Page 22

Mrs. Cooper’s Chocolate House

Mayfair, London

I t had been two days since the rainy walk in Hyde Park with Viscount Wexley. Two days since Colin had bedeviled them and tried to take Alexander on in an impromptu fist fight. Two days since she’d felt that odd little lilt and tickle through her heart that heralded other, more troubling symptoms.

Good heavens, please don’t let me fall in love with him!

So if that wasn’t it, how exactly did she feel for him?

She hadn’t lied when she’d told him that he’d managed to impress her.

In fact, the handsome boxer with the mane of brown hair had managed to sneak around her defenses and set up camp in front of her heart, continually pounding until she let him in.

Ideally, she wished to keep him around to relieve a carnal itch, but he was more than that, out of sheer tenacity.

Would he ask her to be his mistress, and if he did, would she go for it?

That would allow her to enjoy him, enjoy a physical relationship without the hassle of being married.

Yet she suspected he would want to take her to wife, because that was the sort of man he was.

Adorably honorable yet annoying.

Except… over the last few times she’d been together with him, in bed or out, he’d proved time and again he wasn’t an objectionable sort.

In fact, if she could have picked the exact kind of man she’d want at her side to help meet the lofty goals that she had, someone like Alexander would have fit that bill.

Drat his eyes.

All of that to say that she was becoming far too fond of him, and if things continued in that vein, she’d be ready lock, stock, and barrel to meet him on a marriage altar without complaint like all the other silly women of the ton who had nothing else better to do with their futures.

Why is this so difficult to puzzle out?

Which was what led her to the chocolate house. When her mind was conflicted, she always took refuge in sweets, and since there was a chocolate house near her brother’s clinic, she stopped inside for a cup of drinking chocolate as well as tea with plenty of pastries.

The viscount was a large conundrum.

No sooner had she settled onto a wrought iron chair at a small, round table near a front window with a warmed porcelain cup full of thick melted chocolate in her hand did she happen to glance out at the foot traffic that came into the cul-de-sac from Brook Street at the other end.

Then her heart gave an odd sort of flutter, and tingles went through her lower belly as she spied a familiar form walking along the pavement.

Oh, dear.

It should be criminal for a man to look that splendid.

To say nothing of how much a ninny she was gawking at him out the window.

What was Alexander doing in this part of Mayfair?

Perhaps he had a scheduled appointment, for there were two solicitors in the immediate area, or perhaps he was on his way back from a private boxing lesson.

After all, the boxing salon was located at the opposite end of Brook Street.

Or perhaps he just merely wished to walk for exercise…

since he didn’t keep his own carriage. Still, as she sipped the rich chocolate, Lydia continued to stare, and stopped herself short of uttering a sigh of appreciation aloud.

No matter that he sported a few new bruises on his face, he was still the most attractive man she’d laid eyes on in quite a while.

With his top hat sitting at the usual rakish angle over his left eye and his thick brown hair dancing in the slight summer breeze, he was far too handsome to be wandering through Mayfair garnering looks from women passing by him on the pavement.

A twinge of hot jealousy stabbed through her chest. What if he caught one of them staring and sparks flew between them?

Well, I’m not done with him yet!

Something must be done, of course, if only to protect him from himself.

With a knuckle, she rapped on the glass.

Once, twice, and finally on the third time, he must have heard it while he’d paused to talk briefly with a male acquaintance.

When he turned and glanced into the window, his whole face lit with recognition as he saw her.

Oh, dear. A queer little squeeze went around her heart, for he was beyond endearing. I’m in a spot of bother, I think.

As he pantomimed that he would come in and join her, she nodded with a smile, and as confusion filled her, she took refuge in her drinking chocolate again.

When the slightly bitter, complex notes of the treat settled on her tongue, her gaze went across the small dining area that hosted perhaps ten tables in total.

A few shelves and a curio cabinet set amidst the room housed bric-a-brac figurines and mismatched porcelain teacups and saucers that lent a cozy feeling to the space.

Seconds later, Alexander appeared. He spoke with the owner of the establishment, gestured toward Lydia’s table, and then he made his way to her. As he did, more than one woman glanced his way with admiration, and she felt quite smug, because at least for the moment, he was hers.

“Good afternoon, Miss Tetford,” he said, and even though he used a low voice, there was something about how he uttered the words that sent tingles of need down her spine.

“Thank you for the impromptu invitation.” He sat upon a wrought iron chair that matched hers, sent a look across the close confines of the small table that sent heat into her cheeks. “I am glad to see you today.”

She nodded but held back a response, for a maid brought the tea service Lydia had ordered to the table. To the young woman, she said, “If you could bring an additional cup and saucer, please? I have an unexpected guest who joined me.”

“Of course, mum.” Then the maid left, winding her way through the tables.

“Thank you for coming. I have found I have rather missed you since we were caught in the rain.” How would the admission affect him? When he said nothing, but an easy grin curved his sensual lips, she smiled back. “How have you been keeping yourself?”

“Busy, of course. Lewis signed a handful of new clients, so we’ve been working out lesson schedules. Then my mother summoned me for tea yesterday when I would have called upon you. Mama doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“Did she harangue you over your continuing bachelor state?”

“A bit, though she did hint at the gossip that is apparently circulating through the beau monde that says I’ve signaled out a young woman and have been seen driving her about Mayfair,” he said with a wink.

“And who, pray tell, is the fortunate lady?”

The maid returned to the table with the cup and saucer. Alexander nodded his thanks, and when Lydia poured tea into his cup, he said, “I think you know.”

Heat seeped into her cheeks. “I do.” And that knowledge sent another round of confusion through her mind.

Once she’d finished with his cup, she poured a measure of the amber liquid into her own teacup even though she hadn’t drunk all the chocolate.

“How does your mother feel about that? And does she know that I wish to be a physician?”

Alexander calmly put a small lump of sugar into his cup, then followed it with a splash of cream.

As he stirred the brew with a silver teaspoon, he regarded her with shadows in his hazel eyes, so striking with the sun that came in through the window.

“While my mother is decently accepting that I’ve shown an interest in a woman, she is rather less than amused at the fact said woman isn’t the demure and typical society type. ”

“Ah.” Her chest tightened from the unexpected secondhand censure. It wasn’t the first time she’d been judged, but this time it hurt, and that was a surprise, for she wasn’t aware she’d hoped to make a good impression on his mother. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“If things progress further between us, Mama will come around. I wouldn’t worry too much about her, for she was vehemently against the lady that Lewis chose as well.” One of his eyebrows rose as he held her gaze. “Trust me?”

Did she? Finally, she nodded, took a sip of the chocolate. “It matters not, I suppose. I can only be the woman I’m meant to be, and giving all that up merely to please a potential mother-in-law would be doing myself a grave disservice.”

I would rather remain unattached than let go of my dreams.

“I’m not asking you to change, Lydia,” he said in a whisper. After a quick glance around, Alexander briefly laid a hand atop hers. “One of the reasons you appeal so strongly to me is your unconventional nature and your lofty dreams.”

“Thank you.” Her own whisper was a bit choked.

What she needed right now was a distraction or else she would tumble into the brown-green pools of his eyes.

“Try this.” She pushed the cup of drinking chocolate toward him.

“Chocolate is my Achilles heel. Whenever my mind is beset with confusion or I am an emotional mess, I turn to something sweet, and usually that treat is chocolate… or the cream inside pastries… or even sometimes champagne.”

“Now that is an interesting insight about you.” When he lifted the cup to his lips and took a drink, his eyebrows shot up into his hairline. “That is quite something. Thick, sweet yet not overly so, with just enough viscosity that it almost coats the throat when I swallow.”

She nodded. “It is exceptional when it’s hot. Sometimes I thin it out with milk or even coffee if it is available.”

“Oh, coffee would prove amazing in this.” He took another drink, then rested the cup on the table. “Is that why you’re here this afternoon? Because your mind is conflicted?”

“It is.”

“Because of me?”