well known, my dear lady, that your charming disposition and sociable nature are not for the faint hearted. Especially during this joyous festive season.’ She watched the hint of a smile linger for a moment on his face, a hint of a smile which was every bit as roguish as he was, saw his broad chest rise, then fall slowly under his crossed, irritatingly muscled arms and felt her pulse flutter at the magnificent sight of him. Her bizarre reaction made her scowl at him in anger. Something which obviously amused him greatly, because the half-smile turned into a full rakish grin, and to her complete shame, that grin did strange things to her insides.
‘You have quite the reputation, Lady Elizabeth, thank goodness, as I cannot tolerate people without a bad reputation. All that goodness makes me nervous. However, I digress, it is your reputation for ill-humoured and barely concealed dislike of polite society which I am in dire need of. A deterrent, as it were. You, madam, are the perfect foil for a man in my position. A sullen shield to defend me against my hordes of eager admirers. Nobody will dare to come and talk to me when I am sat here with you. I shall be spared every crushing bore, every ambitious mama and every nimble, nubile, pathetically eager yet dreadfully dull, potential bride.’
* * *
When he had first approached her, Hal was determined to charm her out of her perpetual frown. However, at the very last moment he had realised the beautiful and frosty Lizzie would probably be immune to such overt flattery. With her pale golden hair and cornflower-blue eyes, she must have heard every compliment ever uttered and, as Aaron had warned, she was definitely a woman far too intelligent to be won over by flowery words.
At the last second he had changed tack, because he always came up with the best ideas on the hop, and failed to be charming and was now very glad that he had. It had been exactly the right move and one which cemented his belief in his ability to understand women better than most men. Sullen Lizzie was responding to his casual uninterest with far more interest than he had ever witnessed her display before, when really he was only being honest.
Sort of.
He was finding the hordes of admirers tiresome and he genuinely did have no intention of marrying any time soon, what with all the wild oats which had so vexed his father still in urgent need of sowing whilst he diligently avoided being respectable.
Her pretty blue eyes, which had been narrowed in annoyance just a few minutes ago, regarded him with wary curiosity. ‘Have you been encouraged to come speak to me at the bequest of my father?’
‘Not at all. I cannot recall the last time I had cause to speak to the Earl of Upminster.’ An interesting snippet. Clearly her father disapproved of her solitary tendencies if he was actively directing suitors towards her. ‘I take it he is trying to marry you off?’ For effect, he scrunched up his face at the word marry and, without thinking, she nodded before she stopped herself. The change was quite spectacular. Her slim shoulders stiffened and her back straightened. Her eyes went icy blue. Her expression became bland. Cold. Even her character seemed to withdraw deep inside herself until all that was left was determined, stony indifference. It was like watching the drawbridge go up on a castle. Hal could not remember a time when he had spoken to a woman quite so...guarded before. Getting past all her layers of defences was not going to be easy and already his conscience was niggling him that something about this situation was very wrong, but a wager was a wager and, if nothing else, he needed to prove something to himself as well as to Aaron. ‘My father used to drive me mad with his demands that I marry.’ More truth. What the blazes had got into him?
‘I notice you managed to resist him.’
‘As have you.’
‘My father means well.’ There was a note of exasperation in her tone. He watched her lovely eyes wander towards the Earl of Upminster and soften instinctively at the sight of him. There was love there. Loyalty. Then he noticed the way she winced when her father grinned back encouragingly. Clearly he assumed the fact she was talking to a man was a good sign. Even if the man happened to be him. Without realising it, she had shown Hal her Achilles’ heel. ‘He just does not understand...’ She stopped herself. Her plump lips sealed in a flat line.
‘He just does not understand that you are not inclined towards marriage. Most people do not understand such a thing could be possible, I suppose, especially for a woman, when procuring a husband is meant to be at the very top of her list of priorities.’
‘It does not even feature on my list of priorities.’ This was said with such fierceness she quite forgot to put her guard up for a moment. There was fire beneath all the ice, too. Interesting.
‘Mine either. No doubt I shall have to succumb one day. Produce the obligatory heir and a spare, but I am only twenty-seven and far too young to settle down.’
‘Hence you are using me as a shield to ward off the eager hordes.’ The ghost of a smile touched her lips and Hal experienced a strange flutter in his chest at being the cause of it. For some reason, he sensed the stare of another and, when he looked towards it, saw her father watching their interactions like a hawk. ‘I wish I had a shield to protect me from my father’s enthusiasm for finding me suitors. But alas, he is beyond determined and I fear I am doomed to suffer regardless.’
‘Perhaps I can return the favour?’ The words were out before he could stop them. However, the opportunity was there, ripe for the picking, and a true seducer took advantage of the moment. Thinking on his feet. ‘I notice your father appears to be interested in you talking to me.’
The shutters came down again and her expression became unreadable. ‘He will get over it.’
Tread carefully, Hal. ‘I think it is fairly safe to say we both have an aversion to marriage. Your father wants you to find a man and half of this ballroom wants me to be the man for them. Why don’t we form an alliance against them all?’
‘I am not sure I follow, my lord.’
‘The way I see it, this dreadful Christmas season is stuffed with potentially awkward and bothersome social functions which we are both duty-bound to attend. Your father is going to bore you with a succession of would-be suitors and, because my mother is determined to enjoy life and I must be her escort, I am going to have to spend a great many hours hiding from the hordes on freezing terraces, if tonight’s experiences are anything to go by. Therefore, why don’t we pretend to be interested in one another? Your father will be thrilled you have selected a suitor of your own accord, thus one would hope he will leave you alone to allow romance to blossom, and your legendary sullen disposition and my most obvious attentions towards you will deter other young ladies from coming after me. And at the very least, we will both have someone like-minded to talk to during all those long interminable hours of enforced gaiety. These affairs can be so dreadfully dull.’
Hal allowed the silence to stretch as he watched her mull over his proposal. To his complete surprise, he did feel a little guilty at how he was trying to manipulate her, but that was far outweighed by the benefits of their unlikely partnership. Even if he lost the bet, which of course he wouldn’t, Lady Elizabeth would be an effective deterrent from all those eager young ladies and that, in itself, would make the next month far less painful even if he did end up having to take up the shovel.
‘No, thank you, my lord.’
‘I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it out of hand if I were you. Such an arrangement benefits both of us and I suspect the pair of us would rub along quite well. We are both obviously jaded and have a healthy disregard for all this nonsense around us. Think of all the fun we could have.’
‘I said no!’ The barricade went up again and this time it was unyielding. She sat stiffly, staring away from Hal resolutely. Their brief, enlightening
