady. By all means, ask your question. But only if you answer mine first." Joseph crossed his arms and spread his legs slightly apart to appear more in command that any man could possibly feel in this feisty nymph's presence.

Within seconds, he'd forgotten all about embarrassing his family. Having another moment alone with his hot spring nemesis was too good to pass up.

"Oh, for the love of King George! Fine! What is your question?" Lydia rubbed her arms below her short sleeves in the chilly breeze.

"Did you truly feel nothing when you looked at me in the spring?"

Lydia's jaw dropped open again as Joseph kept his expression flat and undecipherable.

"First you scold me for being impertinent and then you ask a question like that?" Lydia turned and walked with haste in the direction of the orangery. "I told you, I was merely curious about your anatomy, you pompous beast! Good evening, Lord Winstone!" Joseph followed her with the same sensations of lust tugging his body awake as had happened with her that afternoon. "Wait, my lady! You dare to seduce me at the spring, but won't answer a sincere question from a simple man?"

Lydia's spirited laughter caused the ducks floating on the nearby pond to furiously flap their wings and fly away. "A simple man? You are a beast, but you are not simple. A simple man wouldn't know how to insult a lady as brilliantly as you!"

She turned to face him again a few steps from the orangery and slammed her hands onto her hips.

"If you must know, I watched you walk out of that spring not with desire but with the curiosity of a scientific mind. I am an unmarried lady and therefore not privy to all the ways a man's anatomy differs from mine. Or I wasn't until today."

Joseph watched her shiver again and removed his jacket. He offered it to her from a few feet away. This time she accepted his gift and pushed her arms into the overly long black sleeves.

"And what did you learn about my anatomy today, my lady?"

Lydia hesitated, then stood straight and pushed out her chin with confidence. "I learned that you have a rather awkward appendage between your legs that seems to have a life of its own. I also learned that your appendage grew erect because you… desire me."

Joseph took in a breath. In all his days, he could never have predicted that he would be spoken to by a lady in such a way as that. So bold and without filter; her words hadn't even a hint of flirtation or denial.

In one day, Lady Lydia Carter had surprised him over and over. And caused his sex to stiffen again with more want for her than he knew how to contain.

"My awkward appendage, you say? That's actually not the scientific word for it, you know." Joseph took a small step toward Lydia, which caused her to take one small step backward.

"Yes, I know. I looked it up."

Joseph released a long breathy laugh. "You looked it up? What does that mean?"

"My father has anatomy books in our library. I told you, I like to know how things work." She took another step backward as Joseph inched his way forward again.

"Well, then you know that it's not called an awkward appendage. I believe the formal term for it is the Buckingham Bone."

Lydia froze and cocked her head to one side. "The what? That's not… you're making fun of me."

"Or if it's a noble appendage, the Princely Prick."

"Have I mentioned what a beast you are? Stop talking, please." Lydia removed his coat from her body and dropped it on the lawn between them with a sneer on her lovely face.

"The Mayfair Manhood? The Cornwall Cane!" Joseph kept his hands in front of his groin as he teased the lady because removing them would have put them in nearly the same predicament as their first encounter at the spring. "I'm attempting to make you smile, my lady. Is it not working?"

"Oh, I understand your meaning, Lord Winstone, but your humor has missed its mark. I stopped you just now to ask your knowledge of the rights of tenant farmers and how to help a friend. But you have turned my lust for knowledge into a joke. All because your penis gave your desire away and you can't handle how that makes you feel. You see, it is you who desires me, Lord Winstone. But I am the one woman in all of England that you cannot have."

Joseph stood in silence and swallowed hard as Lady Lydia kicked his jacket on the ground and proceeded to walk toward him like she was about to attack.

"Besides, I obviously cannot comment on whether or not your awkward appendage made me feel anything out of the ordinary, my lord. I could not fully see it under your tunic."

She dared to reach out and press her hand against Joseph's chest before locking eyes with him one more time. "So, if you want to know the real answer to your question, you'll need to show it to me in all its natural glory someday. For science, of course."

Lydia stomped toward the main house as Joseph felt any sense of control he had left over his heart, mind, and body go with her.