She glared.
He glared right back.
“You are themost–” they both began simultaneously.
“I’m what?” Eloise challenged when he fell silent. “Please, enlighten me. And best be creative, as I’ve heard it all before. Impudent. Disobedient. Argumentative. Impulsive. The list goes on.”
“You are the most shining example of why my country fought and won its independence that I’ve ever had the misfortune of crossing paths with.”
She blinked at him. “That’s quite good, actually.”
He gave a clipped nod of acknowledgement.
“But I’m still waiting for my apology.”
His mouth curled in a condescending sneer. “You can wait for the next sixty years as far as I’m concerned.”
“You’re really not going to apologize for running into me?”
“No.”
Her finger paused mid-twirl and went to her hip. “Then I don’t believe we’ve anything left to say to each other.”
“Thank God for small mercies.”
Oh, he was obnoxious!
And tothinkshe’d experienced an inkling of attraction for him!
She must have hit her head when they’d collided, she decided. It was the only possible explanation. Surely if she was in her complete right mind, the only thing she’d feel for him was absolute loathing.
“I hope Ineversee you again,” she spat, grinding her heel into the smoothly raked gravel. “I also hope fleas find their way into your bed and nibble between your toes while you’re sleeping!”
“Oddly descriptive,” he drawled. “But finally we agree on something.”
“You areinsufferable.”
A gleam of amusement cut through the ice in his gaze. “Goodbye, Red.”
Red?
Red?
Before she could muster a suitable reply, he was already walking away.
3
We Need to Talk about Eloise
“Lady Fawcett mentionedthat she saw you at the park this morning.” Lenora’s tone, deceptively casual, halted Eloise mid-step on her way up the stairs.
Her sister was many things–punctual, organized, disciplined–butcasualwasn’t one of them.
Lenora should have been infuriated that she’d dashed out of the house without a chaperone. On her way home, Eloise had braced herself for another lecture on proper etiquette. But when she slowly turned, her pulse beating with trepidation, she found her sister smiling pleasantly up at her as if nothing were amiss.
“Oh?” she said cautiously, for something most definitelywasamiss. And while they hadn’t the game out in front of them, she was struck by the uncomfortable feeling that she’d inadvertently begun another game of chess.
“Yes.” Lenora rested her hand on the end of the bannister, thumb absently rubbing at a piece of beeswax that hadn’t been polished all the way into the wood. “She also mentioned that you were in the company of a gentleman. A certain American gentleman.”
