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Chapter2
Entrap a man? I scoffed at his ridiculous statement. Surely, he could not be in earnest. “I said nothing of the sort!”
“I heard you state that you could make one of these men love you as your papa loved your mama. Do not think I missed the pointed look you sent my direction.” He spoke in measured tones as though he hoped to stave off a feral cat.
Me. A feral cat. It was absurd. “I believe you mistook the word none for one.”
His skeptical look drove frustration through my chest. Was he silent because he was running over the possibility that I was telling the truth? I could not help but press my case further.
“You forget I was in the room first, sir,” I said, my defenses rising.
He shook his obnoxiously handsome head. “No, you must have followed me in here. I only saw you in the ballroom minutes ago.”
I could not restrain the laugh that bubbled from my chest. Of all the ridiculous notions. “I must have been quite stealthy to manage such a feat. You had hardly entered the room before I dropped my candle—a candle which had been burning long enough to pool wax at the base.”
He looked down at my hand. “That is what happened to cause your outburst? Did you injure yourself?” His voice, laced with a hint of compassion, fooled me briefly.
I set the brass candle holder on a nearby table with a thunk and held my hands behind my back. “It was only a bit of wax. My hand is perfectly fine.”
“How can you be certain of that fact when you are in the dark?”
“You wish for me to come into the light, sir? How can I be certain you are not the one who is attempting to entrap me?”
He scoffed, his dark eyebrows rising a fraction. Heavy silence pushed against us briefly. “I suppose we can safely come to the conclusion that neither of us entered this room with nefarious intentions, hmm?”
“On the contrary. None of my intentions for sneaking into the library were very innocent.” I clamped my mouth closed and gripped my hands tightly behind my back, causing the burn on my hand to pinch. What possessed me to be so contrary? It was entirely unlike me.
A small smile ticked up the side of his lips and drew my attention to their perfect symmetry. This man was objectively handsome, his jawline firm and eyebrows thick and expressive. There was something about him that tugged at a chord within me, something about his face that rang familiar, but I could not place it. I had never before met him in my life, but I must have seen him about London or other balls hosted by the ton, for I was positive he looked like someone I’d met before.
“Might I ask what corrupt plan caused you to seek refuge in the library?”
“You may ask,” I said, “but I do not think it wise to tell you.”
His head tilted to the side, intrigued. “Now I feel you must, or I will be forced to believe you hid here lying in wait for whatever unfortunate soul should happen upon you.”
“Unfortunate?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.
“Indeed. I pity the poor sap who is trapped into marriage, and I pity the desperate woman who fell to such lengths to do the trapping.”
“Your charm is simply astounding, sir.” My voice dripped with sarcasm, and I squared my shoulders. “It tempts me to keep my reasons safely hidden from your censorious ears.”
“Have I been too blunt?”
“Well, yes. But it is quite . . . what is the word? Ah. Refreshing.”
If this man noted my reference to his flirtation earlier at the refreshment table, he did not indicate so. “If I promise to refrain from criticizing your reasons, will you share them?”
I could not help but be intrigued by him. I wanted to know why he had escaped a ballroom that seemed curated to praise and adore him. “Only if you will share yours in turn.”
He gave a curt nod and extended his hand. “We can shake on it.”
I stared at his hand. A gentleman’s shake would require me to cross the room into the light and expose my injury. Perhaps if I was quick about it, he would not notice anything amiss. I did not take false sympathy well. Though, I had not been able to see if the wax left a mark as angry as it felt. It could look perfectly normal.
“You can trust me,” he said.
“I cannot trust a man I do not know.”
He held my gaze, and I considered the situation. I did not need to put my trust in him entirely, but the fact remained that if he proved to be anything other than the gentleman he appeared, a quick scream would alert anyone standing on the other side of the French doors walking the terrace.
