Page 136 of The Viscount's Seduction
“Is that a threat, cousin?” She kept her tone sweet trying to catch this great ugly fly.
He laughed. “Will he call me out?”
“Duels are foolish, do you not think?”
“Very.” He smiled.
They were nearing the end of their march, and she was nearing the end of her patience. This dragon needed to be poked to produce his fire. “Papa used to say, a duel resolves the disputes of men of honor. For everyone else, there’s the horsewhip.”
His ugly smile froze in place.
Trouble ahead, Sirena.
Blood lust coursed through her. Trouble, be damned. She kept her smile fixed and felt for the shiv in her pocket. At a turn, his foot went out, and she stumbled. When she looked down she saw the last quarter of Queen Brighid’s knot. The three others had been smudged out.
Bakeley watchedthe interaction from his now distant place in the line. He and his young partner stood waiting to go through a new square one more time, and then down through the ranks to where Hollister’s eyes bored holes into Sirena.
Something was wrong. A footman approached and hovered nearby, catching Bakeley’s eye. He nodded to the man. Until he could get through the next wretched steps of the dance that would have to do.
He and his partner circled around and started down the middle.
When they reached the end of the line, she was gone. Hollister, too, and the footman.
