“Lord and Lady Melrose aren’t coming to London, are they?”
Dash it. “No.”
“No. I thought not.” He stepped closer to her, his gaze dropping to her lips. “I’ve told you before, Hattie. You’re a dreadful liar.”
He was thinking about the kiss. She knew it as surely as if he’d said so aloud. Warmth flooded her cheeks, and the nextthing she knew she’d mirrored his actions by taking a step toward him, until they were so close she caught the faintest hint of bay from his cologne.
The scent, warmed by his skin, was…God above, but she wanted to roll around in it, bathe in it.
“Hattie, I need to tell you?—”
“Lord Windham! Yoo-hoo, Lord Windham!”
They sprang apart. There, bearing down on them like a runaway carriage was Lady Tremblay, a footman loaded with paper wrapped parcels trailing in her wake. “Lord Windham, what luck! Laetitia, wherever have you disappeared to? Do come here, dearest, and bid Lord Windham a good after?—”
She broke off as she caught sight of Hattie, her smile transforming into such a fierce frown Hattie took an instinctive step backward. “Lady Harriet. I didn’t see you there.”
“Lady Tremblay.” Hattie dipped into a polite curtsey.
“My, you do have a habit of turning up when one least expects it, don’t you?” Lady Tremblay didn’t wait for a reply, but turned to Cass with a flounce, a bright, false smile on her face.
“We’ve just had Laetitia’s final fitting, and I daresay you won’t be able to take your eyes off her at Lady Dumfries’s ball, my lord. But then sheisthe season’s belle.” Lady Tremblay glanced at Hattie, her eyes narrowed. “No other young lady compares to her.”
“My goodness, such an exaggeration, mamma!” Lady Laetitia appeared suddenly, emerging from behind a display of gloves tucked into one corner of the shop. “I doubt Lord Windham will even notice me.”
“Don’t be absurd, Laetitia. There isn’t a gentleman in London who hasn’t noticed you.” Lady Tremblay inserted herself between Cass and Hattie and lowered her voice. “I won’t give away the surprise by telling you the color of her gown, but it’s the height of fashion, I assure you, my lord.”
“Then I’d be wise to solicit Laetitia’s hand for the first two dances, before some other gentleman cuts me out.” Cass offered Lady Laetitia a gallant bow, but all the animation that had been in his face moments before had fled, and his eyes had gone dull.
Neither Lady Laetitia nor her mother seemed to notice. Lady Tremblay shot Hattie a triumphant glance before turning back to Cass. “How gracious you are, my lord. Laetitia will be pleased to dance the first two dances with you, won’t you, darling?”
“Of course, mamma.” Laetitia lowered her eyes modestly, but there was a satisfied little smirk playing about her lips.
“Very good. Now that’s settled, I’ll take my leave. Lady Harriet.”
Cass offered Hattie a curt bow, and then he was gone, the only indication he’d been there at all the scent of bay he left in his wake.
But there was no forgetting the way his smile had vanished when Lady Tremblay had called his name, and sadness overwhelmed her, leaving an aching, hollow pit in the center of her chest.
Thiswas the lady that Cass was considering marrying. A lady who made the smile drop from his lips as if she’d torn it loose from his mouth with sharp, pointed claws.Thiswas the family his father had chosen for him, dooming him to a lifetime of unhappiness.
Why would Cass have agreed to such a match? Perhaps he could fool everyone else, but she knew him too well to believe he was in love with Lady Laetitia Tremblay.
He didn’t evenlikeher, for pity’s sake.
Why was he considering marrying her? To please his deceased father, a father who had never truly cared for him, who’d only ever seen Cass as a tool to secure the Windham name, fortunes and title?
Had his father brainwashed him to the point that Cass could no longer see how unhappy a marriage to Lady Laetitia would make him? Or was he punishing himself, because by some twisted logic he believed he no longer deserved happiness?
Oh, she didn’t know! Even if she could make sense of it, what could she possibly do to help him?—
“Lady Harriet! Are you listening to me? For pity’s sake, girl you’re a million miles away.”
Hattie jerked back to attention to find Lady Tremblay frowning at her, her hands on her hips. “I beg your pardon, my lady. What were you saying?”
“Nothing of any consequence, only that I noticed a gown hanging in the back of Madame Céline’s shop that would be just the thing for you.” Lady Tremblay cast a calculating glance from her head to her toes, her eyes gleaming. “Yes, indeed, just the thing. Very flattering, indeed.”
Hattie managed not to roll her eyes. Just the thing, indeed. If there’d been any way to manage it, Lady Tremblay would see to it she was forced to appear at Lady Dumfries’s ball wearing a sackcloth and ashes.
