Page 18 of Seducing a Frigid Lady
And yet here he was, having just made a wager with a veritable stranger that he would be able to seduce her like no other man ever had.
When his cousin Max sidled up to him, he was unable to meet his gaze, terrified that the man might have seen what Lionel was currently trying to deny to himself.
His hands still tingled where he had been holding onto Miss Lloyd and his chest was tight with the deepest need for air that he had ever experienced.
“It looks as though you were having a good time out on the dancefloor, cousin,” Max commented, standing close beside him so not to allow anyone else nearby to hear.
Through gritted teeth, Lionel responded, “Indeed. If one can call being frozen a good time.”
Max scoffed at that. Out of the corner of his eye, Lionel saw his cousin’s expression and knew that his words had practically fallen upon deaf ears. No matter what he said, Max was never going to believe him. They had been close for far too long.
Too frustrated to handle whatever it was his cousin might seek to throw at him in order to get him to admit the truth, Lionel turned his attention elsewhere. With his hands clasped behind his back, he gazed out over the dancefloor where the next dancers had taken up their positions ready to begin.
Maybe watching the other couples trying to wade through society’s waters might help him to forget about the mess he had just allowed himself to make.
He had given a cursory glance to only a few of the couples before movement at the other end of the room caught his gaze. The lump that formed in his throat almost immediately upon meeting Miss Lloyd’s eye greatly unnerved him. And yet he found that he was unable to look away.
I cannot back down now,he told himself firmly. Clenching his jaw and making the rest of his face relax, he gazed back at her, determined not to be the first to look away.
“Careful, cousin,” Max whispered into his ear and he felt his cousin’s elbow dig into his ribs. “One might begin to believe you have entirely lost yourself.”
Distracted by Max’s words, he blinked and grumbled deep in his throat at having lost the staring competition that had been going on between himself and the Ice Queen.
Meeting Max’s eye instead, he declared, “I would have to be a fool to allow such a thing.”
The corner of Max’s lips twitched. Lionel’s hands clenched into fists behind his back. Had they been in a more private situation, Lionel might have thumped his cousin for his obvious amusement. Though just then he was relieved that Max didn’t continue to elaborate on the subject or even question his intentions towards Miss Lloyd.
Struggling not to allow the relief to get to his head, he turned his attention back across the dancefloor, partly hoping to meet her gaze once more.
Disappointment gnawed at his insides when he saw that her own attention had been stolen away from him by another young woman who was standing close by. The two looked as though they were quite adamant in conversation and so Lionel sighed, knowing that for tonight it was likely best to keep his distance. He had allowed himself to be flustered one too many times already, and it had gotten him into severely hot water.
“Please, forgive me,” Lionel stated, straightening his back and clearing his throat, “I do believe I am in need of some air.”
Having spent more than half an hour out on the terrace, unable to stop himself from thinking of what a fool he had actually been, Lionel knew that the time had long since passed that he ought to return to the party. He was actually more than a little surprised that his cousin had not yet come to find him. Though he could not say that, he wasn’t relieved by the fact.
Running his fingers through his dark hair, he forced himself up from where he had been leaning on the stone balcony wall to gaze out at the garden. The cool evening air and the open space had done little to calm whatever storm Lady Lloyd had begun inside of him.
“Hey, Sinclair!” the sound of someone calling his name made Lionel almost jump right out of his skin. It was only the masculine nature of the call that stopped him from quieting the voice in the back of his mind that actually hoped it might be Miss Lloyd come to find him. “Your cousin is looking for you!”
Turning to the glass doors that led back into the ballroom, Lionel saw a gentleman half-hanging out of the doorway. The way he swayed to and fro and the hazy look in his eye told Lionel everything that he needed to know. The man had most definitely had a little too much of the punch.
“Mr. Finch,” Lionel replied with a smile and a curt nod. “You can tell my cousin that I shall return momentarily.”
With a hiccup, Mr. Finch tipped his head in acknowledgement with an overly cheery smile and disappeared back inside the ballroom, spilling a little of the punch he had been holding in his free hand.
Lionel watched him go, wondering whether now might be a good time to sneak around the back of the house and make his escape. And if he hadn’t been travelling back to Max’s house to stay, he might have done so.
I could always just send the carriage back for him,he thought, but deep down he knew exactly what would happen if he were to do that. The moment his cousin got home, he would come looking for him, and he would ask a million and one questions about why Lady Lloyd had been enough to frighten him away from a perfectly fine ball.
He would never hear the end of it, and with the wager he had just made with Lady Lloyd, he couldn’t bring himself to let her imagine that she had actually frightened him away. It was ridiculous to even consider such a thing.
And so, sucking in one more lungful of fresh night air, Lionel returned to the ballroom. The dancing was still in full swing and almost nobody noticed him slipping back into the room. Several older gentlemen were happy to tip their heads in acknowledgement and respect towards him, but otherwise left him to make his way back to his cousin’s side.
The moment he reached it, he realised his mistake. Barely had Max turned to address him than the woman standing beside his cousin also turned.
“Cousin, please allow me to introduce you to Lady Caroline Montgomery,” Max said, gesturing towards a woman that Lionel just barely recognised. Tonight her honey-blonde hair was delicately placed atop her head and decorated with pink gemstones. Similar such stones hung about her neck and wrists, matching the pale pink gown that she was wearing.
“Lady Caroline, my cousin, Lord Lionel Sinclair.”
