Free Lady In Waiting by Kathryn Caskie Page A

the wicked viscount disappeared from sight. A horrible thought entered Jenny's mind, and she stared down deep into the water below. Then she thrashed her feet and kicked her legs below the water's surface. But he wasn't there.
    With suspicion, her eyes lit upon the wide column and she slowly peered around it. Just on the other side, the sound of water dripping, as if from a wet shirtsleeve, told her she'd found him. Well, she wasn't going any closer. Now that she knew where he was, she'd just back away quietly.
    She eased one foot behind her, and shifted her weight to it. Then a hand shot out and caught her wrist.
    Startled, Jenny yelped as Callum dragged her up against the column, where they'd not be seen by anyone. At once he cupped his hand over her mouth, overturning the basket of flowers and breaking the ribbon as he did so.
    Her eyes wide, Jenny panted against his hand. Her
     
    72
    breasts rose and fell against the rock-hard surface of his chest as he held her firmly against the stone column.
    Then he smiled at her. Oh, it was a wicked smile that one might expect from Bath's own Don Juan, the great seducer of women.
    Jenny steadied her breathing and when he finally removed his hand from her mouth, raised a mocking brow at him.
    "What game is this, Argyll?"
    He lifted his own brow at that. "No game at all. I quite enjoyed yer kiss last eve, and thought to have another."
    "Did you?" An unexpected thrill raced across Jenny's skin, and to her horror, she felt her nipples harden a gainst her coarse wet frock. "Well, my lord, I shan't be gifting you with another."
    "I wasna as k in' fer a gift." He stared hard into her eyes and her breath grew deep and fast again.
    His tongue ran over his lower lip, and he leaned in, tilting his head down to kiss her.
    Ohhhh, my Go d . . . save the King. Jenny's thighs were suddenly aquiver and she felt her arms wrapping around him. Her fingers clutched at his soaked marigold shirt, then rode along his broad shoulders.
    Beneath the water, she felt his hardness intimately pressing against her and without thinking, she raised her leg, wedging it in the crease behind his knee, as she nudged him more firmly against her.
    He released her mouth then, and stared with surprise at her.
    Mortification swept over Jenny, but there was no way she was going to give him the satisfaction of knowing
     
    73
    this. So instead, she raised her chin and, with a cheeky flick of her brows, flashed him a triumphant smile.
    "Why, Lady Genevieve, such a paradox ye are." Then he smiled back at her. "How verra intriguing."
    Jenny shook a bit, but recovered her wits quickly. "I merely wanted to let you taste"— s he leaned forward, and as she softly brushed his lips, heard him sig h — "what you will never have."
    She forced a cool laugh then, slammed her hands against his chest, and shoved him backward and under the water. "Good day, my lord," she crooned saucily as she rounded the column and made her way back to Miss Meredith.
    ******************
    An hour later the ladies were dressed once more and strolling into the famed Pump Room to partake of the waters.
    Jenny pressed the crown Lady Letitia had handed her into the attendant's palm, then passed a cup to both her employers and Miss Meredith before tilting her own to her lips.
    She sniffed it first, smelling its salty essence, then took a small sip of the warm water that set in motion a deep involuntary gag. How vile!
    She looked at the two old women, then at Meredith, who was pinching her nostrils shut in order to down the water.
    How could the Featherton ladies drink this swill? It tasted like hot seawater. Thick, egg-smelling, hot sea-water! Well, she wasn't about to have any more of it,
     
    74
    and she didn't give a fig that it cost three pence for a tin cupful!
    Plastering a demure smile upon her lips, Jenny strolled to the window and paused at the foot of a potted palm, which she secretly watered with m e most expensive water in all of Bath.
    As she turned,