Shawna Delacorte - The Sedgwick Curse

As soon as everyone had finished with their coffee, Donovan rose from his chair. He had tried to keep from staring at Taylor during breakfast, but he had been unable to keep his eyes off her. He hoped she hadn’t noticed. He forced a casualness to his words that he did not feel. “If you like, I’ll show you around the house and the grounds, then you can get started on your research.”

“I don’t want to intrude on your time, but I’d certainly appreciate the tour.”

“I have some pressing business to take care of first.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll meet you here in about an hour, if that’s convenient for you.”

“That will be perfect.” She extended a gracious smile and forced an outer calm. Her inner jitters were another story, the result of the way he had been staring at her all through breakfast combined with the intense and unexpected attraction she felt toward him. She had never experienced that type of intensity, not even with her ex-fiancé. The potent combination proved impossible to dismiss.

Alex’s voice intruded into her thoughts as he spoke to Donovan. “You don’t need me for any of this. I promised Constance Smythe we would get together this morning and go over what she’s done so far for the festival.”

Donovan shot a warning look toward Alex. “I’d appreciate it if you did that at her house and not here.”

“No problem. I’ll go over there and get a status report. Then I have some personal business to take care of.”

Alex grasped Taylor’s hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of it in a courtly manner. “I’m sorry I won’t be here to keep you company until Donovan is available to give you the tour.”

A twinge of something jabbed at Donovan as he watched Alex’s all-too-obvious manner and easy flirting with Taylor. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to put an exact word to the feeling. Could it be jealousy? He didn’t want to admit that the instant attraction he felt for her had gotten under his skin.

Donovan fought to keep the irritation out of his voice. “Don’t you have someplace to be, Alex?”

Alex crossed the room to the door. He gave Taylor one last libidinous glance and an easy smile. “I’ll see you at dinner tonight.”

Alex hurried to his car and drove the five minutes to Constance’s house. He gave two quick raps on the front door, then opened it and walked in without waiting to be invited. “Connie? Are you ready to get to work?” His familiarity said they were much more than casual acquaintances.

Constance emerged from the back room. Her blond hair hung to her shoulders, her makeup perfectly applied. She glanced around, then her gaze landed on Alex. She tightened the sash of her silk robe. “You’re alone?”

Alex studied her for a moment. She claimed to be thirty-one, but he knew she was closer to forty. She’d maintained a youthful appearance and an appealing body, especially for an older woman—older compared to his twenty-seven years. In fact, there were a lot of other things he knew about Constance that he was sure no one else knew.

He looked around, feigning a hint of confusion about what she might have been searching for when she entered the room. “You were expecting Donovan to be with me? Or perhaps you were hoping for Donovan by himself.” He reached out and tugged at the silken sash until it came loose, allowing her robe to fall open, revealing the sheer nightgown she wore.

A sly smile curled the corners of Alex’s mouth as he raked his gaze over her obvious charms. “Ah, yes…I see you were hoping for Donovan solo. Well—” he removed his jacket and tossed it over the arm of the couch “—never let it be said that I failed to help out a lady in obvious distress.” He tugged on the front of her robe, slowly drawing her toward him.

Connie stepped away, closed her robe, retied the sash and leveled a steady gaze at him. “You’re quite the randy lad, Alex…always ready for a tumble.”

Alex winked at her. “As you know from personal experience—ready, willing and very able.”

“Well, you’ll have to put all of that ‘ready, willing and able’ aside until another time and another place. Right now we have festival business to discuss.”

“Whatever you say. Business first—” he cocked his head and shot a questioning look in her direction “—and pleasure later?” He retrieved a notebook from his jacket pocket and seated himself at her dining room table.

Constance picked up the file folder from the corner of the table and withdrew several sheets of paper. “I’ve compiled a list of what needs to be done and what I’ve already accomplished. I think we’re in good shape for this year’s festival, just the last-minute details to take care of.”

Alex took the list from her, but didn’t bother to look at it. “You know, Connie—” he pulled her into his lap “—it’s not doing you any good to set your sights on the status that being married to Lord Donovan Sedgwick would give you. After all, Donovan has rebuffed your increasingly blatant overtures in that area. Even before Uncle James died, you had decided on Donovan. I assume you believed that Uncle James’s age meant that Donovan would be coming into the title sometime very soon. And by a strange quirk of fate, he came into it sooner than anyone anticipated. But even though you have decided Donovan is going to be your next husband—”

“Next husband?” Constance jumped to her feet and took a couple of steps away from Alex. “Whatever are you talking about? Everyone knows that I’ve never been married.”

A sly grin turned the corners of his mouth. “Sorry, Connie…I keep forgetting about the myth you insist on perpetuating.”

He emitted a soft chuckle, as if an amusing thought had just occurred to him. “But as I was saying maybe it would be more feasible if you set your sights on someone else. There are lots of men out there with titles. Of course, not many of them have such a lucrative estate to support that title as Donovan does.”

She furrowed her brow in momentary concentration. “Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I need to use another tactic.” She gave Alex an appraising look, then leaned her face into his and placed a kiss on his lips. “But first, let’s finish with the festival business. We’ll have time later this morning for other pleasantries.”

DONOVAN STOOD at the door of the informal dining room. He watched as Taylor poured herself a cup of coffee, then stood in front of the window staring at the gardens. He continued to be bothered by the strange sensation that he knew her from somewhere. He closed his eyes for a moment, but the image continued to swirl around in his mind. He was inexplicably drawn to her, almost as if she had cast some sort of spell over him—as if some unknown force had pulled him into a fateful liaison fraught with unknown danger.

Taylor turned toward him as he entered the room. He drank in her features—the shape of her face, the creamy texture of her skin, the set of her eyes, her slightly parted lips and the fullness of a mouth that deserved to be repeatedly kissed as often as possible. He tried to shake away the powerful urge to kiss those tempting lips as the heated desire again settled low in his body, fighting with his attempts to maintain a businesslike attitude.

“Is there something wrong?” Donovan’s intense stare sent a small tremor of anxiety through her body. She was determined to track down her family history. Her grandmother had filled her in on as much as she knew, but there were still so many missing pieces. Her grandmother had been born on the Sedgwick Estate where Taylor’s great-grandparents were the last of the tenant farmers to live there. Her grandmother had been sent to Canada as a small child to live with an aunt and uncle.