Asher frowned. “Ye said she was a cold sort. ‘Ice where her heart should be,’ I think were yer words.”
Pierce grimaced. “I… Well, she was always cold to me.”
Ah, the lady had rebuffed his brother and injured his pride. Asher decided not to pursue that particular subject. “What is the gossip ye heard regarding the lady?”
“Well, it concerns White’s, which is a gentlemen’s club where—”
“I know what White’s is,” Asher said. It was a boring club where a bunch of toffs drank and squandered their money on wagers. He had no interest in such things. If he was going to go to any club, it would be the one he owned, which was one in which he only had partial ownership, and he would not be spending coin but earning it off the stupidity of the toffs.
“And you know of the wager book?” Pierce asked.
“I’ve heard of it.”
“Well, five years ago, a wager was made between Kilgore and an anonymous Lord X after the Season had started. Lord X wagered Kilgore an astonishing amount of money that he could not seduce four specific ladies. If Kilgore failed, he was to pay Lord X; if he succeeded—”
“I know how wagers work,” Asher said, impatient.
Pierce shrugged. “Only trying to be helpful… There were four women on the list—two wed and two young, unmarried ladies. Lady Guinevere and Lady Constantine were both on that list, and to date, Kilgore has seduced all but one of the ladies, if rumor is to be believed. You can check the books yourself.”
Rage filled Asher. “Rumors are not facts.”
“No, they are not, but Lady Constantine has yet to wed, the two married women are often seen in Kilgore’s company, and Lady Guinevere… Well, it seems the lady is in his sights now, and the end date on the wager is one month away. I imagine if you stay, you can watch her succumb.”
Damn Kilgore. The man had seduced Lady Constantine, and he must have tried to seduce Guinevere before and failed so he was trying again. But why wait five years to try to complete the wager? Had he worked his way down the damn list and now returned to Guinevere? Asher slid his teeth back and forth and thought of the two kisses he had shared with her. Everything about those encounters told him she desired him and not Kilgore, but if he was wrong and she succumbed to Kilgore, he could not wed her even to save his company. He would find another way.
Should he warn her? The part of him that wanted to protect her told him to, but his pride wanted her to choose him no matter what. He had been playing a game indeed. With himself. He hadn’t come here simply to pursue Guinevere to save his company. The moment he’d kissed her again, hell, maybe even the moment he’d seen her fall from that tree, something had been set in motion within him. A need. No, several needs. A need for answers. Possibly something else. And not just desire. Something more. Something deeper. Something with strong emotions attached to it. The kind that would definitely make him a clot-heid once again.
Chapter Eleven
“Do not allow yourself to be locked in any gardens today,” Vivian warned, her voice threatening.
After another sleepless night caused by Asher, not only was Guinevere too tired to protest that she would not be so foolish twice, but she was not entirely certain it was true. Despite the fact that Asher had admitted he had first pursued her to spite his father, he had also said that immediately after meeting her, he had been struck by her beauty and her wit. And she was so foolish that she wanted to believe it. That desire would no doubt lead her behind some closed door where she was not supposed to be, risking her sisters’ futures. And that was precisely why she had been hiding in her bedchamber since yesterday. She needed to sort things out in her head.
“Guinevere, did you hear me?” Vivian said.
Guinevere blinked her eyes and nodded at her sister, who stood beside Lilias just inside Guinevere’s bedchamber.
“Mama asked a million questions last night when you did not appear for supper. I did my best not to reveal anything, but when you did not make an appearance for breakfast this morning, why, she’s in a fit unlike any I’ve ever seen.”
Guinevere winced. That was saying a great deal because Mama had some memorable displays of displeasure in her life.
“She nearly dragged me from the breakfast room to demand to know what folly you were involved in,” Vivian declared.
“I’m sorry, Viv.”
Her sister waved a dismissive hand. “Do not apologize. But as I said, no getting locked in any gardens today.”
Both Lilias and Vivian gave her an expectant look. They were waiting for her to tell them how she had truly ended up behind not one but two closed doors with Asher yesterday. She was frankly surprised and grateful they had not stormed her room demanding answers before now. After Kilgore had been pronounced the winner of the treasure hunt and he’d chosen her as his partner, giving her a look that could have only been described as lustful, she had blurted that she had a megrim and fled to her bedchamber to hide like a scared ninny.
She was scared—of herself.
In less than a sennight, it seemed she’d utterly forgotten the years of pain and heartache Asher had caused her, and all it had taken was a kiss. No, heavens, two—two kisses. She was not such a wanton, weak female that she’d succumbed to Asher’s charms after only one kiss. No, indeed. Two delicious kisses had been required to turn her spine from steel to aspic. She snorted at her own desperate humor and murmured, “I am ‘one who loved not wisely but too well.’”
“Oh dear.” Vivian exchanged a worried look with Lilias. “She’s quoting Shakespeare again.”
“Yes, there must be a coil if she’s quotingOthello,” Lilias said. “Tell us what happened. Is your mind in a knot? Did you bite Carrington’s apple again?”
It did not miss Guinevere’s notice yesterday that when Asher had opened the locked door to the garden, neither Lilias nor Vivian had looked truly surprised, though they had feigned surprise well enough in front of Asher. She suspected they both secretly wanted her to end up with him and were working together to give them time alone, yet not enough time for her to find herself ruined. It was exactly the sort of mission she would have had them employ for SLAR had she been in charge of the mission and not the object of it. For one brief moment she thought to demand they cease their mission, but she knew they would not. They were watching her, possibly—no, probably—trying to manipulate things, but it was done in the name of friendship, love, and the idealism that was the heart of SLAR. The last thought made her smile. She inhaled a long, slow breath and said, “If you are referring to his lips, to temptation come to call, then yes, he offered and I bit like the wanton strumpet I must be. And foolish!” she cried out. “I must be foolish.”
