Page 2 of Her Daring Earl
Dot, with her usual matter-of-fact expression affixed to her, looked at first Munroe and then Fitz with skepticism before nodding her head. “Very well. It will appease Mother.”
Munroe appeared flummoxed, unable to articulate a response as he led her out onto the dance floor, where couples were gathering for the next set. He leaned in as he passed Fitz. “Favor for a favor, Fitz. Find my sister.”
Fitz closed his eyes for a moment, wondering if he could pretend that he didn’t hear Munroe’s request. But the man had a point. If he didn’t return the favor, how could he ever ask Munroe for anything again?
He reluctantly turned around to look for her.
Only to find her standing behind him, her arms crossed and a jaunty smile on her face as though she was expecting him and knew exactly what he was thinking.
A terrifying thought, indeed.
“Lady Eliza.”Fitz drew a visible intake of breath before forcing a smile for her.
Of all the men in all of London, it had to be him. Here. Now. If she’d had time once she realized it was him standing in front of her, she would have backed away before he had noticed her. She had allowed her intrigue in the interaction between her brother and Dot to distract her. “Lovely to see you.”
“Oh, Fitz.” She rolled her eyes, knowing he would never have noticed her had she not been standing so close. He had made his disinterest abundantly clear years ago. “Don’t do that. Not to me.”
“I am sure that I do not know what you are talking about,” he said smartly, rocking back and forth on his heels.
“Drop the act, Fitz.”
He eyed her momentarily before his lips curled up into his signature smile and his heels dropped onto the ground. “Very well. Lady Eliza, it has not been long enough since we last saw one another. I am sorry that we are meeting again.”
“There, was that so hard?” She practically beamed, even though her feet were telling her to run as fast as she could awayfrom this man. Other parts of her were saying something else, which was precisely the problem, and why she had no business being anywhere near him.
“Eliza!” Henrietta gasped from beside her, but Hen didn’t understand. She never had. She loved her brother, and rightly so. Eliza was sure that Fitz was a wonderful brother to his seven sisters, two of whom – twins, Henrietta and Sloane – were close friends of hers. But he wasn’t Eliza’s brother. Not by a long shot. And he wasn’t so wonderful to her.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked, the question clearly painful for him to muster.
“No,” she answered honestly. She had another goal in mind tonight. She was on the hunt. Not for a husband, but something else entirely. “But if I deny you with my mother and the rest of thetonlooking on, then there is sure to be, at the very least, scandal, and far more likely and annoying, my mother will pester me to know why I would turn down a man who is such close friends with our family and who has been so supportive of us. I do hate to disappoint my mother after all she has done for me.”
“You are such a wonderful daughter.”
“Do not patronize me.”
“Very well,” he said, lifting his brows. “But you do realize that you could have been like every other woman who is asked to dance by a man she despises and simply said yes.” ?
“Where is the fun in that? Besides, I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing it for my brother. He needs to make it look as though he is doing his duty in trying to marry me off and he thinks by asking you to return his favor and dance with me, it will be good enough.”
“Must you be so forthright?”
“I must.”
“What has gotten into you two?” Henrietta asked, looking between Eliza and her brother. “Dance or not but please do not subject me to such tension.”
“Very well. My apologies, Hen,” Eliza said as she reached out and practically snatched Fitz’s arm. He said nothing as he led her to the middle of the floor where the musicians had just struck up a waltz. Of course. It had to be a waltz. One of his arms came around her, the other took her hand in his.
“It’s been a while since we danced,” he murmured against her ear, his breath hot on her neck. Eliza hated herself for the involuntary shiver he evoked within her.It was the kind of shiver she was looking for, but not from Fitz.
“Not long enough,” she countered as stoutly as she could, becoming even more annoyed when he ignored her.
“I do not believe I have seen you since we were both at Greystone with Siena and Levi. What a time that was.”
“It most certainly was,” she said, wondering if it was the first time they had agreed on something.
“I hope you noticed how well-behaved I was during our time there.”
“What does it matter what I think?” She furrowed her brow and leaned away from him so she could see into his face. “Besides, I am sure it must have been difficult for you to go so long without a woman warming your bed.”
