Unmasking Lady Innocent

Unmasking Lady Innocent
Ann Lethbridge

Spinster Diana Buntin has accepted that handsome Lord James Grey will never look at her as more than a friend.Yet she is tired of waiting to experience passion. Armed with a list of rakes known to specialize in seduction, Diana arranges to meet her first lover at a masked ball—keeping their identities secret and her reputation intact.But while Diana feels a powerful attraction to her mystery seducer, she also senses that he may not be a stranger after all. . . .

About the Author

ANN LETHBRIDGE has been reading Regency novels for as long as she can remember. She always imagined herself as Lizzie Bennet or one of Georgette Heyer’s heroines, and would often recreate the stories in her head with different outcomes or scenes. When she sat down to write her own novel, it was no wonder that she returned to her first love: the Regency.

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Ann grew up roaming England with her military father. Her family lived in many towns and villages across the country, from the Outer Hebrides to Hampshire. She spent many memorable family holidays in the West Country and in Dover, where her father was born. She now lives in Canada, with her husband, two beautiful daughters, and a Maltese terrier named Teaser, who spends his days on a chair beside the computer, making sure she doesn’t slack off.

Ann visits Britain every year, to undertake research and also to visit family members who are very understanding about her need to poke around old buildings and visit every antiquity within a hundred miles. If you would like to know more about Ann and her research, or to contact her, visit her website at www.annlethbridge.com She loves to hear from readers.

Unmasking Lady Innocent

Ann Lethbridge

www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)

I dedicate this story to Teaser, my dog and patient writing companion, who makes sure I get my exercise each and every day.

Spinster Diana Buntin has accepted that handsome Lord James Grey will never look at her as more than a friend. Yet she is tired of waiting to experience passion. Armed with a list of rakes known to specialize in seduction, Diana arranges to meet her first lover at a masked ball—keeping their identities secret and her reputation intact.

But while Diana feels a powerful attraction to her mystery seducer, she also senses that he may not be a stranger after all….

Chapter One

In the dark of the carriage, the horses’ hooves did nothing to drown out the thunder of Diana Buntin’s heart. The sound filled her ears and vibrated her ribs. Her lungs ached for air, yet the simple act of breathing seemed unattainable.

Kate, her good friend and once her lady’s companion, squeezed Diana’s hand as the carriage halted. “Dinna fash,” she said, her soft Scottish brogue stronger since she married her highland laird.

Hand in hand, they waited for the door to open. “'Tis not too late to change your mind,” Kate murmured.

And what then? Continue her lonely spinster’s existence?

She would have married long ago, were it not for the death of her betrothed, followed almost immediately by her elderly parents’ demises, one after the other. She’d done nothing but wait for years. In what had seemed less than a moment, she’d gone from youthful debutante to spinster on the shelf. A horrid fate for a woman who once expected a glittering marriage, home and family.

Wasn’t it now her turn to taste what life had to offer? Wasn’t it time to stop waiting and seize what she wanted?

Realizing she was gripping Kate’s hand far too hard, she let go. Many women had the kind of discrete liaison she sought. Widows. Unhappily married women. For them, people turned a blind eye. So what if she’d never been married?

Having made her list of potential bed partners from men known by reputation as hedonists who specialized in passion, she’d closed her eyes and let fate take its course. Only Kate knew the name her pin had stabbed. Like the good friend she’d always been, Kate had delivered the offer of one night of anonymous lovemaking. Diana didn’t want to know the man’s identity, she just wanted him to show her the passion she’d missed. Because she was finished with waiting.

She forced a smile. “No going back. This is what I want.”

The carriage door swung open. The liveried footman let down the steps. Diana resolutely stepped down into the warm spring evening. She glanced back at her auburn-haired friend. “Besides, he may not show up.”

Kate jumped down beside her. “He’ll be waiting.”

Good. Someone waiting for her for once.

Her stomach lurched. Why was she so nervous? It was only a meeting tonight. If she didn’t feel comfortable with the man, that would be an end to it. He might not like her and would have the same option. It was the terms they’d agreed. Was that her fear …that he would find her lacking? Mentally she shrugged. Nothing would be lost. The meeting would be a fleeting anonymous discussion. Her reputation would remain intact. She’d made sure of it.

“Harry is already here?” she asked Kate, perhaps for the third time. Harry, Lord Godridge was the man who had swept Kate off her feet and carried her off to a wedding at Gretna Green. The couple had recently returned to London take Diana’s niece, Lizzie, back to her father in Scotland.

“He’s here with Lizzie.” Kate chuckled. “Puzzled but content to be of service.”

They climbed the steps to the front door of the Dunstan’s palatial home on the bank of the Thames near Richmond. “Tonbridge is a good man,” Diana said wistfully. “His gain is my loss. I have yet to find a companion to replace you.”

“Leaving you in the lurch is my only regret.”

“Nonsense. I am fine.” Or she would be, once this terrible urgency to savor all life had to offer was gone from her blood.

The butler bowed them in and a footman took their cloaks. They shook out their skirts and patted their hair. Simple everyday things, yet Diana’s hands trembled as if she’d stepped on a loose rock at the edge of a precipice. Her heart beat so fast, she could feel blood rushing through her veins. Kate led the way down the corridor. Diana’s stomach tied itself in a knot as she followed, ostensibly going to the ladies’ withdrawing room. In truth, to an assignation that might forever change who she was.

They paused at an innocuous-looking panelled door, painted white. It stood slightly ajar. Waiting.

Kate turned to face her. “This is it. Dunstan’s housekeeper was very precise in her directions. I’ll wait for you in the ballroom.” She hurried away, leaving Diana to make the final decision. Go in. Or leave.

It was only a meeting. A prelude. An introduction. Nothing to fear at all. Drawing in a deep breath, she nodded and slipped inside. She let the door swing closed and stood with her back against it, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark. The light from the fire bounced off a polished wooden table. It gilded a sofa and a chair near the hearth. The rest of the room lay in shadow. Was he indeed here?

One of the shadows shifted. “Good evening, madam,” a deep, pleasantly hoarse voice murmured.

Her heart leaped into her throat. She closed her lips on a gasp. The voice was not one she knew, though the quiet tone made it hard to be sure. But since she’d never met any of the men on her list, knowing them only by reputation, perhaps a brief glimpse during a whispered tale of wickedness, she was not surprised. She swallowed the dry lump in her throat. “Good evening.”

The bulky shadow drew close, so close she could feel his heat and inhale the dark note of his cologne. Something musky and very male.

A hand touched hers, then held it. No gloves. Male skin brushed her fingertips, the warmth of his palm penetrated the lacy cotton of her evening mittens as he brought her hand to his lips. A light brush followed by a puff of warm air as he breathed. It sent tingles up her arm and all the way down to her toes. Her body tightened.

Delicious sensations rippled across her skin even as his gentleness soothed. No longer was she afraid. Just delectably excited. The excitement of youth and life. “I apologize for the secrecy,” she said softly. “My reputation demands it.”

“I understand,” he murmured. “Come. Sit. We will get to know each other a little and see where it leads.”

“Yes,” she said, breathless again.

With a stumble or two and some rueful chuckles from each of them, they found their way to a corner far from the fire. She could make out nothing of his face, though now and again she caught a glimmer of firelight in his eyes, and a flash of white teeth, yet she had an impression of youth, strength and manliness.

He held her hand cradled in his warm one. Once more he brought it to his mouth and she felt the curve of his lips against her knuckles.

She raised her other hand to touch his face, tracing a well-formed brow above a nose to be reckoned with. Continuing her exploration she found a lean strong jaw, smooth shaven, and a determined chin. She followed the line of his neck and rested her hand on a firm broad shoulder.

“Will I do?” he asked with laughter in his voice, but no trace of insult. “Perhaps this will tip the balance in my favor.”

His warm hand cupped her nape, a loose gentle hold, and then his lips touched hers, moved easily on her mouth, tasting her with a soft sigh that made her insides flutter.

A melting sensation invaded her limbs. Dear heaven, she was leaning into him, pressing her tingling breasts against a solid wall of chest to ease their ache, clutching at those lovely broad shoulders and…kissing him back.

Their breaths tangled as she parted her lips. His tongue swept the inside of her mouth in a caress that dizzied her senses. Heat flared in her belly. Little waves of something pleasurable spread out from deep between her thighs.