Finally, his shoulders sagged. The tiniest capitulation, but Allie felt it as keenly as the walls of Jericho collapsing.
“As you wish.” He pushed out of his chair and walked over to his desk, retrieving a clean sheet of foolscap from a drawer. “Let us clearly outline these terms. But you are on notice, Lady Allegra. I do expect your behavior to be unimpeachable.”
Allie saluted him with her glass and finished the last of her brandy in one grimacing swallow.
“Of course, brother dearest.” She managed a facsimile of a smile. “I shall be a paragon of virtue to everyone we meet.”
Thankfully, she managed not to punctuate her sentence with an echoing belch.
Kendall visibly relaxed at her words, dipping his pen into an inkwell. “I look forward to experiencing a softer version of your tongue.”
Allie continued to loll in Kendall’s armchair as he bent over the paper, pen nib scritching. Her thoughts, however, were a whirlwind.
Like her brother, she also possessed a streak of ruthlessness.
Unlikeher brother, her sense of honor was loose at best. She owed him no loyalty.
This gambit of his bought her time. If she behaved herself over the next few months, Allie could lull Kendall into a false sense of security. And then, when the ideal moment arrived, she would take his money and abscond.
Yes, she would play the perfect lady. After all, she had done so with her mother in Venice all those years. Not to mention whenLa Giovine Italianeeded a noblewoman to help acquire information.
However, her heart thump-thumped to ponder Ethan Penn-Leith.
Would she have enjoyed his friendship, had she decided to accept it?
The Scot was relentless. He would pick and pester until he had all her secrets. And though she wasn’t afraid to be known, per se, she doubted her ability to open her heart to a man again. Such trust had only ever brought her heartache.
And how could she form a true friendship without trust?
She couldn’t.
Ethan Penn-Leith’s status as a potential soul twin, ananima gemella, would forever remain just that—potential.
Watching her brother’s bent gray head, she forced herself to not mourn the past. To not remember Tristan, who had once been her literalanima gemella.
Yes, it was for the best that Mr. Penn-Leith was lost to her now. After all, her history withanime gemellehad only ever caused her pain and suffering.
And if experience had repeatedly taught her anything, it was this—
Life was less perilous for a woman when she kept her heart locked firmly in her chest.
10
Over the next four days, Ethan endured the sharp edge of Uncle Leith’s worry and frustration.
“Have you spoken with Kendall yet?” his uncle asked repeatedly.
No, Ethan had not.
The duke had been elusive.
Ethan escaped to White’s whenever he could, hoping to catch sight of Kendall’s gray head.
Instead, such outings only resulted in mobs of reporters and fanatical admirers accosting Ethan, everyone demanding to know the identity of his Italian lady.
The members of White’s were not much better, requesting private readings of his poems or giving unsolicited advice on what he should write next. Though one or two impertinent gentlemen had asked if Lady Allegra were indeed the woman in ‘One Kiss Alone.’
True to form, Ethan smiled and charmed and laughed his way through all their prying questions.
