Page 16 of How to Seduce a Duke this Autumn
“You might catch it tonight,” Ashley pointed out.
“No, tonight and the nights to come are all about Charlene and her man she wants to find.”
Yes, she should never have made that declaration. “We can all find someone.”
Waylon appeared then with the typical scrutinizing look of a brother, his imposing frame interrupting their fun like a general inspecting his troops. His dark eyes swept over the three of them, his brow furrowing. “What are you plotting over here?”
“Why would you believe we are plotting anything?” Charlene asked, turning to her brother with an arched brow.
“You have that look of plotting women.”
“Oh,” Ashley murmured. “And what does that look like?”
“Like this.” He gestured at them with a quizzical look. “Danger. I can feel it.”
Maddie waved her fan a bit faster. “And what does that feel like?”
“Like a shiver down my spine.”
“The best kind of shiver,” Ashley countered with a grin.
Waylon turned his attention to Ashley. “And you,” he added. “Don’t encourage my sister with reckless antics.”
“Who, me?” Ashley said, placing a hand on her chest. “I would never.”
Charlene bit the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning.
“Oh, stop, Waylon.” His fiancée stepped forward and smiled at them. “Let the girls have some fun.”
“I’m their chaperone.”
“Are you?” his fiancée asked. “Or are we? So long as they don’t leave the ballroom, give a lady some space.”
“All right.”
But Charlene wasn’t hearing her brother anymore. Her eyes had caught sight of a man. A man in a black mask casually speaking to another man… A man she had hoped she would never see again.
What was he doing here?
*
Whatwashedoing here?
Adam’s gaze raked over the ballroom, filled with pretentious faces behind even more pretentious masks. What felt the worst was that he was one of them. Every polished detail about him bespoke an air of artifice. He hated cravats. And what was with all this layering of clothes? Not even to venture into colors. His mother didn’t enjoy drab, but he preferred it. He didn’t belong here. “I don’t want this; let’s leave.”
“Have you seen your mother’s hawk eyes on us? Leaving is not an option without dancing. And stop scowling,” Jack Cavendish, wealthy, a hotelier, and the sort of acquaintance who showed up when least expected and vanished just as easily said. “You’re here, I’m here, and let me tell you, I’d also rather be at home with my wife.”
“Your wife? She hasn’t agreed to marry you yet.”
“She will.”
“It’s been two years.”
“I’ll wait a thousand; I’m patient.”
Adam’s lip curled in disdain. “I cannot believe her brother is allowing you to live in scandal with his sister.”
Jack waved his comment aside. “Stop diverting the topic that’s really on your mind. She is here. You have a chance. And your brother is on his way back.”
