She glared at him. “If you didn’t mean to startle me, then why were you lurking behind the door in the last place in the world anyone would expect to find you, and where you couldn’t be seen?”
“I told you once already, Miss Templeton. Gentlemen don’t lurk.”
“No, you said gentlemen don’tskulk, but alas, Lord Fairmont, for a gentleman who claims to do neither, you spend a lot of time leaping out from behind closed doors.”
He strode across the room, took up the book she’d dropped, and turned it over in his hand. “The Devil’s Elixirs.” He glanced at her, manfully suppressing his smile. “Good God, Miss Templeton. I had no idea you had such… titillating taste in literature. I’m shocked to find my aunt even owns such a book.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you laughing at me, Lord Fairmont?”
“No, indeed. I wouldn’t dare.” He leafed through the pages, his eyebrows aloft. “‘The choirmaster had a sister, who, without being an absolute beauty, was yet in the highest bloom of youth, and especially on account of her figure, was what is called a very charming girl.’ The choirmaster’s sister, Miss Templeton? How scandalous.”
“If I might have my book back, my lord?” She held out her hand.
He handed her the book and dropped into the chair across from hers. They sat there for a moment, staring at each other, neither of them speaking a word, until at last she cleared her throat. “It’s rather early in the morning for a call, my lord.”
“I rise before seven every morning, so I might take a ride before breakfast. I realize it’s disgracefully unfashionable of me to be so industrious. I daresay thetonwould be shocked, but I’ve never taken any pleasure in lazing about in my bed. There’s no honor in wasting time, Miss Templeton.”
“No, I suppose there isn’t.” She stole a look at him from under her thick eyelashes. He wasn’t wearing riding clothes, and she frowned as she took him in. “Have you already had your ride this morning?”
“I have not. I chose to forgo my ride, as I have other, more pressing business to attend to this morning.”
“I see.” She cleared her throat again, fiddling with the edges of the book.
Shedidn’tsee— not yet —but she would. He leaned toward her, his gaze catching hers before she could look away. “My business, Miss Templeton, is withyou.”
“Me? What sort of business can you possibly have with me? Unless… is this about our, er, discussion last night?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“I didn’t intend to… it was wrong of me to speak to you so frankly, my lord. I’d rather hoped we might forget the entire conversation.”
“Forget it? Oh no, Miss Templeton. I’m afraid it’s too late for that.”
Her blue eyes went wide, and a faint tinge of pink washed her cheeks. “I own I was… it wasn’t at all polite of me to… if this is about…” She struggled upright, wincing as the book slid fromher lap once again, and dropped to the floor. “It was kind of you to ask me to dance, Lord Fairmont, and very wrong of me to… to?—”
“Run away from me?”
She huffed out a breath. “Yes. That. It was dreadfully rude of me, and I beg your pardon.”
“I don’t care about the dance, Miss Templeton. I didn’t come here this morning to demand your apologies.” He could simply tell her what he wanted— it would be the gentlemanly thing to do —but he rather liked keeping her off balance.
If ever there was a lady who’d benefit from a surprise or two, it was Euphemia Templeton.
So, he sat back, watching lazily as her blush intensified into a warm surge of scarlet burning in her cheeks, and seeping down the long, white column of her neck. She wasn’t the first lady he’d ever made blush, but there was something delightful abouthersand something ridiculously satisfying about being the cause of it.
But finally, he took pity on her. “Not but that’s a very pretty apology, Miss Templeton. Still, I didn’t come in search of you to scold you for last night.”
“No?” Her brows drew together. “Why did you come, then?”
She wasn’t going to like this. It would be a devil of a job to persuade her to go along with it, but alas for Miss Templeton, he could be just as stubborn as she was.
This time, she wasn’t going to have her way.
“Lord Fairmont? Did you hear me? I asked why you’ve come.”
“I did hear you, yes.” He plucked up the book from the floor and held it out to her, his gaze holding hers. “I’ve come, Miss Templeton, to teach you to waltz.”
Chapter
