not actually Mr Best.’ His gaze roved her face, partly shadowed by her bonnet’s brim. He undid the strings and pushed the bonnet back, unsure why he knew she wouldn’t object. He wanted them to see one another clearly before parting.
Her eyes clung to his, a few of her small pearly teeth nipping at her lower lip, as he continued, ‘A friend of mine replied to your advert. He nagged me to come here first in case you weren’t genuinely interested in marriage, but were plotting some deceit.’ He shrugged. ‘I’ll recommend he meets you if you want.’
‘Why would you do that?’ Elise gasped, outraged that he might want to pass her on to somebody else. ‘Do you make a habit of stirring trouble for your friends? How do you know I’m not plotting some deceit?’
‘You just said you weren’t disreputable,’ he reminded drily. ‘Were you lying?’
‘Of course not! But you can tell your friend I’d not consider a man too timid to come in person and make up his own mind about me.’
‘He’d have very quickly made his mind up about you,’ Alex said sourly. ‘He’s not lacking courage, just sense. And I dare say he’d have been so smitten he’d have forgotten to enquire about your two-thousand-pound dowry.’
Elise whipped aside her face before he could see her stricken look. ‘We would not suit...you must make your friend clearly see that.’
‘You’d sooner I told him you’re a fright?’
‘I’d sooner you told him...’ Elise hesitated, trying to unscramble her wheeling thoughts. ‘I have already explained myself to you, sir. Please convey that I have found a suitor in the usual manner and I apologise to you both for every inconvenience suffered.’ She fumbled with tying her bonnet strings and made to hurry towards the main path.
In a couple of strides Alex was blocking her exit.
‘I don’t think there is anything more to say,’ Elise said coolly, attempting to dodge about the obstacle of his broad figure. ‘I have already apologised to you and it is all you will get.’
‘I think you owe me more than just an apology,’ Alex returned firmly. ‘I’ve had the decency to be honest with you, my dear, I think you owe me the same courtesy.’
A blush flooded warmly up Elise’s throat; he’d flatly let her know he’d not been taken in by her tale. ‘I’ve given you my explanation.’
‘Indeed...but now I’d like to hear the truth from you,’ Alex drawled.
Chapter Five
‘Are you accusing me of lying?’ Elise was unable to summon the audacity to continue with the deceit and avoided his eyes.
He’d explained his involvement moments ago and she’d believed him because his reasons for becoming embroiled in this ridiculous game were strikingly similar to her own. They’d both hoped to protect someone else and now were suffering the consequences of their concern. Yet, regrets aside, she knew she would remember for ever being kissed and caressed by a stranger who’d made her ache in an exquisitely pleasurable way.
‘I am not Lady Lonesome...’ Elise spontaneously volunteered, forcing her mind away from memories that had rushed blood to her cheeks. ‘I am very fond of...the person I am helping and was on my way to intercept her and bring her back to the safety of our group before she disgraces herself. If she is spotted dawdling about on her own or, worse, is accosted by a gentleman, she will ruin her future and that of her family.’
‘Your family?’ Alex suggested in a way that was sympathetic yet demanding.
A single nod from Elise answered him. ‘I must somehow slip back unseen to my friends or personally risk the shame I was dreading might befall my sister.’
‘Is your sister likely to still be waiting by the lake for Mr Best?’
‘I certainly hope not,’ Elise choked. ‘As you have not turned up I’m praying she has returned to our friends with no more harm done than a fit of the sulks got from imagining she was stood up.’
‘If your sister is as alluring as you, she has a right to feel miffed over it.’
‘Beatrice is a real beauty...’ Elise’s praise for her lovely sister tailed away. She didn’t want him to think she was fishing for more compliments. Charming this gentleman might now appear, his reputation would suffer no lasting damage from their meeting, should it be discovered. For her, however, it would be a catastrophe. It was imperative that she got back to the others. Verity would be unable to smooth over their absence for long and if Bea had returned while she had not, everybody would imagine harm had befallen her.
‘Might I ask you to stay here a while longer and give me a chance to head back first?’ It was a muted plea. ‘It will not do for us to be seen together.’
‘Why is your beauty of a sister forced to advertise for a husband?’
Elise made a hopeless little gesture. ‘It is a private matter, sir; I beg you will ask no more. I’m sure after this evening’s fruitless escapade she will understand how foolish she has been.’ She glanced at his angular features, half in shadow. Moments ago his face had abraded hers, his hands had stroked intimately against flesh no man had ever touched. Now they were as remote as strangers. ‘If you would deter your friend from any further communication with my sister, that would be appreciated.’
‘And your name?’
His imperious demand hastened Elise in darting out of the walkway, having first taken a look to and fro to make sure the coast was clear. She sped with a hammering heart in the direction of the soothing music, only once taking a glance over a shoulder to reassure herself that he had allowed her to put a good distance between them. A woman in a feathered bonnet hove into view, but there was no gentleman to be seen. Hugging her cloak about her in relief, Elise quickened her step.
* * *
Lily Watson was in a bad mood as she loitered in the shadows. She’d been sauntering to and fro in the dusk on the lookout for a client for an hour or more with no luck. She knew that if she returned home with nothing to show for the fancy hat Johnny had bought her he’d give her a bruise for what he’d call her laziness. But she hadn’t been idle; she’d been pipped to the post, she reckoned, and her lips twisted resentfully because of it.
If she’d been in the right spot a few minutes sooner, she’d have nabbed the fine gent that another girl had led off into the bushes. Or rather, he’d been taking her, and Lily knew that a cove as eager as he’d seemed to be would have paid up handsomely for his pleasure. She was dawdling now, pressed into the hedge, hoping a gentleman on the loose, looking for a bit of fun, might happen by. But the concert seemed to have drawn all to it so Lily was waiting for the only randy fellow who seemed to be about this evening to emerge from the dark path.
A few moments ago Lily had seen her rival speed off and she’d wondered whether the lucky thing had another client lined up and was heading there now.
Lily tilted her hat to a jaunty angle as she noticed the fellow strolling into view. With a final pat at her curls she moved forwards.
She knew it was a vain hope that he might be interested in another session so soon after the last; but Johnny was able
