was feeling weak now, she told herself, uneasy. She just hadn't taken into account how very solid he would feel, standing over her. How he'd feel oddly protective. The soft spring breeze caught her skirts, brushing them against his legs, and she took a quick step back.
"You think you don't tempt me. Lady Whitmore?" he said, his voice dry. "How little you know of ministers. We are men, after all."
She said nothing. There were a number of provocative replies that came to mind, but that odd, breezy touch of her skirts against his legs had unsettled her. It felt far more intimate to her than lying beneath a naked, grunting man ever had. Strange, she thought. "Exactly what is it you want me to do, Mr. Pagett?" Her voice was deceptively calm. "Apart from making the Heavenly Host decamp early.
Do you want me to rejoin the Revels? Stay out of your way..."
"No!" The word was practically an explosion of sound. 'The best thing for you would be to go back to London if you won't cancel this ridiculous obscenity of a party. The rest of your friends can follow when they're done."
"Even if I wanted to oblige you, I can't. My cousin is at the abbey. She's an innocent, come simply to observe—"
"An innocent?” he interrupted her again, and there was no mistaking the cold anger in his gaze.
"You brought an innocent to that kind of debauchery? What sort of monster are you?"
"She's fine," Lina said stiffly. "No one will lay a hand on her No one would dare."
"And you're so sure of that? Knowing the kind of men who call themselves the Mad Monks?"
For the first time that niggling uneasiness that had festered in the back of her mind broke loose, and she could have cursed the man. Rohan was over there as well. And between Rohan and Charlotte lay quiet danger.
Indeed, one of her reasons for choosing Rohan as her nest lover had been to help sever the connection between her innocent cousin and one of society’s worst rakes. She knew Charlotte far too well not to have guessed her secret fantasy, and the easiest way to crush it would be to take the man herself.
Because it needed to be crushed. Falling in love with a rake only led to heartbreak. Falling in love with anyone only led to despair.
But they were both out there, and she hadn't been around to watch over them. "She's fine," Lina said again, ignoring her fears. "Perfectly safe."
And she wondered if she lied.
"There's nothing I can do about the door," Rohan said in a lazy voice. "It locks automatically. A servant comes every morning and evening with food, and at that point one can always exchange partners, or request others to join in. But until tomorrow I'm afraid you're quite trapped."
She scowled at him, which pleased him. He'd been afraid he'd have to deal with tears, which always bored him, or worse, too-enthusiastic agreement. He liked to work a bit for his pleasures.
No chance of enthusiastic agreement from her. She was looking deliciously angry.
"Did you take my glasses?" she demanded. "I can't see clearly."
"Glasses? Of course not," he said, all innocence as he remembered deliberately crushing them beneath his boot. If she really needed them then he would be astonished. She used them as a weapon, and he needed her defenseless. "There's not much here you need to see. Except me."
She wasn't charmed. "You can't keep me here," she said in the pinched, disapproving tone she seemed to reserve only for him.
"Don't be tiresome. Of course I can. I just explained. The door won't be opened until tomorrow morning.”
"And you think I'll believe you don't have a spare key hidden about the place? I don't believe that the great Viscount Rohan would ever put himself at the mercy of...of restraints that he couldn't control."
He smiled at that, letting his eyelids droop lazily. "Ah, child, you have no idea the delight certain forms of restraint can provide. I'll be more than happy to demonstrate—this room comes equipped with all sorts of toys. However, I think you're a little too new at this game to enjoy it, and if I gave you the option of tying me up I tremble to think what sort of revenge you might be tempted to enact."
She just stared at him, momentarily speechless. And then she tried to regroup.
She straightened her shoulders and crossed the room, away from the locked door. She had her choice of one cushionless chair