Did the woman not know that Owen had been courting Lilias and that Lilias had told Owen she loved him? Nash recalled what Owen had said yesterday about Lilias being so independent, and Owen wanting to give her time to settle into her lot. Was that what the duchess was referring to? Did she know something? Such as Lilias confessing she did not wish to wed Owen?Oh, happy thought. No. Devil take it. That could not be allowed to make Nash happy.
“As far as I know, Blackwood has not offered marriage to anyone,” she said, studying Nash.
Was that it? Was she vexed on Lilias’s behalf because Owen had not made his intentions clear enough to Lilias?
“But the night is young,” the duchess continued, surprising Nash. “Why, at balls such as this, shocking offers are given all the time. Take, for example, my dearest friend Lilias and the man she’s dancing with, the Marquess of Kilgore. He may be a renowned rake, but Lilias is so beautiful, so warm and special, that I wouldn’t be surprised if Kilgore declares himself for her this very night.”
“The devil you say,” Nash bit out before he could stop himself.
He saw the swift look that was exchanged between Carrington and his wife, and Nash supposed he’d offended her somehow with his crude statement. But he didn’t give a damn. All he cared about was Lilias. He found his gaze on her again. The marquess had his hand on Lilias’s back, too low for propriety and for Nash’s liking. What the devil was Owen thinking letting Lilias dance with a rake?
Nash wanted to be involved with aiding the match between Lilias and Owen as much as he wanted to be at this ball. Not. At. All. Penance was bloody trying. If he thought he could live with himself without staying this course, he’d deviate off it now. Owen needed to take the reins and tell Lilias exactly how he felt and that he wished to wed her immediately. The time was now! Before she slipped out of Owen’s grasp. Owen was, as usual, too busy worrying and not doing enough seizing of the moment. He’d have to have a talk with his friend as soon as he was done dancing.
The thought of speaking to Owen about how to secure things with Lilias made him want to toss back several dozen drinks, and as a footman passed by with a tray of champagne, Nash grabbed two flutes and downed them in succession without pausing. And then, because the anger stirring inside him was starting to feel uncontainable, he drummed his fingers on the crystal, imagining it to be the rake’s face.
Behind him, Carrington cleared his throat, and Nash forced his gaze away from Lilias and back to the duke and duchess.
Carrington was staring at him with a speculative look while his wife was smirking as if she’d discovered a titillating secret. Their behavior was both annoying and odd. “Tell me what you know of this man Kilgore,” Nash said, throwing caution to the wind. He might raise the duchess’s curiosity with his questions, but that did not mean he had to explain himself.
“He tried to seduce my wife away from me before we were wed.” Carrington’s face grew dark, but his wife laughed. Nash frowned at her reaction. One would think she would not want to raise her husband’s ire.
“He kissed me twice,” she said. “Once at a ball. Just. Like. This. One.”
“Excuse me,” Nash said, shoving the two champagne flutes he was holding at Carrington.
The moment Carrington grasped them, Nash was turning, locating Owen to drag him over to Lilias and then changing courses when he could not immediately find his friend. Nash had not tortured himself for the last seven years for some rogue to end up with Lilias. And he sure as the devil wasn’t going to stand around watching the rake seduce Lilias while Owen foolishly danced attendance on some marriage-minded mama and her daughter.
He once again made his way through the crowd, but this time, he was stalking. He was practically upon Lilias and Kilgore when it occurred to Nash that he had completely forgotten about the main reason he was here—Adaline.
“Damn and double damn.” But a glance around the ballroom revealed Adaline was now standing with Carrington and his wife. That was rather surprising but very, very convenient. And then the oddest thing happened. The duchess raised her hand and waved at him, as if she’d been expecting him to look for his sister. He didn’t have time to consider it, though, because in that moment, Kilgore danced Lilias right in front of him, and when the man actually raised his hand to Lilias’s cheek and brushed his fingers down the perfect slope, Nash could only see red.
Chapter Four
“Thank you, dear,” Guinevere whispered to her husband.
Asher’s lips came immediately to her ear. “Ye’re lucky I can understand yer signals. For a moment I was not sure what ye wanted me to do.”
Guinevere grinned. “You caught on rather quick.”
A grunt was his answer. The force of it sent his warm breath over her ear and caused gooseflesh to rise on her neck.
“Guin, do ye think it wise to interfere with Greybourne and Lady Lilias?”
Guinevere wanted to answer, but every stealthy woman knew not to talk private affairs in public if someone was too near. To her left, the Duke of Greybourne’s sister stood now chatting with Frederica, whose gaze met Guinevere’s for one brief moment. Understanding, the kind that could only be between sisters who had shared secrets and well-meaning schemes since the day they were old enough to plot, passed between Guinevere and Frederica. As if Frederica had been given some magical signal—because of course she had—she took Lady Adaline by the elbow and exclaimed she must make the acquaintance of their other sister, Vivian. And off they went. One of one thousand problems solved.
Now Guinevere could focus on her husband. “I don’t see how we cannot interfere. I am certain she loves him. I know firsthand that trying to forget the one you truly love is hopeless.”
Guinevere didn’t need to use Lilias’s name; Asher would know to whom she was referring. They’d discussed Lilias last night after her friend had left with the borrowed gown. But Asher did not know what Lilias had told Guinevere about her plan to forget Greybourne after she regained some of her pride tonight. Nor did her husband know that Guinevere had asked Kilgore to aid her friend.
Asher frowned. He was the only man she knew who could look positively alluring when frowning. “I’ll defer to whatever ye wish,mo chridhe, but can ye explain to me what has occurred between yer concocting this plan to make ‘our friend’ see what he’s lost and just moments ago when ye adeptly manipulated ‘our friend’ onto the dance floor to interrupt the dance?”
Guinevere glanced toward Nash, whose entire attention was focused on Lilias, and the look of yearning and fury on his face stole Guinevere’s breath. And as for Lilias, Guinevere saw her friend’s eyes widen when she noticed Greybourne approaching, and the longing on Guinevere’s face was unmistakable.
“Greybourne occurred,” she whispered in her husband’s ear, breaking her rule so there would be no confusion. “It was in his voice when he spoke of her just now. It was in the way he stared at her as if she were the very thing he needed to survive.”
“I didn’t see or hear that,” her husband said.
She waved a dismissive hand. “It’s there. We need to draw it out of him. Simply telling her what I saw and heard will not do. She’s quite determined to move on. He hurt her immensely yesterday.Again.I think she’s been waiting for seven years to confront him.”
