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“I seek not to employ coyness, sir, but speak only the truth.” She looked at him sidelong. “We both know you are much sought after. I fear not your reputation so much as I fear the enmity of my own sex.”
“Do you indeed?” He laughed. “You don’t sound very afraid to me.”
“I conceal my terror well.”
The man beside her again laughed. “You fear nothing, Miss Lowther, though perhaps you should.” He leaned a little closer. “Do you not harbor even the slightest qualm over being associated with a man of my reputation?”
“Why should I, as long as I behave properly and you maintain the appearance of gentlemanly conduct?”
“Oh, the appearance of it. I see. The fact that I am no true gentleman matters not to you then, only that I ‘appear’ to be one while in your company.”
“But you are a gentleman, my lord. This I know.”
“There are countless others who would beg to differ, my dear. And my name is Percy.”
“Perhaps they might,” she conceded, ignoring his prompt to familiarity. “But I remain convinced that for all your black reputation, there is a gentleman buried somewhere beneath the jaded façade.”
“If he exists, he’s buried most deeply, I assure you.”
“Then you acknowledge his existence.”
“I don’t deny I was once a gentleman and that there are certain gentlemanly ideals to which I yet cling. For the time being.”
“Honor being one of them?”
He stopped and faced her. “My sense of honor is my own and holds to no standard set by anyone else. Some find it adequate.” He raked her with his eyes, and heat unfurled deep in her belly. “Others don’t. I wonder into which category you will fall?”
“I shall simply have to trust your sense of honor is in accord with my expectations.”
She counted several heartbeats before he answered, “And what is your expectation of me, Eden?”
The sound of her name spoken in his low, intimate rasp sent tingles racing across her flesh. She ought to correct his breach of manners, but the delight of hearing him speak to her thus was such that she couldn’t bear to chide him—as long as he didn’t do it in front of others. It took a moment to find her tongue. “Why, that you will conduct yourself with all due propriety in my presence, of course, as any true gentleman would.”
A lazy, sensuous grin stretched his mouth. “If you craved a true gentleman’s company you would not be here with me. You would have allowed your stepmother to toss me out on my arse as she doubtless longed to do the very instant I crossed her threshold.” His voice dropped to just above a whisper. “No. I suspect you desire an altogether different sort of man.”
All the moisture in Eden’s mouth dried up of a sudden. She forced a wry smile. “Other men have said similar things to me, typically in the form of an insult and usually just after I have refused their offer of marriage.”
“Those men were fools.” He offered his arm once more.
She took it, and they again walked. “Most men are.”
“I’m not most men.”
“Of that I am certain.”
“Again, you flatter me.” His voice had changed, no longer warm and intimate but cool and brittle. “And flattery always serves a purpose.” Veering off the path, he led her away from the main gathering. Not out of sight, but far enough away not to be overheard. Lines of discontent bracketed his mouth. “Tell me, what exactly is it you expect to get out of being seen with me today?”
Scorching heat rose to prickle her ears. Whether it was anger, embarrassment, or something more dangerous than either of those, she did not know. At the moment, she didn’t really care. “Unprovoked, you approached me at the Wyndham ball. By your own will, not mine, you called on me at my residence without invitation. It was by your request that I accompanied you here. All these things happened through no machination of mine. Perhaps I should ask you what it is you want of me.”
…
Percy tried not to show his surprise at her counterattack. To his chagrin, he couldn’t find satisfactory words to answer her.
A knowing smile curved her ripe lips. “A moment ago you could not be silent, yet now you refuse to speak. I’ve been forthright with you. It is only fair you should now employ the same level of honesty with me. Why did you request my company on this outing? What do you stand to gain by our association?”
Her blue eyes impaled him with all the keenness of a newly sharpened foil. There were any number of excuses he could give her—a means of apologizing for his earlier conduct being only one, and a thin one at that. He could say it was in the interest of helping her, but that would imply she was incapable of netting a fellow on her own. Such was not only an insult, but laughable. Was he not here now, dancing a merry jig to her hornpipe? She would never believe such an explanation.
No. He had asked her because it was what he’d wanted. He’d acted on an impulse, and there was nothing to gain by it save a terrible lot of trouble. The last time he’d done such a foolhardy thing, he’d damn near ruined everything for several people, including himself.
