Liam bowed low as the two lords rose from their chairs. He forced himself to not gaze long upon her beauty, her midnight hair that hung, sleek, to her waist. He knew she kept it down deliberately, a veiled insult to their guest when in all propriety she should have had it coiffed in the presence of a guest in a formal setting. She wore a gown of silver sewn with seed pearls and long gloves to her elbows, a dress that would have fit in any ballroom.
Both lords offered her bows as she drifted across the drawing room floor toward them, and sat demurely on the edge of the sofa. Liam noticed she sat furthest away from Lord Ampleforth, yet, not close to her brother either. Upon seeing the Baron’s expression of near worship as he looked at Thea, Liam did not know whether to laugh or run him through with a sword.
“Greetings, my fair Miss Miller,” the Baron said at last. “You look lovely this day.”
Liam nearly choked when she fluttered her lashes, yet her nose tilted upward. “Good afternoon, Baron Ampleforth,” she replied, her tone cool, offhand. “A pleasure to see you again.”
Turning, Thea snapped her gloved fingers at Liam. “Wine, please. White, not the red.”
As Liam rushed to the table to pour her wine into a glass, he heard her say, “These servants are ever so useless, do you not agree, Baron?”
“Why, I have no idea, Miss Miller,” he replied, his voice revealing his confusion. “Did not a footman save you from drowning recently?”
Liam turned in time to see her flap her wrist. “Yes, how droll a topic that is. But you did not come here to discuss our servants, Baron. Or did you?”
Liam bowed as he presented her with her wine, seeing her light brown eyes distant, cold, her lovely mouth turned down in a rare display of haughtiness.She is playing some game with him, and I am one of the pawns in it.As her face was turned from the two men, accepting her wine, they could not witness the quick wink she sent him. She turned back to them, her demeanor as stiff and chilly as before, while he returned to his place along the wall.
“So why did you come, Baron?” Thea asked, in a supercilious tone, then sipped from her glass.
Lord Ampleforth appeared flustered, his mouth opening and closing ineffectually, his blue eyes wide and confused. “Why, did your brother, Freddie, not – ”
“I am asking you, Baron. It is not my brother’s place to answer for you.”
“Why, Miss Miller, I came to ask, to, er, inform you that I wish to formally court you. For your hand in marriage.”
“Ah.”
Thea set her wine glass down. “I have so many suitors that arrive to court me, Baron,” she said, her voice icy. “After all, I am young, beautiful, and the sole heir to our family estates should anything happen to my dear, beloved brother. So, pray tell, why should I include you in this vast list?”
Liam glanced toward Lord Willowdale to gauge his reaction. What he saw astounded him. He could not believe Lord Willowdale fought to not smile, to not laugh, in the face of his sister’s blatant fabrications. Liam knew at that moment what a sly, bewitching wench Thea was. By counting the Baron as less than nothing, she offered him an insult without – actually insulting him.
“Do you have any outstanding qualities to you, Baron?” she inquired. “That would enable you, to, shall we say, stand away from the crowd so to speak?”
“Thea – Miss Miller, we have been friends since childhood, I am handsome, of course, the perfect gentleman.”
Graceful, an ice queen, she turned toward Lord Willowdale. “Would you not say the Earl of Harrowshire is handsome, and the epitome of a gentleman, my dear brother?”
Lord Willowdale almost choked on his brandy. “Well, I, cannot say exactly.”
Thea continued, examining Baron Ampleforth from head to toe. “Why, my esteemed Baron, I have the sons of Dukes, of Earls, sending me gifts and offers of devotion, and of marriage. It is a difficult task to wean through them all, to decide who is truly worthy of my hand in marriage. Pardon me, but you, Baron, are a mere, er, Baron.”
Lord Ampleforth’s jaw dropped. “But, Thea! I mean, Miss Miller we were children together. Does that not mean something to you? Your brother is my best friend. Surely that would give me an edge into your affections, does it not?”
Thea tittered, waving her hand on her limp wrist. “Please, Baron, when you are discussing an advantageous marriage, it is akin to discussing a business arrangement. Or so my sainted mother always told me. My affection for you from our childhood does not enter into this particular equation. I must think of my family, Baron. Surely you realize this.”
Before Liam could blink in shock, Lord Ampleforth stood up and threw his brandy into the fire. The small blaze erupted with the added fuel, flaring suddenly before dying down again. He suddenly wished for a weapon in his hand as he gazed at the Baron’s furious expression.
Lord Ampleforth pointed a long index finger at Thea. “I am as worthy as any of those others,” he snarled, his voice low and deadly. “Never forget that, Thea. I love you, and none of them ever will. They want your wealth, the money you bring them. I would love you as no other ever could. Idolove you, as they never could.”
Lord Robert Cartwright, Baron of Ampleforth, stormed toward the door, his face flushed, furious, past Liam. At the entrance to the drawing room, he spun around to face her again. “I will have you, Thea,” he growled. “I will marry you. Somehow, I will win your heart.”
With that, he slammed the door behind him and was gone.
Chapter 9
Thea stared at the still vibrating drawing room door, her jaw slack. She turned to Freddie. “Did you see that?”
Freddie howled with laughter, unbelieving as to how easily his sister outmaneuvered Robert. Holding his aching ribs as she stared at him, he all but rolled on the floor under the sheer force of his humor. “I cannot – ” he gasped. “I cannot believe what you just did.”
