Free A Crime of Manners by Rosemary Stevens Page B

Baddick drove them toward Hyde Park. He did not waste any time before he began tightening his web of seduction.
    “Miss Lanford, as beautiful as the blue sky is this afternoon, its color pales in comparison to your eyes.”
    Henrietta felt exhilarated, riding next to this fashionable gentleman who thought her attractive.
    “Thank you, my lord. It is a glorious day, is it not? I am so happy you came to take me out!
    Encouraged by this artless assertion, Lord Baddick assumed a serious mien and confided, “I find your happiness to be of prime concern to me, Miss Lanford. I pray you do not find me overbold, but in the short time of our acquaintance I have felt drawn to you as I have to no other lady.”
    “You are too kind, my lord,” she said, feeling a thrill of purely feminine triumph.
    They pulled into the gates of the park, and Lord Baddick was forced to concentrate on his driving. The street was quite crowded. It seemed everyone was taking advantage of the weather.
    Henrietta and Lord Baddick were chatting amiably when the traffic became so thick, they were obliged to stop their progress altogether.
    During this pause another open carriage, going in the opposite direction, came abreast. Henrietta was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the man who had dominated her dreams the night before.
    The Duke of Winterton found himself staring into the wide, innocent eyes of Miss Henrietta Lanford. When he saw she was escorted by that cur Baddick, he felt himself grow irritated.
    He gave the couple a brief nod and continued to hold Miss Lanford’s gaze lazily, through half-closed lids. “Lady Clorinda, allow me to present Miss Henrietta Lanford and Viscount Baddick,” he drawled.
    Henrietta murmured a greeting, thinking the duke more masculine than ever in a dark gray coat, leather breeches, and top boots.
    Her eyes shifted to his serene companion, the blonde she’d seen him with at the Denbys’ ball. Today the lady was dressed in the thinnest of muslins.
    Her bosom was accentuated by a short leaf-green spencer that just reached the high waist of her gown. A plumed bonnet sat atop her golden curls.
    Henrietta did not notice Lord Baddick’s reaction to the beauty. His eyes drank in the sensuality of Lady Clorinda’s body while he managed to sweep a bow and hold the reins. He’d noticed her the evening before at the Denbys’, and hasty inquiries had netted him the disappointing information that Lady Clorinda was well guarded by both her parents.
    “Lady Clorinda, your servant,” Lord Baddick said, thinking of the many ways he could enjoy serving her indeed.
    Clorinda remembered how Miss Lanford had stolen her waltz with the duke. Always ready to enslave another suitor, she smiled at Lord Baddick blindingly.
    “How do you do, Lord Baddick?” Turning a contemptuous gaze to Henrietta, Lady Clorinda addressed the viscount. “What sturdy-looking horses you have, my lord.”
    Henrietta blushed at the obvious reference to her humiliation the night before.
    Sitting beside Clorinda, the duke could not see the mocking look in that lady’s eyes and thus missed the implication.
    Lord Baddick managed to suppress an appreciative chuckle before he disgraced himself in his prey’s estimation. He merely said, “Thank you, my lady.”
    A break appeared in the traffic and the carriages parted.
    All the glory of the day died for Henrietta. She could no longer deny she felt hopelessly drawn to the duke. And he would never return her regard. A bitter jealousy stirred inside her at the thought of Clorinda’s sophisticated charms. She sighed, clasped her slender hands together in her lap, and stared at them.
    Lord Baddick thought for the first time the silly chit sitting next to him might have formed a tendre for the Duke of Winterton, the proudest, most arrogant man in London! All to the good, he reasoned. When Winterton spurned Miss Lanford, she would be even riper for the plucking.
    * * * *
    The duke escorted Clorinda to her