Page 43 of Dare to be Wicked

“Not like an over-decorated bride cake, then?” she said sadly.

Something lit in his eyes. Was that hope?

“Well, I didn’t like to say.”

His voice was grave, his expression serious and, despite everything, Eliza laughed. Oh, what a relief it was to shake off a little of her turmoil and laugh with a friend—her best friend.

“And blue, Eliza? Really? There are other colours in the world.”

“Ah, but I have no imagination, as you are well aware.”

It had always been what he’d teased her for. Lottie was the one with the imagination. Lottie, who made up wild stories and thought of ridiculous escapades that Eliza never really understood. Who wanted to get all wet and muddy and then scolded for the pleasure, when you could just as well have a perfectly nice time and keep clean without getting into trouble at all? Except now she wished she had got into more trouble. Perhaps if she had, this odd, unexpected sensation of being caught in a trap of her own making would not plague her so.

Cassius stared at her and suddenly the atmosphere between them was awkward again. She wished he would go away. It was too upsetting to be with him, this man who had been her friend but was now a man she felt was keeping secrets from her.

“Eliza,” he said, a pleading note to her voice. “What you said—”

“Ah, and here you are, Cassius, and the beautiful Lady Elizabeth too! My cup runneth over.”

Eliza groaned inwardly as some relation of Cassius’s appeared. The man was a distant cousin of his father’s if Eliza remembered rightly, but her attention drifted, their conversation washing over her as she sought an opportunity to get away.

Cassius wanted to thump his father’s cousin in frustration, a reaction he knew his father would sympathise with, as the fellow was a prosy old bore. As good manners not only would not allow that, but forced him to endure the man’s droning with a smile on his face, he just seethed with impatience. He could see Eliza awaiting the first opportunity to make her escape. At any moment she’d be off like a whippet after a rabbit. For a moment there, it had been like old times and he wanted that back. If he’d fallen in love with anyone but Lottie, he knew he could have handled this whole affair much better. No doubt by now Eliza would have been offering him advice on how to manage this ridiculous situation, except if she’d known there would have been no situation to manage.

Argh.

It occurred to him then how odd it was to see that Eliza was clearly bored with the situation and wanted to get away. Until these past few weeks, she would have listened attentively to the awful fellow with every appearance of interest. Even if she had been desperate to get away from his father’s dreadful cousin and a boastful story about how much money he’d spent on some magnificent horse and what a terrific horseman he was, no one would have been able to tell. Lottie would have fidgeted and done her best to be courteous before concocting an urgent excuse to be elsewhere. Eliza would have endured. Until now.

He saw her draw in a deep breath, preparing to interrupt the man’s endless stream of babble and make her escape, when her eyes grew wide. All the colour drained from her face and then returned in a hectic rush of pink that rose over her chest and neck and sat high on her cheeks.

Cassius followed her gaze to see Louis César approaching them, with his brother Nic.

“Would you excuse us?” he said, grasping the opportunity to leave the tedious conversation. “I see a guest I have not yet greeted, and I must not forget my manners. Come along, Eliza.”

He tugged at her arm, looking down at her in surprise when she did not leap at the opportunity to escape with him. She was rooted to the spot and, when he placed her hand on his arm, he felt certain she trembled.

“Eliza? Are you well?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice faint, and then she drew in a deep breath and put up her chin. “Yes, of course I am.”

Cassius frowned at her, but she gave him an impatient glare and they walked to meet Louis and Nic.

“Nice of you to join us, old man,” Cassius said, shaking Nic’s hand. “Was it something we said?”

Nic’s dark eyes were hooded, revealing nothing but he shrugged. “I ’ad business to attend to.”

Slowly, his gaze drifted from Cassius to Eliza. “I owe you an apology, Lady Elizabeth, for leaving so abruptly. I ’ope you will forgive me?”

“Indeed, you owe me nothing,” Eliza said, her voice cool and tart. “You must apologise to Lord and Lady St Clair for your disappearing act. I am merely a guest here. Your comings and goings are of no matter to me, I assure you. If you would excuse me, gentlemen, Mr Demarteau.”

Cassius gaped in undisguised astonishment at the slight, staring at Eliza’s haughty profile as she stalked away. He turned back to see Nic watching her go, something glinting in his eyes Cassius was not certain he liked. Louis César gave a bark of laughter.

“Mon Dieu, Nic, you have certainly made an impression there, and not for the first time.”

Nic grunted and stared down at the glass of champagne in his hand in disgust. “It’s too damn ’ot in here, and I need a proper drink.”

“Hot, Nic. Do not drop your ‘h’s. We must speak English properly,” Louis said with a mocking tone.

His brother glared at him and Cassius grinned.