Diane Gaston - Regency Improprieties

He bowed. ‘I am charmed, Miss Green.’

The young woman gave a throaty chortle and turned to Rose. ‘Where did you find this one? He’s quality, I’d wager a guinea on it.’

‘Oh, Mr Flynn is a very important man.’ Miss O’Keefe slanted an amused look at him. ‘But, it is not what you are thinking, Katy.’

‘Isn’t it?’ The doxy’s expression was sceptical. ‘What a shame …’

As the two young women talked of even more acquaintances, Flynn was left standing with the older gentleman.

He recognised the somewhat ramshackle fellow who was said to be one step from River Tick. ‘Good evening, Sir Reginald.’

The man was still catching his breath. ‘Flynn, isn’t it? In Tannerton’s employ, am I right?’

‘You are, sir.’

Sir Reginald poked him in the ribs. ‘Doing very well for yourself, ain’t you, my boy? Rose is a looker.’

Flynn did not reply. He was still in the throes of confusion. Rose O’Keefe could not be an innocent. Sir Reginald, a man on the fringe of society, knew her. A doxy knew her. She must be of their world. It made sense—the way she moved, the expression in her eyes, the timbre of her voice. That sort of sensuality made for arousing a man’s needs, enough to bewitch him, that was for certain. But she also brought him an aching yearning for the green hills of Ireland, the warmth of family, and the pure, unspoiled days of his boyhood in Ballynahinch. How did he explain that?

Illusion, he told himself. Again. In any event, none of this should matter to him. Rose O’Keefe could be nothing to him.

‘I am working for Tannerton,’ he explained to Sir Reginald.

‘Aha!’ The man wagged his brows knowingly, but this only disturbed Flynn more, as if by his innuendo the man were crushing the petals of a flower. A rose.

A bell sounded, announcing the illuminations were about to begin.

‘Come,’ cried the red-haired Katy. ‘We must get a good spot!’ She seized Sir Reginald’s arm and pulled him through the crowd.

Flynn held back until Katy and Sir Reginald disappeared. He wanted Rose to himself, wanted the illusion to return, even if she was not supposed to mean anything to him.

But he was thinking only of himself. He turned to Rose. ‘Do you wish us to find your friend?’

She shook her head and gripped his arm again. Together they walked to the illuminations. People jostled and pushed them, all trying to find the perfect spot to see the fireworks. It seemed natural for Flynn to put his arm around her and hold her close, so that she would not become separated from him.

The whoosh of a rocket signalled the first of the bursts of light and colour, and the explosions sounded like several muskets firing at once.

‘Oh!’ Rose gasped as the sky lit up with hundreds of shooting stars.

She turned her smiling face towards him, the hood of her cape falling away. Their gazes caught. The illuminations reflected in her eyes, and he was truly bewitched, lost, drowning in the sparkling lights. He bent his head and she lifted hers so that there could be no more than an inch separating their lips. Flynn wanted, ached, to close the distance, to feel the soft press of her lips against his, to taste her, to hold her flush against him. His body demanded more of her, all of her.

But he forced himself to release her, to break the contact with her eyes.

What had he been thinking? This was Tanner’s woman, as sure as if Tanner had given her his name. What sort of suicide was it for Flynn to even gaze at her as he had done?

Tanner might appear affable, but he was a formidable adversary if crossed. If Flynn, a mere secretary, a mere employee, took liberties with a woman Tanner had selected for himself, not only his position would be lost, but his entire future.

Her smile disappeared and she turned her head to watch the pyrotechnic display. Flynn kept his arm wrapped around her. Indeed, he could not bring himself to move it. She felt soft and warm against him, and he wanted to hold her through eternity.

The illuminations, however, came to an end.

‘I must return you.’ He slipped his arm from her back as the crowd dispersed, and glimpsed her friend strutting away, Sir Reginald in tow.

Rose—Miss O’Keefe, he should call her—nodded, taking his arm in a more demure fashion. Still, he could not hurry to the orchestra’s gazebo where he must leave her. He did not wish to let her go.

She stopped when they reached the door. ‘Thank you, Flynn, for the lovely tour of the park and the illuminations. I am most grateful to you.’

No, he could not release her yet. It was too soon.

Flynn remembered he had not given her the emerald ring still in his coat pocket. He had not spoken to her of Tanner’s willingness to be a generous patron. He had done nothing that his employer had sent him to do.

But even Tanner’s disappointment in him could not compel him to rectify this lapse in efficiency at the present moment.

‘Miss O’Keefe, may I call upon you tomorrow?’ Tomorrow he would do his duty, what his employer required of him.

She stared into his eyes, not answering right away. She inhaled sharply as if her decision had been a sudden one. ‘Not at my lodgings. Take me for a drive in the park.’

He nodded. ‘Two o’clock?’ Neither of them belonged in the park during the fashionable hour when the highest rung of society took over. Two o’clock should be early enough.

‘Two o’clock,’ she repeated.

‘There she is!’ a man’s voice shouted, and other voices joined him.

A throng of men started towards them. Flynn quickly rapped loudly on the door. It opened immediately, and she disappeared inside.

Flynn faced the group of men, unreasonably angry at their pursuit, unreasonably wanting to claim her for himself. Had he been alone that first night, not with Tanner, he might have been among men such as these. ‘She is spoken for, gentlemen. Abandon your pursuit.’

There were grumbles and arguments, but they all eventually dispersed. Except one man, elegantly attired in a coat that could only have been made by Weston. Flynn recognised him as the Earl of Greythorne.

‘You are Tannerton’s man, are you not?’ the earl asked.

‘I am,’ Flynn responded. He started toward the Grand Walk.

The earl fell in step with him. ‘And is the alluring Rose O’Keefe claimed by Lord Tannerton?’

‘She is.’

Flynn tried to remember what he knew of the gentleman, besides the fact that Tanner thought him a ‘damned prig.’ Greythorne’s estate was in Kent, but he possessed properties in Sussex and somewhere up north as well. He frequented the ton entertainments. Belonged to White’s. Still, there was something he was forgetting. Some rumour about the man.

Greythorne chuckled. ‘A pity. I fancy her myself.’ His arm swept the area. ‘As do others. Tannerton may be in for a serious contest.’

Greythorne possessed enough wealth to pose a threat. If he offered a great deal of money to put Rose under his protection, Flynn had no doubt Miss Dawes would bully O’Keefe into accepting. She’d have no qualms about selling Rose to the highest bidder.

Flynn regarded the man. ‘I am certain, as a gentleman, you would not covet what another man has claimed as his.’

Greythorne’s slippery smile remained. ‘Her father does not seem to agree with your perception. He seemed to indicate the game was still in progress.’

It was as if dark clouds suddenly gathered. ‘The deal is all but made,’ Flynn said.

Greythorne continued walking. ‘I would be the last man to encroach,’ he assured Flynn. ‘But if the deal is not made, I’m prepared to play my hand.’

The next day was as sunny as any summer day could be in London as Flynn navigated the streets of Covent Garden on the way to Rose’s lodgings. Tanner had wholeheartedly endorsed this escapade, especially after hearing of Greythorne’s interest.