With a wild little cry, she spun around and froze.
CHAPTER 3
“Are you going to explain yourself, or must I guess what you are about?” the man challenged. “I am not really sure that I can.”
Cecily would have been mortified to be caught by a servant, but the person standing before her was another guest. In fact, she recognized him. He was the tall man who had left the performance earlier. He crossed his arms and raised one eyebrow, his dark blue eyes watching her with great interest.
How long had he been standing there?
Frightened and anxious, Cecily was still determined not to show this stranger her weakness. She did not even know his identity, much less how he came to be in here.
“It is none of your business,” she scoffed, lifting her chin and putting the reticule behind her back as though he might snatch it away from her.
Oh, please, please let him go away.
Then she could run to the cloakroom and hide. Maybe she would tell her grandmother she was sick and then wait in the carriage, although that would undoubtedly put the old woman in an even worse temper.
“I have no intention of telling anyone that you’re in here or putting food in your bag, whatever the explanation,” the man assured her. “It isn’t gallantry, incidentally. I simply wouldn’t want the bother it would cause.”
“Oh,” Cecily murmured, unsure whether to feel relieved or insulted. “Thank you, either way. Why are you even in here? You should be watching the performance with everyone else, not standing guard over the buffet.”
“If you had been watching the performance with everyone else, rather than raiding the buffet like a street gannet, you would know that the break has started and guests will be pouring through those doors in about five minutes,” the man countered. “Anyway, I don’t care about what I should be doing, and you don’t either, by the look of things.”
Cecily frowned. He seemed amused more than anything else, but his observation was insulting. Did he think she was stealing food merely for her own entertainment, like the elderly Dowager Marchioness of Endover used to do with silver teaspoons at her friends’ houses?
“I don’t think we have anything more to say to one another,” she told him with a good impression of dignity. “I should go now. We should not be found alone in here.”
“No wedding ring,” the man noted, glancing at her hand. “Yet you seem very confident for an unmarried young lady of good family, which is what you appear to be based on your dress, your speech, and your presence here tonight. Or am I wrong?”
Was he expecting a formal introduction? Surely, given the current strange circumstances, it would be better to skip one and never see each other again. At the same time, it might be safer to make it clear that she was not easy prey for a rake or a seducer, if that was what he was.
“My father was a baron, and my mother was the daughter of an earl—not that it has anything to do with you. They died many years ago. While relatives took us in, I have had to be very independent from a young age. I’m no fool, and you would do well to remember it.”
“I’m no fool either,” he returned with an amused glint in his eyes, taking a few steps closer to her.
Cecily fixed him with a wary look. As he approached, his height and broad shoulders became even more noticeable, causing her to tip her head back to keep eye contact. His handsome features were impossible to ignore. Being so close, he made an overwhelming impression.
But what did he want? What did he mean by his words or by engaging her in conversation at all? When she first noticed him earlier, his dark blue eyes had seemed like flinty stones. Now they looked like dark sapphires, with fire at their heart, and they were making her feel uncomfortably warm.
Cecily took a step back from this stranger, who seemed to have such a profound and confusing effect on her.
“I should not take you for a fool,” she told him, her heart beating faster. “Unless you persist in asking me more questions.”
At that, he chuckled and approached further. “For a woman stealing food from the Duke of Mildenhall’s table, you have quite the audacity in dealing with the sole witness.”
“What would you do in my position?” she demanded, willing the strange butterflies in her stomach to be gone.
“Since you have not told me your position, how can I know?” he pointed out. “I should certainly like to know you better…”
There was something in his voice when he spoke of knowing her that went straight to her core and made her shiver.
Was this an improper advance or an innocent remark? Well, as innocent as any remark could be in their present situation.
At that moment, they both heard the sounds of approaching feet and voices. Dear God, what would happen if she were discoveredin here alone with a man? That would be far worse than only being found with an embarrassing bag of looted food.
“Quick, out through that side door,” the stranger said, taking her elbow and ushering her toward the door. “It leads to the servants’ quarters, but you can say you lost your way.”
“I… thank you.”
