Page 5 of Her Magnificent Mistake
“Yes,” Allie blurted gratefully, latching onto his arm. “Let us dothat. Please?”
He was taller than most of the men here, but even he couldn’t spot Lady Mistree. He knew she was elderly, but her annual ball had been a Society hallmark in London for…oh, generations at this point. It was usually held in the winter, but she’d moved it without explanation this year. It wasn’t Hawk’s first time attending, since he was the grandson of a baron…but it was hisfirst time attending as more than aMister. More than a younger son of a younger daughter of a minor Scottish baron.
First time attending as a titled lord, and all that entailed.
First time attending since the death of the latest Baron Tostinham.
“You know, these places are a perfect opportunity to look for a spouse.”
Not really paying attention to Allie’s words, Hawk muttered, “Aye, that’s the point. See anyone ye like the look of? Perhaps they can gift wrap him for ye.”
She pinched him. Hard. “I was speaking ofyou, Uncle. I am far too young to marry.”
His jaw dropped for the second time as he swung to her. Good thing both flutes were empty, or he’d ruin her gown completely. “Ye are the perfect age for marriage, Allie, and it would do ye good.”
The girl was ignoring him, wearing a false smile as she surveyed the crowd. “It would do me good?” Her tone had gone all icy, and Hawk winced as he realized his mistake. “You mean, to be under a man’s thumb? A man who has no interest in me as a human with a thinking mind? No intention of allowing me to continue my education? A man likeyou, Uncle?’”
A blow.
Hawk took the time to consider his words. “I have…interest in ye as a human with a thinking mind, Allie.”
“Really?” She still wasn’t looking at him, cheeks pinking. “Is that why you sent me off as a young child and made no effort to visitme at school or enquire after my well-being or bring me home for holidays or even respond to my letters?”
Shite.
“I visited ye!” He rushed to defend himself. And we traveled to London a few times together, remember?”
“Yes, to shop. How fulfilling,” she deadpanned.
Any young girl would be thrilled for a shopping trip to the bustling-est city in the world…would they not?
“Allie…” He blew out a breath, then gestured to a passing servant to take the glasses from his hands so he could turn to her. He gathered her hands in his. “Allison, lassie, were ye unhappy at school? It was the best I could afford, the Lord kens I’ve sent ye everything I could?—”
“Money?” She pulled her hands from his and clasped them in front of her as she surveyed the dancers. “Yes, school was quite lovely, thank you, I learned ever so much about the natural world and politics and art history and ancient architecture and everything I could get my hands on.”
Not for the first time, Hawk wished for a manual on women, nieces in particular. Maybe a translation dictionary. “There’s abutin there, I can tell.”
“A buttock, I should think,” she sniffed, “and I am standing beside him.”
This time his wince was tinged in admiration. Another hit! “Allie…”
“Books are wonderful, Uncle Maxwell, truly. But I was lonely.”
There. It was said.
After a month of dancing around the subject, she was finally telling him why she harbored so much anger…and she chose now? In the middle of a ballroom? In the view of the people he was trying to impress with his aptitude for his new role, and her…her debutanteyness?
“Ye ken my life was no’ the proper place for ye,” he muttered, curling his callused hands into fists within the gloves, then uncurling them again, uncertain what to do with them—uncertain what to do withhimself. “Living in a tent half the year? Freezing or boiling, always hunting for an encyclopedia with soft pages for when you visited the—ye were better off at school.”
A pause, in which he saw something like sorrow flicker across her expression, although it was still turned from him. Then she smiled, a bright, cheerful smile that was one-hundred-percent false.
“Yes, Uncle, you are undoubtedly correct. Being hundreds of miles from any family and never hearing from you was most preferential to a tent. But I am still not looking for a husband.” She exhaled, and he watched some of the tension leave her shoulders beneath the perfectly respectable pale frock she wore, as she sent him a teasing smile. “But an old man like you needs a wife.”
Scowling at her change in moods, Hawk crossed his arms over his chest, not caring if the watchers thought him rude. “Like I need another hole in my head.”
“Fine, you need anheir.” At his sharp glance, she shrugged. “With your uncle and cousins dropping dead so quickly after one another, you would think this would be foremost on your mind.”
“I have ye,” he grunted. He knew what she was going to say. He didn’t like it.
