A Midsummer Night's Kiss (Howertys #1)

Chapter 2: Breakfast at Gowthorpe's

Nathaniel smirked as he watched the woman's white dress disappear through the door. Entering a bedroom with a man sleeping inside had been a risky move on her part. She should know better. With a huff, he dressed, thankful that no one had seen them. The last thing he needed was to be caught alone—naked—with his friend's younger sister. What had she been thinking?

There were many gentlemen of the ton who wouldn't think twice about grabbing and seducing any woman that wandered into their room. He wasn't one of those men, but she did not know that.

Once fully dressed, he went downstairs in search of something to eat. He found his friend, James Grafton, Viscount Gowthorpe, already at the table in the dining room with a cup of tea and a plate filled to the brim with eggs, bacon, and toast. His sister sat next to him, clasping a cup of tea and fastidiously avoiding Nathaniel's eyes as he walked over to them.

His friend stood as he approached, grinning widely. "I didn't expect you up yet."

"Neither did I," he admitted. "Nor did I expect to see you." In fairness, it was most likely approaching noon by now, but they had only stumbled home in the early hours of the morning after a night about town.

"A maid woke me up to inform me that my sister had arrived. I don't believe you've met before." He turned to his sister. "Angel, please allow me to introduce to you Nathaniel Howerty, the Marquess of Pensington. He's a good friend. I believe I may have mentioned him to you?"

She nodded, her eyes still on the cup of tea. It must be an absolutely riveting cup of tea.

"Pensington, this is my sister Angelique Grafton. Angel to family and close friends."

She stood and demurely offered her hand. He took it and softly placed a kiss above her knuckles, then pretended not to notice that she all but snatched it back.

"We've met," he said, surprising himself as much as her. The look of panic in her wide green eyes made it all worth it. Maybe it would teach her not to walk into rooms where strange men were sleeping—even if it was her own.

"Oh? When was that?" Gowthorpe looked between them, a line between his brows. "I cannot think when you two would have met. Angel is rarely in London."

They all sat back down at the table and Nathaniel glanced at Angel, wondering what she would tell her brother. She stirred her tea with a small frown puckering her brow as she was presumably debating what she could say without giving away too much.

"When did the two of you meet?" Gowthorpe asked again, and Nathaniel almost laughed when she gave him a sullen look through her eyelashes. It was wicked of him to tease her like this, but he was enjoying it far too much.

Looking at the two siblings, it was easy to see that they were family. They had the same blond hair and pale skin, although Gowthorpe's was a few shades darker than his sister's. Both had high cheekbones, a finely chiselled nose, and arched eyebrows. However, where Gowthorpe's eyes were a clear blue, Angel's were light green. 

She may not be someone who would turn heads at first glance, mainly because with her white dress and fair complexion she seemed to fade into the surroundings, but once you paid attention, she was quite pretty. Though he was probably better off not thinking of his friend's sister as pretty.

"When I arrived, I went upstairs to my bedroom." Angel stopped stirring her tea and looked up, a stubborn tilt to her chin even as her cheeks darkened with a blush. "I did not realise that someone else used it in my absence."

He schooled his features as his friend turned to him with a frown. Well played, Miss Grafton. Well played.

"No one is meant to," Gowthorpe said. "You slept in my sister's room?"