Free The Society Wife by India Grey Page B

amused voice brought her back down to earth. She whipped her head round to face him again, trying to hide her flaming cheeks behind the curtain of her hair, but before she could think of a suitable explanation he dropped his voice and said, ‘Right, he’s coming over. This is the moment when I slip away and leave you to it. Good luck!’
    She wanted to reply; she wanted to tell him to stay, but suddenly her mouth was so dry that the words didn’t come. As Jamie vanished into the crowd she turned away, feigning interest in a portrait of an insipid man in a powdered wig with a sour lemon expression. Regency men were supposed to be rakish and dashing, she thought vaguely, remembering the Georgette Heyer heroes that she and Scarlet used to sigh over. They had despaired of ever finding men like that in Brighton…
    â€˜This would be a good time to leave, I think. Don’t you?’
    Her whole body jolted as the husky Spanish voice caressed her ear. Standing behind her, he very gently picked up the lock of hair that was falling over her shoulder and smoothed it back, tucking it behind her ear.
    Tongues of flame were licking downwards into Lily’s pelvis, making it hard to think straight.
    â€˜But I’m staying here tonight…’
    â€˜That was Plan A, sweetheart,’ he murmured softly, putting his hands on her hips and pulling her against him as his mouth brushed her neck, her jaw, her ear lobe. ‘I asked for your things to be brought down to my car. I’m taking you home.’
    Lily couldn’t speak.
    But even if she had been able to she wouldn’t have had the strength to argue.

CHAPTER SIX
    A LMOST as breathtaking as the skill with which he had assumed the act was the speed with which he dropped it.
    Sitting beside him in the low passenger seat, her blood still thrumming from his touch, Lily darted a surreptitious glance at Tristan. The moment they had left Stowell he had distanced himself from her completely, and in the light of the dash board his face was emotionless. The face of a handsome stranger. She shivered.
    â€˜Are you cold?’ he asked with distant courtesy.
    â€˜No. Well, a little.’
    He flicked a switch and warm air caressed her. ‘I think we should get married as soon as possible,’ he said, effortlessly guiding the sleek black sports car around a bend in the road without seeming to slow down.
    Lily clung to the edge of her seat. ‘So fast…’ she murmured anxiously.
    â€˜Sorry.’ He slowed down sharply. ‘I’m not used to having a passenger.’
    A gust of laughter escaped her. ‘I wasn’t referring to your driving. I meant life.’ But as the words left her lips she knew that he wasn’t used to having passengers in that either. And that was what she had become.
    He showed no sign of having heard. ‘What are your work commitments for the next few weeks?’
    She shrugged. ‘Not much. When I got back from Africa andI wasn’t well I told my agent not to take anything else on. And when I…well, since I found out about the baby…’ the words gave her a warm little glow, like a tiny candle, deep inside; gentler, sweeter than the blowtorch of feeling he unleashed in her ‘…I haven’t gone for any jobs. I’m still under contract to the couture people, though, and we’re shooting another perfume commercial in Rome in two weeks time. And then, after that I’m pretty free, until the beginning of December…’
    She bit back a hysterical giggle. It was as if she were making a dentist appointment, not arranging what should have been the most important event of her life.
    â€˜Good,’ he said shortly. ‘Keep it that way. I’ll make all the necessary legal arrangements for the marriage and you can fly straight from Rome to Barcelona for the wedding.’
    Lily swung her head round to look at him. ‘Barcelona?’
    One corner of