He gave a cough. “Yes, well, as I said, it all began with their view of you.”
“That I was prim and disapproving and reminded them of their nanny?”
“That, yes, and...”
“And?” she prompted when he paused.
“It wasn’t...ahem...” He stirred in his chair, obviously uncomfortable. “It wasn’t a flattering portrait, I’m sorry to say.”
“So I’m discovering. Go on.”
“What they said doesn’t matter, and I’d rather not get into the weeds with irrelevant details. The point is—”
“It clearly does matter, since you brought it up,” she said, becoming impatient. “And the more you prevaricate, the more determined I am to hear what was said about me.”
He sighed, raked a hand through his hair, and sat back, eyeing her unhappily.
“Very well.” He drew a breath and let it out. “They deemed you rather plain and unremarkable.”
That stung, though she knew it shouldn’t. The proper thing to do, of course, was to tell him what she thought of him and his friends and their thoughtless discussions about young women they didn’t even know. But some imp inside her that was clearly a glutton for punishment drove her on, seeming not to care about the proper thing.
“Goodness,” she said, forcing a lightness into her voice that she feared didn’t fool him for a second. “And what did you say?”
“I disagreed.”
“You did?”
“I did.” A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “How do you think the wager came about?”
A strange warmth pooled in Evie’s stomach, as if she’d just downed a swallow of brandy, and she suddenly found it hard to breathe, or even think. “I don’t think I understand.”
“I contended that they were all blind as bats, that you were far more attractive than they gave you credit for, and that, if given half a chance, you could be regarded as an incomparable beauty.”
“What?” She gave a disbelieving laugh that she feared sounded more like an inelegant snort. “Me? Now I know you really are teasing. Or you’re the one who’s blind as a bat.”
He didn’t reply at once. Instead, his gaze lowered, then lifted in a slow, thorough perusal that made the warmth inside her deepen and spread.
“On the contrary,” he murmured, meeting her eyes again, “I have many defects, Miss Harlow, but let me assure you there is nothing wrong with my eyesight.”
Something new stirred inside of Evie, something nebulous that flickered to life and began rising up from the very depths of her: the yearning to believe him.
It baffled her, and it made her afraid, though what she feared, she could not have said.
Unable to endure the onslaught of so many powerful emotions at once, she jumped to her feet. “I told you before,” she said, her voice cold, “I don’t appreciate being teased.”
He rose, facing her. “I know that this entire conversation has offended you—quite rightly—but please let me say that I was not teasing, not in the least.”
The fear inside her grew stronger. “I see no reason to believe you. And I don’t appreciate being discussed in bars by gentlemen who ought to know better. And I really don’t appreciate being the subject of their wagers!”
“I’m sure,” he conceded. “But at the time, I was far too irritated with their idiotic point of view to consider the sensibilities. And,” he added as she made a sound of skepticism, “I also felt that you would enjoy participating.”
“Participating in what?” she asked crossly, offended and out of patience with him and this entire conversation. “You want me to place a bet, too?”
For some reason, the question made him chuckle. “I’d be happy to allow that if the lads would agree, but it isn’t what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“For the bet to proceed, your cooperation—indeed, your full and active participation would be needed. You see, when I said you could be regarded as an incomparable beauty, they called on me to prove it, and bet me a hundred pounds I couldn’t make it happen. Well, I wasn’t about to let a challenge like that pass, so I agreed to arrange your launch into society, and here we are.”
