“Do I need to step on your toes tonight?”
She laughed. “Not if you value your life.”
“That will do. And keep looking into your target’s eyes, mine in this case. Especially in conversation, don’t look away. Keep your eyes on his and try to smile, a more mysterious one as if you are having improper thoughts.”
She demonstrated how easy that would be—with him. She only had to remember that day in the meadow and how hotly they’d kissed, or when they’d ridden together on Snow and his hands had been all over her . . .
But he drew in his breath. “Good God, woman, what the devil are you thinking about?”
She laughed in delight. “I take it I just passed your test?”
“It wasn’t a test, just one of many lessons, but yes, you’ve definitely got the hang of that one. Now let’s make sure Daniel is paying attention.”
Monty danced closer to the target and bumped into him, though he immediately apologized before he added, “Wasn’t watching where I was going, but can you blame me?”
Vanessa got one of Monty’s more potent smiles, but Daniel remarked, “I’ve heard you’ve been keeping yourself busy, Townsend. Isn’t the Blackburn girl a little too young for you?”
Vanessa wondered how many of those “rumor” digs Monty could stomach, but this time it didn’t seem to faze him, because he grinned before countering, “Aren’t you a little too old for your partner, old boy?”
Monty immediately whisked Vanessa back toward the center of the dance floor before saying, “First mission accomplished. And don’t decline a dance from Charley when I send him over. He won’t need to pretend he adores you, and we want Daniel to notice that you attract gentlemen of all ages. For the rest, we will need privacy, which we don’t get much of at your mother’s house. Any suggestions?”
“I’ll come to your room tonight.”
“You would do that?”
“Why not? Or will I have reason to yell or throw things at you? That will certainly give us away.”
“Not a’tall. It’s just highly improper, and I thought you had fully donned proper.”
“Exceptions must be made. And I don’t think my mother would object if she knew. She wants this match as much as I do and has implied that I will need to do more’n just bat my eyes at Rathban to succeed.”
“Now that just—infuriates me.”
“Why?”
“Because she should be your stalwart protector, not your pander.”
She chuckled but caught Daniel’s eyes on her, so she patted Monty’s cheek, whispering, “He’s watching.”
He sighed. “I should have known.”
The music ended. Daniel returned Layla to Kathleen and caught Emily on her way back. She certainly didn’t look pleased by Daniel’s dance request, but she still agreed, probably with the thought that he might end up a member of the family. But Daniel was definitely making a point of his own—to Vanessa. But what? That he was serious about his preference for the twins, or was he only trying to make her furious enough to end her own pursuit of him?
Chapter Thirty-nine
“TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY THATavails itself to touch him—discreetly, of course. On his hand, his arm, even his chest, anywhere you can reach and pretend, slyly of course, that it was an accident.”
As Vanessa listened to Monty, she tried to concentrate on what he was saying, not on the excitement that had started bubbling up inside her when she’d knocked on his door and entered his bedroom, anticipating that some of his lessons might involve touching, not just the mention of it.
Monty had taken off his jacket but otherwise was quite properly dressed. As was she, though not in her ball gown, and she hadn’t tied her hair back, had left it loose as she would for bed. She wasn’t wearing shoes because she’d had to tiptoe down the corridor to his room. And he’d offered her a chair while he paced in front of it, gathering his thoughts, just like a teacher. Frankly, she was disappointed. He hadn’t told her anything yet that he couldn’t have told her while they’d danced at the ball.
“His neck, for example,” he continued. “Perhaps he has a lock of hair out of place you can push back and graze the side of his neck with your knuckles as you do.”
“He has short hair,” she reminded him.
“So he does,” he said. “I suppose I was imagining m’self.”
She laughed, feeling a trifle more interested, and suggested, “Shall I try it now?”
