Page 3 of The Secret to Swooning
In Which Viscount Dartmore Reveals a Secret
Everette’s cousin Mr. Tobias Blake strode the length of his small study, every now and then glancing at the stuffed bear head on the wall. “Is it not a truth universally acknowledged, Sebastian, that a man in full pining must be in want of a scheme?”
Sebastian was the bear. Tobias was Everette’s cousin.
Everette rolled his eyes. “No schemes, Tobias.” He slunk low in his chair, kicking one rather muddy booted foot across the other. “I lay my heart before you, tell you my woes, and you suggest ascheme? No schemes.” Not with his heart shattered in a million bits and crushed to sand beneath the very neat heel of Ann’s pristine walking boots.
“No schemes?” Tobias blinked. “‘No schemes’ is never the right answer. Perhaps a little shenanigan?”
“No shenanigans.”
“Why come to me, cousin? Why tell me you’ve been in love with Lady Ann Martins for years? Why tell me the lady of your heart’s desire has rejected your suit, if you do not want ascheme? Youknow, Everette, that I am composed entirely of schemes.”
“No schemes. No shenanigans. What I’ve come for is a plan.” Everette braced his elbows on his knees, hung his head between his shoulders. He’d finally done it. Finally proposed. And Ann had laughed. Of course she had. He’d been nothing more than the roguish, teasing friend since they kissed. And why? Because the kiss had shook him, cracked him clean through in every direction, and he’d not since been able to piece the bits of himself back together. Unless he was with her. Then they sewed themselves up tight, not even a seam in sight. He felt most himself with Ann.
Tobias pulled a stiff-backed chair across the room, slung a leg over the seat, folded his arms atop the back, and blinked at Everette. “You truly love her?”
“She’s my best friend.”
Tobias scratched a hand through his yellow curls with a weary sigh. “I’ll have to be serious about this, I suppose. Very well then. A plan for winning Ann. Rhymes, too. Delightful.”
“I cannot see how to win her. She desires to wed a gentlemanly chap, a man of stellar and pristine reputation.”
Tobias’s lips pulled away from his teeth as his eyes widened. “I see the trouble. You’ve been carousing since you were a babe.”
“Not quitethatlong.” But not far off.
And Ann wanted an ideal man. Or said she did. But if that were true, why did she enjoy his company so much? Why did she seem to never smile unless near him? He’d watched her. He knew. Perhaps she wanted something else, something quite far from ideal indeed.
Everette wasn’t ideal, but he wasn’tthatbad. Not anymore, at least.
“It’s been a year since I’ve—ahem—caroused,” he admitted.
A year, though, since Ann had kissed him, ruined him, righted him.
“Have you told her that?” Tobias asked. “That you’ve lately reformed, become a paragon of virtue?”
“Of course not! She’s been after another man for most of that time.” By the time he’d realized he wanted to make her his, she’d set her sights on Lord Trevor. So had her mother and father. And Lord Trevor had beencourtingher. Their parents had been in talks. Ann’s fate had seemed sealed, and Everette had said not a word. Because he wanted the best for Ann, even if it felt like a dagger in his heart to see her with a better man.
Tobias leapt from the chair and strode for the door. “Come along then!”
Everette followed. “You have a plan?”
“I do. We’re hunting down your lady love.” He stopped and swung around.
Everette ran smack into him.
Tobias steadied him with a hand on each shoulder. “Watch where you’re going. And wherearewe going? Where is your Ann right now?”
Everette shook his head. “At the residence of Lady Catherine de Bourgh.”
Tobias wrinkled his nose. “That nasty old dragon? I do this only for love of you, cousin.” He ambled into the hall and right through the front door. “Lady Catherine is notoriously disdainful of anyone without a title.”
Everette ran to catch up and fell into step beside Tobias. “She won’t let you and I through the door, then. A future earl with a bad reputation and his silk-merchant cousin?”
“We’ll stop by grandfather’s townhouse first. You and I may not have access to such boring personages, but the Earl of Bennington is neither a merchant nor a scoundrel. He’ll have an invitation.”
Everette slipped his hands in his pockets. “We’re not dressed for a luncheon of any sort. To show up with an invitation notmeant for us…” He shook his head. “This idea will, at best, result in utter disaster.”
