“Mind you don’t forget the cakes, Amelia,” Eleanor called after them.
Amelia turned back to give her a cheerful little wave, but Eleanor’s heart sank as she watched Charlotte walk off to the far end of the garden to spend an entire afternoon with Julian West. Nothing untoward could happen on Lady Abernathy’s lawn with a hundred or so society members milling about, but that didn’t change the fact that they’d been outmaneuvered by the Wests.
Again. At this rate she’d find herself married within a month.
With a reluctant sigh she turned to face the artic green eyes of her furious would-be-betrothed, but to her surprise, he regarded her now with an odd, speculative expression, not the cold anger she’d expected.
Oh, no. She’d forgotten she was supposed to be a dull-wit.
Blast it, it took far more effort to sustain an appearance of stupidity than she’d ever imagined it would. After their drive yesterday she’d flopped across her bed in a near-stupor of witlessness the minute she arrived home. She’d awoken hours later with a stiff neck, still wearing her carriage dress.
Ignorance exhausted her, but there was no help for it. She couldn’t change tactics again. Had she said anything intelligent just now? She’d teased Amelia, but surely she hadn’t given herself away—
“You’re good with her.”
Eleanor jerked her attention back to Camden West, who continued to scrutinize her with such intensity she understood how a rodent must feel right before a serpent swallowed it whole.
He offered his arm. “Many people don’t know how to speak naturally to children. They talk down to them, or treat them like adults. Have you had much experience with children Amelia’s age?”
Eleanor accepted his arm. “No, but I do adore children. They’re so funny and clever.”
Cleverer than I am. At least, that’s how she hoped he’d interpret that comment.
He didn’t reply, but a sardonic smile touched the corners of his lips. Eleanor ran a damp palm down the side of her skirt. That smile wasn’t a promising sign.
Damn it, she rarely made mistakes or misread people, and it was quite simple, after all—Camden West was a villain. And yet she’d played him wrong from the start. She’d been so certain he’d underestimate her, she’d underestimatedhim. He was far more cunning than any of her other suitors. It was terribly unfair. Why did the one man who wanted to blackmail her into marriage have to be the clever one? If the world were just, he’d have the wit of a boiled potato, and the appeal of one.
No, it wouldn’t do. If she wanted to free her foot from Camden West’s trap, she’d have to do better than this. She’d have to find another way—
“Ah. These must be the yellow roses I’ve heard so much about.”
Eleanor looked up, surprised to find he’d led her around a tall hedge of boxwood and down one of the more isolated pathways. She glanced behind them, but only a fragment of the house and the crowd on the lawn were visible through the thick wall of roses.
A shiver of foreboding skittered up her spine. If she couldn’t see them, then they couldn’t see her. What did Camden West mean by bringing her here? She glanced up into his face, but she found nothing there to reassure her. He regarded her with lazy, half-closed eyes, but his sleepy expression was at odds with his glittering emerald gaze.
He stood far too close to her.
“Will you stun me with your knowledge of yellow roses now, Lady Eleanor?” he asked in a bored tone, even as his gaze flicked over her face, noting every change in her expression.
Eleanor moistened her dry lips. “Oh, dear. I wish I could, Mr. West, but I know nothing about roses.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Roses, or anything else. That’s what you’d have me believe, isn’t it, my lady?”
Don’t flinch. “I beg your pardon?”
He reached forward and took hold of her chin with long, warm fingers. “I think you know about many things. You’re not as feeble-minded as you’d have me believe, or as cold. Right now, for instance, you feel very, very warm.”
As if at his command, her chest and neck flushed with heat. Eleanor tried to jerk her chin free, but he held fast, and tilted her face up to his so she couldn’t look away. “Oh no, my lady. We’re not finished yet.”
“Finish it, then. What is it you want?” In her head her voice was cold, her words clipped, but somehow they emerged husky and breathless. Her flush deepened, spread to her cheeks.
He noticed, and a slow, wicked smile tugged at his mouth. “But I can’t have what I want, my lady. Not yet. So I’ll settle for an explanation instead. Tell me, why are you so kind to my sister?”
Eleanor’s knees trembled under her skirts, but even as her body went weak at the look in his hot green eyes, her mind leapt to his challenge. “Why shouldn’t I be kind to her? It’s the easiest thing in the world to be kind to a child. They aren’t liars. It’s the adults who are the challenge.”
It was far too smart a reply for an addlepated female, but Eleanor didn’t care anymore. She hadn’t fooled him with her act in any case, and all she cared about at this moment was getting free of his touch.
Before I melt at his feet.
