“The worst part is they all act as if I should fall at their feet if they deign to speak to me. It’s as if the smallest bit of attention from a gentleman with a title should make me swoon dead away as far as they are all concerned.”
He looked as if he were fighting a laugh. “A title doesn’t make you swoon?”
She rolled her eyes once more. “Far from it.”
“I see. What about footmen?” He winked at her.
Her eyes went wide and she put her fists on her hips. “Why, Mr. Lucas, are you flirting with me?”
He took a step closer and looked down at her with those intense green eyes. “Of course not, Miss Wharton. That would be inappropriate.”
She wanted to fan herself. She wanted to take another step toward him and touch him. She wanted him to…kiss her. She stood there watching him, staring up into his face for what seemed like endless seconds until he stepped back, shook his head as if dispelling the charged air between them and asked, “Does Sir Reginald have nothing that redeems him in your eyes?”
Trying to get her breathing back to rights, she tapped her cheek and thought for a moment. “Not unless I can convince him to reject that hideous Employment Bill.”
Chapter Ten
Lucas strode out of the library. Blast and damnation. What in the devil’s name was happening? Things were not progressing well with Miss Frances Wharton. Not only were his friends set against her, based on what Clayton and Bell had said yesterday, but apparently, she was set against the Employment Bill of all things. Not to mention she’d indicated she wasn’t interested in marriage. How had he got himself into this situation?
Lucas had never encountered a young woman of the Quality who wasn’t interested in marriage. Perhaps their mothers were more interested, but the young ladies all certainly seemed to be as well. Had Lucas actually managed to find a woman who believed in true love but was singularly uninterested in marriage? Would she ever change her mind? Did he want her to? Not to mention, she’d just delivered a diatribe about how singularly uninterested she was in gentlemen of the Quality. He hardly believed he’d win her over by declaring himself an earl in her presence.
And the Employment Bill. How had he managed to find the one female who gave a toss about the law? And who just so happened to be on the opposite side of the matter from him? If he didn’t know any better, he’d think his friends were playing a trick on him. Putting the one woman he’d been interested in at the house party up to telling him his brother’s bill was ‘hideous.’ Only it was too ludicrous even for his friends to conceive of. No. Lucas had brought this insanity upon himself the moment he’d agreed to be a part of this charade and he deserved every moment of ridiculousness that ensued.
But the one thing he’d never counted on was the guilt. The guilt that was steadily mounting. Every time he spoke with Miss Wharton, the deeper he sank into his pack of lies. He’d told himself yesterday that he wouldn’t speak to her again. He’d promised himself that even if she happened to be in the library again today, he would be polite and proper, return her shawl and leave the room promptly. None of that had happened. Instead, he’d found himself ludicrously pleased to see her again and had quickly struck up yet another lengthy conversation with her. Poorly done of him to say the least.
He’d even managed to forget to return her shawl. Or perhaps he chose not to remember to do it. He was a fool. The proper thing to do, of course, would be to cut off all contact with her immediately and take himself away from this house party. But even as he had the thought he knew he wasn’t about to do it, for two reasons; one, he was loath to miss the opportunity to speak to Sir Reginald about the Employment Bill, and two, now he truly wanted to ask Miss Wharton to explain her arguments against it.
Surely Miss Wharton had heard incorrect rumors about the law. What else could explain her stance against it? Why, the codicils in the bill were meant to help people, assist the hardworking gentlemen who had to run large estates and keep the people who worked for them employed. Men like himself and Frances’s own father would be forced to turn away new tenants if the bill didn’t pass. Who would want that?
Lucas was certain Miss Wharton didn’t understand the details. Perhaps after hearing her out, he could explain it to her in a way that would make her see reason. Yes, that’s exactly what he would do. Despite his guilt and his surety that continuing this charade would end in his own misery, Lucas found himself looking forward to his next meeting with Miss Wharton. It was too late to try to stay away from her. She’d seen him enough and talked to him enough to recognize him in London. He’d just have to bring more logs for the library’s fireplace tomorrow morning and see what happened next.
But first he had to speak to his friends. He needed their assistance for his meeting with Sir Reginald. Yesterday, they’d been interrupted by a guest who’d entered the library right after Worth had announced that his erstwhile fiancée had discovered him in the stables. The four men had been forced to scramble and look as if it was perfectly normal for the host and three random servants to be sitting together in the library. Clayton stood and began issuing orders, while the other three had scattered in opposite directions. Last night, Clayton sent word to change their meeting place to a storage room in the servants’ hall belowstairs. There they would have more privacy and less chance of interruption.
Lucas took the servants’ stairs down the basement two at a time. He’d spent so long speaking with Miss Wharton this morning that today he was the tardy one. His three friends were already in the small storeroom when he entered.
“Busy with footman duties today, Lucas?” Bell asked, arching one blond brow.
Bell stood in the far-right corner facing the others, leaning a shoulder against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. Worth sat atop a keg on the left wall bouncing one leg, while Clayton stood near the door, his back pressed to the wall. The viscount shut the door as soon as Lucas entered and took a seat at the small table in the center of the room.
“Something like that,” Lucas muttered, sliding into a seat across from Clayton.
“Is everyone still a servant as far as the guests know?” Bell asked next. “I am.”
“I am, too,” Lucas replied with a nod, but he refrained from saying more.
“I still am,” Worth declared. “With the exception of Lady Julianna, that shrew.”
“Yes,” Bell said, stepping forward. “What exactly happened there, Worth? You never said.”
Worth groaned and rubbed his eyes. “Of all the house parties in all the world, why did Lady Julianna Montgomery have to pick this one? And by the way, Clayton, I’m none too pleased with you for inviting her here. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were out to sabotage my odds.”
“On the contrary, I had nothing to do with it,” Clayton replied, leaning back in his chair. “I asked Theodora about it last night. She told me that Lady Julianna’s mother and sister were invited, and at the last minute they sent word that Lady Julianna would be accompanying them. It was too late to write and ask them not to. Besides, what excuse could poor Theodora have possibly given?”
“Yes, well, she might have let me know Julianna was on her way. The chit loves horses. I could have made myself scarce.”