peered over. A smile broke his lips and he almost whistled.
Lady Harriet was bathing in all her glory in the biggest of the group of hot pools. How like the headstrong young woman to swim unaccompanied. To his masculine delight, she was as naked as the day she was born. Wicked girl. And he admired her for it. No insipid miss. Harriet was a match for any man.
A perfect match for him.
She would give him fine sons and they would get along swimmingly.
From his heightened position, his eyes loved the delights shown clearly through the water when the wafts of steam blew away every few seconds. She looked like a mermaid, and if he hadn’t already fallen under her spell, he’d fall again. Her beautiful ebony tresses were piled atop her head, emphasizing her long graceful neck. He envied the water because it got to caress her creamy-white unblemished skin.
Soon she would be his. He couldn’t wait.
He should be a gentleman and leave. Let her keep her modesty—but she was too much of a temptation. Besides, she would soon be his, anyway. Lord Hearthstone had agreed to the match. He was sure Harriet would agree too, after all, she was a sensible woman. He’d known her for years, and he was a duke. Women threw themselves at him. Besides, he could tell when a woman was attracted to him, and Harriet was.
His body shivered. The stone beneath him could have been an iceberg. He’d freeze if he didn’t move soon.
“Alexander John Bishop Montague, if you hide there much longer you’ll become iced to the rock.”
Yes, she was quite the woman. Let’s see how bold she was when he stepped out in nothing but a shirt.
Chapter Two
Harriet had been ticking off all her tasks in her head as she bathed in the heated water. The decorations for the trees were collected, rooms allocated and aired, the food all organized, and she had presents for everyone for Christmas day. Everyone except Blade. She knew what present he wanted, but she still had no idea if she could give herself to him. Not after he’d purposely ignored her all season. She would be no one’s afterthought.
How like him to show up just when her head was full of him. Her heart flipped in her chest the moment Blade’s head popped over the rocky ledge above. Here was the man she suspected would become her husband. He was so handsome it hurt to look at him. Sometimes she thanked God that her brother was his best friend, or she’d not be in line to be considered—and there was the rub.
Why did the Duke of Bladestow want to marry her?
Blade had always been her older brother’s annoying best friend. The boy who thought he knew it all and who teased her mercilessly about her hoyden ways, as he called them.
He stepped around the rock and she stifled a gasp. He was definitely no longer a boy. The light linen shirt hid nothing. Her eyes left the beauty of his face and traveled over the sculptured body of an Adonis to stop at the dark patch. The linen regrettably hid the secrets at his groin. She bit her lip.
He spoke in a low voice. “I thought I must be dreaming, a mermaid. How shocked I was to discover it was in fact Lady Harriet—in the flesh.”
She smiled seductively as she sunk deeper under the water so only her face was showing. “You don’t seem shocked. You appear to be rather pleased.”
Could his smile get any wider? He walked forward until he stood at the edge of the opposite side of her pool.
She hadn’t purposely come for a soak in the thermal spring thinking he’d stop by. She had considered he’d reach Hearthstone by tonight, and she’d simply wanted some solitude and peace to think. Trello, her elder brother, had indicated he thought a match with Blade, the Duke of Bladestow, prudent. She assumed her father, as the Earl of Hearthstone, did too.
What she had to decide was, did she?
He was, of course, gorgeous beyond mere words, but beauty could hide many a sin. She’d known him all her life, given he was often at their home, so she knew deep at heart he was a good man. But she also knew the rumors surrounding him. He spent a lot of time on the continent, doing what, nobody knew. And, according to Blade’s sister, he’d had his heart broken by some foreign beauty, and had sworn never