“The Royal Circus,” Selina suggested.
“A concert at the Hanover Square rooms managed by Signor Gallini,” Lucasta began, but Minnie jostled her into silence.
“Be certain you can afford your forfeit for all of us, dear, for you shall be called upon to pay it,” she said.
Lucasta returned her smile with a glower. “I am Medusa.”
Annis laughed. “You fascinated Smart Jeremy, and now the gossips have put you in line for a fortune. The Baron may make his gamble, but if milady Plimpton has her son making a pitch, you may count upon it, Lucasta. You will be besieged.” Her eyes danced with mischief. “We did establish a forfeit for the first among us to obtain a marriage proposal, did we not?”
“My stepmother had not toldme you were the toast of the season,” Trevor commented to Lucasta as Lady Plimpton’s guests circulated in the small parlor where a light supper was laid on. “She had intimated that Cici had taken well, but she suggested you were?—”
“A complete antidote,” Lucasta said.
“Not in so many words.” He glared as a gentleman to Lucasta’s left placed a slice of cold ham on her plate with an ingratiating look. As the companion who had escorted her in, it was Trevor’s duty to stock Lucasta’s plate with delicacies.
She could see any number of young ladies in attendance who wished they were in Lucasta’s place beside the beguiling new arrival. But any number of men glared at Trevor, too, clearly wishing him at Jericho.
“You are very much in demand,” Trevor observed.
Lucasta didn’t respond, for at that moment, Rudyard strolled in with Clara Bellwether on his arm. He wore a suit of midnight blue silk embroidered with a pattern that spread to the silver-gold waistcoat, and the matching lining inside the tails of his coat, contrasting the embroidered breeches, drew attention to his powerful legs.Hewas gorgeous.
Lucasta’s mouth went dry as Lady Clara whispered to him behind her fan, inviting him to lean close to hear her.
The way her heart leapt at the sight of him was ridiculous. She did not have a claim to him. Lucasta tore her eyes away, looking anywhere else.
Selina was enjoying the attentions of Major Mallory, who had been beaten to Cici’s side by Mr. Plimpton. Minnie had, with her unerring accuracy, located the one eccentric scholar in the crowdand was deep in a discussion of Old English syntax, pretending not to see Ashley’s freezing stares in her direction. And Annis had been cornered by a fellow diplomatic envoy, who loudly demanded how much of a threat she thought this upstart Sheikh Mansur of Chechnya might pose to Catherine the Great’s plans for expansion in the Caucasus.
“If I am in demand,” Lucasta said, fixing her attention on the table laden with the night’s repast, “I shall take advantage to find as many sponsors for my concert as I can.”
“Sponsors and not suitors?” Trevor probed, scooping a pile of candied lemon onto Lucasta’s plate.
She sneaked a spoonful of sugared almonds, debating how forward she was allowed to be. It was glaringly impolite of a young lady to presume a young man had an interest in her. But if Trevor was as unenthused as she was about his father’s plans, her greatest fear could be laid to rest.
She looked about to see how likely she could exchange an unobserved word with him in the supper room, where couples hovered at side tables or small groups stood chatting and balancing their plates. The evening had been a constant stream of young men inviting her to stroll about the room, young women wanting to be seen with her, and gossipy matrons who wanted to know just what she had done to fascinate Lord Rudyard. Her face hurt from holding a polite smile for hours, as if she were sitting for a portrait.
“Your father,” Lucasta began.
Trevor examined an oyster, then replaced it on the tray. “Yes?”
“I only hope you know I have no expectations. Of you,” she rushed to say. “That is, I would not presume so high.”
His eyes narrowed, and he swept a glance over the others milling about the refreshment table. “You mean to say you don’t intend to settle just yet.”
“I do not intend to settle at all,” she said. “What I mean is…I will sympathize if you are not in accord with your father’s wishes.”
He moved on to a bowl of dried oranges. “He gave me to understand I would have no rivals. Yet I find that not at all the case.”
Her heart thumped and she held her plate with both hands to steady it. Some men thrived on rivalry. None of the men here tonight had taken the least notice of her until Smart Jeremy made his careless remark.
No, not careless. Calculated. But she still wondered, why?
“Of course you should be at liberty to choose as you wish.” She was careful to steady her voice, too.
Trevor’s eyes were blue like Cici’s, but a darker, stormier shade. “Picture a man who returns from the Continent ready to establish himself,” he said. “Perhaps improve a somewhat soiled reputation. Then imagine he finds the most difficult choices already made for him: whom to take to wife, and how to support her. All that remains for him is to select a house in town, choose a club, and find a tailor.” He lifted a brow, dark gold like his hair. “What man would not agree?”
It was as good as a declaration. And yet she could not, must not let him think she conceded. “As I said…”
She caught his scent first, then the warmth of his presence behind her, and then a familiar melting voice poured down Lucasta’s spine.
