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She cocked her chin, assessing him as though trying to decide his intentions. “A dance?”
“We are here to court,” he answered, bowing over her card before placing his name next to the waltz before dinner.
“We are,” she answered. “Both agendas filled.” Then she hesitated, dropping her hand once he’d finished writing. “How long do we continue our ruse?”
Was she anxious to get rid of him? Or was he just being worried after the intimacy of his confession? “I’ll need to keep up the charade until my thirtieth birthday, which is in March. Two months from now.”
She nipped at her lip. “I know that I said I wanted you to teach me to assert myself, but you told me what I needed most was to learn to seize opportunity.”
“I did,” he said, searching her face as he attempted to determine where she was headed with this.
“Well…” She peeked up at him through her lashes. “It has occurred to me that I could keep my mother content as we court and then use that time to find a man who actually wishes to marry me and who I’d like…”
Her words died off as his muscles turned to granite and he gave her a fierce glare. She wanted him to watch as she attempted to woo another man? Irrational anger made his fists clench.
She studied his visage as he willed himself to relax. In every way she was correct. Her idea was an excellent way to maximize the opportunity of their fake courtship. So why did jealousy stiffen every muscle in his body?
He’d known her feelings for him all along. That hadn’t changed just because she’d sat in his lap so sweetly. “Well, Red, I can give you until March.”
She gave a tentative nod, and he lifted his hand toward the door in invitation. They slipped out and back down the hall, Ethan showing her to her mother’s side. He had to play the doting hero, after all, even if he felt increasingly like the villain in this farce.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Natalie tapped her toe next to her mother, unsure where she wished to be. It was her usual behavior to be at her mother’s side, but part of her wanted to be back in that library and in Ethan’s lap.
Never mind that his powerful thighs and lean body had felt amazing next to hers. Or that his lips had sent little thrills skittering over her skin.
Then there was the feel of his arms, like strong protective bands about her…
For a moment, he’d begun to open up and share parts of himself with her. Then she’d felt the moment he’d closed himself off again, instead of sharing his feelings he’d begun to joke about her actions.
Him pulling away in that moment had hurt. Like he didn’t trust her. Hadn’t she been kind, caring, and supportive with her words and actions?
She’d returned to her mother’s side because when she’d been with him, a few things had become apparent. One was that she was sinking deeper into trouble because she wanted…more of him.
But also, when he’d started to pull away, she’d realized just how dangerous he might be. She wasn’t used to pushing or demanding. It would be so easy for him to hurt her. And then where would she be with her mother? Better or worse than before she’d met Ethan?
Did she really wish to abandon her plan to complete her list and instead focus on her new plan to find a husband while Ethan distracted her mother?
It was a sound idea. Only not one she was certain she could actually implement. She wanted a love match, but she had this feeling that she might be falling for the very man she shouldn’t want.
Which left her where? She’d not find another love if her heart wanted Ethan. And her mother would tie her to another man long before she could untangle herself from her feelings for Ethan. Which left her with the possibility that if she were going to marry a man she didn’t love, she ought to at least choose him, shouldn’t she?
But there was a part of her that had hoped…what? That Ethan would hear that she planned to find another man and would suddenly realize that he wished to be the man she married?
It had been such a silly thought. But she’d been there in his arms, all snug and safe in his lap and she’d had this sudden hope to just stay there. She knew who he was, just as she knew he had all the choices in the world. Why would he choose her?
Was she now hiding in fear at her mother’s side? Likely.
And was she doing what she always did, which was take the safe option? Absolutely.
She sighed to herself as she listened to her mother talking to several of her friends. The gossip was never-ending within the ton and some widow was rumored to be having an affair with some degenerate lord… Natalie was hardly listening.
Her mother snuck her a furtive glance and Natalie returned the look, the question surely shining in her eyes. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing,” her mother answered, giving her a bright smile. “But I do see that the Marquess of Kingsley has glanced this way. I think he’d like an introduction.”
“Lord Kingsley?” she asked, looking around to find a man watching her back. He was tall, with brown hair and a bland smile.
