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He hadpresence.
He also smelled good. Very good.
“Come now, laugh just a little. It will do you good. It’s Christmas. Joy to the world, deck the halls. Peace on earth, goodwill to men.”
“I bear nothing but goodwill towardmen.My ill will is reserved for one particular lady.”
Ouch.
“That’s rather severe,” she said. “Even for you.”
“You would call me severe?”
“With me? Always. You never miss an opportunity to communicate your disapproval of my conduct.”
“Well, if your aim was to retaliate by orchestrating my public humiliation, I trust you are well pleased with the results.”
“I admit, you have turned a rather satisfying shade of red. However, humiliation was not my aim.”
“I cannot imagine you having any other purpose.”
“Of course you can’t,” Chloe muttered as she turned a circle. The man couldn’t imagine anything playful or humorous. How did a grown human reach that state? At some point, Nature would dictate, he must have been a child. No matter how classically fine his looks, he hadn’t emerged fully formed from a block of Italian marble. He’d had the benefit of all the education English society offered its gentlemen and withheld from its ladies. And yet apparently no one had taught him to laugh. It was pitiable, really.
No, no. She would not feel sorry for him.
“It is not as though you have never witnessedmyhumiliation,” she pointed out. “In fact, on more than one occasion you have been the source of it.”
“On what occasion?”
“This past July, for one. Have you forgotten pushing me into a pond?”
He bristled. “I didnotpush you into a pond. It was a reflecting pool, and you stumbled.”
How dare he point out the truth. “But you did not catch me.”
“I was six paces away.”
“A true gentleman would have made a heroic leap. Or at least dived in to rescue me.”
“Rescueyou? The water was ankle-deep. You were not injured.”
“You couldn’t have known that. Not at first. You left it to my sisters to ascertain my state and pull me out of the water. You kept your distance, as if you couldn’t be bothered.”
He made a derisive noise. “Believe me, I was bothered. I kept my distance out of propriety.”
“Why should it be improper to offer your arm? Because you are an earl, and I am a mere gentleman’s daughter?”
“No.” He pulled her close. His voice sank to an intensely masculine growl. “Because I am a man, and you are a woman. And when a woman wearing a thin summer frock drenches herself in a reflecting pool, she might as well be”—the final strains of the dance twirled them to a stop—“naked.”
He looked down at her, still holding her hand tightly in his. His lips tugged into the smug hint of a smile. “Well, Miss Garland. Nowyouare a rather satisfying shade of red.”
Upon releasing her, he bowed. Chloe forgot to curtsy. She could only stare at him, stunned. The look in his eyes was...
Well, she didn’t know what it was, but it had nothing to do with propriety.
“Kindly make my excuses to your parents,” he said. “I must be going.”
“So soon? You’ve only just arrived.”
