Page 28 of Making of a Scandal
The door was left open a crack, but they were, for all intents and purposes, alone. It wasn’t a position he’d ever wanted to find himself in with an unmarried woman, but this arrangement wasn’t going to work if he and Calliope couldn’t reach some sort of understanding.
Only, just now he was having a devil of a time remembering how he’d intended to approach this. She continued to avoid looking at him, her jaw clenched and her posture defensive.
Nick cleared his throat and fumbled for words. “I see last night was a smashing success. Are any of these bouquets from Lewes?”
She heaved a labored sigh, as if responding to him proved to be a herculean task. “That one, there.”
He noticed a colorful arrangement that dwarfed all the ones around it. A clear sign that their plan was already working.
He tried to keep his tone light. “It would seem he has taken notice of your new suitor … as has half theton,it seems.”
“Who would have predicted it?” she snapped. Her eyes blazed like hot coals, and Nick was surprised he didn’t disintegrate on the spot. “Though, perhaps I ought to exercise caution near so many flowers. Wouldn’t want them to freeze to death.”
Nick winced. “Miss Barrington, I understand—”
“No,” she interjected, taking a step toward him with her hands balled into fists at her sides. “Youdon’tunderstand, but somehow, after only a few meetings you’ve decided you know all about me. You’ve deduced the reasons for my trouble finding a husband, and of course the fault lies with me. Congratulations on being blessed with such keen powers of observation!”
“You’re right.”
She paused with her lips parted. It seemed she had been prepared to go on castigating him, but he’d taken the wind out of her sails.
Taking her hand, he pulled her toward the loveseat she had abandoned and urged her to sit. He sank down beside her, putting as much space between them as he could—and not just for the sake of appearances. There was a trace of something new in her scent today, something warm and spicy. This close, it broke through the cloying smell of the flowers, tangling with the familiar rose and vanilla to throw his senses into a maelstrom.
“I said, you are right. I don’t understand, and I admitted as much last night. Today, I came here to ask you to explain it to me, because Iwantto help you.”
“Yes, I suppose your livelihood does depend on it.”
He shrugged, reaching into his breast pocket to retrieve the deck of cards he always kept there. Sitting still for so long without doing something with his hands would drive him batty before long. The old, worn cards snapped and fluttered as he shuffled them.
“Your generous contract is certainly a boon. However, I am not helping you simply for the money. Should you decide to end our arrangement, there are likely dozens of ladies in London who’d claw each other’s eyes out to have me to themselves.”
She scowled, her gaze following his hands as he fanned the cards out, then stacked them back into a neat sheath, before flicking his wrist and slipping one from the deck between two fingers. He’d perfected the maneuver so it looked like magic, when really it was only a sleight of hand.
“Such humility,” she muttered.
Nick grinned, slipping the card back into the deck. “I told you, goddess … I am always honest. That is why I cannot apologize for my assessment, but I do regret the way I conveyed my observations to you. The truth is … your coldness, your aloofness, are all a facade. That much is clear to me, even after our limited encounters. The night we met you cut me with the sharp edge of your tongue, as well as the crack of your palm across my face. I found you to be both the most frightening—”
“Well, you deserved it!”she cried.
She opened her lips to speak again, but suddenly snapped them shut. He bit his lip, both charmed and chastised by her reaction. It was damned difficult to remember to mind his tongue, to recall that this woman was as innocent as could be.
“I did,” he agreed, opening his palm and sweeping one hand over the deck, making the cards spread out into a perfect half-moon. “But then … I watched you at the ball, listened to your conversations and took note of your mannerisms. I came to a stunning conclusion.”
He glanced up to find her attention on the cards, her gaze curious as she watched him snap them back into a single stack. She flinched at the sudden motion, then met his gaze. Nick raised an eyebrow at her while pulling a card from the deck.
“You are a lot like this card,” he murmured, holding the ace of spades up. “This is the face you present to the world. Simple … unassuming … ordinary. You blend in with the other spinsters and I’d wager that only your looks set you apart. But in truth …”
She gasped when he curled his hand inward to hide the card, then opened it, flicking a new card to face her—this one the queen of hearts.
“This is your true face. You very rarely let anyone see it, and I don’t think you even realize you’ve allowed me a glimpse. What are you afraid of, goddess?”
Calliope blinked, tearing her awed gaze away from the red card to look at him. In her eyes he found a great deal of suspicion and wariness. The woman seemed to walk through life like a soldier constantly ready to do battle. But, why?
With a sigh, she took the queen of hearts from him and cradled it in both hands. Staring down at it, she shook her head.
“What do you see when you look at me?”
If she were any other woman, he might get away with making some flippant remark or a witty quip. But, Nick was hesitant to try to lighten the moment when it was obvious she did not wish to speak of this, but found she had no choice.
