She batted Thomas out of her thoughts and closed her eyes, letting Isaac fill her mind. Good grief he was gorgeous. All the promise of handsome he’d had about him when he was a teenager had been fulfilled and then some. She pictured his long, slender hands, imagining them on her body, and found herself biting her lip.

When sleep finally took her, her last enduring thought was that she wasn’t prepared to back away from Isaac and whatever this spark was between them; she’d take her chances and hang the consequences.

Thirteen

The party traipsed out into the crisp morning air, their breath clouding above their heads, and last night’s snow had all but gone. Still, the grass was silvered with frost and a misty shroud hung over the land as the winter sun warmed the frozen earth.

Charles and Guy of course wore traditional tweed coats and matching trousers tucked into Wellington boots and tweed flatcaps.

“Have you ever seen them look more lord of the manor than they do right now?” Ameerah asked as they followed them out to the waiting Land Rovers.

“I’d say I found it rather sexy if Charles didn’t already fancy himself so much,” Jenna added dryly.

Camille sniggered.

“How do you think Guy feels in his outfit, Camille?” Pippa asked.

“Like he is a man of might and consequence,” Camille answered, raising a wry eyebrow.

The women dissolved into laughter.

“Charles wanted to have sex in his tweeds this morning. I think it’s the idea of being let loose with a gun; the power has gone to his head. I told him to take a cold shower.”

“Guy kept strutting in front of the mirror. Thank god it’s the right weather for woolly hats, I didn’t have a hope of getting near any reflective surfaces to do my hair.”

By contrast, Jeremy—whose family owned an estate big enough to warrant a gamekeeper and who had grown up shooting rabbits, deer, and grouse when the numbers required it—was dressed inconspicuously in jeans and a waxed jacket. He was chatting with Dev, who looked sublime in his outdoor clothing; never had an anorak and Wellington boots looked so erotic.

“There ought to be a law against looking that good,” said Pippa, watching Dev with something like hunger in her eyes.

“Charles was complaining last night in bed that Dev was making the rest of them look bad.”

“He is astonishingly handsome,” Camille added dreamily.

“He’s reading Tolstoy at the moment, I practically had to pry Anna Karenina out of his hands last night to get him to shag me,” said Ameerah.

“For fuck’s sake!” Pippa exploded. “Could he be any more perfect?”

“I didn’t sign up for a man with a brain, he was supposed to be strictly brawn.” Ameerah sulked.

“He’s not even brawny, really,” Camille mused. “More muscularly svelte.” The other women sighed in hearty agreement.