Outside, Lady Delander continued to urge her footman onward. "Not a moment to lose, Peter! There are lives at stake."
With only seconds to spare, Mason caught hold of his last guest, and while it wasn't the kindest course of action, he tossed her into the nearest closet.
Slamming the door shut, he turned to Cousin Felicity. "Not a word, Cousin. Not one word." He started to wave to Belton to let the intruders in, just as the door to the closet popped back open.
"I will not-" Madame began to protest.
Mason had few choices left. With the front door about to give way, he realized he needed to silence Madame Fontaine immediately.
Later on, when he looked back at all the choices he could have made, he could only wonder why he chose that one.
It hadn't been the most honorable, or decent, or respectable decision.
It had been a Freddieinspired impulse at its worst.
But it worked-it quieted Madame Fontaine-yet it also started an entirely new set of problems.
For even as the front door sprang open with Lady Delander leading the charge, Mason caught the protesting Madame Fontaine in his arms and plunged them both into the front closet. And once inside, he did the most Ashlin thing he'd ever done in his life.
He'd kissed the lady into silence...and discovered why his ancestors had left a trail of debt from Covent Garden to Vauxhall.
Chapter 5.
"I will not be-" Riley started to protest as the Earl crashed into the closet with her, enveloping her in his resourceful embrace.
His lips closed over hers, catching her unawares in a kiss.
This was no stage buss, no hasty, snatched affair from an overly attentive admirer.
His lips held hers under a masterful spell.
In a whisper and sigh, she found herself lost. The chaos in the foyer faded to a distant hum, until all she knew was the warmth of his body, the spicy scent of his shaving soap, and the taste of his lips.
How could it be that in an instant this unpolished man of letters, this stern, puritanical professor disappeared and in his place stood a rake of the first order, a man who knew how to hold a woman and tease her senses until they tingled with new life?
Even worse, she found herself answering his kiss with a need she never realized had been missing from
her life.
So much for her promise to herself not to touch him, as she rose up on her toes to get even closer to him.
Her arms wound around his neck as she melted against his chest. Her mouth opened further and he deepened the kiss until a cry, a strident peel like a battle-ax being sharpened for war, wrenched them apart.
"Lady Felicity, what is the meaning of this?" a shrill voice she assumed to be Lady Delander's cried out again.
"Shhh-" Lord Ashlin whispered into her ear.As if she could say anything right now. She still couldn't catch her breath, let alone calm her poundingheart, which she was sure could be heard from the attic to the cellar.
"I will have an answer," Lady Delander demanded. "What is the meaning of all this?"
"Meaning of what?" Cousin Felicity replied.
"The door! Belton barred the door to me."
Too bad they couldn't have kept it that way, Riley found herself wishing. Wishing she had the courage to
turn her face up and coax the Earl into kissing her one more time.
Oh, whatever was she thinking? This is what became of associating with nobility-it made one...well,hardly noble! She should be outraged. She should be indignant.And she should certainly not be wishing for another kiss.Out in the foyer, Cousin Felicity laughed. "Belton? Did you bar Lady Delander from the house?""No, Madame, I would never presume to question your or Lord Ashlin's choice of guests."Belton's sarcasm sounded as if it were aimed directly at her.
"I tell you I was barred from your house," Lady Delander continued. "That door was shut in my face."
This was followed by a great huff and sigh, like the wheeze of bagpipes.
"Odious woman," Mason muttered under his breath.
Riley heartily agreed. While she had yet to lay her eyes on the estimable lady, she could well envision her, having seen her kind in their private boxes, whispering and pointing their fans at the moral decay around them, and then delighting in sharing the latest on-dits and scandalous bits with anyone willing to listen.
"Oh, that door," Cousin Felicity was saying. "I'm afraid it sticks. Whenever it rains. Terriblyinconvenient. I've been after Lord Ashlin to fix it, but does he listen to me?"
"Sticks when it rains?" Lady Delander's voice sounded incredulous. "Lady Felicity, it is not raining.""Oh, so it isn't. Well, that's why it must have opened." In her own nonsensical way, Cousin Felicity wasdoing a good job of distracting their unwanted guest, but not for long.
Lady Delander, Riley quickly realized, was, if anything, persistent.
"Oh, never mind about the door," she said to Cousin Felicity. "I distinctly saw an infidel entering your house earlier, and in the company of a woman whose dress was, shall we say, less than respectable."
"Less than respectable?" Riley whispered. "Why, I'll have that woman know this gown is the height of-
Her protests were cut off again with another kiss, this one just as swift and shocking as the first-meltingher very heart.His hand pressed at the small of her back, pulling her closer to him.Oh, how dare he, she wanted to cry out, if only her body wasn't having the most disgraceful reaction.
Her fingers gripped his shoulders and she pressed herself closer if only to feel all of him.
What the devil was she doing, throwing herself at him like the worst type of Cyprian he already suspected her of being?
She broke away, their gazes meeting briefly in the meager light slipping in around the door.
There she saw a hunger that both frightened her and left her wanting to fill that deep void.
He put a single finger to her lips. "Shhh." His touch burned her skin as much as his lips had moments
earlier. "Don't say a word."All she could do was nod. Do anything he asked rather than break the spell between them."I tell you, I saw the most heinous heathen entering this house!" Lady Delander said."A heathen in Ashlin Square?" Cousin Felicity's words echoed with disbelief. She lowered her voice, though not enough so it wasn't heard through the closed door of their closet. "Josephine, have you been
putting sherry in your tea again?"
"I certainly have not!" the lady protested. "I know what I saw. And I saw an infidel entering this house with the most wicked-looking sword. 'Tis a wonder you haven't had your throat slit. I told my son to summon the watch immediately."
Mason groaned. "Not the watch."
"Oh, dear! He didn't, did he?" Cousin Felicity was asking.
"Summon the watch?" Lady Delander said. "No, he refused. Said it probably had to do with another of Lord Ashlin's odd university studies and never to mind. But you know me, Felicity. I shan't stay still while my friends are in danger. So I summoned all my courage and came over here to see to you myself."
"A regular Lady Macbeth out there," Riley whispered. "Can't leave well enough alone." She changed the inflection in her voice to mimic Lady Delander. "Out, damned spot."
Lord Ashlin's eyes widened with amazement, and then his mouth twitched with uncharacteristic humor.
Riley would have sworn such a smile on this man wasn't possible, and even worse, it lent him that spark of disarmingly handsome charm she'd witnessed earlier.
"Josephine, where would I be without a good friend like you?" Cousin Felicity was asking. "But there was no need. Come to think of it, I do believe Lord Ashlin was visiting with some fellow just back from some savage place or another. And in the most outlandish garb."
"Well, you should implore him not to associate with such people. This is Ashlin Square, not the democratic rabble of Oxford."
"How right you are. I assure you, I will pass on your sentiments the moment he returns. But in the meantime, you should come upstairs and we'll have our tea," Cousin Felicity said. "I have the most engaging news about Miss Pindar and my dear Mason."
"You mean..."
The ladies' voices trailed off, their footsteps passing overhead as the gossiping pair ascended the steps. As soon as the door to Cousin Felicity's salon closed, Belton opened the door to the closet.
There, much to the stalwart man's horror, he found the master of the house with an actress in his arms, kissing the woman in a most indecent fashion.
In his forty years of service at Ashlin House, the poor butler was loath to admit it wasn't the first time that closet had been used thusly by the lord of the house.
Mason realized only too late that the door was wide open, and his momentary lapse of honor was now being witnessed by not only Belton, but a gawking housemaid and footman.
He immediately set Madame Fontaine aside, probably a little too abruptly, because the woman faltered and swayed as if she'd consumed a decanter of port, while those damnable feathers in her hat winked and swayed at him like a trio of conspirators.
And as her gaze focused on Belton and the other servants, her cheeks pinked to a bright shade, as if she' d never been so embarrassed in her life.
Then again, he knew how she felt-and after he'd just spent the morning telling Belton how he was going to return the house to order and regain his seat at Merton College, then he'd gone and done this...this unpardonable act. This giant step backward in the Ashlin family evolution.
"Well, yes, there now, everything seems in order..." Mason muttered, stepping out of the closet as if nothing were out of the ordinary. If only he felt that way-instead of his blood raging with a new fire-a veritable Ashlin blaze of impropriety. He straightened his jacket and took another few steps into the foyer. "I see Lady Delander has been dispatched upstairs without any further incident. Good work, Belton. If you would call a hackney and locate Mr. Hashim, we will see our guests away before there are any other difficulties."
Now that was the way to handle the situation, he thought, as Belton sent a footman for the cab, leaving him only one person left to be dealt with-the lady herself.
For once he wished he had Freddie's experience in these matters. His brother would have known the right witty words to set them both laughing and call an end to this uncomfortable awkwardness.
While he considered what to say, dismissing half a dozen or so dry comments, she bustled right past him.
Then she let out a pretty sigh and went to work straightening her dress and bonnet, finishing her toilet with a quick pat to her hair.
"You needn't worry," he said. "You look quite tolerable."
Her brows arched. "Tolerable? Is that what I am?" She turned her back to him, her foot tapping impatiently.
Bother! Now he'd gone and insulted her. And he hadn't the slightest clue why. "What I meant was, that you appear as if nothing happened. It wasn't as if anything did. Quite the opposite, wouldn't you say?" He added a laugh, hoping she'd see the humor in the situation though he wasn't too sure that it was amusing in the least.
Not when what he really wanted to do was to catch her up in his arms again and continue where he'd left off.
Oh, yes, he told himself. That would solve everything.
She glanced over her shoulder. "I would suppose, given your familial inclinations, assignations in the front closet are quite commonplace. I'll have you know, they are not in mine."
"They aren't in mine, either," he said, drawing himself up. "This...this...display was a complete aberration."
"Now I am an 'aberration?'" Her nose went up in the air.
Oh, the devil take it, he thought. That wasn't what he'd meant at all.