“Charades,” she said brightly as they walked along, seizing upon the first excuse that came to mind. “His Grace is terribly inept at playing the game, and it renders him quite nervous, you see. I offered to assist him in a practice game, of sorts.”
Her explanation was not all that far from the truth.
“Charades,” repeated Pru, her tone steeped in suspicion.
Well, mayhap it was.
“I am quite good at the game, as everyone knows,” she continued with her fib. “Of course, His Grace enlisted my aid…”
The following day,the sun did not shine any brighter upon his folly. But Gill was outdoors despite the cold, walking the holly maze with his brother. Largely because the out-of-doors seemed a place where he was unlikely to run across Miss Christabella Winter and embarrass himself by either kissing her or proposing to her again.
What a dolt he was.
He almost groaned aloud as he thought once more of his unpracticed attempts at seduction, followed by his inept offer of marriage.
She had refused him.
Of course she had, and she was doing the both of them a favor. Was she not?
Not, said a voice inside him. Devil take the voice.
Either way, now, he was not certain he could face her again.
He forced his mind back to the conversation he had been having with Ash.
“Miss Prudence wants to assist you with courting?” he asked.
This was an excellent sign, surely. At least he had the distraction of his brother, who had fallen neatly into the trap Gill had laid for him. Ash was a rakehell of the first order, but since their arrival at the country house party, Ash had been watching Miss Prudence Winter, the eldest of the Winter sisters. Gill had decided to put his suspicions to the test.
And seeing as how he had stumbled upon Ash and Miss Prudence alone in the wake of his disastrous assignation with Christabella, he was beginning to believe he had been correct. His scoundrel brother was falling in love.
Just as well that one of them was.
That one of them could find happiness.
Lord knew happiness was not for Gill. It was one of the reasons he wanted to see his brother married. Because if Ash was wed and settled down, Gill would not have to fret over his own marriage. He would simply marry an heiress—any heiress—and live a comfortable, separate life from her.
At least, that was what he had thought.
Until Miss Christabella Winter had entered his life.
“She offered me aid in observing the proprieties when courting ladies,” Ash said slowly then, his tone hesitant, almost as if he hated to reveal the information. “Yes.”
Gill laughed at the notion of Ash and respectability, which had never before belonged in the same sentence. Yes indeed, these were all good signs. Miss Prudence had found a rake in need of reforming, and she had settled upon Ash. “Does she not know you do not give a damn about propriety?”
“Perhaps she thinks she is performing a service for her fellow sex,” Ash returned lightly. “It matters not, for I only agreed so that I might get a bit more acquainted with her and determine whether or not the two of you would suit.”
“Selfless of you, brother,” Gill teased, relieved to turn his mind to lighter matters and away from the embarrassment threatening to swallow him whole.
“I have not compromised her, if that is what you are implying,” snapped Ash.
Ah, brother. Methinks thou doth protest too much.
“I did come upon the two of you in the salon,” he pointed out. “Alone. Miss Winter seemed rather flushed.”
And after what he had been about in a nearby salon, Gill knew all about a flushed Winter lady. A very different flushed Winter lady.
The one he had thought about all night long. And all morning. And almost every minute since…
