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.She simpered up at him as if he were her only reason to live.Had she, Louisa, ever looked at him like that? Not lately.Perhaps not since the wedding that had never actually taken place.She pinched the meat of her palm, sank her teeth into the inside of her lip, willed herself to preserve her composure.When they stood before her, she wanted more than anything to bow her head and rush from the room.But she forced herself to meet his devilish eyes with a glaze of indifference in her own.“Lady Louisa, may I present the Marquis of Jardine?”Louisa inclined her head, as regal as Kate at her haughtiest.She raised her brows a little, the question in them clear—to him, at least: How well do we know one another today?For an instant, Jardine’s eyes glittered with a passing emotion she couldn’t interpret.He bowed.“We’ve met.How do you do, my lady?”Beth looked from him to her and back again.“You know one another? Oh, now you have spoiled my surprise.I made sure to be the first to give you the news, my lord.Lady Louisa has consented to marry my brother.We shall be sisters! Isn’t that altogether delightful?”Wretched girl! Discreet, indeed! At this rate, the whole of England would know of Louisa’s sham betrothal.“I wouldn’t know,” murmured Jardine.“I never had a sister.”“Nor have I, but I’m persuaded it must be a very fine thing, indeed,” said Beth, tucking her hand into the crook of Jardine’s arm.Louisa’s gaze fixed on that comfortable intimacy.She couldn’t seem to drag her eyes away.With an effort, she cleared her throat.“Will you not sit down?”Her stomach churned with the need to escape Jardine and his new inamorata’s presence, but she couldn’t let him see how greatly he hurt her.With his usual elegance, Jardine disposed his long limbs in the chair she’d indicated while Beth plumped herself down beside Louisa.“Tell me, Lord Jardine—” Was that her voice, all husky and strained? Louisa cleared her throat again and strove to modulate her tone.“Do you make an extended stay or are you merely a dinner guest?”“Miss Radleigh has invited me spend the summer,” said Jardine with a feline smile.“I shan’t trespass on her excellent hospitality for quite that long, however.I have duties that will take me back to my estate in Wiltshire before the month is out.”“How pleasant,” said Louisa, nearly choking on the words.Was she to endure Jardine’s presence for the rest of her stay?She caught herself.She was putting an end to this charade of an engagement and leaving as soon as may be.She’d made up her mind about that.Someone else would have to infiltrate the party, find this errant list, and bring Radleigh to justice.“We have such plans for your entertainment, you will be amazed!” said Beth, wriggling in her seat like an excited child.“I can hardly wait,” murmured Jardine.Louisa looked up at him sharply.There was a lazy glint in his eye.Was he up to something?As Beth went on, enumerating the arrangements she’d made for her guests, Louisa’s grip on her own hand turned brutal.But the more Beth talked, the less inclined Louisa was to believe that Jardine had fallen in love with the chit or had any serious intentions toward such a rattlepate.Besides, it was all too coincidental to ring true.What was Jardine’s real reason for being here? Had he merely used Beth to get an invitation to this party?Perhaps he’d come to put a spoke in the wheel of Louisa’s betrothal.If so, what did he plan to do? Even Jardine wouldn’t accept a man’s hospitality and then turn around and kill him.Surely not.Could he be here for the same reason as she was?She frowned.That didn’t seem right.If Jardine were here to find that list, why would Faulkner send her and Harriet to the house party at all?Regardless, Jardine clearly enjoyed her discomfiture.Which of course made her determined to be excruciatingly polite.“What a fascinating house this is, Miss Radleigh.I’m intrigued by the Indian influence I’ve seen.”Beth made a moue.“Not our doing, but Radleigh likes it.He was smitten as soon as he saw the place.I suppose it reminds him of our childhood.”She lowered her voice.“Some of it is quite.” She leaned forward to whisper.“.Shocking.Not at all the thing.”Was she referring to the erotically decorated temple Harriet had mentioned?Jardine’s lip curled.“Great art is often not at all the thing, Miss Radleigh.”Beth’s face dropped ludicrously at the mild setdown.With a slight smile, Jardine added, “Perhaps you ought to show me these despised creations.Then I can offer you my opinion.”The silly girl melted into a puddle of shining gratitude and hurried away to get her hat.Obviously, she’d missed the implications of Jardine’s ploy to get her alone.“Like shooting fish in a barrel, isn’t it?” Louisa narrowed her eyes at him.“Jardine, she’s a child.”“I find her.refreshing,” he said.“I’m hardly in my dotage, either, you know.”“Using her to punish me is just about the most despicable thing you’ve done,” she hissed.“Do you have an understanding with her?”“Who said I was using her to punish you?” He threw his arms along the back of his chair.“The planets and all their moons do not revolve around you, strange as it might seem.My lady.”Anger flared at the rebuke.Was she really nothing to him anymore? No matter how she suffered at his hands, she couldn’t believe it.What about that desperate kiss in Richmond Park?Oh, she knew better than to set store by the physical affection a man might show.But he’d kissed her as if they were the last mortals left in the world, as if his life would be nothing without her.Folly to believe it, and yet inside, in her soul, there was no doubt.They belonged together.Her voice grew husky again.“How long have you known her?”Shrugging, Jardine spread his elegant white hands.“A day? An hour? What does it matter?”This bit of whimsy would have drawn a scathing reply if they hadn’t been sitting in the midst of the other house-guests.His lips curved into a smile that held a hint of understanding and a healthy dose of challenge.The ache in her chest flared to a knifing pain.Not jealousy, no.She knew he was shamming it.But this parody of courtship playing out between him and Beth cut her to the quick.She looked away.Beth returned, bonneted and flushed with happy anticipation.Louisa studied her, took in the sparkling green eyes, the warm honey tone of her hair, the lush curves of her well-developed figure.The adoration in Beth’s gaze as she lifted it shyly to Jardine’s reminded Louisa of another besotted girl, many years ago.Jardine rose and offered Beth his arm.Raw with pain, Louisa watched them go.NineJARDINE escaped to the card room that evening in time to see Louisa denude her slender arm of a glinting bracelet and toss it on the table between her and Radleigh.It landed with a chink against its mate.His jaw tightened.The intimacy of that little tableau made his blood simmer with rage.But he forced himself to hold back and wait for them to play out the hand [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.She simpered up at him as if he were her only reason to live.Had she, Louisa, ever looked at him like that? Not lately.Perhaps not since the wedding that had never actually taken place.She pinched the meat of her palm, sank her teeth into the inside of her lip, willed herself to preserve her composure.When they stood before her, she wanted more than anything to bow her head and rush from the room.But she forced herself to meet his devilish eyes with a glaze of indifference in her own.“Lady Louisa, may I present the Marquis of Jardine?”Louisa inclined her head, as regal as Kate at her haughtiest.She raised her brows a little, the question in them clear—to him, at least: How well do we know one another today?For an instant, Jardine’s eyes glittered with a passing emotion she couldn’t interpret.He bowed.“We’ve met.How do you do, my lady?”Beth looked from him to her and back again.“You know one another? Oh, now you have spoiled my surprise.I made sure to be the first to give you the news, my lord.Lady Louisa has consented to marry my brother.We shall be sisters! Isn’t that altogether delightful?”Wretched girl! Discreet, indeed! At this rate, the whole of England would know of Louisa’s sham betrothal.“I wouldn’t know,” murmured Jardine.“I never had a sister.”“Nor have I, but I’m persuaded it must be a very fine thing, indeed,” said Beth, tucking her hand into the crook of Jardine’s arm.Louisa’s gaze fixed on that comfortable intimacy.She couldn’t seem to drag her eyes away.With an effort, she cleared her throat.“Will you not sit down?”Her stomach churned with the need to escape Jardine and his new inamorata’s presence, but she couldn’t let him see how greatly he hurt her.With his usual elegance, Jardine disposed his long limbs in the chair she’d indicated while Beth plumped herself down beside Louisa.“Tell me, Lord Jardine—” Was that her voice, all husky and strained? Louisa cleared her throat again and strove to modulate her tone.“Do you make an extended stay or are you merely a dinner guest?”“Miss Radleigh has invited me spend the summer,” said Jardine with a feline smile.“I shan’t trespass on her excellent hospitality for quite that long, however.I have duties that will take me back to my estate in Wiltshire before the month is out.”“How pleasant,” said Louisa, nearly choking on the words.Was she to endure Jardine’s presence for the rest of her stay?She caught herself.She was putting an end to this charade of an engagement and leaving as soon as may be.She’d made up her mind about that.Someone else would have to infiltrate the party, find this errant list, and bring Radleigh to justice.“We have such plans for your entertainment, you will be amazed!” said Beth, wriggling in her seat like an excited child.“I can hardly wait,” murmured Jardine.Louisa looked up at him sharply.There was a lazy glint in his eye.Was he up to something?As Beth went on, enumerating the arrangements she’d made for her guests, Louisa’s grip on her own hand turned brutal.But the more Beth talked, the less inclined Louisa was to believe that Jardine had fallen in love with the chit or had any serious intentions toward such a rattlepate.Besides, it was all too coincidental to ring true.What was Jardine’s real reason for being here? Had he merely used Beth to get an invitation to this party?Perhaps he’d come to put a spoke in the wheel of Louisa’s betrothal.If so, what did he plan to do? Even Jardine wouldn’t accept a man’s hospitality and then turn around and kill him.Surely not.Could he be here for the same reason as she was?She frowned.That didn’t seem right.If Jardine were here to find that list, why would Faulkner send her and Harriet to the house party at all?Regardless, Jardine clearly enjoyed her discomfiture.Which of course made her determined to be excruciatingly polite.“What a fascinating house this is, Miss Radleigh.I’m intrigued by the Indian influence I’ve seen.”Beth made a moue.“Not our doing, but Radleigh likes it.He was smitten as soon as he saw the place.I suppose it reminds him of our childhood.”She lowered her voice.“Some of it is quite.” She leaned forward to whisper.“.Shocking.Not at all the thing.”Was she referring to the erotically decorated temple Harriet had mentioned?Jardine’s lip curled.“Great art is often not at all the thing, Miss Radleigh.”Beth’s face dropped ludicrously at the mild setdown.With a slight smile, Jardine added, “Perhaps you ought to show me these despised creations.Then I can offer you my opinion.”The silly girl melted into a puddle of shining gratitude and hurried away to get her hat.Obviously, she’d missed the implications of Jardine’s ploy to get her alone.“Like shooting fish in a barrel, isn’t it?” Louisa narrowed her eyes at him.“Jardine, she’s a child.”“I find her.refreshing,” he said.“I’m hardly in my dotage, either, you know.”“Using her to punish me is just about the most despicable thing you’ve done,” she hissed.“Do you have an understanding with her?”“Who said I was using her to punish you?” He threw his arms along the back of his chair.“The planets and all their moons do not revolve around you, strange as it might seem.My lady.”Anger flared at the rebuke.Was she really nothing to him anymore? No matter how she suffered at his hands, she couldn’t believe it.What about that desperate kiss in Richmond Park?Oh, she knew better than to set store by the physical affection a man might show.But he’d kissed her as if they were the last mortals left in the world, as if his life would be nothing without her.Folly to believe it, and yet inside, in her soul, there was no doubt.They belonged together.Her voice grew husky again.“How long have you known her?”Shrugging, Jardine spread his elegant white hands.“A day? An hour? What does it matter?”This bit of whimsy would have drawn a scathing reply if they hadn’t been sitting in the midst of the other house-guests.His lips curved into a smile that held a hint of understanding and a healthy dose of challenge.The ache in her chest flared to a knifing pain.Not jealousy, no.She knew he was shamming it.But this parody of courtship playing out between him and Beth cut her to the quick.She looked away.Beth returned, bonneted and flushed with happy anticipation.Louisa studied her, took in the sparkling green eyes, the warm honey tone of her hair, the lush curves of her well-developed figure.The adoration in Beth’s gaze as she lifted it shyly to Jardine’s reminded Louisa of another besotted girl, many years ago.Jardine rose and offered Beth his arm.Raw with pain, Louisa watched them go.NineJARDINE escaped to the card room that evening in time to see Louisa denude her slender arm of a glinting bracelet and toss it on the table between her and Radleigh.It landed with a chink against its mate.His jaw tightened.The intimacy of that little tableau made his blood simmer with rage.But he forced himself to hold back and wait for them to play out the hand [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]