Page 24 of The Bridal Quest

"Lady Irene! I have found you."

Hot, then cold, slashed through her. It seemed for a moment, absurdly, as if her very thoughts had conjured him up. She turned, her heart pounding.

"Lord Radbourne."

Chapter Six

The darkly handsome man jumped down from his high-sprung yellow curricle and tossed the reins to his tiger before he strode toward Francesca's carriage.

Irene whirled toward Francesca, her mind filled with suspicion.

"Did you arrange this?" she hissed.

But Francesca was staring at Lord Radbourne in astonishment. "No!" She shook her head. "I swear I did not. I had no idea he would be here."

If Lady Haughston was not telling the truth, Irene thought, she was a consummate actress.

"Blast," Irene muttered under her breath. "My luck is always out."

"Lord Radbourne, I am surprised to see you here," Francesca said to him as he approached. "I would not have thought you were the sort to take an afternoon drive through the park."

"I am not," he replied shortly. "I was looking for you."

"Indeed?" Francesca's eyebrows rose a little at his words, her face assuming the sort of hauteur that was usually quite effective at dampening pretensions or reprimanding rudeness.

Her expression had no effect on the earl, however. He merely stopped beside them and, casting a short nod toward the women in the other carriage, continued speaking to Irene and Francesca.

"I accompanied Lady Pencully to Lord Wyngate's house a few minutes ago," he told Irene, skipping any form of greeting or pleasantries. "Lady Pencully came to extend an invitation to you to attend a gathering at Radbourne Park. Unfortunately, you were not there."

"No, I was not," Irene replied. Though Lord Radbourne seemed to have no care for the curious onlookers in the carriage beside them, she had no desire to give them anything to gossip about.

"Lady Wyngate told us where you had gone," he went on.

"I see." She did see, indeed. No doubt Maura, scenting the possibility of marriage in the air, had been eager to send him after her. She cast a sidelong glance at the other carriage. "Perhaps I should return home to see Lady Pencully."

"She left," he told her. "She bade me deliver her invitation to you."

"Of course. Well ..." Irene cast a look of appeal at Francesca.

Francesca, at least, quickly understood. She glanced at the other carriage, then at Radbourne, and said to Irene, "Why don't you and Lord Radbourne take a stroll while you discuss Lady Odelia's kind invitation? I believe I will be fulfilling my duties as chaperone if I watch you from here." She favored the women in the other carriage with a smile. "And I shall manage to keep myself well-occupied talking to Lady Fenwit-Taylor."

The lady in question looked decidedly let down at not being allowed to witness the rest of the conversation between Radbourne and Irene, but Radbourne, at least, seemed at last to realize that he was exposing their conversation to the ears of strangers, for he threw a quick look at the avidly waiting Lady Fenwit-Taylor, then nodded and reached up his hand to help Irene down from the carriage.

Irene put her hand in his, intensely aware of the size and strength of his hand as it closed around her fingers. The same bizarre shimmer of excitement that had seized her last night again ran through her at his touch. Though he offered her his arm as they turned to walk away, she did not take it, clasping her hands together in front of her instead.

She made her way from the wide path used by carriages and horses across the grass and onto a footpath, careful to remain respectably in sight of Francesca's brougham.

Lord Radbourne said without preamble, "I hope that you will be able to attend the party at the Park. Your friend Lady Haughston will be there, as well as a number of other people."

"A number of other young women of marriageable age?" Irene asked shrewdly. "Are you gathering all your marital prospects in one place so that you can easily compare and judge them?"

He frowned. "No, it is not like that."

Irene arched one brow. "Indeed? What is it like, then?"

"It is just ... well, it seemed an easy course to meet several people." His mouth tightened at her expression. "Yes, all right, several young women. But it is not that I am comparing or judging. It is simply a convenient way to get to know someone."

"Several someones."