Mastering the Marquess by Vanessa Kelly

his cheeks as he stared bemusedly into her pretty face.
    Meredith turned around to look at Robert, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears.
    â€œNo, Mr. Stanton. It is I who should apologize to you for subjecting you and his lordship to such a disgraceful scene,” she replied in a husky voice. “I cannot, however, regret your timely intervention, and Annabel and I can never begin to express our deepest gratitude.” She walked slowly over to Silverton.
    â€œIndeed, if you had not come I suspect things would’ve ended very badly for us,” she said softly, eyes like burnished silver gazing earnestly into his. “I can never thank you enough for your kindness.”
    The intensity of those amazing eyes tugged at something located in the vicinity of his heart. For a moment they stared at each other, and then Silverton busied himself with polishing his quizzing glass.
    â€œYour thanks are not necessary,” he replied brusquely. “I acted only as my aunt would have wished. Lady Stanton would have expected nothing less.”
    Meredith stole a bit closer as she reached out and fleetingly touched his arm.
    â€œNevertheless,” she murmured, “I shall always be grateful for your assistance.”
    He realized with a slight shock that she was gazing at him with an expression of fervent admiration on her pale but lovely face. It startled him. It should have made him nervous. But if he were honest with himself, Silverton had to admit it was remarkably pleasant to bask in the glow of her approval.
    Even more strangely, though, it made him feel, well, amorous. All he wanted to do right now was find a dark corner to pull her into, push her skirts up, and explore all those lush curves and velvet skin with his mouth and hands.
    Good God, he thought irritably, he was becoming positively deranged. Perhaps he was the one who should be committed to a lunatic asylum.
    Silverton hated feeling so out of control. From the moment he had entered the drawing room he had been flooded with a wash of extreme emotions. First, he had wanted to pummel Isaac Burnley into a bloody pulp, especially when he had turned on Meredith and mocked her common birth. Then, when her cousin Jacob had insisted on seeing her again, Silverton had been overcome by a violent wave of jealousy. He had wanted to pummel Jacob, too. And now, when Meredith looked at him with that achingly sweet expression on her face, he could barely keep his hands off her. He needed to master these idiotically primitive instincts, and soon.
    Especially since the purpose of this visit had originally been to visit Annabel. What a tangle the entire situation had become.
    The door opened and Agatha reappeared in the room, laden down with a large and very full tea tray. Struggling under its weight, she carried it to a small table by the sofa and deposited it with a less than graceful thump. Meredith hurried over to assist her.
    â€œThank you, Agatha. I don’t know what we would do without you.” She smiled kindly at the girl as she helped her unload teacups and plates onto the table. “How is Miss Noyes?”
    â€œShe’s resting, miss. I mixed up some of those sleeping powders the doctor gave us the last time she was feeling poorly,” Agatha exclaimed cheerfully. “Gin doesn’t really agree with Miss Noyes, in spite of what Mrs. Biggs might think.”
    â€œYes, well, thank you, Agatha. That will be all for now,” Meredith replied in a faintly horrified voice. “Lord Silverton, Mr. Stanton, please be seated. You, too, Annabel. I’m sure we have all been standing about long enough.”
    Robert hurried across the room to sit next to Annabel on the sofa. His cousin seemed to be developing a marked taste for the girl’s company, Silverton thought, and that was a complication he really didn’t need.
    He sat down in an overstuffed floral armchair, murmuring a quiet thanks when Meredith brought him tea but declining