An Experienced Mistress by Bryn Donovan Page B

return to London in the autumn, however. To King’s College.”
    “Whatever for? You went to Oxford. Surely that is enough learning for any man.”
    Will cleared his throat. “I am considering studying to be a physician.”
    Mr. Tudbury snorted. “A physician? Why should you want to do such a thing?”
    “In the army, I learned they can be very useful.”
    Coventry cast a quick glance at Will’s hand.
    Mr. Tudbury frowned. “Yes, I suppose I can understand that. And no doubt you shall succeed at whatever you choose to do.”
    “Thank you.”
    Tudbury rose and took his leave.
    “I was afraid he was going to cough up a bit of lung,” Coventry murmured as he watched Mr. Tudbury retreat. He turned back to Will. “A doctor? What does your family say?”
    “We will see,” Will said. “They may not like the thought of a Creighton lowering himself to such an occupation.”
    Coventry chuckled. “It didn’t scare away Mr. Tudbury.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Come now. The way he was courting you, I half expected him to present you with a bouquet of roses.” Coventry leaned back in his chair. “What do you think of the daughter? I have met the older one, of course, but I don’t know that I’ve seen the younger.”
    “I don’t know her very well.” Will shrugged. “She must be more than ten years younger than me.” He didn’t suppose she could be older than eighteen. “But she is pretty enough. And she always seemed sweet.”
    “And wealthy as the Queen of Sheba. You could do worse, old boy, if you did have a mind to marry.”
    Will knew he could hardly do better. And if it happened that he married Daisy, her older sister Violet would feel awkward, dozens of gentlemen would feel jealous, and Will’s mother would feel ecstatic.
    But he suspected he would feel nothing.
    “Of course I shall marry, sooner or later,” was all he said.
    “If you want to marry that one, it may have to be sooner. Unless she wants to, she won’t stay on the market for long.”
    Will was sure he was right. But he didn’t like the idea of cutting short his liaison with Genevieve. He looked forward to enjoying her bed...or wherever she preferred to carry out her mistressly duties.
    And he looked forward to talking to her again.
    “As I say, Miss Tudbury and I scarcely know each other.” Will finished the last of his port and pushed the glass away. “I’m not even sure what we’ll discuss at this dinner.”
    “Well, I should avoid discussing this new mistress of yours,” Coventry advised drolly. “Other than that, I’m sure any topic will do.”
    ****
    Throughout the next few days, Genevieve remained amazed at how things had gone with Will Creighton.
    When he strode into her parlor that evening, impeccably dressed, imposing, her nerve almost failed her. This man was no one’s fool, to fall for a ruse or for rules.
    But she’d found the courage to carry out the charade, and he agreed to her strictures about taking things slowly. He’d been willing to follow her lead.
    The most absurd thing about it, of course, was that Will Creighton seemed the last man on earth who needed instruction. Even his first kiss overwhelmed her senses. His heated caresses, his passionate assault, made her tremble with an eagerness that shocked her.
    She of all people should know better than to be taken in by such things. Had she learned nothing from her disastrous interlude with Adam?
    But had that been the same thing? Even as an eighteen-year-old, besotted with her first painting teacher, she’d not felt anything quite so...visceral.
    Genevieve came to Adam’s class believing fiercely in her own natural talents, feeling as though all kinds of rich possibilities lay ahead.
    Adam was the image of what she herself wanted to be. He’d already achieved some success as a painter, and sounded so authoritative when he talked about Art. She was thrilled when he took a particular interest in her progress. Even more impressively, he’d introduced