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Agatha glanced over, her dark eyes twinkling. “A woman would be lucky indeed to attract his attention.”
    Lucinda straightened her spine. “I’m not interested in his attentions,” she said firmly. “Meg is my concern.” And the duke has plans for him , she reminded herself.
    “Meg may be your concern,” the old lady said with a chuckle, “but you’ve just become my nephew’s. If you don’t welcome his attentions, I suggest you lock your bedroom door at night.”
    “My lady!” she exclaimed, shocked, even as a ripple of heat went through her at the thought.
    “I may be old,” Lady Agatha said with a snort,“but some things haven’t changed, and this is one of them. As far as I’m concerned, you could use a man like him, even for a little while. And if you’re any bit the woman I think you are, you’ll know exactly how to handle my nephew.”
    “This discussion is quite improper,” Lucinda whispered, breathless at the mere idea of handling Garrett Lynch.
    “When you get to be my age, Mrs. Devering, propriety falls by the wayside. I hope you’ll give that young devil a chance.”
    The idea of Garrett Lynch as a potential lover continued to haunt Lucinda as she watched Garrett sweep Meg into a waltz.
     
    He had to have her.
    As he danced with Meg, Garrett cast a quick glance now and then at Lucinda. It didn’t matter to him if she was interested in his grandfather—something he was not at all certain of anymore. He was certain that his youth and virility would be more enticing than the duke’s fortune. And if the lady required hard, cold proof of his devotion, he was a wealthy man in his own right.
    But given the heat he had just seen in her eyes, he now knew the key to winning her. Beneath that proper veneer beat the heart of a passionate woman. Unrelenting seduction was called for in this situation, and he was eager to begin.
    The more he thought about it, the more hecame to believe that Lucinda had not lied when she claimed to have no interest in the duke. From her reactions, he deduced that she was a woman who had not been touched in a long time.
    He would remedy that.
    He swept Meg into one last turn and caught Lucinda’s eye. She pointedly looked away, and he grinned. Soon he would turn Lucinda’s protests into purrs of pleasure.
    Very soon.

Chapter 5
    L ucinda made her way to her room, having deftly avoided Garrett’s attempts to speak to her privately after the dance lesson. She was well aware of the lusty gleam in his eye, and her own emotions were so churned up that she dared not be alone with him. Needs she had not felt in years had awakened with a vengeance, demanding immediate attention.
    She was not some green girl to be bowled over by a handsome man, she chastised herself. She had been married for ten years and knew what the world was like. Even if her marriage had been mostly a sham, she had learned much about the ways of men and women during that time, and there was no need to become moony-eyed over broad shoulders.
    No matter how much she had longed to stroke her hands over them.
    Stop it! She was a grown woman, well able to take care of herself. Then why did you deliberately use Meg to avoid being alone with him? She had stayed with the young girl until he’d finally given up trying to get her attention, and gone upstairs to dress for dinner. Lucinda had just left Meg to do the same.
    Coward .
    “Practical,” she argued aloud. “You know what would happen. Better that you stay away from him.”
    But she wouldn’t be able to evade him forever; she couldn’t avoid him at dinner or when Meg desired his company. All she could do in those situations was maintain a disapproving exterior when he looked at her with those blue eyes that hinted at such sinful delights.
    Even if her woman’s heart melted beneath her icy veneer, making her yearn to lose herself in the pleasure promised by his single-minded pursuit.
    A vigorous man like him would soon get bored with a battle he