Or perhaps—perhaps she was counting on it.
He hated to think the worst of people, but he had to consider the possibility that shewantedthis scandal. That she was holding him here deliberately, moving this close to him, looking up at him with those wide, innocent eyes, because she knew what people would say if they were seen. Because she felt that if that happened, he might feel compelled to marry her.
His stomach turned. Wasthatwhat these two weeks were going to be about? Ladies maneuvering him into compromising situations in order to try to force his hand, to compel him into a marriage?
He pulled away from her. “I must insist that you remove your hand, Lady Genevieve,” he said firmly, stepping back quickly so that there were several feet between the two of them. “This is entirely inappropriate, and I really must be on my way.”
He turned and walked off quickly, breathing a sigh of relief when he had turned a corner and separated himself from her.
He’d barely had a moment to feel that relief, though, before another hand closed around his wrist and pulled him into the bushes.
Seth whirled and found himself face to face with another lady—one he hadn’t spoken to yet. She was slight and curvy, with auburn hair and freckles, wide eyes and full lips, and for a moment he was taken aback by how lovely she was. She was the kind of beauty he might not have noticed if she had been sitting across the table from him, but standing here in the middle of a bush and looking her in the face like this, it was impossible not to see it.
“What are you doing?” he hissed.
“I saw what happened,” she murmured. “Lady Genevieve is still looking for you. I didn’t think you had noticed, but she followed you. If you want to go back out there and deal with her directly, feel free. But it seemed to me as though you might like some assistance in avoiding her.”
“Well, I?—”
The lady held up a hand to stop him, and then pressed a finger to her lips.
“Your Grace?” a voice called. Seth recognized it as Lady Genevieve, and she sounded deeply perturbed. “For goodness’ sake—where have you gone? I only wished to talk with you.”
Seth looked at the lady in front of him. She had released her hold on him as if to say that he could go out there if he wanted to.
He gritted his teeth. He didn’t know what to think. Why would she intervene like this? What did she have to gain? The first thing that came to mind—and it came altogether too easily—was that she might be trying to entrap him into a scandal too. He was going to have to be on his guard about that for the duration of this party. Bad enough that his parents were so desperate to see him married, he thought unhappily. It would be even worse to be forced into it by a lady who had backed him into a corner.
He heard Lady Genevieve’s footsteps move on and knew that it would now be safe to leave the bush. He was about to turn and walk away, but something stopped him. He looked back at the lady who had pulled him into it.
“What’s your name?” he asked her.
“Lavinia.”
He nodded. “I’ll have to remember that,” he said. “Lady Lavinia, who pulls men into bushes against their will.”
She looked as if she had been slapped. “I said you could go if you wanted to. Perhaps you should.”
But he didn’t. There was something about her—something captivating. Shewasbeautiful, and the audacity it had taken to pull him into this bush was nothing short of remarkable. And there could be no denying that she’d saved him from a further confrontation with Lady Genevieve.
But on the other hand—had she only saved him from one scandal to embroil him in another? It would look just as bad—worse, probably—if he was discovered in the bushes with a young lady.
He was going to have to be very careful indeed for the remainder of the house party.
CHAPTER 3
“Your Grace,” Lavinia repeated what she’d heard the lady on the path say. “So you’re a duke, then?”
The gentleman stared at her. “Do you mean to tell me that you don’t know who I am?”
“Oh.” Lavinia blushed. “I’m sorry. Am I supposed to?” This was one of those things that always seemed to get her into trouble in social situations. This was probably a well-known gentleman. Her parents would have scolded her for failing to remember who he was. Perhaps they’d even been introduced before. But it was very like her to make this sort of a mistake.
“I thought everyone knew who I was,” the duke said.
“I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You haven’t offended me. Well, not by not knowing my name, at any rate.”
“So Ihaveoffended you in some other way?”
