Lady Love. Diana Palmer

she really was? She pursed her lips and fantasized about coming down the staircase of her father’s town house in her white Bill Blass original with her blue fox boa draped lovingly over her bare shoulders, her hair in a high coiffure with a diamond tiara, and her mother’s diamond necklace and earrings gracing her milky complexion.…

      She shook herself. Why destroy his illusions? Let him think what he liked.

      “You said the history of the English Kings had always fascinated you. Why?” Lila asked, interrupting Merlyn’s mental wanderings.

      She almost told the older woman the truth—that her own family history could be traced back to the time of the Plantagenets and Tudors. But that would be giving away far too much.

      “Actually, I had a cousin who was British,” she said. Well, it was the truth.

      “One you had a crush on?” Lila pursued.

      Merlyn pursed her lips and smiled, thinking about that cousin—Richard the Lion-Hearted—and the dashing picture he made in fact and fiction. “You might say that,” she agreed.

      “You must tell me all about him one day.” Lila sighed as she studied her notes. “This is going to be quite a feat when I really get started. I’ve only just roughed out the main characters. Merlyn, I’m fascinated by Uncle Jasper.”

      “The one who was responsible for Henry VII’s accession to the throne?” Merlyn laughed delightedly. “I’m finding great material on him. During the War of the Roses, he took his brother’s widow, Margaret Beaumont, to his own castle at Pembroke and provided for her while she gave birth to his nephew Henry, who was to become Henry VII—father of Henry VIII. Jasper lost his fortune in the War of the Roses, conducted something of a commando campaign against the Yorks and eventually rescued Henry Tudor from them. Henry, you see, was the last surviving male of the Lancastrian line. Their great enemies were the Yorks. Those were the two factions that fought the War of the Roses.

      “But to get back to Jasper, he and Henry spent quite a while imprisoned in Brittany until the death of Edward IV, whose sons were captured by Richard III—remember him? Anyway, a faction arose to support Henry’s bid for the throne, with the help of some political maneuvering by his mother, Margaret Beaumont. Uncle Jasper helped to raise an army, which marched finally into battle against Richard III. Richard was killed after a valiant defense, and Henry married Edward IV’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, uniting the Lancasters and Yorks and ending the War of the Roses.”

      Lila caught her breath. “You do have it down pat, don’t you?”

      “Not nearly as well as I’d like to,” Merlyn confessed. “There are a lot of questions about Jasper that I haven’t found answers to yet. But he seems to have lived to a ripe old age and regained his fortunes.”

      Lila pursed her lips and frowned. She tapped her pencil on the legal pad. “What a fascinating man. Do you suppose…” Her eyes cut sideways.

      “Why not?” Merlyn grinned. “A fictional character patterned after him would be a natural. And the period is fascinating, as you’ll see when we get further into it. I’m getting so caught up in it that I actually feel as if I can experience it in my mind.”

      “You should try writing,” Lila told her. “I feel the same way about my fictional people and the periods they inhabit. This is the first time I’ve dabbled in this particular period of English history, but I’m delighted that we discovered each other.”

      “So am I,” came the fervent reply. “I’m enjoying it more than I can tell you.”

      “I’m very glad.”

      “I’ve been a fan of yours for years,” Merlyn told the older woman. “I do so enjoy the love scenes,” she confessed sheepishly.

      Lila laughed. “And I still do them blindfolded, because they embarrass me so!” she confessed.

      “I’ll bet they don’t embarrass Miss Forrest,” came a deep, unpleasant voice from the walkway between the rose garden and the patio.

      Merlyn looked up with arched eyebrows. “Is that wishful thinking?” she asked conversationally, “because you’d like to do one with me? Well, Mr. Rochester, you’re not bad-looking at all, but, honestly, I did come up here to work,” she told him with a sly smile.

      His eyes got darker. He was wearing a green pullover knit designer shirt with tan slacks, and despite his size he looked trim and elegant. “Are you ever serious?”

      “When I balance my bank statement. It’s enough to make me grim,” she lied.

      “Did you want something, dear?” Lila asked before the conversation had a chance to deteriorate even more.

      Reluctantly, he shifted his gaze to his mother. “Delle and Charlotte are on their way up. I thought you’d like to know before they walked in. They can only stay overnight. Delle has to fly to France in the morning to join her brother in Nice for a few days.”

      “Lovely place, Nice,” Merlyn sighed. “Blue skies, white beaches…”

      “How would you know?” Cameron scoffed.

      Oops, she thought, smiling to conceal her lapse. “You don’t believe that I might spend holidays there?” she asked innocently.

      “I do not,” he said bluntly, and his stare told her that he didn’t think she could afford a bus ticket to Atlanta, much less a plane ticket to France.

      She shrugged. “Well, then, I won’t bore you with tales of summers in my father’s villa there.”

      He ignored her. “I’ve asked Tilly to go to extra pains for dinner this evening,” he continued. “And we’ll dress. Charlotte and Delle are used to proper attire at dinner.” He gave Merlyn a hard look. “They’re from Charleston. Old money.”

      Merlyn let her jaw drop to show that she was suitably impressed.

      “I would appreciate it, Miss Forrest,” he added, “if you could manage to control your rather unusual sense of humor during the visit. The Radners are rather special to me.”

      “Oh, don’t you worry, sir, I know my place,” Merlyn assured him.

      He looked as if he’d never smiled. Poor man, she thought, probably he never had. She wondered what he was like in bed. He probably was less adventurous than Merlyn, and Merlyn was a virgin. She grinned at the thought of Cameron without clothes.

      “When I said dress,” he added, “I meant formal dress.”

      “I have this neat sweat shirt with lace on it.…” Merlyn began.

      “But, Cameron,” Lila was protesting, “Merlyn shouldn’t be expected to…”

      “Oh, really, I have plans for the evening,” Merlyn assured them, with a smile for her dark adversary. “In any case, since I came without my Bill Blass originals, it’s probably for the best. Don’t worry, I won’t be around to embarrass you in front of the Radners. I like staying out late at night. Until the wee hours.”

      “Not here,” he told her. “You’ll be in by midnight, Miss Forrest. House rules. I don’t intend having my routine interrupted by you.”

      She glared up at him hotly. “I will stay out as late as I like, Mr. Thorpe,” she returned. “These are not Victorian times, and you are most certainly not my master. As for dressing up for dinner…”

      “Merlyn, you are most welcome to sit down to my table naked, if you like,” Lila interrupted.

      “What a marvelous thought!” Merlyn laughed, rising to the occasion. She grinned at Cameron, who was getting madder by the minute. “You’re turning purple,” she added.

      He drew in a slow breath, and his black eyes made threats. “Keep pushing,” he said quietly, “and see what happens.”

      Her eyes widened. “I can hardly wait!”