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“Where are we going?” she shouted over the noise of the wheels and the wind whistling under her bonnet.
“You’ll see.”
“You can’t just kidnap me. It’s not civilized.”
“What I just witnessed was hardly civilized.”
“You gave me permission to ascertain the children’s talents and interests and to direct the content of their educational program accordingly.”
“In the privacy of the schoolroom, Miss Perkins. Not in Hyde Park.”
“Not in front of your friends, you mean to say.”
He stared at the horses, gripping the reins in his gloved hands, his profile stern as a granite cliff. “That was the Duke of Westbury, Miss Perkins. And he holds the future of my railway venture in his hands.”
“He didn’t look too scandalized,” said Mari. “I thought he was rather friendly and accommodating.”
“That’s because he was making eyes at you,” the duke said. “Like he was a wolf and you were a little lost lamb.”
“How peculiar.” So itwasonly dukes that found her distracting.
“Westbury’s my friend, but if you chance upon him when you’re out, I want you to walk right by, as though you’ve never been introduced.”
“Humph,” said Mari. “You can’t dictate whom I speak with on my own time.”
“He’s not a fit companion for a respectable girl.”
“I’ll wager he’s a great favorite with the ladies. He’s very handsome.”
“Don’t let those gilded locks fool you, Miss Perkins. He’s a notorious rakehell.”
“Wicked as sin?”
“Dangerously depraved. And best avoided.”
“Maybe I like wicked,” she said archly.
He jerked on the reins and the horses whinnied, slowing their gait. “Stay away from Westbury.”
If there was any time to be meek and subservient, it was probably now. But she just couldn’t seem to resist goading him.
Some devilsome urge drove her.
It was too much fun watching him lose his sangfroid.
“Why?” she asked. “Are you jealous?”
“Of Westbury? Not a chance. He’s sunk low of late. His sister is worried about him. She’s asked me to be a steadying influence.”
“His sister?”
“Lady Blanche.”
“Ah yes, Lady Blanche. The perfect pink-and-golden lady. Tottering on heeled slippers, hanging on your arm, and flapping her eyelashes. She’d make a terrible mother for the children.”
His lips quirked and he gave her a sidelong glance. “You’re not jealous, are you, Miss Perkins?”
“Of a lady who faints at the mere thought of a snake? Not a chance.”
