Page 3 of Wicked with Him

“I’ve seen enough scandals and forced marriages to know location is vital to avoid detection. A balcony will be the first place my brother will search for me.”

He grunted. “Where were you to offer advice on the night your brother stole Melody away from me,” he grumbled.

“In the ballroom, along with everyone else watching events unfold. A terrace is where they slipped away to. Five minutes. Meet me,” she urged, and then she glided back into the ballroom, chin high as ever, serene smile gracing her lips.

Roman shook his head before returning to his spot holding up the doorframe, pretending nothing had happened as he watched the dancers pass him by.

No one seemed to have missed him, but he noticed Amity’s brother was looking around rather anxiously. Roman held his breath. He spotted Amity talking with a male cousin, and George Sweet visibly relaxed too, before he turned back to his circle of friends with a laugh.

The supercilious jackass was so in love with his own importance, Roman felt sick to his stomach that another woman was at his mercy.

He wasn’t truly surprised George would try to control his lovely sister by forcing her into a marriage she didn’t desire, too. It would serve him right to have his night befouled by a scandal, though he could hardly believe Amity would be serious about the matter—or that he was considering agreeing to her request. Surely, she could have chosen someone else to ruin her tonight. Someone better suited to marriage should they be found together would be best.

However, as he studied the fellows loitering in the ballroom, he easily saw why she’d approached him, of all people. She was desperate, and this room was filled with the most ambitious, scheming younger sons in society—all with their eye on marrying well to increase their own fortunes. A collection of entitled prigs with empty pockets watched her closely even now. Roman might be the only bachelor present who did not need money nor want to marry someone with a large dowry

He glanced at his pocket watch. Five minutes till Amity’s planned rendezvous. Should he meet with her under the stairs? It certainly was tempting, even without her assurances. She tempted him…and it might have nothing at all to do with revenge.

He wasn’t blind. Amity was a stunning woman, and the thought of her with someone else for her first time sat ill with him.

It was just an added bonus that if he played along with her scheme, he’d see George Sweet brought low by scandal all in one evening.

And if he didn’t end up trapped in a marriage with Amity, he should have no regrets or suffer guilt. Amity clearly had everything figured out. Location to meet before heading off, timing, his escape route, and her eventual discovery alone, no doubt. She was against her brother, which made her a friend of Roman’s forever.

But did he dare take the risk he wasn’t being played for a fool? He was curious how far she’d go. A kiss? Far more? A proper ruin? That was what she claimed to want from him.

He’d only find out the truth if he met with her.

Roman moved from his spot, circling the room so he would pass close to George Sweet before he decided. The man laughed like a braying ass, his wife—Roman’s sweet Melody, by his side forever now instead of Roman’s—was smiling up at her husband as if she’d only ever loved him.

Roman gritted his teeth and continued out of the ballroom, turning toward the staircase and then passing under. He saw no guest or servant who might remember he’d walked this way. But there was also no sign of Amity either, which disappointed him thoroughly.

He paused behind the stairs, believing he’d been led a merry dance. “Damn the whole lot of them.”

A creak reached his ears then a woman’s hand shot out of the shadows of a hidden door, gripped his arm, and hauled him into a tiny chamber under the very staircase. He had visited this house many times and never noticed its existence.

Chapter 2

Amity peered up at the man bent over her. “What kept you?”

There was a long pause. “I’m here, my sweet,” Crawford drawled finally, relieving her no end that she’d grabbed the right man in her hurry to drag him inside. She had feared Roman Crawford would let her down. He’d not really seemed keen to help her with her plan to ruin herself, and she didn’t blame him for mistrusting her motives, given what her brother had done to him in the past.

Amity wished she might see her would-be lover but would make do. She was about to be ruined. “Do not ever make more jests with my name,” she hissed.

He chuckled softly, his breath stirring the tendrils of her hair about her ear. “I cannot help myself. Has there ever been a more poorly chosen name for such a devious a woman?”

Amity shivered. “Devious in thought only until tonight, unlike my cousins, who practice the art of debauchery in your company on every possible occasion,” she said bitterly, thinking of the lengths she’d been driven to by her older brother’s ambitions and her families’ machinations. She’d learned to hate her name and the association of purity that was attached to her skin. She had been made into the reluctant paragon of the family, her virtue considered a priceless commodity to be traded for wealth and connections by her older brother and her uncle the duke.

Well, no longer would she be their pawn. Tonight, she’d be ruined well and truly with Roman Crawford’s help.

“Your cousin, and his brothers, are men more to my taste,” he promised. “The rest can go to hell.”

“I agree, and my brother first of all,” she murmured, feeling fury build inside her again as it had done for weeks now. Her brother thought he’d the right to trade her like cattle by marrying her off to the highest bidder. Well, she’d not let that happen. She’d rather engineer her own ruin than accept a husband her family chose.

She did not approve of marrying a pork-bellied buffoon who already wouldn’t let her speak her mind.

She took a steadying breath to release her temper. Roman Crawford loomed over her in the dark, making her feel small and decidedly breathless, she found. His normally sleepy honey-brown eyes were hidden in the dark, but she knew his fondness for mischief with other ladies and for causing chaos when it came to her brother’s interests. She was grateful he jumped at the chance to accommodate her suggestion to meet in private.

His hands settled lightly about her upper arms. “Definitely your brother first. Then, after tonight, let’s hope he suffers apoplexy from the shock of how he’ll find you and dies.”