She took it with an ecstatic smile.
Malcolm chanced a glance at Tilly.Her face had gone ashen.
It wasn’t as if George had necessarily stated his preference for Gertrude over Tilly.But it certainly suggested that Gertrude meant something to him, especially given that he hadn’t even wanted Severntouchingthe handkerchief that belonged to her.
He looked at Scarlett and saw on her face bald concern for her sister.
“Very gallant,” Beatrice said dryly from the center of the room.“Now, my last victim—my brother, Malcolm.He is, I must say, the most mysterious gentleman amongst us.And while gentlemen may like to remain mysterious for their own purposes, that is not convenient for us ladies.So, won’t you tell us, dear brother, a truth about yourself?”
Was it illegal to murder one’s own sister in England?Malcolm knew it was, but right now he did not see why the class of sisters deserved protection under the law.
“Specifically,” she continued.“I’d like you to inform us who you regard as the most handsome woman in the room.”
No, he did not justwantto murder his sister.He wasgoingto do so.
He could tell the truth, of course.
Miss Scarlett Perkins.
Scarlett.
With her auburn locks, her flushed face, and her honeyed gaze.
But that would potentially betoohonest.He didn’t want to even begin to suggest that there was anything between them, when too much had passed that could never be discovered.If his foolishness led to her disgrace, or to her having to agree to a marriage with him, he would never forgive himself.
He could try for a diplomatic answer.Someone safe.Like Mrs.Salisbury.
And yet he sensed that such a ploy would be received poorly.He was meant to choose amongst the young ladies.If he took it too seriously, one way or another, he would suggest he had something to hide.
He looked out at the group, knowing that each moment he waited, he made the situation worse.
And then, by instinct, he found Scarlett’s eye.
Good in a crisis, he had called her the other day to Mr.Larchman.
Well, here was another crisis.
Her eyes were wide and shining, but with unmistakable purpose, she glanced at Tilly.
When he glanced at Tilly, and then back at Scarlett with raised brows, she gave an unmistakable, tiny nod.
He knew what she wanted.And she was right, he realized.She was the perfect choice.
“Miss Tilly Perkins,” he said, with a wide smile.“Of course.”
Tilly blushed and beamed at his praise.Scarlett looked relieved.
And Beatrice had the shrewd, displeased look on her face that she only got when she had been thwarted.
Chapter Eighteen
That evening whenScarlett walked to the gig that would take her and Mr.Brown back to the hunting lodge, she was preoccupied with many thoughts.
First, she wasworriedabout her sister.
And she had more than a little bit of reproach for herself in the matter.
She had been so distracted these past days by her obsession—and there was no other word for it—with Malcolm Brown that she had hardly attended to what was happening between Tilly and George.
