Page 10 of The Lady Needs a Rogue
“We would not even have todoanything. The appearance of impropriety, the mere suggestion that I’ve been compromised would serve my purpose.”
“What ye’re suggesting will get the two of us dragged to utter vows.” He frowned. “Count me out.”
“Well, thisisa disappointment. Given the reputation that precedes you, I was expecting you to be far more bold.”
He scrubbed his hand over his jaw. “There is a fine line between boldness and idiocy.”
“Do tell,” she challenged.
“Creating a stir with an heiress whose father is extremely skilled at hitting his target is a risk I am not willing to take.”
“Don’t be so dramatic” She pulled in a low breath. “A little scandal never hurt anyone. Surely you, the consummate rogue, are well acquainted with the concept.”
Once again, he shook his head. “The price would be too high.”
“My brother will understand,” she said, still confident she could bring him around to the notion. “I will explain it is nothing but a ruse.”
“Even so, the cost will be far too high... not for me, Macie. For ye.” He gazed down at her as the notes of the waltz faded, and the musicians fell silent. “My answer is ‘no.’”
The couples who had filled the dance floor strolled to the perimeter of the ballroom. His expression unreadable, Finn escorted her from the floor.
Dash the luck. She’d happened upon a rogue with a conscience.How very unexpected.And more than a bit disappointing.
“A bit of scandal might be entertaining,” she said for his ears alone, if only to lighten the mood.
Turning to her, he spoke in a low, husky rasp. “If ye’re intent on tarnishing your pretty crown, ye’ll do it without me.”
“There is no changing your mind?”
“Not a chance.” He plowed a hand through his hair. “Yewillget in over yer head.”
She forced a lightness she did not feel into her voice. “And you will not be there to save me?”
As Lady Drayton’s gaze honed in on her, Macie squared her shoulders and cocked her chin. Her all-too-brief reprieve was coming to an end. Moving closer to Finn than was proper, she struggled to read the contradictions in his eyes. Just as she had all those years before, when she’d been drawn to him with a sixteen-year-old girl’s infatuated heart. Back then, she’d found his quick wit as endearing as his amber-brown gaze. Until the cool, moonlit night when Finn had shown his true colors. The night he’d put her firmly in her place.
Spinster-in-training.
The words he’d uttered that starry midnight suddenly echoed in her thoughts. Now, they were adults. And he’d done it again.
Of all the men in that ballroom who might have caught me, why did it have to be Finn Caldwell?
For a heartbeat, perhaps two, she toyed with brushing a kiss against his cheek, if only to shock their hostess. But she leaned in close to him and spoke the truth.
“Years ago, you were wrong about me, Finn Caldwell. And you still haven’t figured me out.” As she turned on her heel to walk away, she threw a forced smile over her shoulder. “I suspect you never will.”
Chapter Four
The morning afterMacie had endured both Lady Drayton’s attempts at matchmaking and an encounter with a vexingly noble rogue, she faced the day with a clear determination to put the tiresome night behind her. She could think of no better place—in London, at least—to lift her spirits than Bennington Manor. Smiling to herself as she strolled through the main hall, she drank in the beauty and flaws and eccentricities of her grandfather’s once-grand house. No, she corrected herself.Her house. Finally, she felt at home. Bennington Manor was where she belonged.
Pity the same could not be said of her friend. Macie couldn’t recall a time when Nell Blake had seemed so skittish. Why, if the willowy blonde’s eyes went any wider, she would look as if she had seen a ghost. And not the friendly kind Grandpapa had spoken of with such great fondness.
“Bennington Manorishaunted. Isn’t it?” Nell gazed up at a portrait of one of Macie’s ancestors, an imposing man whose staid expression, full mane of silver hair, and black eye patch lent him the look of a fierce buccaneer—a buccaneer who’d been reformed by the love of a proper woman. At least, that was the tale Grandpapa had recounted with great pride about his own grandfather.
“Grandpapa was convinced his ancestors roamed these halls.”
“You sound quite pleased at the thought. I certainly cannot say the same. This place gives me a chill.” Nell clasped her arms over her chest as if warding off a shiver.
“Surely you are not frightened by a harmless wee ghost.” Macie shot her friend a glance as they proceeded along the corridor toward the parlor.
