Again, Olivia nodded, her smile cool, bland, and implacable. Then her eyes shifted to meet his, and her head canted to the side. Jake felt Miss Fox’s gaze darting between the two of them. It was reckless and contrary to his stated goal of securing a proper wife, but he couldn’t summon the energy to care.
As long as he held Olivia’s gaze, she couldn’t leave. That was his sole concern.
He would hold her gaze for eternity, if need be.
Chapter 17
She should break from his gaze. But through some strange, tenebrous force unique to them, it held her rooted in place. Didn’t he understand that Miss Fox’s shrewd, vulpine eyes missed nothing?
Well, he would soon enough, if they began a courtship.
Began? Clearly, they’d begun. And she was here to bear witness to it. Delightful.
She must leave this instant. She couldn’t watch Jake court Miss Fox. It was too much. She stepped backward, making her intention clear. “Miss Fox, it was nice to make your acquaintance, but I have some matters to attend and must bid you fare—”
Jake held out his arm, halting the flow of her words. “Lady Olivia, would you care to stroll with us?”
Her heart beat out a hard thud, and her skin tingled with anticipation. Anticipation of what? With her next heartbeat came the answer.His touch.
She took one halting step forward, then another, drawn in against all will and reason. She placed her hand to hover above his forearm, wild electricity racing between that half inch of air, invisibly connecting them. She inhaled the irked sigh that wanted release and placed her hand down.
Beneath the layers of fabric that lay between them, she knew the naked feel of the arm beneath her palm, its smoothness, its fine dusting of hair, the flex and release of muscle that ran in hardened rivulets up and down its length. She knew what those muscles were capable of. A flush of heat pinpricked her skin, and she shrugged inside her pelisse beneath confining layers of muslin and light wool.
Miss Fox cleared her throat. “Lady Olivia, do you stroll the wilds of the Green Park often?”
“Never.”
“Yet, here you are. I can only imagine what brought you out today”—Miss Fox looked around, presumably searching for Olivia’s companion—“Alone.”
Olivia had the distinct feeling that she was being hunted by Miss Fox. “I was cutting through the park to calculate a distance when a rambunctious pair of wrens distracted me.”
Jake’s face angled left, and his gaze caught hers. “What sort of distance?”
Awareness shot through her, and she was powerless to do anything but tell him the truth. “The distance from St. James’s Square to Queen Street.”
A trio of silent footsteps fell behind them, and she sensed in the quiet that he understood why she’d been calculating that particular distance, the distance from the Duke’s address to the house she was considering purchasing.
Good. It was good for him to understand that all the loose threads of their association would be tied up soon.
Not that it mattered. He was well on his way to a proper wife, and she wished him the best of luck with her. He would need it.
“St. James’s Square, I understand,” Miss Fox cut in like a razor blade. “After all, that is the Duke of Arundel’s address, but what, pray tell, could be on Queen Street?”
“It was just a notion,” Olivia said. She was most definitely being hunted by Miss Fox.
“Speaking of the Duke of Arundel,” Miss Fox began. How Olivia was coming to hate the chit’s tone, as if each word contained a sneer especially for her. “I received an invitation to a ball to be held two days hence at St. James’s Square. Such an impromptu affair in the middle of the Season is creating quite the stir about Town. But, of course, everyone will drop everything for the Duke of Arundel’s ball.”
“I daresay,” Olivia said in the hope that agreement would quash this conversation. Miss Fox would extract no currency for gossip from her.
She risked a quick glance up at Jake, but his features gave nothing away. Likely, he’d never been held prisoner between two ladies politely discussing balls and parks while waging a silent war of wills with each other just below the surface. He had so much to learn about Society.
“Curious,” Miss Fox pressed on. “One can only wonder why the impromptu ball.”
“One will find out two days hence, I suppose.”
An unhurried succession of footsteps passed, and Olivia realized that she’d shut the chit up. She almost felt badly for her. Almost. It was deuced difficult to feel badly for Miss Fox.
It was time for her to bid them farewell and best of luck on their future union. Well, maybe not that last part.
