Mistress - Amanda Quick [70]
“You were a virgin.” Marcus sat up wearily. “I never get involved with virgins. I have a rule against it. I have never broken that rule until tonight.”
“You must look on the positive side, my lord.” Iphiginia smiled brightly. “I am no longer a virgin, therefore you are no longer in violation of your own rule.”
Rage flickered through him. “Damnation, woman, this is not a jest. I vow, there are times when your mouth would drive any sane man to the edge. If I had not already just taken your virginity, I would be strongly tempted to put you over my knee for that stupid remark.”
Iphiginia’s smile vanished. “Sir, I comprehend that you are angry because you have broken one of your precious rules. But truly, you must not blame yourself.”
Marcus concentrated on refastening the front of his breeches. “A virgin masquerading as a widow.” He felt as if his fine intellect had turned to mush. “I should have known.”
“That is ridiculous. How could you possibly have known?”
Marcus got to his feet and stood looking down at her. For a moment he was transfixed by the sight of Iphiginia sitting in the center of the ruin, bathed in moonlight. Her white skirts frothed around her as she clutched the bodice of her gown to her graceful breasts. Her hair was in disarray and one of her small white shoes had come off. The aura of innocence still enveloped her, just as it had done the very first time he had seen her.
“I think that I did know,” he said quietly. “But I refused to acknowledge the truth because I did not want to see it.”
Iphiginia scowled. “Are you always this hard on yourself when you break one of your own rules, sir?”
“I don’t know.” Marcus reached down to pull her to her feet. “This is the first time that I have ever broken one. Come.”
“Where are we going?”
“Back to the house.” Marcus helped Iphiginia adjust the tapes of her dress. “We must take care that no one sees us.”
“Why must we be careful, my lord?” Iphiginia gave him a thoroughly exasperated look. “In the eyes of the world nothing has changed. Everyone is convinced that I am a widow and they all believe that I am your mistress. There is no way that anyone in the house can know the truth.”
“I know the truth.” The truth was that he’d broken his own rules and he would pay the price.
Well, at least marriage to Iphiginia would make a change, he thought wryly. His first wife had been a woman of experience who had pretended to be an innocent. This time he would marry an innocent who had masqueraded as a woman of experience.
He ought to take Iphiginia’s advice and look on the bright side, Marcus told himself. This time he would be marrying his own mistress rather than one who had belonged to another man.
Marcus scooped up his coat and eyed it glumly. He’d ruined several expensive coats during the past few weeks, thanks to his experiments with his new hydraulic reservoir pen. This was the first one he’d soiled in this particular fashion, however.
He’d completely lost his self-control.
He had not even remembered to employ the specially designed sheep-gut condom he had brought along in his pocket.
Marcus ignored Iphiginia’s searching gaze. He took her hand and led her out of the ruin of the Temple of Vesta.
The night fell softly around them as Marcus walked Iphiginia back to the great house. The stars appeared clear and bright in the sky.
Marcus considered how his life was about to change. He wondered how Bennet would react to the news of his impending nuptials.
At least Iphiginia was unlikely to object to the amount of time he spent in his library and laboratory, he thought philosophically. She would understand.
There might be children. Perhaps even a son to inherit the title. Odd, he had never before cared about having an heir of his own blood. Tonight, however, the prospect of Iphiginia carrying his babe gave him a strange sensation of possessiveness, an awareness of the future that he had not been conscious of until now.
It was a troublesome concept.