Page 43 of The Dangerous Love of a Rogue
‘Bloody hell!’
All three exclamations broke at once. His friends rose to their feet, slapped his shoulder and shook his hand.
‘Our letters did their job then,’ Peter said.
‘It was more than the letters. It appears I’ve not lost my charm after all.’
Peter laughed. ‘You did not? It’s the middle of the day. How the hell did you get within ten feet of the girl?’
Drew smiled.That is for me to know…
Peter laughed again, shaking his head before sitting back down.
The others sat too, but as they did, Drew caught sight of Pembroke looking at him from the far side of the room.
Mary’s half-brother sat among his influential uncles.
Drew sent him a twisted smile. Let the bugger squirm, he would find out the cause of their exuberance soon enough. Her whole family would be baying for Drew’s blood then, but it was worth the fight.
Looking away, Drew poured himself some brandy from a bottle on the table between his friends. He would need at least a day and night alone with her. It would be best to leave in daylight, then they could travel more easily and cover more miles to find somewhere to spend the night in private. There, he would fix their fate, so when they were found, there would be no going back. That was the best approach for her sake and his. To be ruined in private and married in London in public, not in a clandestine affair in Gretna. No one need know her family had been tricked into agreement.
11
Two days later, when Mary saw Lord Framlington enter the ballroom with his friends, she could recount how many hours and minutes had passed since he’d left her at the garden gate. Their secret had been bursting to break from her lips ever since. She wished to scream it aloud, to take her mother and father aside and say,I am engaged, to whisper it into her friends’ ears.
Her heart brimmed with joy.
Her family would be disappointed, and angry, but she would make them understand.
Last night she’d claimed a headache and kept to her room rather than eat dinner with them. She did not wish to face the guilt; she wished to hold on to happiness a little while longer. She’d hardly slept or eaten since then, but she was neither tired nor hungry. Her body hummed with impatient energy, waiting for the moment they would elope. Excited. Yet terrified of the moment her parents would discover her lies.
Her mother had come to her room this morning, sat on Mary’s bed and asked,‘What is wrong?’
‘Nothing,’she’d answered.
‘We heard that Lord Farquhar announced his engagement to Miss Pope last evening. Has this upset you?’
‘No. That is wonderful news.’
Her mother had not believed her denial. She kissed Mary’s cheek then promised she would always be there.
Mary hoped her parents would forgive her when they found out the truth.
She hoped too, when she and Drew returned, the two of them would be like Bethany and Daniel were now, surrounded by friends congratulating them.
Her gaze left her friends and looked to the far side of the ballroom, where he and his friends stood. They may as well be a battlefield apart, the chasm between their lives was so wide. But she would cross it.
A confident smile held on Drew’s lips then he said something to his friends and the group broke into laughter.
Something caught in her stomach, gripping at the cluster of nerves in her solar plexus.What had he said? Why had they laughed?
Lord Brooke and Mr Harper looked about them. Then Drew’s gaze searched the room. She guessed they were looking for her.
A woman approached them. Lady Kilbride, the Marquis of Kilbride’s wife. She caught Drew’s attention. Mary had seen Drew speaking to her before. His friends turned away, talking among themselves. Lady Kilbride rested a hand on Drew’s forearm as they spoke. He leaned forward to let her speak into his ear.
They turned together, and Mary’s heartbeat stuttered.
He escorted Lady Kilbride out through an open French door.
