Page 90 of Never a Bride
Edmund bowed toward her but didn’t quite meet her eyes. Alex closed the door behind him and leaned back against it, watching her.
When she didn’t speak, he said, “I don’t suppose you’re relieved to know it wasn’t I who compromised the girl?”
She slowly stood up. “But it could have been, couldn’t it?”
“I don’t make it a habit to seduce maidens.”
“Then what is this wager?”
Was Alex actually blushing?
With a grim voice, he said, “Edmund and I had grown rather bored. A scandal was expected of me—hell, I expected it ofmyself—so we proposed a private wager. We each picked out the target for the other.”
“Target?” she whispered, feeling her throat squeeze tightly around the word.
“It was only a kiss,” he insisted. “We bet on who could be the first to kiss a maiden. For him I picked out Lady Elizabeth, and for me he chose…”
His words died away and Emmeline finished for him. “Blythe.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
A fury like she’d never experienced began to bubble in her veins. “You deliberately toyed with my sister’s affections, all for a kiss.”
“I only did what any other man there was trying to do, and that was to get to know her.”
“For a selfish purpose!” she shot back, advancing on him. “She is looking for a man to spend her life with, and you were someone she considered, because she was flattered by your attentions. But all you wanted was a kiss! Or was it more?”
“Em—”
“Edmund did not stop with a kiss, so surely you, the great master of scoundrels, would not have stopped there either.”
“I promise you, I was not interested in her like that. I don’t need to compromise young girls when there are so many women whowantto be compromised!”
Emmeline, feeling her face drain of blood, swayed with dizziness. “You mean women like me,” she whispered, her wide eyes fixed on him.
Chapter 25
Alex’s face paled. “I didn’t mean you, Emmeline. You must believe me.”
“Sweet God, how you must be laughing at me.”
“Em—”
He tried to take her hand, but she backed away from him.
“I even offered myself to you! You hardly needed totryto compromise me.”
“You weren’t part of the wager,” he said, stepping toward her. “In fact, you stood in the way of it. And I was intrigued, damn it.”
“Then why didn’t you change the wager to me?”
His silence was her answer.
“You wanted to, didn’t you?” she said, forcing a laugh even as everything in her seemed to die. “I was much easier than my sister.”
“If that’s all it was, I could have ended the wager long ago. I had already kissed your sister, but I didn’t tell Edmund.”
“Then it must be because you wanted to finish what you started.”
