Page 6 of A Virgin for the Rakish Marquess

Diana had enough self-dignity to not allow herself to be ignored so overtly. Her feet were mustering the courage to move, and her mind had already planned the best route to the powder room. But if the Marquess was ill-mannered, Richard lived and breathed propriety.

“Oh, Crawford, this is Lady Diana,” Richard offered with a wide smile.

Smile, bow, ‘My Lord’ him, and flee.

The moves came easily, as Diana was shrewd enough to avoid the man’s eyes.

“Pleasure to meet you, Lord Crawford.” She bowed.

“A pleasure to meet you, Lady Diana,” the Marquess said, his voice smooth and deep.

Diana wished that nature, in her infinite wisdom, had given the man a shrill, silly voice to balance everything out. Instead, he was gifted with a dark timbre such that not even a blind person was safe from him.

Sure that the indifferent Marquess had turned his attention somewhere else, she dared one look up, only to be met with his eyes, which lingered on her for a fraction too long.

“Lady Diana is Selina’s youngest sister,” Richard continued.

“I do not recall meeting you at the wedding, My Lady,” the Marquess said with a mischievous smirk.

Is that code for “I catalog all the women I meet?”

Diana was ready to strike back by stating the fact that she, too, barely remembered him. But Richard spoke first.

“No surprise there. Diana has the reputation of being the jilted wallflower.”

Seriously?

Richard remained oblivious to the gaffe he made even after they both looked at him pointedly. Diana had a more sinister intent, thinking how long it would take Selina to forgive her for making her a widow. As for the Marquess, he seemed quite amused by the mention of that dreaded nickname.

“The jilted wallflower?” he repeated, his lips curling into a faintly amused smile. “Such an undeserved reputation.”

Diana’s back stiffened, heat rushing to her cheeks. The man had said but a few words, but she could hear the provocation in the way he bent those words in his mouth.

He was making fun of her and wasn’t even trying to hide it.

The man could be robbing you before your very eyes, and still, he would have women falling at his feet.

Diana knew exactly where his arrogant confidence came from.

“Each has to deal with the gossip that follows them, My Lord,” Diana deadpanned.

There! You know I am a jilted wallflower, I know you are a rake.

She smiled in triumph.

But then she realized that she had kicked the hornet’s nest. It was obvious from his chuckle and the way he dipped his chin to regard her with a hungry look.

“Forgive me, Lady Diana. I meant no offense. It is rare to encounter someone whose reputation is both so intriguing and unwarranted.”

Diana did something she had never done to a stranger before, something that no dignified lady of the ton did. She glared at him.

“I am sure that you wished that reputations were always unwarranted,” she countered.

For once, Richard read the room correctly. “Uhm, perhaps we?—”

The Marquess ignored him. “I do. Especially when yours is a complete lie.”

“A lie, My Lord? What a thorough disregard for the ton.”

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