“Adeline,” Brina asked, suddenly a little suspicious of her friends’ motives, wondering if they felt the need to watch over her concerning the earl. “Did you ask Lyon to invite Lord Blacknight to be a member of his club so Lyon could keep an eye on him?”
“Absolutely not,” Adeline admonished. “I would never do that. First and foremost, I’d never try to interfere with Lyon’s card club in any way. Second, if I were going to do anything of the kind, I would tell you. Lyon invited Lord Blacknight because his skill at cards is legendary and most gentlemen would pay for the chance to play with him.”
“Oh, I should have known you wouldn’t do anything like that.” Brina shook her head in bafflement. “I don’t know why I’m so prickly concerning him. The earl keeps me bristling with emotions I’ve not wanted to deal with for years. I don’t even want to think about the man, but I do.”
“We understand,” Julia insisted softly. “It must be hard for someone as self-possessed as you are, but why don’tyou face the fact that he appeals to you, and delight in it rather than fighting it?”
Brina glanced over to the young and handsome Mr. Inwood. There were no butterflies in her stomach, nor tightness in her chest or throat at the sight of him. But always with the earl, she found it difficult to catch her breath.
“I never thought to look at another man with interest. It’s perplexing.”
“And I have no doubt you have confounded him,” Adeline offered with a smile. “What gentleman wants to give up his cards or his wine?”
“Or his women?” Julia added with a satisfied smile. “I thought that was brilliant.”
“Indeed! It was superb,” Adeline agreed with a laugh.
“Four weeks is a long time for a man to be so saintly. I couldn’t believe you were being so bold.”
“I surprised myself,” Brina said honestly. “But once we started talking, the words came tumbling out and the demands got more personal. I truly expected he was going to say no, but he kept saying yes.”
“Once you got started, you didn’t stop, and it was so satisfying for us to see you getting the upper hand,” Julia told her. “You are usually too worried about being good to ever do anything so bad.”
“I know,” Brina said with a laugh, shaking her head again. “I kept thinking he was going to say, ‘Enough of this! Forget the whole idea!’ and give up on courting me. I wasn’t making it easy on him, but he agreed to everything. Once I made the demands, I couldn’t back down.”
“And you shouldn’t have.”
“Right,” Adeline agreed. “If a man wants to marry you, there’s nothing wrong with making him work to win your hand.”
Marry him.
“You know I don’t want to marry,” she said honestly. She probably should have added that she was definitely conflicted about him too. But how much did she want to share with her friends? Especially when she wasn’t sure what exactly she was feeling and certainly not why she was feeling it.
“But you wouldn’t mind having him as a lover,” Julia stated as if it were already a settled fact between them.
Brina opened her mouth to agree, but stopped when she saw Harper enter the room. If she hadn’t been so busy thinking about the earl, she would have wondered if he had come when she saw Blacknight’s cousin. “Excuse me, I saw Harper come in, and I’d like to speak to him before he gets caught up with all the beautiful young ladies here.”
“Are you really going to brush us off just when the conversation was getting so interesting?” Julia asked.
“I fear I am, but only for now. Not forever. We will speak of this again later in the evening.”
With those parting words, Brina headed toward the entryway. Harper saw her, gave her a big smile, and started walking to meet her.
Harper Tabor was the kind of young man who walked into the room with a light step and friendly expression. Wherever he went, he always had the look about him as if he expected something wonderful to happen and he was going to be a part of it. His step was lively and sure, and his eyes were always full of warmth. He was of average height for a man, clean-shaven, and thin. Light sandy-brown hair was combed away from his face and fell above his collar in an attractive wave. He’d inherited the family trait of big blue eyes.
“Harper,” Brina said with a beam of happiness shedidn’t try to contain. “It’s so good to see you. I’m sorry I was out when you called on me yesterday. How have you been?”
“I’m well,” he answered, and gave her a cousinly kiss on each cheek. “You get lovelier every time I see you. How do you do it?”
Brina smiled at his flattering comment and couldn’t help but give his lip and chin a good once over. All signs of bruising were gone. “And I think you are more charming every time I see you.”
“No,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. “I’m only hoping for an invitation to dinner one night this week.”
Brina laughed. “Consider yourself invited. I should have done so already, and I had plans to, but—” But she’d had the unexpected nuisance of the earl to think about and require her attention. “Why don’t you come late tomorrow evening and we’ll have supper together.”
After a brief hesitation, he responded, “Tomorrow’s probably not good, cousin, but I will make it soon. I promised your parents I’d check on you while they are out of Town, and I will.”
“Did you?” she asked with a feeling of delight. “Papa asked me to keep in touch with you. I don’t know how you feel, but I need no one checking on me, Harper. A pleasant visit will do.”
