Page 21 of A Chance to Dance with the Duke
For all intents and purposes, the back room of the gentlemen’s club was now a battle station.
Kal leaned back in his armchair near the fire with the same furrowed brow he’d worn for the last twenty minutes. Their friend Lord Albright was leaning forward, his fingers steepled as he considered Carver’s plan. “And this is how you mean to set things right with the Viscount’s daughter.”
Carver nodded. Then he resumed pacing by the oak paneled wall hung with portraits of club members past. “What do you think?”
“It’s…” Albright seemed to be searching for the right words. “Unusual.”
Kal sighed. “What he means is, it’s idiotic.”
Carver glared at his friends. “It’s a sound plan.”
Kal tipped his head to the side. “You wish to make thetonbelieve you’re madly in love with Miss Taylor.”
Most of society had Kal all wrong. They thought him cold, cynical, and exceedingly clever, and…
Carver crossed his arms with a huff as he faced his cousin. Well, yes, he was all of those things, but he wasn’t quite as coldas he let on. And he certainly wasn’t heartless nor cruel. “Why are you saying it like that?”
“Like it’s idiotic?” Kal shot back. “Because it is.”
“No, why are you saying it like it’s unbelievable?” His gaze flickered from Kal’s cynical smirk to Albright’s regretful grimace. “It’s not unbelievable that a man might fall head over heels for Miss Taylor.”
The moment he said it, his heart gave a sharp kick as if to say ‘here, here!’
His heart had made a habit of causing a commotion in his chest when Miss Taylor was concerned.
Every time he thought of her, in fact, his heart made sure to have some input.
And it seemed his mind couldn’t stop thinking of her. Or dreaming of her. Or replaying every emotion in her brilliant blue eyes.
His pulse began to ratchet up with each new thought. So really…
His heart was a nuisance. And he likely ought to see a physician about it.
“I think what Kal is trying to say…” Albright’s tone was low and even as usual. The man was as steady and easygoing as they came, and right now his laid back demeanor was a balm to the rapidly rising tension in the room. “Is that when it comes to Miss Taylor, you have a tendency to…well…” He winced again as if that might soften his words. “You tend to make a mess.”
Carver growled. He wasn’t usually one for growling—growling was more Kal’s domain—but as he couldn’t exactly argue, he was left making inelegant noises.
“He’s right, and you know it,” Kal said.
He wished their friend Rodrick was here. Surely, he’d see the reason in Carver’s plan. But Rodrick was off somewhere doting over his bride-to-be, and Carver was left trying toexplain himself to Kal—surely God’s least romantic creation—and Albright, who’d married the first young lady he’d met. And while she might have been nice enough, she’d died so quickly after their wedding, no one really got the chance to know her well.
Not even Albright.
“It’s exactly these messes that I’m attempting to clean up,” Carver said.
“Mmm.” Kal did not sound swayed. “And you think convincing thetonthat you are madly in love with the girl will help.”
“Yes.”
A silence fell as both men regarded him in silence.
“It will work,” Carver said.
“You do know who her father is, do you not?” Kal was eyeing him like he might have gone mad in the last few minutes.
Maybe he had. Even he could hear the desperation in his voice as he’d pitched this plan. And no, it was hardly foolproof. But it was the best he could think of. Every time he’d shut his eyes after leaving her the other night, all he could see was the look in her eyes as she’d said,I was hopeless before you came along. All I had to look forward to was a marriage of convenience. And now…now you’ve ruined even that for me.
Everything about that statement was wrong.
