He didn’t make it.
Penelope was standing near the refreshment buffet.
His feet were already turned in her direction.
Her eyes brightened when she saw him.She gestured to the young lady at her side.“Nicholas, this is my friend Miss Godwin.Gloria, this is Mr.Nicholas Pringle.”
Gloria, who believed in love.
The first conversation he’d had with Penelope came rushing back.Duchesswas for women like this one.Penelope was a good friend.
He made an elegant leg.“The pleasure is mine.”
Miss Godwin neither simpered nor curtsied.She glanced between him and Penelope, widened her eyes, and took an unsettled step back.“Lovely to meet you.I have to go.The waxing gibbous moon is… waxing.”
She all but ran off, as if the cosmos required her immediate attention.
“I don’t think your friend approves of me,” he said dryly.
Penelope’s expression grew wicked.“She may have mentioned that she finds your brother superior.”
Nicholas brightened.“Did she?”
“Don’t be offended,” Penelope assured him.“Attraction is the result of a complex mixture of factors, including olfactory scents and receptors.”
“I wasn’t offended,” Nicholas answered.“I am thrilled to hear Christopher’s olfactory whatsits are superior to mine.”
“Or it could be Gloria’s receptors,” Penelope said slowly.“I’d have to test to be sure.Did you become a rake due to environmental influences or your innate chemistry?”
“What?”he stammered.“Is that something you can test for?”
“I don’t know.”She tilted her head to scrutinize him.“It would be a fascinating study.How would you describe the formative impact of the male figures in your life during your childhood?”
“Look at the time,” Nicholas said quickly.“I turn into a pumpkin every day at…”
Penelope glanced at the clock in the receiving hall.“Half four in the afternoon?”
“Precisely at half four,” he agreed.“It’s a common condition.Details are well-known.No need to do any studies.”
“Drat,” she said with a little sigh.“I do love studies.”
That was part of what made her so dangerous.
He didn’t want to expose his childhood or his emotions.If he were a turtle, he would have no intention of giving up his thick shell.He didn’t even like to talk about last week, much less his past.Life was simpler that way.
But a woman like Penelope would never takeSorry, I’m a turtleas an excuse.An experimental chemist like her would want to investigate all his hidden facets.Poke him, prod him, until every secret he had ever held was hers to judge, and react as she would.
Nicholas could not think of a worse end to a relationship.
“Did I catch you entering the castle or leaving?”he asked to change the subject.
“Leaving.”She held up a small notebook.“I was just making some quick tallies of this afternoon’s biscuit distribution.”
Nicholas had no idea what that meant, but he did like biscuits.
And Penelope.
A frisson slid over his skin as he realized just how much he really liked her.It gave her power over him.It made him vulnerable.He did not want to consider how he would feel to discover the feeling was not reciprocated.That he was nothing more than a test subject to be studied.
