Eliza cast her eyes on the dark-haired, black-eyed rogue who sat next to Marjorie. "There is Lord Riverdale, James Stanley, a baron of considerable means and an estate in Yorkshire."
"Unmarried?" he asked.
"Never married," she told him and turned in the opposite direction. "Down the table, we have another next to the lady in lavender."
"And he is?" Neville asked.
"Mr. Mark Trevelyan, a bachelor whose estate is near Lewes."
"No title?"
"He has wealth,” Penn said. “No need to embellish the rose. But then, there is one more man next to Delphine. The beautiful Viking with heavenly blue eyes and golden blond hair."
“Ah, yes. The Marquess of Tain," Eliza said, “does not go down to London often.”
Bromley examined the man who was entertaining Del. “I thought all who stayed home from the fray frequented London often.”
Eliza said, "Not Tain. He keeps to his estates in Yorkshire. No need for London. It's said he has lost two wives and doesn't wish for another."
"Is that so?" Penn examined Tain with curiosity. "An unusual man.”
“But why would he come to a Christmas house party if he were truly a recluse?" Eliza raised her glass and drank. "Does he not in fact seek a new wife?"
Eliza wanted to chuckle because she could tell by the jealousy thinning Bromley’s lips that Tain had best not look upon Del with any ideas of matrimony. But she also knew what few others did. Tain would not be here, having packed off his dear little daughters to his sister’s for the holiday, if it were not for the secret love of his life. Penelope Goddard. Yes. Penn could pretend she did not know the handsome marquess. Could carry on the false illusion she and Tain had fostered for more than twelve years. But Eliza knew the truth: They had loved each other with a youthful fire that had never died. Never.
Much like her own passion for the man who stood by the sideboard across the room and who glanced at her with sad desire.
Deny you care for me, Octo. Deny it.
But I will no longer deny my own love for you.
* * *
Damn it to hell.
Every guest had adjourned to bed or the card room. Evenshewas gone.
Still, he sawher.
Why had he done the seating arrangements like Reginald Jasper did the Prince Regent’s? Every man in the house had found her fascinating.
And why not?She found them utterly enthralling!God give him rest. They smiled at her, laughed with her, hailed the footman for more champagne for her.Christ.He was going to drink himself blind later, just to trick himself into sleep.
But he’d still see her.
Witch.
Talking with Bromley and the new duke through dinner. Trevelyan and Tain later. Then two older gents—roués, both. A neighbor who lived a few mansions away on the Steyne. Why not?
Eliza was irresistible. A gayly colored hummingbird, fluttering her little wings, zipping like a fairy from one source of nourishment to another. A red-haired green-eyed sylph with a deceptively sweet face and the soul of a siren, entertaining and entertained. That rare creature who loved others, found delight in learning precisely who they were, what they valued, who they cared for. Nothing was too small a fact, nothing too large a topic for her to discover about another. If she met you, she wanted to learn all of you. Every bit of you. Like Columbus discovering the glories of the new world. Precious new territory that she mapped as if looking for treasure, never to be forgotten.
She sparkled, like the diamond she was. An Incomparable with impeccable blue blood, a vast fortune of her very own and a perfect ivory complexion, Eliza had regaled all in society for more than three years. That Octavian knew from stories in the press and from old friends. She’d broken with her father long ago, living well off the huge stipend her mother had left for her. Eliza enjoyed people, all kinds, shapes, sizes, genders, and proclivities. Moreover, she did that rare and beguiling thing: she cultivated all of them to their delight and hers. After all that time in society, with a multitude of invitations to every social and charitable event in the British Isles, she was still unwed. Odd, that. Because he thought he’d heard that she was betrothed last year to some man who was besotted with her. She’d broken from him, heaven knew why. So at twenty-two she remained single. Furthermore, she possessed that one extraordinary quality that drew every man’s interest and every woman’s envy—she lived as she wished.
And he loved her.
Christ above.
He couldn’t bloody well do that!
