Page 43 of His Forbidden Duchess
Eloise raised her chin into the air, defiant despite the trembling she felt inside.
“You are a week early,” she said.
“Oh! Oh my,” Lady Danridge cried. She flicked out the fan she always carried on her person and began to fan herself furiously. “Goodness me! Oh, my nerves, my nerves!”
“Mother, please,” Eloise hissed.
Mr. Carlisle wandered toward the table, his lips pursed as if curious. He picked up the teapot and examined it.
“Wedgewood,” he said as he read the name on the bottom. “I should imagine this cost a pretty penny.”
He looked up and smiled expectantly. Lady Danridge attempted to answer, but he opened his hands. The teapot dropped to the floor and shattered, sending bits of porcelain careening across the hardwood floor while the Turkish rug soaked up the remains of the tea.
“Oops,” he said simply.
“You are a week early,” Eloise repeated.
Her body shook. Her heart raced. Her mouth had turned entirely dry.
The man was early. That was all she could think. A week was not long to find a solution, but it was still a week—and he had promised them that time.
“Oh, am I?” Mr. Carlisle sniggered. He pulled his pocket watch from his waistcoat and clicked it open, peering at its face as if it might tell him what date he should have arrived. “Ah yes, so I am.”
He chuckled then nodded to his henchmen. They began to circle the room, knocking ornaments from shelves and digging through drawers for treasures that Eloise knew they would not find.
“Oh! Please no!” Lady Danridge cried.
She fell back in her chair, one hand pressed dramatically to her forehead, and whimpered continuously.
“The thing is, My Lady,” Carlisle said, directing his words to Eloise. “I have received word that you have been attending social events as if nothing was wrong. Dallying around town. Dancing, even!”
“And what of it?” Eloise asked.
They had to keep up appearances. Perhaps a man like Carlisle didn’t understand such things about the Ton.
He laughed cruelly. “Well, you can imagine my surprise, Lady Eloise! Indeed, imagine how much it grated. You told me there was no money to be had, that you needed time to find it.”
“And that was nothing but the truth,” she said quickly.
He snorted, shaking his head. “I do not believe you. If you can gallivant so comfortably around society, then surely there must be some money hidden somewhere in this house. And so, here we are!”
He stretched out his arms and smiled.
Eloise’s breath came rapidly, her eyes not straying from Carlisle. Surely she could reason with him. Surely even a man such as he would be rational and kind in the face of two innocent, harmless ladies.
She stood up and sauntered over to him, remembering Felix’s words about how a man liked to be approached. She smiled, hoping he wouldn’t notice how shaky it was.
“Here you are indeed,” she replied, looking him boldly in the eye. “Of course, I can appreciate your confusion, Mr. Carlisle, but I assure you that is not the case.”
Her attempt at soothing him did not go as planned. He bared his teeth and growled at her menacingly. He leaned in so closely that she could smell his rancid breath as he spoke.
“I am notconfused. I amneverconfused. Do not mistake me for one of your foolish gentlemen who do not know how the world works.”
Eloise held her breath against the stench, but she refused to step back or back down from him.
“Oh! Oh!” her mother cried, cowering in the chair, her wailing a percussion to the drama drowned out only by the sound of Eloise’s heartbeat in her ears.
“I didn’t meanconfused, Mr. Carlisle,” she tried, smiling sweetly at him. “Please forgive a silly girl for not having the large a vocabulary which you possess. I only meant to say that I understand how you must have felt upon hearing that. But we had good reason to attend such events. A man as… well put together as yourself must understand the importance of appearance.”
