Page 24 of Dare to be Wicked

Lottie turned to see her sister riding beside her, exasperation written all over her face.

“Whatever is the matter?” Eliza demanded. “You’ve been in such a strange mood of late, and now you can hardly concentrate for two minutes together. I’ve asked you twice where you were this morning, and I still don’t have an answer.”

A knot of anxiety settled in Lottie’s throat and she tried to swallow past it to no avail.

“I went for a walk,” she said, feeling like the worst, wickedest creature in the world. What kind of woman flirted with the man who was supposed to be marrying her sister?

“Lottie.”

Lottie turned, filled with shame to see the concern in Eliza’s green eyes.

“Won’t you tell me what’s troubling you, love?”

“It’s nothing. Just a headache is all,” Lottie lied, before urging her horse into a canter, desperate to put distance between her and Eliza. To her frustration Eliza only followed her, so she slowed again, turning to see that Louis César, his brother, and the Anson twins, Ash and Vivien, were close behind them.

“What do you think of Louis César now?” she asked Eliza, still desperately hoping her sister might have begun a passion for any man who wasn’t Cassius.

Eliza smiled, which made Lottie’s heart leap with hope.

“He’s very charming, funny, and I suspect a great deal more intelligent that he wishes anyone to know. I asked to play him at cards, but he won’t,” she admitted. “He must know what Phoebe told us about her trip to Paris and how easily he beat her, and everyone knows how clever Phoebe is at cards.”

“He wants to marry you,” Lottie said, watching for her sister’s reaction, but Eliza only laughed.

“Of course he does. I’m the daughter of a duke, with a large dowry,” she said, with only a trace of bitterness.

“I’m sure that’s not the only reason.”

Eliza shrugged. “He needs a respectable match to establish his family name back in society. There is some scandal there, I’m sure, and not just the infamous club he runs with his brother. Not that I can get his brother to speak more than two words to me. Oh, wait, he did say, ‘yes, Lady Elizabeth,’ when I asked him if the hat I’d picked up was his. I swear I almost swooned at his condescending to speak to me at all.”

Lottie felt her eyebrows raise at the repressed fury in Eliza’s voice. Her sister never lost her temper with anyone. She could say no more, though, as suddenly the brothers were beside them, with Ash and Vivien close behind. Louis César flashed Eliza a dazzling smile and winked at her.

“Race you to that big oak on the far side of the field,” he challenged, before urging his horse forward without waiting for her to accept.

“Oh!” Eliza exclaimed, and then laughed, springing her own mount to pursue him.

Lottie watched the two of them, admiring the picture they made in the sunshine. Eliza was on excellent form today. Her pale blue riding gown hugged her lush curves and her dark glossy curls bounced as she rode. She turned to demand of Mr Demarteau why he was so damned rude to her sister, only to see the look in his eyes as he too watched her and his brother gallop across the fields.

Oh, goodness.

Lottie gasped, never having seen such naked longing in her life.

Demarteau turned his head to see her staring at him in shock and his expression changed in an instant, locked down, cold and remote. It was such a startling change, she wondered if perhaps she had imagined the yearning she’d seen. He turned away and spurred his horse on, following his brother.

“You saw it too, didn’t you?”

Lottie turned to see Vivien, her eyes alight with triumph.

“Saw what?” Lottie asked, uncertain now what she had seen.

“Demarteau. He wants Eliza. It’s eating him up inside to see her with his brother.”

“But… But why does he not…?”

Vivien rolled her eyes and reached to soothe her horse, a highly strung creature who’d taken exception to a patch of jaunty ox-eye daisies and was dancing sideways. “He’s illegitimate, Lottie, and his brother needs to marry her to establish himself back in society. You’ve seen how he stands guard over the fellow, like he’s some kind of guardian angel.”

Lottie snorted. “He’s the least angelic man I’ve ever seen in my life, but I take your point. You think he’s being noble.”

Vivien shrugged. “Likely he doesn’t think he has a chance anyway, and he resents the fact. That’s why he’s being so appalling to poor Eliza. He assumes she would look down her pretty nose at him before she gave him a chance.”