Page 12 of Enchanted By the Lyon
She plastered what she hoped was a becoming smile upon her fact. Not because the gesture was out of happiness but because she felt like she needed to smile in order to keep him interested. His cocky expression told her that he thought she—like the women before her—would agree to whatever he suggested.No. Guess again, my lord.She would quickly squash such a notion. “Then you needs must figure out better tactics, my lord, because whatever you’ve used in the past will never work on me.”
A laugh left him. “That sounds like a challenge.”
He reallywasa rake. “Call it whatever you’d like but you can forget anything between us of a frivolous nature if that is your true goal and intention,” she retorted, lifting her chin in defiance though inwardly she had to admit she was impressed with his determination.
“I look forward to seeing just how far you’re willing to go to remain indifferent to my charms,” he said, grinning like the rogue he was.
A devil of her own prodded her to grin at him in challenge. She wasn’t about to give in easily no matter how handsome he was, or how charming he managed to be when he flirted. “Then as I suggested, Lord Blackthorn, you’d best better your approaches to win over a lady. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you reallyarelosing your game,” she declared, turning on her heels when she heard Moriah calling her name from the foyer.
From the parlor, his laughter echoed in the air, following her as she walked and Moriah sent her a questioning gaze. Cassandra ignored it. She was too annoyed. That insufferable lout didn’t know the first thing about wooing a woman and was too used to getting whatever he wanted with a wink, a roguish grin, and a wave of his hand.
Now, more than ever, she looked forward to playing a game where the house was stacked in her favor. Lucius Ford would never know what was in store for him. Let the games to winning over his heart begin!
Chapter Seven
Lucius rode hishorse down the street, but he couldn’t keep his eyes from the woman inside the open-air carriage in front of him. Since Saxton had suggested they follow his wife and her friend to the bookstore and tea rooms, it was all Lucius could do to restrain himself from urging his horse forward to continue his contest and volley of words with the delightful Mrs. Vaughn.
OrCassandra, as he had begun to think of her. What the devil it was about this particular woman that intrigued him, he could not say. He barely knew her, and yet he had gazed at her as though he had in fact asked her to become his mistress. The thought had momentarily crossed his mind to make such a proposition right inside his friend’s front parlor. He could only imagine what she would have thought of him if he had let the words fall from his lips. It would have been a crude thing to do. Still, he’d been unable to stop himself from flirting with her. She was an attractive woman. Something about her drew his interest in a way he’d never experienced with any other woman.
Maybe she interested him because she had been so adamant when she refused that they become friends. True, he had been thinking to himself of possibly a more intimate relationship before she refused him—so he’d been already intrigued. Whenshe’d done so, it made her even more attractive to him. Lucius wracked his brain; had he ever been refused before? Perhaps. But not like that. She’d been so incredibly beautiful standing there with her blond hair piled like a crown on her head and her lovely green eyes snapping at him. Along with her fan. She had been—in a word—magnificent.
And for now, unattainable.
So at the very least, he owed her an apology. And, especially, he was obliged to end things with Virtue, if he wanted to make Mrs. Vaughn his mistress. Even he had certain standards and stringing along two women wasn’t one of the things that would endear him to his latest interest.
“Damn it, Lucius,” Saxton swore as he pushed his steed closer to Lucius’s to gain his attention. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”
He tore his gaze from the blond-haired beauty who adjusted her parasol when they rounded a curve in the street. “Preoccupied.”
“Which would explain why I’m talking to myself without any of the usual witty retorts coming from you,” Saxton complained bitterly. “What has you so absorbed that you can’t relax and enjoy the day?”
Lucius nodded his head toward Saxton’s open carriage. “Her.”
“Cassandra?” the marquis asked warily.
Lucius snorted. “Well, I certainly didn’t mean your wife, Saxton.”
Saxton pulled on his reins to guide his horse to the side of the road and Lucius did the same while the carriage continued on its way. “What’s going on? Tell me you’re not interested in Mrs. Vaughn.”
Lucius shrugged. “What if I am?” he asked, even though it wasn’t any of his friend’s business in the first place. It wasn’t asif Saxton would want the woman for his own mistress, not when he was very happily married.
“I wasn’t aware you were interested in settling down as yet,” Saxton declared with a shake of his head.
Lucius laughed. “Settle down? Certainly not with Mrs. Vaughn. I was thinking of asking her to become my mistress,” he answered. Even as his words left his lips, they sounded harsh to his own ears.
“What exactly transpired between the two of you in my front parlor?” Saxton growled.
Lucius felt his cheeks color. He hadn’t voiced such a proposition aloud although he couldn’t help the fact that he had such thoughts running through his head. But pursuing Cassandra in his friend’s parlor instead of—say—the park might have lost him his friendship with Saxton not to mention the lady herself. It occurred to him that perhaps if he waited a little longer and spent more time with her, he would be more successful at coming to an understanding between them. “Nothing untoward happened, I assure you. Some mild flirtation between us, nothing more,” Lucius proclaimed. “I did offer a friendship between us. I’ve never had a woman reject me so quickly.”
Saxton gave a heavy sigh. “With good reason. I know what the women you have afriendshipwith entails. Cassandra is different.”
Lucius’s brow rose at the implication of Saxton’s words. He had to admit it still stung that Cassandra had rejected him so easily. Her attitude had been…personal, somehow. “How so?”
Saxton said, with a frown, “You are obviously not aware that Mrs. Cassandra Vaughn is the dear friend of my wife, Moriah. She is currently residing with us until she can sell her townhouse and move to a more respectable part of town.”
“Why would she do that?” That was unexpected. She had a perfectly nice townhouse alongside the rest of the widows who enjoyed the company of bachelor gentlemen. It was…well, where she should be. But this? He couldn’t fathom it.
“That lady is responsible for me, Wickes, and Asher finding our wives, you fool. She paid a handsome sum to Mrs. Dove-Lyon to find suitable husbands for her friends. She is now looking for a husband for herself, not a lover, Lucius.”
