Page 53 of So Wild A Heart

Devin chuckled again. “Insipid is the last word I would use to describe Miranda. Don’t be ridiculous. I have not developed a tendre for her. I cannot be in the same room with her for two minutes without getting into an argument.”

He thought it best not to mention the fact that he also could not go to sleep at night because he could not stop thinking about her sleeping just one door away from him, or that he went downstairs every morning eager for another encounter with Miranda. Leona had always been unconcerned about his sexual interest in other women. But somehow this time he thought she would not be so understanding.

His laughter soothed Leona. She knew the intensity of Devin’s desire; she had been the object of it for fourteen years, after all. And she could not imagine him laughing about a woman who was the object of that fierce lust.

Leona gave one of her throaty chuckles, leaning her head back to look up at him. “Well, you know where I am…any time you grow tired of dancing attendance on your heiress.”

“Yes. I know. Now…will you kindly collect your aunt and return to Vesey Park?”

Irritation flared up in Leona again. The entire evening had not gone at all as she had planned. The American had not been the mousy, retiring girl she had assumed she was. She was not beautiful, of course, as Leona herself was—but she seemed not at all intimidated by Leona, and she had looked thoroughly at home in her elegant gown, standing there at Devin’s side. Then Devin had followed Leona outside, and instead of eagerly seizing her and exclaiming how glad he was that she was there, how much he wanted her, he had flown into a fury because she had dared to come to the wedding party and “insult” his odious wife.

“Yes, I will go,” she snapped. “If this is the way you are going to act, I may just go all the way back to London. I am sure there are several men there who would be happy to keep me entertained while you are cooling your heels up here in the hinterlands!”

She turned and swept away, satisfied that she had roused enough simmering jealousy with her last remark that it would not be long before Devin decided to come to call at Vesey Park.

It would have filled her with gall if she had known that Devin’s first thought was a hope that she would make good her threat instead of staying here to try to stir up trouble. He waited for a few minutes, then returned to the house and went to look for Miranda.

He was not sure what he expected Miranda to be like when he returned—but it certainly wasn’t the laughing creature he found talking to Michael and his sister, the one who turned to him without the faintest hint of resentment or distrust and smiled, saying, “Ah, there you are, Devin. I wondered where you had gotten to.”

The absence of jealousy and anger seemed so surreal that for an instant he wondered if perhaps Miranda really didn’t know about Leona. But then he recalled that she had mentioned her during that bizarre proposal of hers, and he was even more puzzled by her lack of animosity. Most women, he was certain, would have been raving at the idea that their husband’s mistress had showed up at their wedding. It was then that he realized she truly did not care whether he had affairs or even kept a mistress. The knowledge galled him.

He knew he should have been happy about it. He couldn’t have asked for an arrangement better suited to him. What he felt, however, was closer to resentment than to happiness.

In point of fact, Miranda was quite relieved to see him—so much so that it overwhelmed any irritation or jealousy, making it easy to be pleasant and calm. She had been surreptitiously searching the ballroom for Devin ever since she and Rachel had returned; and his absence had set up a worry and fear in Miranda that she was not accustomed to feeling. She had been afraid that he had slipped away from the party with his lover, that he had been so overcome with desire and love for Leona that he had disappeared to some hideaway with her. That fear was heightened by the fact that she could not catch a glimpse of Leona, either. She knew that Rachel had been concerned about the same thing by the faintly pinched look around Rachel’s eyes and the way she kept unobtrusively checking the room.

Now Devin was here, and Miranda could unclench her fists and let her shoulders relax. She would not be a satisfied bride tonight, but at least she would not be a publicly abandoned one.

Rachel’s smile indicated how relieved she, too, was that Devin had reappeared. “Devin, there you are, and just in time. Don’t you think it is getting to be time for the married couple to leave?”

“Already?” Miranda looked a little startled. “But the party is still quite lively.”

“Yes, but the bride and groom always leave well before the end,” Rachel said firmly.

“Oh.” Miranda suspected that Rachel was doing her best to get Devin and Miranda as far away from Lady Vesey’s presence as possible. She would want to make sure that Miranda did not run into the woman a second time that night.

Miranda suspected that Leona, having accomplished her purpose, had already left. She also suspected that the reason she had been unable to locate Devin had been because he was seeing Leona off. However, she preferred not to think about that. He had not left with her, and that was all Miranda needed to know at present.

She did not mind leaving the party, in any case. Keeping up a cheerful, pleasant front the past few minutes had been something of an ordeal, and she was quite ready to get away from all the strangers and retreat to the comfort and safety of her room.

“Shall we go, then?” Devin turned to Miranda. “We can slip away without anyone knowing and avoid all the fuss.”

“That sounds wonderful,” Miranda replied honestly.

“I have nipped out of here many a time,” Devin assured her. “It’s easy. First, we shall go get a plate of food.”

“All right.”

They made their way through the crowd, smiling and nodding to well-wishers, but deftly avoiding coming to a full stop. At the buffet table, they loaded their plates and again wound through the crowd.

“Just act as if you’re looking for an open space to sit and eat,” Devin whispered. “Now we are almost to the door. Don’t look around or act guilty—someone is sure to catch you then. Just walk as if we’re heading toward those seats and now…out the door.”

Miranda slipped through the open doorway, with Devin right behind her.

“The back stairs are over here.” He nodded toward them. “Come on, we’ll have a picnic. I’m starving, and I haven’t be able to get near the food all night. How about you?”

Miranda nodded agreement. “Where shall we go?”

“I know a place.” He led the way up the stairs and along the hallway to a large room. Handing his plate to her, he lit a lamp in the room from one of the hallway sconces and ushered her inside. He made a sweeping gesture of the room. “Tables, chairs…”