Her smile returned, making his heart light.
“That does sound more intriguing. I’ll await your message to let me know where you want to meet.”
He cupped her chin. “I’ll find a place that nobody will suspect. I don’t want interruptions.”
“Me neither.”
Her pretty face brightened mere moments before she pulled away and continued moving out of the thicket of trees andtoward the manor. As promised, he watched her until she was nearly at the house. Thankfully, nobody spotted her—that he could see, anyway.
With a light heart, he hurried toward the waiting coaches until he spotted the hackney. Stuart stood by the door, waiting to assist Collin inside.
He stopped in front of the driver and narrowed his gaze on the man. “Do I have your word, as a gentleman, that you will not gossip about Miss Featherstone and what you witnessed this evening?”
The driver lifted his chin and pulled his shoulders back. “She and her family are my friends. I wouldn’t hurt Miss Featherstone for all the money in the world. She is a caring woman with a huge heart, and I will do anything to protect her reputation.”
Collin nodded. “Then I had better not hear anything about what happened tonight.”
The man’s mouth tightened. “It won’t be from my lips.”
“Splendid.” Collin opened the hackney door and climbed inside.
Kentwood sat on the bench with his face pressed against the wall of the vehicle. His eyes were closed and drool slid from his mouth.How pathetic!
Collin rolled his eyes. If only he could convince the man to stop drinking so much. One of these days, the drink would kill his cousin, Collin was certain of it.
Purposely, he slammed the door. Kentwood jerked to a sitting position. One side of his hair stood up higher from where it had been flattened against the vehicle’s wall. He blinked as if trying to gain his bearings. When his expression registered recognition, he chuckled and relaxed back in his seat.
“Ah, Hanover. I’m glad to see you have finally come.”
Stretching his legs in front of him, Collin relaxed on his seat and linked his fingers together, resting them across his middle. “I cannot believe you had the driver fetch me.”
Lloyd shrugged. “I couldn’t see you inside the ballroom. I figured you found a woman to seduce and had taken her out back.”
“And what if I had? You could have waited, but no. You would rather interrupt my pleasurable moment by sending the driver to find me.”
“There is no need to get riled. Besides, I probably did you a favor.”
Collin tilted his head, shooting a scowl at his cousin. “Afavor? Pray, how does your alcohol-addled mind think you have done me a favor?”
“Because she was trying to trap you into marriage.” Kentwood tapped his fingers against his temples. “The women nowadays are cunning, I tell you. They see wealthy, titled men, and they create ways to get us into a compromising position just so their overeager fathers could find us and force us to marry the wenches.”
Cassandra’s pretty face popped into his mind, and he sighed with contentment. There was no way his sweet Cass would try to trap him. But she was definitely captivated with kissing him tonight, and her innocence was what had enthralled him. Yet it had been his idea to go for that stroll, not hers. That let him know she wasn’t one of those calculating women his cousin was talking about.
“Well, I can assure you that entrapment wasn’t on the mind of the woman I was with. It was my idea to find someplace private. It was my idea to kiss her, and it was my plan to make her sigh with passion.”
“That is good to know. You are most fortunate you found someone before that Featherstone girl caught you.”
Collin hitched a silent breath. If his friend said anything to degrade her in any way, Collin would toss the inebriated man out of the hackney. “Why do you think Miss Featherstone was trying to catch me?”
“Was it not obvious the other night while at her home? She is infatuated with you, and I saw her and her family at the ball. Their out-of-date gowns made them stand out, pitifully so. I almost felt sorry for them.”
Gnashing his teeth, Collin sat up straighter and fisted his hands. “You should not judge them by what they wear. I found Miss Featherstone and her family to be quite charming, after I had given them a chance, of course. I’ll admit, I was rather upset that our plans had gone awry that day, what with the carriage breaking down, but visiting with Miss Featherstone and her family relaxed me. I quite enjoyed myself.”
Releasing a disgusted groan, Kentwood shook his head. “Oh, don’t tell me she has already gotten you in her clutches. I thought you were wiser than to fall for her scheming.”
Anger climbed higher inside Collin. “I will forgive you because you are foxed and do not know what you’re talking about, but I warn you, you are treading on thin ice. Take my advice and close your eyes and return to your drunken dreams. You are sorely tempting my patience with this topic, and I assure you, I will win.”
Kentwood stared at Collin for the longest time before shrugging and closing his eyes. “I shall let it rest, but don’t come crying to me when she traps you into marriage.”
