The Lady Confesses by Carole Mortimer

Nathaniel’s own thoughts were still so undecided.
    There was no doubting that he was attracted to this young beauty, or that it was an unsuitable attraction, considering her position in his aunt’s household. But as he had watched her throughout the evening and felt himself drawn to the sensuous elegance of her body as she danced, had witnessed the easy charm with which she dealt with those around her, he had begun to wonder if it might not be possible to tempt Elizabeth away from her employment here and set her up in a discreet household of her own, where he might visit her whenever he felt so inclined.
    Which, considering the arousal caused from just briefly holding the soft warmth of her feminine curves against his own would no doubt be often in the first few weeks of that arrangement!
    But it was an arrangement he dared not even think of suggesting now after Tennant’s ham-fisted handling of the situation—which had perhaps been the other man’s intent? he mused.
    ‘My lord?’ Elizabeth eyed him warily now.
    Nathaniel sighed inwardly. ‘It is usually polite to wait until one is asked before one says no.’ Especially if the mere suggestion of it had reduced her to tears!
    A frown appeared between her eyes. ‘I merely thought to share the absurdity of Sir Rufus’s suggestion with you, my lord.’
    So not only had she found the suggestion so insulting it had reduced her to tears, but in retrospect she now found the very idea of such an arrangement absurd!
    Neither of which was particularly flattering to a man’s ego, Nathaniel acknowledged ruefully. Especially when the remark was made by the young and beautiful woman he found so physically arousing! ‘You realise the reason for Tennant’s interference, I hope?’ he said.
    Elizabeth was not so naïve that she did not realise exactly the reason for Sir Rufus’s boorish behaviour. But if he had thought to endear himself to her by acting as her protector in the bluntly crude way he had tonight, then he was going to be sadly disappointed. A gentleman simply did not discuss such matters with a single young lady, no matter how lowly her station in life might appear to be.
    She gave a shake of her head. ‘I do not at all return Sir Rufus’s interest.’
    ‘You still have no inclination to accept an offer of marriage if he were to make one?’
    ‘I do not.’ Elizabeth barely managed to repress her shiver of revulsion at the very idea of marriage to a man such as Sir Rufus Tennant.
    ‘I am glad to hear it,’ Nathaniel said with obvious relief.
    ‘Are you?’ Elizabeth eyed him curiously. ‘Why?’
    He returned that frown for several long tension-filled seconds before answering evasively, ‘Can you really see yourself incarcerated in the country for the rest of your life?’
    As that had been Elizabeth’s fate until a few short weeks ago, she had to suppress a smile! ‘Devonshire is certainly a very beautiful part of England.’ She shrugged.
    ‘I doubt it would hold the same appeal if you were the wife of a pompous and self-opinionated man like Tennant.’ Nathaniel’s lips twisted into a moue of distaste.
    ‘Perhaps not everyone finds Sir Rufus as…trying, as we do?’ Elizabeth suggested fairly.
    ‘I doubt that is true, considering he is still unmarried at eight and thirty,’ Nathaniel said brusquely, having every intention of speaking severely to that gentlemen on the subject of Elizabeth Thompson before the evening came to an end.
    ‘Perhaps he has remained unmarried through choice?’ she mused.
    ‘Perhaps.’
    Elizabeth glanced at him thoughtfully. ‘You speak as if you might know the reason for that choice.’
    Nathaniel shook his head. ‘I do not believe anyone knows Tennant well enough to know that.’ Certainly not well enough to say with any certainty as to whether or not Sir Rufus had indeed been somewhat unhinged by the suicide of his younger brother all those years ago. ‘I am merely trying to point out the oddity of a personable