“There’s just one last possibility. He’s a rather suave man of style, a secret master of chess, and looks devilishly handsome when he peers through his quizzing glass.” Freddie straightened his waistcoat and smiled proudly.
Derrick stared at him. Freddie chuckled. “Never fear, old boy—she isn’t for me. And I doubt she has an eye for me, either. She’s more like a sister.”
“Right,” Derrick said seriously.
“So it’s Falconridge?” Freddie guessed.
“It must be. He’s the only remaining choice,” Derrick muttered.
“Right, well, how do you wish to handle it, old boy?” Freddie asked as he started to roll up his shirtsleeves as though to prepare for a fight.
“Thank you, Poncenby, but it won’t come to violence. I simply wanted to know who the man was.”
Freddie rolled down his shirtsleeves. “Good, because I’m fairly certain that man could tear us both apart.”
“Quite possibly.”
“So your plan is... what? Try to keep him away from Arianna?”
“Yes. Most definitely.” If she fell for that man, he would break her heart. Derrick knew that pain only too well, and she would never be able to mend it. He would spare her that agony if he could.
“What do you think of him?”Pepper’s whispered question pulled Arianna from her thoughts of Derrick and the last time they had been alone together. She’d come so close to telling him thathewas the man she loved and that she had nearly settled for another because she’d always feared he would never trulyseeher, let alone love her as a woman.
“Who?” Arianna asked, trying to retrace the conversation with Pepper she’d barely been listening to.
Pepper’s face pinkened slightly. “Lord Falconridge.”
“Oh...” Arianna remembered meeting him today, a tall, handsome man who had dark, sad eyes.
“He is handsome, I suppose.” He was very handsome, of course, but he stirred no wildness in her blood the way Derrick did.
Pepper sighed. “Such a terrible thing about his wife. He must’ve loved her deeply. He’s never remarried, and yet he comes each season for a single day, then leaves again.”
“He does?” Arianna had not been paying much attention to the seasons anymore.
“It’s so tragic.” Pepper’s gaze drifted to the door of the drawing room. Lord Falconridge had left a short while ago to join the other men in the billiard room across the hall.
A footman entered and discreetly passed Arianna a note. She made sure only Pepper had seen its delivery before she opened it.
Tonight, leave your door unlocked. Our lessons must continue in earnest.
She glanced at the gilded clock ticking away on the mantel above the fireplace. It was almost ten. She could easily make her excuses and go up to bed.
“Arianna, are you all right?” Pepper asked.
“I’m a little tired. Would you tell my mother I’ve gone up to bed if she asks?”
Arianna started for the door, but Pepper caught up with her in the hall.
“Be careful,” Pepper warned as they closed the drawing room door and stood in the corridor.
“Careful?”
“Yes, with Lord Seabright. I know you’ve carried feelings for him for years, but...”
“But?” Arianna’s breath hitched in sudden nervousness.
“Well... he swore never to love again after he and Lucas fell for the same woman.”
