Tonight, were he to repeat that fatal mistake, however, his reasons would’ve been far different and had nothing to do with a marriage wager at all. She was witty, intelligent, and beautiful. He could imagine himself enjoying his days with her and his evenings passing happily by her side.
“I thought my attention would be reserved for Kitty this evening. Little had I known, I am more helpless when it comes to her than I’d thought.”
“How so?” he asked.
“She is guileless, Tristan, and believes everything Lord Bengard says to her.”
“A danger.”
“Indeed.”
They finished the dance and bowed to one another. Tristan offered his arm, formulating a plan as he returned her to the supper box. James conveyed Kitty toward them at thesame time. She laughed heartily, hanging from his arm, and his smile seemed rueful.
Once they reached the table, Tristan did his best to disguise his voice again—not for Caroline’s benefit but for the rest of the party. “I had a mind to walk through the gardens. Miss Scarlet, would you care to join me?”
Caroline looked at him with confusion before her blue eyes cleared. “What a splendid idea. Kitty, shall we walk through the gardens? I’ve heard they have all manner of delights.”
Kitty’s hands came together as though in prayer. “Oh, yes. What a lark.”
Bengard’s dark eyebrows slashed in irritation. “I can take you through the garden if you would like.”
“Shall we all go together?” Caroline cut in, before Kitty could agree. “My new friend is so charming, I vow hemustbe a gentleman.”
Had Tristan been a stranger, that would have been an odd thing to say. James looked at his sister now, probably surmising she had worked out their identities.
“There are a number of interesting things to see in the gardens,” Bengard said, leaving his half-eaten plate behind and joining them. “Are you coming, Hortensia?”
“No,” his sister said. “I will stay here and finish my supper.”
It was a good thing Tristan and James did choose to watch over the ladies, because the chaperone Bengard had provided was a paltry excuse for the position. Mrs. Hough first allowed her charges to dance with strangers, and now she permitted them to go into the dimly lit gardens together.
Caroline appeared to think these things at the same time. She looked at Tristan, then Kitty. “Shall we?”
Chapter Twelve
Caroline wished to Heaven she had not accepted Kitty’s invitation to attend Vauxhall Gardens with such a rake as Lord Bengard. She already dreaded returning home and informing her mother of what had passed that evening, and they had not yet finished their outing.
Kitty walked ahead on Lord Bengard’s arm, James on her other side. Why James had chosen to appoint himself Kitty’s protector was anyone’s guess, but Caroline was grateful for it. Before her brother had arrived, she had not enjoyed holding the entirety of their safety on her shoulders. Mrs. Hough had been useless, and Kitty believed herself incapable of being taken in, which was a danger of a different sort.
“What ails you?” Tristan asked softly.
Drat. She must have sighed. “It is growing late.”
“You cannot fool me into believing you retire early, Miss Scarlet. I know your propensity for wasting candles to finish your books.”
He certainly had a long memory. “That was an old habit—but yes, I do the same now on occasion. Why are you calling me Miss Scarlet?”
“Because I wouldn’t want anyone to overhear your name and know you are here.”
“It was a foolish thing to come,” she whispered, leaning close enough to smell his familiar bergamot. Another group passed by and they were forced to step off the path before continuing. “I saw no other recourse except abandoning Kitty, which I simply would not do.”
“No, I imagined you would not.” Tristan looked away, orange firelight dancing over his face. His frown was evident beneath the simple black half-mask.
The path led them further from the music and light and deeper into shadowed alcoves of shrubbery, punctuated with sounds of giggling.
“This way,” Lord Bengard said boldly, turning down a pathway hardly illuminated, save for weak moonlight. The hedges were tall, lining the way with periodic benches set away from the walkway. Most of the torches remained behind them.
“You are not entirely correct, you know,” Tristan said, turning with her to follow their friends. “I will not pretend the wager wasn’t on my mind when I proposed to you at Lady Petunia’s ball, but it was not my chief motivation. Indeed, I do not take marriage so lightly as to offer for the first woman I saw.”
