Candice Hern - Merry Widows 02 - Just One Of Those Flings.pdf - Candice_Hern_-_Merry_Widows_02_-_Just_One_Of_Those_Flings - SilverWitch

Just One of Those flings

Candice Hern

Chapter 1

London, spring 1813

He could not keep his eyes off her. Gabriel Loughton, Marquess of Thayne, had come to the

Wallingford masquerade ball for the express purpose of surveying this Season's crop of beauties, but

his eyes kept straying to the tall, elegant woman dressed as Artemis, the huntress. She was no young

girl in her first Season. In fact, by the way she closely watched the movements of a pretty blond

shepherdess being led through a country dance with a plumed cavalier, Thayne would not be surprised

to learn that his Artemis was the girl's chaperone. Or even, God forbid, her mother.

He did not, however, look like anyone's mother. The Grecian tunic she wore did little to disguise the

shapely form beneath. Even the smallest movement sent the silky yellow drapery slithering and clinging

in beguiling ways. Her arms were deliriously bare, save for a gold bracelet in the shape of a snake

coiled high on one upper arm. Thayne had always found a woman's arms to be one of the most sensual

parts of her body, and cursed British fashion or propriety or whatever it was that compelled most

women to cover those intriguing assets with long sleeves or long gloves. Even at a masquerade, when a

hint of boldness, or a hint of flesh, was generally forgiven, there were few bare arms to be seen.

Whether milkmaid or queen, in Vandyke dress or Turkish garb, almost all the women kept their arms

covered. Bosoms, however, were much on display, to Thayne's delight, and the occasional bare shoulder

caught his eye. But very few arms were uncovered, and only one pair was of any interest.

His gaze feasted on those pale, slender limbs that moved so gracefully in gesture as she spoke. He

wanted to touch them, to graze that white skin with his fingers, softly, very softly, and watch it

prickle into gooseflesh.

Perhaps it was that very pale coloring that drew his attention. Her hairÐor perhaps it was a wig; he

could not be sureÐwas dusted with yellow powder flecked with gold that caught the candlelight. Her

true hair might be dark, for all he knew, but he doubted it. Her skin had the translucence most often

coupled with fair hair. And it was so very English. After eight years in India, where he'd been

surrounded by dark, exotic beauties, Artemis's coloring was a treat to the eyes.

And yet, the room was filled with fair English roses with blue eyes and creamy complexions. There

was something more that drew him to Artemis. The elegant coiffure intrigued him, to be sure. It was

pulled up and back with gold combs, and crimped in waves reminiscent of the antique statuary his

father collected to fill his gardens. There were many powdered heads among the guests, but all were

dusted in the usual white. Artemis with her yellow powder would have been unique enough, but the gold

flecks made her even more so. She was a woman of style and with the confidence of individuality that

set her apart from the rest. One long curl fell over her shoulder and moved in a way that suggested it

was her own hair and no wig. What he wouldn't give to see the rest of it hanging loose and then to

bury his hands in it.

Damnation. His first night back in London and he was behaving like a randy schoolboy. With an effort,

Thayne tore his gaze away from the fair huntress. He had no business ogling a woman who was

certainly someone's wife, probably someone's mother. Not tonight. He hadn't come to the masquerade

to find a mistress. As much as it pained him to admit it, he'd come here to find a bride. Or, more

accurately, to see what was in store for him when his mother began, as early as tomorrow, trotting out

for his inspection every eligible young girl with the requisite impeccable breeding and good looks. The

duchess would, of course, have her favorites and she would try to push him toward one of them. But

Thayne would not be pushed. He would make his own choice. Not that he had any strict requirements.

So long as she was reasonably pretty and wasn't entirely empty-headed, he would be satisfied. He

knew his duty. He just wanted to have a quick look around for himself before the matrimonial race

began. Before anyone realized he'd returned.

Just as he had expected, a masquerade was the perfect venue to survey the field, which was

precisely why he'd cajoled his sister Martha, Lady Bilston, into letting him use her invitation. Behind

the security of their masks, not to mention elaborate wigs and costumes, the young ladies of the ton

behaved with a little less restraint, less formality, less anxiety. Chaperones did not scrutinize their

movements quite so closely. Thayne fully expected that he would have to choose a bride from among a

group of girls so well protected by the strictures of Society that he would never really know her at all.

At least tonight, when no one recognized him, he hoped to catch a glimpse of the real women behind

some of those elegant masks.

He watched a pretty young brunette dressed in the long-sleeved gown and tall headdress of a

fourteenth-century noblewoman, as she flirted with her dance partner. Her eyes sparkled coquettishly

behind her mask and she ran a playful finger along his sleeve. She looked perfectly charming, but

Thayne would be willing to wager she would never have behaved in such an alluring manner if it had

been a normal ball, where her chaperone would be less forgiving. He would make a point of discovering

who she was.

He continued to appraise potential brides from his position in a far corner, where he leaned

negligently against a pillar. Several other pretty young women were worth a second look: a fair-haired

milkmaid with an engaging smile, a Spanish infanta with masses of dark ringlets gathered on either

side of her head like the ears of a spaniel, a girl with a magnificent bosom in a low-necked court dress

from the time of Charles II.

Thayne would choose one or two to dance with, to discover if they were possessed of good

conversation as well as beauty. Would one of them be worth a formal courtship, and potentially the

role of his marchioness?

No matter where he looked, though, his gaze always came back to her. To the beautiful huntress with

the tiny quiver filled with miniature golden arrows slung over her shoulder. Her body swayed slightly in

time to the music, with the sensual grace worthy of a skilled ganika, one of the prized professional

courtesans at the courts of India. But hers was not a studied grace. It appeared to come naturally,

which made it all the more alluring.

She smiled as she spoke to the woman beside her, who was dressed in elaborate Elizabethan finery,

with a bright red wig of tight curls and an enormous ruff around her neck. The stiff collar and heavy

costume, which made it difficult for the woman to move more than her head and hands, was in sharp

contrast with the natural drape of her companion's silky tunic. He was almost certain "Queen

Elizabeth" was their hostess, Lady Wallingford, but he could not be positive since he'd arrived late in

order to avoid formal introductions.

Who was Artemis, then? A friend? A Wallingford relation? Had he met her before, when he was on

the town briefly in his youth? She was certainly someone of rank; else she would not be at such an

exclusive gathering, nor would she be rubbing shoulders with their hostess.

He watched those fair shoulders rise and fall in a graceful shrug. Yes, it was definitely more than her

coloring and unique style that drew his interest. The way she subtly, perhaps unconsciously, flaunted

the fine-looking form beneath the Grecian tunic, the way she held her head at a slight angle, the way

she smiled. And something more, something indefinable, an aura of sensuality that he could sense

shimmering off her, even at a distance.

Her gaze swept the room and finally collided with his own. Elegant arched brows lifted above the gold

mask as she looked at him, and one corner of her mouth quirked upward, as though she was pleased, or

perhaps amused, by his scrutiny. Before he could return her smile, she moved away. It had been only

an instant, but that winsome gaze had sent a shot of pure molten heat through his veins. Lord, she was

magnificent!

Thayne smiled as a plan began to take shape in his mind.

He had come to the masquerade to ease his way back into Society without anyone knowing who he was,

though he'd been away so long he doubted anyone would recognize him even without the mask and

costume. He most particularly did not want potential bridal candidates to learn his identity just yet,

and begin fawning and preening before the Marquess of Thayne. As he watched Artemis, though, he

wondered if it might not be just as well to woo a mistress while in disguise, to encourage capitulation

without laying his rank and fortune at her feet.

He couldn't take his eyes off her. It was time to do more than look.

Beatrice Campion, the Countess of Somerfield, adjusted the gilt girdle around her waist and fluffed

the blouson that fell over it. She felt positively naked in this dratted costume. She didn't know what

had possessed her to wear something so revealingÐeven her toes were bare in the gold sandals that

laced up her feetÐbut then that was the fun of a masquerade, was it not? To be a little bold, a little

shocking. Her niece, Emily, had certainly been shocked, but only because she feared Beatrice would

draw attention away from herself. But it had taken little more than a moment before Emily realized

that no one would take note of an elderly, widowed chaperone, no matter how provocatively dressed.

"After all," she had said, "you will be gathered along the wall with the other chaperones and

dowagers, and no one is likely to take note of you. Indeed, I cannot imagine why you bothered to wear

a costume at all when a simple domino would have sufficed."

"My dressmaker insisted it was just the thing," Beatrice had said in her defense, "that classical garb

was exceedingly fashionable."

"And it would be," Emily said, "on someone not so . . ."

She appeared to have literally bitten her tongue. Beatrice laughed and then finished the thought. "So

old?"

Emily shook her head, cheeks flushing prettily, and then changed the subject to the advantages of

her own frothy costume and whether there might be too much lace at the neck.

Beatrice did not care what her niece thought. She was the mother of two daughters, but did not feel

at all matronly or old tonight. Not in such a costume. In fact, even at the advanced age of thirty-five,

something about the way the tiny pleats of yellow silk felt against her body made her feel quite . . .

womanly. Sensual, even. Especially when a certain gentleman kept staring at her.

Candice Hern - Merry Widows 02 - Just One Of Those Flings.pdf

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