Page 16 of Irresistible
“I think she’s just an unhappy person. My younger sisters and I always tried to make her smile and laugh, but it was nearly impossible. We eventually gave up.” She sounded rather unaffected by the experience, but he suspected that was because she’d learned to be.
“What do you hope to achieve with spinsterhood?” Dougal asked.
“Freedom. Independence.” She let out a faint laugh. “I suppose those are the same things.”
“Marriage never appealed to you?”
“Perhaps once,” she said softly. Then she shook her head briskly. “No.” That made him bloody curious, but he didn’t ask. Her striking blue eyes settled on him. “What about you?”
“Too busy.” He hadn’t felt the necessity to do so, not when his brother was to inherit the title.
“What a marvelous life you lead.” She looked at him with a touch of envy. “I’d love to hear about some of your past escapades, but I fear you can’t tell me.”
He couldn’t, at least not the particulars. “I can’t divulge specific details, but let me think about how I might find a way to impart some of the more exciting moments of my adventures.”
Surprise mixed with anticipation in her gaze. “I can hardly wait.”
He fixed on her face. “Now, tell me how you achieved this remarkable affect so that I didn’t recognize you.”
“You must ask Evie. She devised how to add cosmetics to somehow change the shape of my face. She also made me look, dare I say, beautiful?”
He didn’t like that she sounded shocked, as if she’d never been beautiful. “She made you look different. I would argue you were always beautiful.”
“Oh, stop,” she said with a laugh that sounded a trifle nervous.
“I mean it.”
She blinked, but he caught the raw emotion in her gaze before she quickly hid it. He’d surprised her. And something else—as if she’d been genuinely flattered and thrilled by the compliment. “I thought you were playing a part,” she said softly. “Isn’t that what we’ve been doing?”
Of course it was. He shouldn’t confuse things by allowing a real…friendship to bloom between them. At least not now, when they should be focusing on their mission. “Yes, that is what we’ve been doing.”
He couldn’t shake the sensation that no one had ever called her beautiful before. How was that possible? Fighting the urge to hunt down her family and rail at them for treating her so poorly, he focused on the matter at hand. “I trust Evie taught you how to accomplish this application?”
“Indeed. This is my effort—aftermuchtraining by Evie and her ladies’ maid.” She leaned closer. “I’m still working on the eyes. Her maid was able to make them look as though they turned up at the corners.”
“I’d say you achieved that very well, actually.” It gave her a sensual appearance.
“You flatter me,” she said with the faintest blush, and now he wondered if she was playing a part. He had to assume so. “But I will find a way to manage that.” She lowered her voice to just above a whisper. “Let us review tomorrow’s plan.”
Dougal ensured they wouldn’t be overheard. No one was standing within ten feet of them. “Tomorrow is easy. You and Lady Pickering will travel to her home in Hampshire. I will fetch you the day after in the afternoon. The journey to the coast will take about four hours, and we want to be sure to arrive after dark.”
“And you’re driving, not a coachman?”
“A gig, yes. I don’t involve anyone else in my missions.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “Until now, that is.”
“I can imagine it would complicate matters to have to bring another person into the necessary secrecy of the endeavor. Or, if you didn’t, a coachman might realize you’d sabotaged the equipage.”
“I find it’s better to work alone for that very reason.”
“You’veneverworked with anyone else until me?” She sounded as though she wasn’t sure she believed him. “I’m flattered again.”
He laughed. “If you recall, I would not have sought to work with anyone now.”
She smiled at him coyly and put her other hand over his forearm so that she was holding him rather securely—or possessively. “Let me be flattered, Dougal. It supports our performance.” Definitely playing her part. To perfection.
“I’d say you’re ready for this endeavor. Your transformation to Mrs. Smythe seems complete.”
“I’m glad—and relieved—you approve.” Her attention moved to the doorway. Dougal followed her gaze and saw Lucien striding toward them, his brow furrowed.
