Unexpected Pleasure

Theo Moreland, Lord Raine, rested his hands on the railing and gazed down at the grand ballroom below, a look of discontent upon his handsome face. His green eyes, fringed by smoky lashes so long and thick they would have looked feminine on any face less ruggedly masculine, moved lazily across the floor below, crowded with dancers.He wondered, not for the first time this evening, what he was doing here.He was not the sort for elegant parties. He liked much more to be out-of-doors, preferably in some exotic locale, doing something more intriguing...and possibly dangerous.Of course, Lady Rutherford's ball was dangerous in its own way--ambitious mothers and their daughters circling like sharks--but it was the kind of danger that he assiduously avoided. He wasn't sure why he had come here this evening. He had simply been bored and restless, as he had been many times lately, so much so that at last he had flipped through his stack of invitations, usually ignored, and settled on Lady Rutherford's party.Once he got here, he had regretted the impulse. Besieged by flirtatious women of all ages, he had finally retreated upstairs to the card room. That, too, had paled, and he'd wound up here, gazing down moodily at the wide expanse of floor below."Lord Raine, what a surprise," a sultry voice behind him said.Suppressing a groan, Theo turned. "Lady Scarle." The woman before him was one of the beauties of London and had been for years. Her coloring was vivid, with jet black hair and deep blue eyes, and a strawberries-and-cream complexion. If the color in her cheeks was not entirely natural or a stray white hair or two had to be plucked out whenever they appeared, well, only her personal maid knew about it, and she was paid well to keep secrets. Most men, truth be known, found it difficult to lift their eyes above Lady Scarle's magnificent white bosom, which was, as was customary, spilling out lushly over the low neckline of her purple evening gown."Now, now," she said, smiling archly and laying a hand on Theo's arm. "I think that we know each other well enough for you to call me Helena."Theo shifted uncomfortably and gave her a vague smile. He had never been good at dealing with rapacious females, and he found women like Lady Scarle even more unnerving than giggling young debutantes.When he had left London on his last expedition, Lady Helena Scarle had been married to doddering old Lord Scarle, and while she had flirted with Theo, she had been interested in nothing more than a light affair, which he had avoided with little problem.But when he'd returned a few months ago, he found that Lord Scarle had died, leaving the lady a widow. And the widow was interested in finding a new husband--as long as it meant moving up the social or economic scale. Unfortunately for Theo, he fit both requirements.Lady Scarle had been on the hunt for him ever since. "I was very disappointed not to see you at Lady Hunt-ington's musicale last night," Lady Helena went on silkily."Mmm. Not my sort of thing," he replied, looking about, hoping to see some means of getting out of the situation without seeming rude. Lady Scarle, he had found out, was impervious to almost anything short of rudeness."Nor mine," she replied with a flirtatious glance. "But I had thought...well, when we talked last week, we discussed whether we might run into one another at the musicale.""We did?" Theo blurted out, surprised. He did remember running into Lady Scarle when he was out riding in the Park one day last week. She had chattered on for some time before he could get away, but he had not really been listening to what she said. "I mean, well, I must have forgotten. I apologize."Temper flashed in her blue eyes--she was not used to being forgotten by any man--but she hid it quickly, turning her eyes down and looking up at him beguilingly through her lashes. "Now you have wounded me, Raine. You must make amends by coming to my rout on Tuesday."[read more]