“No?”
“No.I will shortly.When I go back upstairs.I am merely going to retrieve Tilly’s sash from the housekeeper.”
“Ah.Then I shouldn’t keep you.”
“No, I suppose you shouldn’t.”
Nevertheless, neither of them moved.
He stared down at her.“I haven’t been able to stop thinking of you,” he whispered.“Should I not say such things?”
“No,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t sound as high and fluttery to him as it did to her.“You may.I have been thinking of you, too, I mean.Thinking about it.You.Us.”
She was babbling, practically.But he merely gave her another one of those bone-melting smiles.
“I can’t stop fantasizing about when next we’ll be able to steal a moment like it,” Malcolm said.“Even though I have no idea when or even how such a thing might occur.”
“I-I feel the same.”
He leaned in toward her now.It wouldn’t be anything, she realized, for him to kiss her.He merely needed to step forward.As she had the thought, he did that very action, and she arched up to meet him—
Footsteps crossed the threshold, and he jerked back.
Panicked, she turned toward the door, trying to make it seem as if they had merely been conversing.
“Well, well, Malcolm,” the Marchioness of Leith said, crossing her arms.“What an interesting tête-à-tête I find you in.”
“Beatrice,” he growled.“Is there something you need?”
She tutted and turned to Scarlett.“Do you see how shamefully he addresses his sister?I don’t believe you have any brothers, Miss Perkins, but I have the unique gift of possessing four.And they speak to you so scandalously at times that it makes one long for more sisters.”
Scarlett was so tongue-tied that she hardly knew what to say.She could feel that her face had gone crimson, which must appear to the marchioness like a glaring sign of guilt.
“And yet here I am,” Malcolm retorted, seemingly truly annoyed, “wishing I hadfewersisters at this very moment.How curious.”
Scarlett stifled a laugh.She had no idea how to behave in this scenario.Yes, she had known Lady Leith was his sister, and she had seen her mischievous side throughout the house party.But she hadn’t understood that he addressed his sister so freely.Scarlett was not used to interacting regularly with high-ranking people.Yes, she attended some balls and parties and public amusements where the aristocracy sometimes made appearances.But the society her family circulated in most intimately was not that of lords and ladies, but respectable merchants and the minor landed gentry and their various associates.
“I am merely walking through my home, Malcolm,” she replied tartly.“I have not come to seekyouout for anything.Although I might advise you to find a more discreet place for your tryst.Or else you risk scandalizing someone much more innocent than myself.”
“Yourhome?”Malcolm bit back.“I thought it was George’s home.And that you have an enormous townhouse in London, a large country seat called Leith Manor, and another property just down the road.”
“Myancestralhome, then, if you are being particular.”
“And I am merely speaking to Miss Perkins.We are not engaged in atryst.Just because of your rank, Bea, you can’t get away with saying whatever you want.It isn’t fair.”
Lady Leith once more turned to Scarlett.“Please don’t think I would ever be indiscreet.I won’t breathe a word to anyone.”
It was strange, Scarlett thought.She was intimidated by the marchioness, but she did have the sense that she could trust her.
Then the meaning of her words sank in and Scarlett’s stomach lurched.Surely Malcolm hadn’t told his sister, amarchioness, about what they had done the other night in the hunting lodge—
“You don’tknowanything,” Malcolm bit back.
“Iknow, just by looking at the two of you, that you are more to each other than common acquaintances.Iseehow he looks at you, Miss Perkins—and I only hope you find some way to turn it to your advantage.God knows that he needs to be good and properly ruined by a woman.”
“Bea,enough,” Malcolm ground out.
“Ugh!Don’t get into a lather, Malcolm, before the ball.You look so kempt in your evening clothes.I wouldn’t want to spoil it.”
