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‘Thank you, it is new,’ Elise burbled, smoothing her shimmering skirt as a quiet settled between them.
‘The colour is unusual, yet it suits you very well.’
Again Elise murmured her thanks for the compliment and nervously flicked a honey-coloured curl from a fragile shoulder. ‘I see that Mr Kendrick is here. I have not yet had an opportunity to speak to him,’ she rattled off.
‘He seems quite content to devote himself to your sister,’ Alex replied drily, tilting his head to indicate that Hugh Kendrick and Mr Chapman had joined the ladies. Hugh and Bea did appear to already have drawn away from the group to chat, eyes locked.
‘I wish I could say I’m glad to see my sister looking happy, but it will not do,’ Elise murmured. ‘There is no future in the relationship and I would beg you to steer him elsewhere. I must ask Beatrice to keep her distance, too.’
‘Why interfere? Hugh won’t heed what I say if he is besotted with her. And your sister is old enough to decide her own fate...older than you, I recall your aunt said.’
‘Why interfere?’ she echoed in a stifled tone. ‘My sister has no dowry, but is determined to find a husband to provide her with a new life in London. Your friend is after a wife with money because he has none. You know all of this following the fiasco that occurred at Vauxhall.’ Elise tore her eyes from his subtle amusement, heating as she remembered what he’d done to her that night...and her response to his lust. She lowered her face to hiss, ‘Pray, tell me how they will suit?’
‘It is not my place...or yours...to act the controlling guardian. As far as I know they are both aware of the other’s financial situation and must make up their own minds about one another.’
Elise felt a bubbling anger. Mrs Chapman had told them at breakfast that very morning that Viscount Blackthorne was renowned as one of the wealthiest gentlemen in the country. What did he know of being restricted and humiliated for want of money? This trip to town to socialise was possibly Beatrice’s last chance to realise her dream of having a husband and family. If the rich viscount had a sister, no doubt the lucky young lady would be afforded numerous new gowns and new opportunities to meet her mate. Beatrice had one week and two dresses before her time and her credibility ran out.
‘My sister has been disappointed before and I would not like to see her hurt again,’ Elise uttered coolly. ‘Neither would I like to see her waste precious time on a fellow who cannot come up to scratch however nice he might be.’ Elise bobbed her head and made to pass him.
‘Don’t run away, I have more to say.’
Elise pivoted about. A casually encompassing glance confirmed her fears that they were under observation. She pinned a smile to her lips and again stepped closer to him so they might not be overheard. ‘Please do not order me about as though I were one of your lackeys. And please do not think I am running away. I am not frightened of you just because we met under...odd circumstances.’
Alex laughed, chillingly in Elise’s opinion, but she continued holding his eyes squarely, her full rosy lips pleasantly curved. She prayed that their audience believed they were enjoying some light banter, nothing more to it.
‘We met under highly improper circumstances, Miss Dewey, and I imagine you would not want further scandal attaching to your family name.’
Elise blenched, moistened her lips. So he knew about her parents’ mésalliance, and her father’s disgrace, and was vile enough to raise the subject with her in a society ballroom. ‘Are you threatening me, sir?’ she whispered.
‘I’m stating the obvious,’ he drawled, nodding curtly to an acquaintance to deter the fellow’s approach.
‘Nothing is obvious about that most regrettable incident at Vauxhall unless you make it so, sir,’ Elise replied tightly. ‘As far as I am concerned it is already forgotten, never again to be mentioned, and a gentleman would concur with that.’
‘I don’t take kindly to being ordered about either,’ he echoed her reprimand. ‘So don’t tell me how to behave.’
‘If you conduct yourself in a way appropriate to your breeding and position, I will not need to do so.’
Elise knew she would be defeated in this verbal duel and her confidence and composure were also withering beneath his dark sardonic stare. Etiquette could not be ignored and before their antagonism became clear to those keenly watching them she must withdraw. Had they been alone...in the dark in bushes as had been the case at Vauxhall...she would have told him exactly what she thought of him. But here, under the unforgiving glare of a thousand candles and sharp eyes, she was constrained to respond in a ladylike manner. With gritted teeth and lowered lashes she curtsied, more deeply this time, hoping he understood the insolence in it.
