Page 19 of Wicked Highland Heroes

She faltered in her step, but caught herself. “That is not necessary,” she whispered.

They danced back into separate lines, then forward again, this time switching partners. The guilt she’d grappled with since devising the plan to marry Grace to the earl resurfaced with a nervous turn of her stomach. Lord Rushton did not wish to marry her or Grace. In the end, however, Grace was the better choice. She would accept him for the man he was and embrace a life separate from his. Grace was a beautiful woman. The time Lord Rushton spent in her bed would be pleasurable. If he eloped to Gretna Green with her, the polite world might talk, but nothing more, for they wouldn’t know the elopement had been a kidnapping.

When Eve came back around to Lord Somerset, they locked arms and swung around.

“I do not believe you invited him into your room,” he said.

Blast the man. If he thwarted her plans, she would call him out. That was the trouble with a man who believed a woman to be above reproach: he simply couldn’t accept the possibility she could be less than the paragon of virtue he saw her as. A mistake Lord Rushton wouldn’t make. Her father was right. The earl had no illusions where women were concerned. The realization pricked her pride.

They separated again. She stepped right and circled the gentleman diagonally across from her. He smiled as they clasped hands and shuffled forward and back, then separated. The couples once again stood opposite one another as each couple on the end pranced hand in hand down the center of the two lines. When their turn came, Eve stepped toward Lord Somerset, he clasped her hand, and they whirled. Before she realized it, he had maneuvered her out of the line of dancers and into a small alcove to their left.

Her heart sped up. She had no intention of eluding the scandal with Lord Rushton only to have her father sign a marriage contract with Lord Somerset because gossipers saw her in a private alcove fraternizing with him. Lord Somerset stopped and she turned back toward the ballroom, but he stepped in front of her.

“My lord.”

“I saw your marriage announcement in the paper,” he said.

Eve gasped.

“Just as I thought,” Lord Somerset said. “Your father is forcing the marriage.”

“No, I promise you, he is not.”

The viscount’s eyes darkened and frustration bubbled to the top. Why hadn’t he fixed his interest on Grace instead of her? Grace adored attention. Eve had met Lord Somerset a year ago and, while he was cordial, he’d given no indication he felt any tenderness for her. But three months ago he had approached her father in regards to his suit toward her. Of course, her father had rejoiced that a reputable man showed interested in her and gave the viscount his blessing.

“I do not believe you are marrying Rushton of your own accord,” he said.

“You assume too much, sir. You do not know me well enough to know what I would or would not do.”

“Are you saying that the gossip that has been revived about you and Lord Blane after all these years is true? Are you loose?”

Eve stiffened. “I am saying, it is none of your concern.”

“Miss Crenshaw—Eve—you do not have to do this. Sit down, let us talk.”

She shook her head. “I will not sit down.”

“Marry me,” Lord Somerset said.

Eve stared. “Sir, please.”

“It is obvious he’s forcing this marriage.”

”Things are not always what they seem,” she whispered.

“Things are rarely as they seem,” drawled a familiar male voice.

Eve jerked and Lord Somerset whirled to face Lord Rushton. Behind the earl, the blazing light of the ballroom haloed his large frame and she was reminded of an avenging angel. No. Not an angel. An incredible male demon rising from the pits of Hell.

Her heart raced as he took three leisurely steps and halted uncomfortably close to her. Dismay at the wonder as to why he wasn’t bound and gagged inside a carriage racing toward Scotland vanished when she glimpsed the chilling glint in his eyes. Horror rushed to the surface at the possibility that it would be Lord Rushton who called out Lord Somerset.

The earl grasped her hand and brought it to his lips. His eyes held hers as he brushed a kiss to her fingers “This situation, for example.”