Sterling Family - A Perfect Groom Part 4

"Why, I've known her since she was a child!"

Georgiana seemed decidedly nervous. She glanced at Arabella, then back at him.

Justin slanted a half-smile. "I do not bite," he said lightly. "You have my undying

promise to leave her in one piece."

"But of course, my lord." Georgiana curtsied again and swept away.

Justin transferred his gaze to Arabella. He bestowed on her the smile that invariably sent the ladies to

swooning - all ladies but her, that is.

Her consideration of him was surely destined to put the fires of h.e.l.l to shame, he noted. Blithely he

ignored it. "It has been a long time, has it not?"

"Not long enough." The words emerged from between gritted teeth.

Still as charming as ever, he observed.

"What do you want?" she said tersely.

He feigned great affront. "Oh, come. Is that any way to greet an old friend?"

His gaze ran over her. Gideon had been right. A conventional beauty she was not, but she had a mouth

like sin and eyes the color of heaven. Christ, had he really told Gideon she sounded positively ghastly?

Lord, he was the world's biggest a.s.s!

Up close, she was even more breathtaking than from across the ballroom. Gone was the thin, gawky child whose carrot-red curls seemed to eclipse the whole of her being. Instead there stood a vibrantly

sensual woman who wreaked havoc on his senses.

The exposed skin of her shoulders glistened like porcelain. Affixed on a fine gold chain was a tiny sapphire that nestled in the velvet cleavage of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. There were no feathers or pearls in her hair, no bracelets circling her wrists. He approved the costume for its very simplicity. In truth, she needed no other adornment to make her s.h.i.+ne.

And s.h.i.+ne she did.

His gaze, hot and avid, lingered on the tempting hollow between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. A dark, swift heat seized hold of him as she took a breath. By G.o.d, he thought, every other woman in the room paled in her presence. She was ripe like a warm, sweet peach just waiting to be plucked.

He dragged his gaze reluctantly to her face, only to find her blue eyes dark with outrage, the fullness of her mouth pursed into a tight little knot.

He decided to remain at arm's length for now. If he got any closer, she might well fasten her fingers around his neck.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" she demanded.

"I'm simply marveling at how you've grown. Why, you must surely stand eye-to-eye with many a man."

Arabella stiffened. She'd always hated her body. For as long as she could remember, she'd been a full head taller than every other girl she knew.

But she didn't stand eye-to-eye with Justin Sterling. Indeed, if she gazed straight ahead, her focus came to the very center of his mouth, now curved into a lazily wicked grin. And yet, it was rather nice, actually, to feel for once that she wasn't a great behemoth.

If only it were any other man but him!

"Do not mock me," she said curtly.

He swept her his most courtly bow. "I do not mock you." He shook his head. Again his gaze slid over her, lingering on the swell of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s beneath her bodice, an unmistakably simmering appraisal. "Ah, yes," he murmured, "how you've changed!"

Silently, Arabella consigned him to a fate most reprehensible. Aloud she snapped, "And I see you have not." But in truth, he had. He was bigger, even taller than he'd been at eighteen. She'd noticed it right off. Beneath his jacket his chest was broad, his shoulders lean but wide. Broader than she recalled*

The realization was downright disturbing.

He stepped close. She resisted the urge to step back.

"Do you know," he went on, "when my friend Gideon made mention of The Unattainable, I was p.r.i.c.ked by the oddest thought. Odd, that I should think of it that way, don't you agree?" He sighed. "Ah, but I have such memories of you, Miss Templeton. Not fond, but memories just the same."

"Indeed?" she inquired coolly.

"You don't remember? Well, then, let me refresh your memory. We were at the Dowager d.u.c.h.ess of Carrington's estate in Kent, as I recall. There was some sort of outdoor entertainment -"

"It was a play," she interrupted.

"Ah, yes. Well, then, since you've obviously recovered your memory, perhaps you'll remember crawling about on the ground, playing some game, or so I was convinced. Imagine my surprise when you crawled beneath my chair, took a pin, and stuck me through the shoe."

"Perhaps you should have worn boots," Arabella said sweetly.

"That's what Sebastian always said. Oh, but your little prank was always the source of much amus.e.m.e.nt for my brother."

Arabella winced. She wasn't proud of her behavior that day, but she wasn't about to let him have the upper hand, either. "I begin to recall. You were limping when you left, weren't you?"

"Indeed. I did my best to avoid you, but you saw my horse and came running. I thought you meant to apologize, so I stopped. You offered me your hand to kiss -so much the little lady! - and so I took it. I thought I was safe, for the d.u.c.h.ess had her eye trained on us."

As he spoke, he edged nearer. This time Arabella did try to step away, but the column was at her back. There was nowhere she could go to escape him.

And indeed, escape was foremost in her mind. For the glint in his eye set her heart to leaping and her pulse to pounding. What the devil was he about?

She looked him straight in the eye. The handsomest man in all England. Yes, she'd heard tales of him. Some women, she knew, considered the man engaging. Disarming. Arabella considered him the worst sort of cad imaginable.

"Would you please leave?"

"Miss Templeton, how rude! I've not yet finished my story."

"I know the outcome."

He continued as if he hadn't heard. "But then the d.u.c.h.ess turned away. You fisted your fingers and drew back your hand, and punched me with all your might. You left me bloodied and looking as if I'd been injured in a boxing match. Indeed, that's what I was forced to tell my friends."

"So you lied!" She made no secret of her disdain.

"Obviously you know little of a man's honor. Was I to tell them I'd been bested by a child?"

Arabella snorted, a distinctly unladylike sound. What did a man like him know about honor? He was a selfish scoundrel, who cared nothing about anyone but himself and his indulgences.

Her frame of mind was little improved when he laughed, the wretch! She disliked being the source of his amus.e.m.e.nt.

Her gaze slid beyond his shoulder. "I don't see your companion," she stated pointedly. "Hadn't you better find him?"

"Oh, but I cannot leave you here alone. Indeed, I count myself quite the gallant. I saw you hiding

from your admirers, in particular dear Walter, and decided to rescue you."

Arabella fumed. Drat! He was too astutely observant for his own good*and for her comfort.

"I'm surprised you even remembered my name," she said stiffly. "It was

only because I wounded your pride that you did."

Again that slow, simmering look. "Oh, but you do yourself an injustice. I've just spent

three months on the Continent. And what do I find when I return? All the ton raving about TheUnattainable. And, I must say, with good reason."Her back stiffened. "Pray do not make light of me.""A mere statement of fact. My friend Gideon regaled me with countless tales of your suitors. And all true, it would seem, for it has come to my attention tonight that men do have a tendency to stare atyou.""Just as women have a tendency to stare at you.""And you, Miss Templeton? Are you among those women?"

His tone was cajoling, almost lazily caressing*accompanied by a smile in perfect harmony.

Arabella was amazed, and more than a little incensed. Did he truly think she would allow herself to be taken in by it*by him?

Apparently so.

"Let me say this, my lord. If I should ever chance to stare at you, *tis only because of your arrogant impudence."

To her utter shock, that devastating smile only deepened.

It only made her all the more determined. "And if you should ever chance to make me s.h.i.+ver from

head to toe, it will be in disgust. For I, sir, would never allow myself to be swayed by a handsome face

and a winsome smile."

He was undaunted. "My, but you're p.r.i.c.kly tonight. Perhaps I was wrong and you haven't changed at all."

"Nor have you, sir." Eleven years had pa.s.sed since they'd last seen each other.

Eleven years and he was still a prancing young buck. A profligate. A h.e.l.lion. A heartbreaker, as she well knew.

"I'm flattered that you remember me so well."

"Don't be," she said flatly. "Even if your reputation did not precede you, I've an excellent memory for faces."

He regarded her, that wretched smile still lingering on his lips. "I confess, my dear Miss Templeton, that I am given to wonder what makes men flock to you like hounds to a fox. Certainly it is not your flirtatious mien."