Page 9 of A Diamond for Christmas (Diamonds of the First Water #6)

L ord and Lady Hollidge’s home on Grosvenor Square, shared by Daphne, her beloved Thomas, and their young son Alexander was not far from Caroline’s parents’ own townhouse on Upper Brook Street, practically around the corner.

Regardless, her mother had their carriage brought around from the mews, and she rode with Caroline to deposit her upon Daphne’s doorstep.

“Good night, Mother. I shall see you anon.” For Daphne would make sure she got home in her own carriage in the wee hours after the party.

In seven minutes, she waited excitedly in the drawing room with a glass of wine in hand, waiting for Geoffrey Diamond.

Not that her friend would willfully go against the wishes of Lady Chimes.

However, since Daphne could claim ignorance of any ill feelings between the Chimes and the Diamonds, she had simply included him with the other eligible men.

“But why did you actually invite Lord Mangue?” Caroline asked, when she saw him enter.

“When your mother finds out Lord Diamond is here, she won’t think I did it on purpose if her favorite is also attending,” Daphne explained .

Caroline supposed her friend was correct, but with Lord Mangue peering at her from under his brow, she wondered how she would be able to speak freely with Geoffrey.

“The place cards on the table will undoubtedly please you,” Daphne told her with a wink before she went to greet other guests.

Before Lord Mangue could move into the vacated space, Geoffrey appeared in the doorway. Caroline waved him over, unable to contain her enthusiasm.

“Good evening, Lady Caroline. You are looking especially breathtaking tonight.”

She liked the term he used, having dressed in her favorite shade of green, hoping to please him.

“You are no more handsome than usual,” she returned. Lowering her voice, she added, “And yet you are still the most attractive man here.”

It hardly seemed possible that every other gentleman in the room paled in comparison, but they did. She especially adored the rich raven-color of his hair and how his blue eyes contrasted with his dark lashes.

Suddenly, Lord Mangue was at her elbow. “Good evening, Lady Caroline.”

“Good evening, my lord. I didn’t know you were acquainted with the Hollidges.”

She wished Daphne hadn’t thought it necessary to be cautious in this instance and to please Caroline’s mother.

“I am not, except for meeting Lady Hollidge at Vauxhall. Apparently, one of the young ladies here tonight asked for me particularly to be invited. I wonder whom it could be,” Lord Mangue mused with a cock of his head.

Her stomach twinged. She hoped Geoffrey didn’t think she’d had anything to do with it. All she could do was nod politely.

Then Lord Mangue turned to Geoffrey, and his greeting was less pleasant. “It seems you keep cropping up wherever Lady Caroline and I happen to be. ”

“I don’t think that’s the case,” Geoffrey answered lightly. “Merely a happy circumstance.”

“ Happy ?” Lord Mangue frowned, causing his single eyebrow to crease in the center. “Hardly. And do you know what, Diamond?”

“No,” Geoffrey said, not asking the question Lord Mangue wished him to.

“Well, I’ll tell you. My sister was most definitely not at Vauxhall. I meant to let you know when I saw you again, but you were always on the other side of the room at the last ball.”

Geoffrey shrugged. “Better to be safe than sorry, as they say.”

“Lord Diamond is correct,” Caroline spoke up. “Imagine if it had been your sister, and you hadn’t gone to her aid. You would never have forgiven yourself. You probably should thank Lord Diamond.”

“But it wasn’t Lettie! That’s the point,” Lord Mangue fumed. “I missed out on the rest of the evening with you.”

“I kept her company,” Geoffrey added wickedly, causing Lord Mangue to narrow his eyes in his direction.

Caroline wished Geoffrey wouldn’t tease, nor bring attention to any time they’d spent in one another’s company, especially not to Lord Mangue.

“Are you sure you even saw anyone who looked like my sister?” he demanded.

“Oh, very sure, Mangue. Mole and all.”

“Lord Mangue, will you come greet the other guests?” This from Daphne, who like an angel was trying to draw him away.

“You must meet everyone,” Caroline insisted when he hesitated. “You wouldn’t want to insult our hosts, nor miss out on meeting whichever young lady requested your presence.”

He glanced at her and a smug smile appeared. “I see. Trying to throw me off the track like a red-headed vixen. I shall make the rounds and return. ”

“Don’t hurry,” Geoffrey muttered when Lord Mangue finally walked away.

It was a brief respite from the tension between the two gentlemen.

By the evening’s end, though, Caroline felt as though they were engaged in a tug of war with her as the rope.

She sat beside Geoffrey for dinner, which had been extremely pleasant, allowing them to discuss each course with a measure of mirth, as well as learn more of their food likes and dislikes.

However, she ended up next to Lord Mangue for the concert, with no way to change seats without causing a huge disruption.

Finally, while they were having glasses of madeira during a beautiful dramatic recitation by Daphne, whose husband accompanied her softly on his violin, Geoffrey moved toward the drawing-room door.

He didn’t even have to look at her for Caroline to know he wished her to follow.

After waiting an interminable two minutes which she counted in her head, she leaned toward Lord Mangue.

“I shall be back shortly.”

“I’ll accompany you,” he offered, starting to rise.

“No,” she snapped. Then more graciously, “I am only going to the water closet.”

His cheeks turned red at the mere mention of such a private task, and she hurried away. The hallway seemed deserted, and Caroline had no idea which way to go.

“ Psst,” came a sound from farther along the dimly lit hall, and she followed it.

Near the cellar door where the kitchen was housed, there was a butler’s pantry for serving the drawing room and other rooms on the main floor. Its door was ajar. As she approached, Geoffrey reached out and drew her swiftly inside.

Without preamble, his arms went around her. When he molded her body to his, heat sizzled through her.

“That was torture,” he ground out before kissing her .

As he slid his tongue between her lips, she slipped her hands up and around the back of his neck, flattening her breasts against him.

In response to her acquiescence, his hand roamed down her back to cup her rounded backside, tilting her hips against his. A wicked, desperate yearning unfolded deep inside her.

“Geoffrey,” she said his given name against his mouth, simply because she could.

“Yes, Caroline,” he replied, and she shivered at the intimacy.

Tilting her head and going up on tiptoe, she wanted to get as close to him as she could, until she could feel his arousal pressed against her.

“I want more,” she confessed.

“As do I.”

She knew a little of what that meant but didn’t see how anything meaningful could be accomplished in a pantry.

Its cold-water sink, cupboards filled with all manner of tableware, and narrow shelves with glasses and teacups did not exactly inspire passion, despite decanters of ruby-red claret standing ready.

To her amazement, Geoffrey lifted her by the waist, turned quickly, and set her upon the marble countertop over a bank of glass-front cupboards.

With her dress drawn tightly, he was unable to stand between her legs.

Thus, he drew her skirts up both legs until her gown and petticoat rested atop her knees, which he gently pushed apart.

As soon as he settled between her thighs, he began to kiss her again.

Caroline had accepted all his outrageous actions with wide eyes until his mouth covered hers once more. The thrill of feeling air upon her silk stockings made her giddy, even light-headed. Sinking her hands into his hair, she opened her mouth and let their kiss deepen .

His tongue explored her mouth most thoroughly, and when she tried to do the same, he sucked upon hers, causing her toes to curl with longing.

“I’m tingling everywhere,” she said quietly after he drew back, and they both were dragging in long, ragged breaths.

“As am I,” he confessed, sounding hoarse. “You have bewitched me.”

She giggled, too loudly, and he clamped a swift hand over her mouth.

“Shh.”

She nodded. She would try to rein in her happiness, but when he took his hand away, shocking words came out.

“Touch me,” she asked brazenly, because she knew enough from the books she had been forbidden to read and had read anyway that if a man touched her between her legs, it would be like nothing she’d ever experienced. And that was precisely where she was throbbing.

The fingers of his right hand trailed along the path her skirts had taken, up and over her knees, across the warm flesh of her inner thigh, making her tremble.

Holding her breath until the moment he brushed against her damp and silky core, she gasped and closed her eyes.

Immediately, his lips nuzzled the exposed column of her neck while wantonly, she tilted her hips, straining to deepen his too-delicate touch.

Knowing what she wanted, Geoffrey slid a finger between her plump folds, stroking with greater vigor directly where she pulsed.

It took almost no time at all until Caroline was clinging to his shoulders while her body throbbed and tightened. And then, for a few moments, she forgot everything — that she was an earl’s daughter. That she was in a butler’s pantry. That she was a lady who didn’t allow a man to take liberties.

Moaning loudly, she quivered, arching and tightening until a flooding release left her entirely spent.

When his hand stopped touching her, she opened her eyes and looked directly into his vivid blue gaze .

“Dear God!” she exclaimed too loudly.

“I think that came from in there,” said a voice sounding unbelievably like her mother’s.

Terror shot through Caroline, replacing all the ecstasy she’d experienced mere moments before. Shoving desperately at Geoffrey, who hurriedly stepped back, she frantically pushed at her skirts.

When the door opened, she was still sliding down the face of the cabinets, but at least she didn’t appear to have recently had a man nestled between her legs.

Regardless, her mother watched the moment her daughter’s feet touched the floor, and then Lord Mangue’s face appeared.

There might be others in the hallway for all Caroline knew, but the room was too small to hold them.

“What is the meaning of this?” Lady Chimes demanded.

“We were just talking,” Caroline said. Her voice sounded high and strained to her own ears.

“I am to blame,” Geoffrey said. “Lady Caroline was walking by, and I invited her in here to chat.”

“You are a dog!” Lord Mangue said.

“Is there a dog in my house?” Daphne asked from the hallway, trying to make light of it.

“Be careful what happens here,” Geoffrey warned, speaking only to Lady Chimes. “Your daughter’s reputation and future are at stake.”

“You should have thought of that,” Caroline’s mother said, anger lacing every word.

“Your cheeks are frightfully flushed,” Lord Mangue pointed out.

“Yes, I was feeling unwell, looking for the water closet, as I told you.”

“This is not a water closet,” her mother pointed out.

“Is everything all right?” Daphne asked, and if not for Lord Mangue, leaning against the door, she would have opened it.

“We are fine,” Lady Chimes said. “My daughter didn’t feel well and wandered in here by mistake. Will you clear the hallway please, Lady Hollidge, to give her some privacy? I shall take her home at once.”

“I will still marry you,” Lord Mangue declared.

“Marry?” repeated Caroline and Geoffrey at the same time.

“Yes, as arranged. I know this rascal was kissing you, but that is forgivable. I have kissed a few ladies. It meant nothing.”

Geoffrey turned to her. “Did you know about this? That you were promised to him?”

Caroline nodded. “I knew that —”

“I don’t want you speaking to my daughter.

I don’t want you even to look at her.” Lady Chimes spoke with a tone of icy determination.

“I know you did this deliberately, exactly as your father did with your mother. Is that the only way a Diamond man can get a woman to marry him? By compromising her?”

Geoffrey went tight-lipped, clenching his jaw until Caroline thought he might grind his teeth to powder.

“She’s not compromised,” Lord Mangue insisted.

However, Caroline kept her gaze upon Geoffrey. “Did your father risk your mother’s reputation?” If Lord Diamond had, wouldn’t Geoffrey have known better than to do the same?

“Risk it?” her mother exclaimed. “He shredded it. And yet for that, I have the Earl of Diamond to thank.” She turned to Geoffrey. “Otherwise, my dear Chimes might have been saddled with your debauched mother as a wife.”

“If you were a man,” Geoffrey said, “I would call you out for those words.”

Caroline stepped between them. “If my mother speaks the truth, then there is nothing over which you could call her out.”

She ignored Geoffrey’s livid expression and turned to her mother.

“As I said, I don’t feel well. I’m glad you came back to fetch me. Take me home, please. ”

“Move aside,” Lady Chimes said to Lord Mangue, who was still hovering.

“Yes, my lady. Of course. I shall call upon you tomorrow.” Opening the door, he stepped into the hallway. “There is no one visible.”

Without another word, her mother walked out, knowing Caroline would follow. Her mantle was on the bench by the front door, thoughtfully put out by Daphne.

Lord Mangue accompanied them to their awaiting carriage and even assisted them inside.

“Thank you,” her mother said frostily.

And then neither of them spoke another word for the brief journey home, except when Caroline asked, “What made you return?”

Lady Chimes shrugged. “Mother’s intuition.” Then she sighed and lapsed into silence again.

Caroline had behaved abominably, as had Geoffrey Diamond. She hadn’t even looked back to see what became of him.

When they reached their own front hall, Lady Chimes dumped her cloak and hat on the hall stand and mounted the stairs. Following her, Caroline watched her mother’s rigid, regal rear heading along the hallway.

Outside her own bedroom door, Caroline knew she ought to at least offer thanks.

“Mother, I—”

“Not another word,” Lady Chimes said, then stopped without turning. “Not tonight. We shall talk in the morning. But you should count your blessings before you lay your head upon the pillow. You still have your reputation and a fiancé. You could have been left with absolutely nothing.”

And then her mother continued toward her own room, entered, and slammed the door.

Caroline had faced the evening with such anticipation and delight. Now, she dreaded what the morning would bring.