Free Tenacious Trents 01 - A Misguided Lord by Jane Charles Page B

husband,
one he could view with indifference? Why did she have to be
beautiful, intelligent and make him want things he knew better than
to want? Why did she have the power to make him long to taste her
lips again?
    Knowing that he couldn’t be with her
angered him and the next thing he knew he was insulting the woman.
The more he wanted her, the more frustrated he became, and he ended
up biting the head off of anyone he spoke to. This was not the way
to go about. He needed to find a lady that he didn’t long to throw
on her back and have his way with every time he laid eyes on her.
Nor could he pursue a lady such as Lady Anne, who didn’t even tempt
him to kiss her, let alone toss up her skirts. He needed to find a
woman whom he could desire, but at the appropriate times and
locations, such as a bed chamber at night, and not in the middle of
a ballroom or the center of Hyde Park.
    He should stay away from Miss Westin.
If this is how much she got under his skin when they barely knew
one another and had only shared one kiss, how much havoc would she
wreak on his life if he courted her, or worse, married her? That
would not do.
    A man lusts after a
mistress, not his own wife. It ruins a marriage. His father’s words continued to haunt him. But
Clayton paid heed to that advice. Of his father’s three marriages,
the two that were happy were marriages where his father had not lost his heart, or
his sanity.
    Clayton needed to break from Miss
Westin. If peace of mind was what he wanted in a marriage then Miss
Westin was the last woman he should marry. If only he could stop
wanting her. It would be easier to put her from his mind if she
didn’t visit his dreams each night.
    Clay blew out a frustrated breath.
Lust. He lusted after Miss Westin and wanted her in his bed. The
only way he would earn that privilege is if he married
her.

    *

    Eleanor gave the ballroom one last
glance as her grandmother oversaw the servants place candles and
flowers. For two weeks she had attended functions yet she had not
met one possible candidate. She refused to consider Lord Bentley as
a potential husband. He was far too hard to understand, and his
moods changed too quickly. She doubted the elusive gentleman she
should marry would be here tonight either. Suitors were not the
problem. They flocked to her house daily. The problem was none of
them, well, suited. Only Bentley added to her evenings. Drat that
man. He should simply disappear so she could concentrate on what
was important: finding a husband who would not drive her to
Bedlam.
    Why was she attracted to him? None of
it made sense to her. She never had a clear idea on the type of
gentleman she would like to marry one day, but she was fairly
certain it wasn’t someone as staid as Bentley. So why did she wish
he would kiss her again?
    A clocked chimed down the hall and
pulled her from her thoughts.
    She raced out the door. She was in
such a hurry that she barely remembered her cloak. Eleanor
chastised herself all the way down the steps to the waiting
hackney. She should not have stopped to help with some of the
preparations for the ball. What would the children think? She saw
them very little as it was and guilt engulfed her for not being
with Benjamin through this illness. All she could hope for was
their forgiveness.

    *

    Clay halted his horse when he saw the
lady of his thoughts emerge from her grandfather’s home. She
hurried to the corner and entered a common hackney. Had Benjamin
worsened? Had her other brother caught the disease? Clay should
just continue on, but he found himself trailing after the hackney.
Someone should be there if Miss Westin needed
assistance.
    He had a tight schedule today which
didn’t involve following a young miss. It would be the first time
since he was ten and four that he dismissed his plans on a mere
whim. The last time he had done so he had received a rather
unpleasant beating from his father. Well, his father was no longer
alive and for the first time