Free WaltzofSeduction by Natasha Blackthorne

Chapter One
     
    She wanted to tempt her husband. She wanted him to desire
her madly.
    Lady Sara Lockhart paused at the foot of the stairs, waiting
for her husband to notice her beautiful new ball gown. It was shimmering silk
with a low-cut neckline, a neat black ribbon beneath her breasts and a narrow
skirt that flowed gracefully as water to the floor. She stood the way her
friends had her practice. Head held high, back straight, her torso turned ever
so slightly and her hand on the stair rail.
    Her lord remained obsessed with some aspect of his watch.
    “Colin?”
    Lord Colin Lockhart looked up, classically handsome with his
long, narrow face and high cheekbones. Even a glimpse of him never failed to
make her stomach bottom out. She couldn’t help but smile. His dark brows drew
together sharply and his beautiful eyes, blue like a clear lake, flashed with
irritation. “This watch runs slower every day. I took it apart this morning and
see no reason for it.”
    Colin enjoyed tinkering with clocks. Anything with gears
really.
    “It’s a new frock,” she explained. He always needed nudging
on this type of thing.
    “Oh.” He brushed that wayward lock of onyx hair off his
forehead then glanced down. His eyes widened and he dropped the watch back into
his pocket. He walked over, his tall, broad-shouldered body elegantly displayed
in his well-tailored dark blue coat in a way that always made her breath catch.
She could never believe he was really her husband. Not even after all these
months.
    He stared down at her, his eyes intent on the gown.
    She fiddled with her string of seed pearls and its ruby
pendant. “Well, what do you think?”
    His frown returned. “You’re wearing red now?”
    The hard undertone in his voice made her stomach twitch. He
was so often good-natured she forgot how exacting he could be when he decided a
matter was important. Her heart fluttered in alarm. “You are displeased? The
dressmaker called it claret. Priscilla says it is quite the thing.”
    “Priscilla may be right, but it seems rather a bold color
for you.”
    She knew what that meant. It was polite way of saying a
plain girl shouldn’t wear such a vivid color. How foolish of her to think she
could be pretty or enticing. She made a fool of herself in the attempt.
    But how else was she to win his undying devotion, to get him
to visit her chamber more often?
    His eyes dipped to her low-cut bodice, studying the delicate
black ribbon trim and sparkling jets, and then his eyes cut away quickly. His
mouth twisted in that way it did when the soup was too cold or the fish too
salty. Who could blame him? Her breasts were pitifully small. She hunched her
shoulders and pulled her wrap up to hide herself. All her earlier excitement
drained away.
    By the time they arrived at the ball, her throat was
burning. Did he regret marrying her? She often wondered. The youngest son of
the Duke of Wakefield, he could have done a lot better than the plain-faced
daughter of a merchant prince. But his family’s coffers were nearly empty and
her dowry, a near fortune, had made her a very desirable bride. Especially when
her father purchased them an estate in Kent as a wedding present.
    Last spring through autumn, Colin had worked on the estate
from sunrise to sunset. He had also handled all that messy business with her
clay mine, breaking the strike without violence. He had proved himself no idle
fortune hunter—just an ambitious fortune hunter.
    The carriage slowed and stopped. Colin opened the door and
all but jumped out of the carriage. Then he stood, tapping his foot while he
held his hand out. He was always so eager to be done with his duty to her, in
bed and out of it, so he could be on with something else. Something more
exciting. Like taking a watch apart or gazing at distant planets with his
telescope. The truth of that was quite lowering.
    Head held stiffly, Sara placed her hand into his and let him
help her out of the carriage.
    * * * * *
    From across