Page 54 of No Ordinary Lady

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, it’s clear she’s not hanging off your every word. I haven’t heard her laugh once today, and you’re usually so funny and charming. You always make me smile.”

“But not in the way Kimble does for you today. He’s hanging off your every word today. What are you whispering to him? No. Don’t tell me. I’m sure you’re aware of how your talented tongue attracts all men—you’re like honey to a bee.”

Her frown returned. “You ought to be too busy with Miss Wilson to notice anything I do or say.”

“Hard not to notice you when you do all you can to be noticed by everyone,” Daniel complained bitterly. “Perhaps you could moderate your laughter.”

Her lips parted a full minute before she asked, “My laughter suddenly irritates you?”

“Yes,” Daniel complained, though as soon as the omission was out of his mouth, he regretted saying so. It wasn’t true. He loved when Marian laughed with him. He dropped his head, crowding Marian and forcing her to look into his eyes. Hers were wide and pretty green, and her pink lips parted slightly. “Perhaps you should sit beside my grandmother for a while and be her paid companion, as you are supposed to be.”

“Is a paid companion not supposed to enjoy herself? Must she be dull and invisible?”

“Something like that,” he said, unable to look away from her tempting lips. “You have never been dull or invisible to me, though.”

Marian’s fingers caught the button on his waistcoat and a slow smile twisted her lips. “Is there anything else I can do for you today, my lord?”

“I think it would not be wise to encourage Kimble’s conversation.”

Marian’s jaw dropped, and she stepped away from him. “He was talking to me about his ward.”

“His eyes linger upon you the most,” Daniel complained, deciding he might as well get it all off his chest now while he had a chance to speak bluntly. “He fancies you.”

“That is ridiculous,” she quipped, folding her arms across her chest. Which only made her full bosom more obvious and appealing.

He prowled after her. “I know what I see when I look at you,” Daniel insisted. “A luscious beauty within arm’s reach. Kimble is not looking at you like he does his ward, but as a woman he’d like to take to bed.”

Marian punched her hands on her hips. “Are you jealous?”

Yes! “Men like Kimble never change their ways. He’ll use you and discard you like every other scoundrel you’ve ever met must have done,” he warned.

Her lower lip trembled. “The way you did?”

He gritted his teeth, fighting his own regrets about Marian. “If anything serious had ever happened between us, I would have. But nothing did happen between us.”

“Just a harmless, meaningless kiss that took my breath away,” she said, shrugging away the event, but he could easily see his words had upset her. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Perhaps this time it will be a lady using a scoundrel for a change,” she said, lifting her chin high again.

“If you encourage my friend, there will be hell to pay,” Daniel began, but he was distracted by the defiant narrowing of her gaze.

“Is that right? What will you do to me?”

He looked her up and down slowly. Marian was a luscious woman, blessed with an adventurous spirit and, until now, unencumbered by the rules of proper society. Had things been different, he would have bedded her without a shadow of a doubt. He could still take her over his knee, or the nearest desk, if she provoked him well enough.

If she ever wanted a husband when she went to London, someone with wealth and good looks, she could have one with just snapping her fingers, and there was nothing Daniel could do to stop her. But here, now, he couldn’t abide the idea. Especially if they were his friend, Kimble.

Kimble, who didn’t know the real Marian and never could, was blinded by her pretty face and the lies Granny had woven around Marian’s reputation to make her fit the mold of a proper lady. Beguiled by Marian’s bright laugher and wit, the way Daniel had been at first. Kimble, buried in the dull countryside for so long, wouldn’t stand a chance if she encouraged the poor fellow.

Yet if Daniel couldn’t have her, why should he begrudge her a beau?

Daniel shook his head. He should not imagine Marian’s future after she left him, or picture her as a wife, but he couldn’t get the unpleasant image out of his mind and heart.

Getting Marian away from the estate, sending her somewhere safe from her former associates, ought to become his priority for everyone’s sake.

But he liked knowing where she was, seeing her smile, and knowing that her former friends hadn’t found her yet.

Still, watching her charm, an old friend burned more than it ever should. He ought not to notice that her nose crinkled when she laughed without any ladylike restraint, or that she bit her lip when she was listening intently to what he had to say.