Sweet as the Devil Read Free Page B

shut, Jamie replied in a desultory fashion to her comments. He was tired; two days of carnal sport and little sleep had taken its toll.
    Bella seemed not to notice, absorbed as she was in her frivolous recital, or perhaps she was simply content to have Jamie near.
    It was like watching a bored animal, Sofia thought as she captured the countess’s pretty features on the canvas, Countess Minton’s lover politely biding his time, listening with half an ear to the countess’s chatter, appearing to doze off on occasion. Although, apparently, he didn’t, for he always managed to respond when required. Politely. With a cultivated civility at variance with his lassitude. He’d open his eyes and answer even the most banal queries with good humor.
    The conservatory armchairs were gilded faux bamboo, the attenuated metal dangerously light for a man his size.
    Would or wouldn’t the chair collapse beneath his weight?
    Would he or wouldn’t he actually fall asleep? Sofia wondered as if she were somehow his keeper. Or the countess’s. As if either of them cared what she thought when they apparently dealt very well together.
    Wresting her gaze from the stunning couple, Sofia curtailed her contemplation of the two lovers and applied herself to her work.
    And so the sitting progressed, Bella chattering, Mr. Blackwood largely inanimate, Sofia finishing the depiction of the countess’s large blue eyes and beginning to sketch in her nose with quick, sure strokes. Having defined the shape to her satisfaction, she was gathering a dab of pale pink paint from her palette for the highlights when the door to the conservatory abruptly opened.
    A stylish young lady dressed in ruffled, beribboned white muslin burst in, using her parasol to shove aside a flustered servant who’d arrived in her wake.
    “Your man, Walters, wasn’t going to let me in, Bella,” she irritably proclaimed, casting a censorious glance on the innocent footman who’d followed her on the butler’s orders. “I knew perfectly well that you were at home with Jamie in town.” She swung around in a rustle of silk. “Hello, Jamie, darling. ” Her smile was both dazzling and gloating; she’d successfully run her fox to ground. “You’re looking utterly gorgeous as usual. Do give me a kiss.”
    While the countess scowled, Lady Winterthur, flushed with triumph, swiftly advanced on her prey, her parasol swinging from her wrist. “I should be in a pet with you, darling,” she sweetly said with feigned chagrin. “You didn’t stop by to see me.”
    James Blackwood had come to his feet before the lovely brunette reached him and, taking her hands in his, suavely saved himself from her embrace. Bending, he bestowed the requested kiss, held her at arm’s length, and smoothly lied. “I’m just passing through London or I would have called.”
    “Since you’ve chosen to disturb our sitting, do sit down at least, Lily,” Bella ordered, anxious to separate her rival from her lover. “And don’t distract the painter,” she said with annoyance. “We are under a time constraint. I have another appointment after this.”
    Taking a seat next to Jamie, Lily Chester slanted a sly glance at the countess. “How perfect! I’ll take Jamie off your hands then. We’ll find something to do to amuse ourselves, won’t we, darling?” she brightly said, smiling at her quarry.
    “You’ll do no such thing,” Bella snapped. “He’s staying here!”
    “Ladies, I prefer not being handed around like a Sacher torte,” Jamie drily said. “I’m off to Scotland at five in any event.”
    “What a shame. We won’t have time to play ,” Lily murmured. “You’ve been terribly selfish, Bella,” she chided, turning on her hostess, “keeping him all to yourself.” She glanced at Jamie, her gaze openly avaricious. “Perhaps on your return to London, darling, we could share a moment or two .”
    “We’re done here,” the countess rapped out, her color high.
    It was unclear to