Page 14 of Lady Guinevere & the Rogue with a Brogue
“Don’t be a ninny,” Guinevere responded. “He no longer affects me at all.”
“You’re quite flushed,” Lilias said in a gentle tone.
“That is because I’m eager to find and stopCharlatanfrom pursuing Lady Constantine.”
“Oh!” Lilias clutched Guinevere’s arm. “There they are! He’s just approached her.”
Guinevere looked into the crowd once more, careful to avoid the area to the left of the orchestra. “Where? I don’t see them.” She raised to her tiptoes. It was frustrating to be short at times like these!
“To the left of the orchestra. Directly behind Carrington, Kilgore, and the other gentleman.”
Guinevere frowned. There was another gentleman who’d been standing with Asher and Kilgore? Reluctantly, she looked at them once more and stilled at the sight of Asher watching her watch him. He looked away but not before she’d seen him. She’d wager all her pin money on it—if she were allowed to wager, but of course she was not because women were suppressed, if you asked her. No one did, of course, because women were not allowed to have opinions. Well, except behind closed doors with other women of like mind.
“Hurry, Guinnie, you must entice him away from her,” Lilias ordered, going from clutching Guinevere’s arm to tugging on her hand as she led them toward Lord Charolton, forcing Guinevere to nearly stumble.
“Lilias,” Guinevere whispered low and close to avoid anyone overhearing as they drew near the edge of the crowd. “Why me? You do the enticing, and I’ll warn Lady Constantine.”
“No,” Lilias murmured, twining her arm through Guinevere’s and laughing. Lilias truly was quite good at subterfuge. It had to be all the Gothic novels she read. Her friend pressed close to Guinevere as they skirted the edge of the dancers and wove their way through the press of bodies. She leaned in as if to tell a titillating bit of gossip. “You know I’m no good at flirting and tempting. It must be you. You are an Incomparable, whereas I’m quitecomparable.”
“That you think I’m an Incomparable is merely proof that you are my dearest friend.”
“It’s true, but I am also your dearest friend.”
The closer they drew to the orchestra where Asher had been standing, the harder her heart pounded. When he came into view, she stumbled, struck by the clear picture of him. He looked like an angel cast from Heaven with his dark hair, eyes, and clothing, the chandelier above him washing him in glimmering light. His shoulders filled his coat out in a way that should be forbidden, making her want to peel back the layers to see if he was as perfectly formed as she had always imagined. His shadow of a beard—quite scandalous—gave him an even more masculine aura than he already possessed. He might be a duke now, but Asher would never be soft. He had a ruggedness that no title could hide, and that made him impossibly appealing. She imagined he was quite commanding in the bedchamber.
Oh!She should not be imagining such things. Her cheeks heated as his keenly observant eyes came to her, and for a moment, she was transported back to the night she’d met him. Just as it had been that night, everyone else around them faded away.
She blinked away the past as Kilgore stepped into her and Lilias’s path, causing them to come to a halt.
“Lady Guinevere,” Kilgore said, capturing her gloved hand before she knew his intention. He drew her fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss to the top of her hand while smiling devilishly at her. Yet, his smile did not warm his cool gray eyes. “I’ve missed you,” he added. His voice was so suggestive that she found herself quickly glancing behind him to see if Asher had heard. For an instant, contempt filled Asher’s eyes before he turned from her and began to speak to the man beside him, whom she did not know.
She had the irksome feeling that Asher’s disdain was for her and not Kilgore. How dare he! After how abominably he had once treated her! Did he think somehow less of her because Kilgore’s words suggested some sort of wicked liaison between the two of them? It irked her that unmarried men could behave however they wished, but unmarried women were crucified if they were not always above reproach.
“Dance with me,bean bhàsail.”
Kilgore’s silken voice drew her attention firmly back to him, and there was something lazily seductive in his look. “What did you call me?” she asked.
That seductive look intensified.“Bean bhàsail.”
She frowned. “What language is that?”
Kilgore smirked now. “Gaelic.”
The heat of a blush swept her. Kilgore was teasing her. “How very interesting,” she said, striving to sound bored. “I was not aware that you knew Gaelic.”
Blast the man. Her reaction seemed to amuse him. “There’s much about me you do not know,” he said, “which is why you should dance with me.”
Lilias was still pressed close to Guinevere’s side but released her, as if she thought Guinevere might agree to dance with the man. She scowled at Lilias before frowning up at the black-haired, gray-eyed rogue. She had never understood why he’d pursued her five years ago, and to this day, she still did not know, except perhaps that he saw her as something different to be tried beyond the affairs he was whispered to have.
“I take it our nearness has rendered you unable to speak. I do have that effect,” he said, humor in his low voice.
She tugged her hand away from his grasp. “I’m perfectly capable of speaking.” She infused a tart edge to her voice. “This next set is taken,” she lied, casting a look toward Lord Charolton and Lady Constantine. The rogue still stood in front of her, and though she looked quite bored, she was handing him her dance card. Drat! They needed to move now. “If you’ll excuse me.” She proceeded to sidestep Kilgore, but he surprised her by catching her elbow.
“The next dance, then?” he asked, the corners of his mouth lifting into a smile.
“My lord,” she said, casting a beseeching look at Lilias, who shrugged helplessly. “I hardly think you would wish to waste a dance on me.”
“You could never be a waste, my lady.”
