Page 22 of The Dangerous Lord

Even now, she conversed with Lady Brumley, sometimes dubbed the Galleon of Gossip because of her large frame and equally large mouth, not to mention her tendency to wear outrageous hats with a nautical motif. He could easily imagine the dirty byways their discussion wandered in.

“So you met Miss Taylor at her home, did you?” a female voice asked at his side. Without looking, he recognized the lavender scent of Jordan’s wife Emily.

Her question demonstrated why sexual attraction was dangerous. If his mind had been clear this afternoon, he wouldn’t have underestimated Miss Taylor’s audacity. In trying to force her into a lie, he’d instead tempted her to tell the truth, and that had caused him no small inconvenience in twisting her answer to cover up his sins.

Dragging his gaze from Miss Taylor was more difficult than he would’ve liked. “I see you’ve been talking to Sara. Yes, I met Miss Taylor at her home. I respected her father a great deal.”

“Did you really? Come now, Ian, I doubt you ever even met Algernon Taylor.”

Ian shrugged. “I needn’t have met the man to admire him and his work.”

“You must have admired him enormously to pay his daughter a condolence call. You never call on anyone without a purpose.”

She knew him too well. “Be careful, my nosy friend,” he said lightly. “You’re dabbling in matters beyond your purview.”

Emily arched one blond eyebrow, then glanced across the ballroom at Miss Taylor. “She’s very pretty, isn’t she?”

Pretty didn’t begin to describe her. The girls who tittered and flirted with him were pretty. She was energy itself, vital, alive, like a scarlet rose among pastel lilies.

But roses had thorns, and Miss Taylor’s thorns were tipped with poison.

“She doesn’t interest me, I assure you.” Amazing that he could speak the blatant lie with a straight face. And more amazing still that it was a lie.

“What a shame. You seem to interest her.”

That startled him. “What do you mean?”

“According to Sara, she was full of questions about you, especially when she heard that you are once again an eligible bachelor.”

He groaned. “I should’ve known Jordan couldn’t keep a confidence from you⁠—”

“Don’t blame him for it. The news was circulating before I even left London this morning. Did you really think a family could keep an elopement quiet for long?”

“I suppose not.” So Miss Taylor knew the entire affair now. The bloody witch probably congratulated herself over her success. And why hadn’t that quelled her obsession with ruining his life? If she’d been asking about him, it clearly hadn’t.

Damn. He must find a new strategy for dealing with her.

“Miss Taylor had read that beastly article about you,” Emily went on, “but Sara set her straight on that matter, too.”

Ian frowned. “Set her straight?”

“Sara thought you might appreciate it if an unattached female like Miss Taylor knew the truth. After you explained to us this morning about your soldier friend and his sister, we were both eager to have the truth known. You’re being modest about the situation and your role, but we dislike hearing your character maligned so unfairly.”

It was all Ian could do not to curse aloud. Now Miss Taylor would think him a bigger liar than before. Which, in a way, he was. “As I recall, I asked you to keep that story to yourselves to protect my friend’s privacy.”

Emily cast him a sidelong glance. “And we’ll do so. Sara merely wanted to help. You have been looking for a wife, after all. It’s important that eligible women know your true character.”

“Women like Miss Taylor, I suppose?”

“Of course.” Emily batted her fan a few times. “Surely you won’t balk at marrying a respectable woman simply because she has no great claim to fortune or birth. If you’re looking for a wife, Miss Taylor wouldn’t be a bad choice.”

He wanted to laugh. Marriage to Miss Taylor would be sheer disaster. With her loose tongue, penchant for digging up secrets, and delight in skewering men of rank, in less than a week—no, a day—after the wedding she’d be nosing into his affairs.

Besides, she’d never agree to marry him. The little he’d gleaned about her indicated that her father had left her a substantial inheritance, so money was no incentive. And since she thought him a profligate and a town rake, a man who lived to debauch women and humiliate his fiancée, the usual attractions of marriage wouldn’t tempt her.

Still, marriage to Miss Taylor would be as entertaining as it would be maddening.

That doesn’t even bear contemplation. “You seem to have a very favorable opinion of the woman. Yet you hardly know her.”