Page 16 of How to Best a Marquess

“Perhaps it is the company.”

Devil.

She waited until Mr. Dunston returned with an armful of additional bolts of cloth before making her move.

“I spotted trimmings in the front of the store. Pardon while I fetch what I am looking for,” Ellie said.

No one paid her attention. She hurried to the front of the store and, without a word, motioned to Alice to follow. Reaching up, Ellie held the little bell above the door, opened it, and they slipped outside.

Once they were on the street, Ellie took Alice’s arm and swiftly walked away. They passed three stores, a haberdasher, a furrier, and a tailor before Alice spoke.

“You realize the marquess will be angry.”

Ellie didn’t slow her step. “If I get everything done, then it will be worth his ire. Besides, he deserves it.”

“Hmm. He doesn’t strike me as a man who will easily let you have your way.” Alice’s longer strides kept up with Ellie’s quick pace.

“It is of no consequence.” Her destination was two blocks away, and despite her bold words, she felt an urgency to put as much distance between her and the draper before Hugh even realized she was no longer in the shop.

“Pardon my frankness, miss, but I see the way the marquess looks at you. I do believe you will have more to contend with than you believe.”

Ellie let out an unladylike snort. “You are mistaken. The marquess only wants the club.”

“I don’t believe so. I’ve been widowed, miss. I know something of men,” Alice argued. “His lordship is enamored of you.”

Ellie scowled as she walked. She couldn’t contend with Alice’s comments, not now, not when she had more pressing matters.

“Hurry. We’re here.” Ellie spotted the furniture maker’s wooden sign swinging on its hinges in the slight breeze. Alice opened the door.

With one last glimpse at the street for any sign of Hugh, Ellie swept inside.

…

She’d given him the slip.

Hugh had suspected something was amiss. Ellie had a tell—a tiny twitch of her lips when she lied. She’d had it ever since he’d known her. He’d recognized it years ago at a garden party when she’d told her family she’d seen a friend and wanted to stroll the gardens with her. Except there was no friend. Ellie had met Hugh in the gardens, and they’d shared a sweet kiss inside a fragrant maze.

What happened to the innocent girl of his youth?

Ellie had always been intelligent, but now she was bold. Feisty enough to abandon him in a draper’s shop. He wished he could have seen her grow from a bookish girl into a fiery woman. He mourned the loss.

He was surrounded by bolts of fabric with an overeager shopkeeper and his assistants. He would laugh at his predicament if he weren’t furious.

Ellie couldn’t evade him that easily. He felt a heightened anticipation and eagerness he’d lacked for a long, long time. She was a refreshing change since his return from the military. His last mistress, an actress at Drury Lane, had wanted more, and he wasn’t interested. But Ellie was different. A challenge. A worthy opponent, not in the ring but in a battle of wits. And Hugh liked nothing better.

If Ellie thought she could fool him, she had met her match.