You, and Only You by Jennifer McNare

understandingly.   “I
know exactly how you feel.”   After a
moment, she returned her gaze back to Tiffany and her features became more
solemn.   “But as much as I adore Alex, I
just… I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
    “I know.”   Tiffany
couldn’t have asked for a better friend than Ashleigh Leighton.   Casting her eyes downward, she asked the
question that had been plaguing her since she’d overheard the Addler sisters
talking.   “Do you think he and the
baroness are lovers?”
    Ashleigh turned her attention to Alex and the baroness,
watching for a moment as they walked closer to the water’s edge.   She hesitated a moment before answering.   “It’s possible, I suppose.”
    They were both silent for a moment, each lost to their own
thoughts, until finally Tiffany broke the silence.   “Do you think it’s true what they say?   That reformed rakes make for the best of
husbands?”
    Turning her gaze once again to her husband, Ashleigh’s
expression softened at once.  
    “I shall take that as a yes,” Tiffany chuckled.  
    Grasping Tiffany’s hand, Ashleigh gave it a reassuring
squeeze.
    “I was thinking of going for a ride around the lake,”
Tiffany said, glancing to where the horses were staked just a short distance
away.   Though she didn’t voice it aloud,
she longed to distance herself from the sight of Alex and Lucinda Langdon.   “I would ask you to join me,” she began,
keeping her tone intentionally light, “but as hostess, I fear your presence
would be missed.”
    Ashleigh heaved an exaggerated, wistful sigh.   “Unfortunately, I think you are correct.”

 
 
    A short while later, as Ashleigh fulfilled her duties as the
group’s hostess, Tiffany once again mounted the gentle mare she’d ridden
earlier and then guided her to the wooded area to the east.   She knew the area fairly well, for she and
Ashleigh had ridden several times through the surrounding woodlands since her
friend’s marriage to the duke, acquainting themselves with the breadth and
beauty of the Sethe private lands.   After
casting one last glance in Alex’s direction, she turned away and steered her
mount toward a break in the trees.

 
 
    As Alex walked with Lucinda away from the picnickers and
closer to the water’s edge, she inched closer and closer until her bountiful
breasts were pushed right up against his arm.
    “God’s teeth, Lucinda,” Alex chided, deliberately widening
the distance between them.   “Have you no
understanding of discretion at all?”
    “Don’t be silly,” she cooed, glancing about.   “No one is paying us the slightest
attention.”
    “Even if that were true, it matters not,” Alex said
reprovingly.   “This is hardly a private
setting and it appears that the blasted rumors about us have already
begun.”   He recalled Olivia Whitlunde’s
remark from the night before, as well as the comment Tiffany had made when
they’d stood out on the terrace.  
    Lucinda shrugged and pressed her breasts up against him once
again.   “Well then, perhaps we should
sneak away and find ourselves a more private setting,” she murmured
seductively.
    Rather than inciting his desire, her brazen suggestion had
Alex’s temper rising.   Was she really so
reckless?   He stopped and turned to face
her, his expression harsh.   “Have you
completely lost your mind?” he bit out in an icy whisper.
    She frowned.   “Of
course I haven’t,” she answered petulantly.       
    “Well then, perhaps you could at least try to assume some measure of prudence in your behavior.”
    “I was under the impression that you liked my behavior exactly as it was.”   After a moment, when he said nothing in
response, her features tightened perceptively.   “However, if that is no longer the case, then perhaps I should take my behavior elsewhere.”   The threat in her voice was implicit.   The implication, that she could have any man
she desired.
    He hesitated