“Well?” she demanded as the carriage set off.
Benedict offered her a baffled expression that was entirely genuine.
“Did you learn anything?”
“Linden is being played for a cuckold by his own son,” Benedict supplied.
“Obviously. I meant about your Eliza.”
“She is notmyanything. And of course not. You selected the wallflower for me. The other one, Sophie, is a bit of a favorite—she is rather striking. And several men owe Wayland significant sums—nothing of note there.”
“Who?”
“I do not recall. Half of thebeau mondeat least.”
“Benedict…” Bella drew out his name in an exhausting display of disapproval.
“And I suppose you were more successful?”
“Yes. I hope your shoe is clean because you’ll need to eat it.”
Benedict’s brow hit his hairline.
“Grayson. He’s besotted with his wife. It was a revoltingly charming display.”
“And that benefits us in what way?”
“Because little Eliza will have grown up watching, envying, and dreaming of a love match.”
“So you’re saying?—”
“That you’ll need to appeal to her romantic side.”
Before he could reply, the carriage jolted to a stop outside the townhouse he’d let last week. Benedict paid the driver with only the slightest wince before trailing Bella into the house. He grunted at their new butler as they passed, and made his way to the sitting room and the alcohol.
The drinks cart lived near the cracking mantel, and Benedict poured a scotch for himself and Bella’s favored gin before he joined her at the chair beside the bay window.
He waited, enjoying a well-earned sip as the butler wandered off down the hall. Satisfied the man was gone, he turned back to Bella. “Her romantic side?”
“All women have one.”
“Including you?”
She huffed in reply. “Otherwomen.”
“And how do you propose I do that?”
“The same way you’ve attracted every other woman you’ve convinced to look at you twice.”
The corner of Benedict’s lip curled up. “Generally, I approach them and ask if they’re already engaged for the evening.”
“Truly?”
“They seem to appreciate it when I lean against things before I ask,” he offered with a bemused shrug.
She pinched her brow in familiar exasperation. “I fear for the state of womankind. Eliza will not be so desperate—not truly. You’ll need to do more than lean against things.”
“Such as…”
