Always a Maiden (The Belles of Beak Street #5)(33)

“Oh good, because you never call on us.”

“You have missed me?” he asked Rebecca, but he cast a quick glance at Susanah. Ever so slightly he lifted an index finger in her direction. He wanted to indicate that he’d missed her, but he wasn’t certain she caught the gesture. Or would interpret it correctly if she did.

He wouldn’t have a great deal of time to chat with her, so he would just have to get to the crux of the thing. The next time their steps brought them together, he whispered, “Tell me what night to call.”

Her lips flattened and she shook her head negatively. “No.”

What?

His ears rang with her response. He stared at her and then remembered himself as Rebecca moved into his line of vision. “You are looking lovely tonight, dear,” he said. “Is that a new gown?”

Rebecca preened and launched into a monologue about her dress.

He couldn’t have cared less about her gown. If pressed, he doubted he could recall what color it was, but he nodded every now and then to encourage her. It seemed an age before he came back together with Lady Susanah. “We need to talk.”

“We don’t,” she said stiffly.

During the separation, he searched his mind for reasons she wouldn’t want to speak with him. He glanced at her father, then at her mother, and Lord Farringate still sitting with her mother as if he were already a member of the family. Had she been caught? Or had she decided that becoming a countess was more important to her than anything else? Or had she not enjoyed his kisses after he’d done his damnedest to find the manner she liked best?

If he hadn’t succeeded, then she was the finest actress in London. And more than anything he wanted to kiss her again and make her come alive as he knew he could.

When they were finally close again. “Why not?”

She didn’t answer. He spent too much of the tiny piece of time they were together waiting for her answer.

He glanced around looking for her keepers. “I waited Sunday last.”

Her eyes followed him as they separated again. He hadn’t known what else to do since he hadn’t received any word from her. “Perhaps I confused the day.”

“What?” asked Rebecca.

“Becky, you are not paying attention. I said I misused the day.”

Rebecca rolled her eyes at him. She hated being called Becky. “How so, Evy?”

Just as he didn’t like to be called Evy. He grinned at her, although he didn’t want to smile, and it felt almost as fake as Susanah’s smiles. “I spent all day fretting.”

“What about?” Rebecca asked.

“The fickleness of a certain woman.”

Rebecca all but snorted. “Is her lack of constancy anything compared to your own?”

He supposed she had a point. He wasn’t known for the duration of his affairs. “My loyalty once bestowed is not a mutable thing.”

“Loyalty or love?” questioned Rebecca.

He swallowed hard. He hadn’t meant love. Why was it women always wanted that word from him? Not that he ever used it outside of family and only rarely with them.

“I am loyal to those I care about.” He was loyal to his cousin, his family members, and friends.

He glanced at Susanah to see if she was following. But she steadfastly ignored him.

She inspired something in him. A desire to protect her as much as to claim her. Only the need to conquer her had become something softer, a desire to have her give herself to him. Or failing that, to see that she was happy in the path she took, even if her path took her away from him.

As the dance ended without an answer from her, he told Rebecca to excuse him a minute as he had to say something to Lord Hull. He grabbed Hull’s arm and positioned him so he was blocking Lady Weatdon’s view of her daughter. Evan moved so his back was toward Lord Weatdon, knowing that would hide Susanah’s face from her father.

“What the devil are you doing?” demanded Hull.

He looked at Susanah’s stricken face, and it sliced at him. Then the expression faded beneath her bland mask. He simply said, “Were you caught?”

Susanah averted her gaze, but her chin gave the briefest of dips.

His stomach clenched. Should he go to her father and acknowledge his part? Did she want him to?

She turned back to him, her eyes hard bitter ice. “Friday night,” she whispered.

Was she angry with him? Admittedly it was his fault if she had been caught, but he was just glad to see the sign of life in her eyes. If she was angry, she wasn’t beaten down too far.

“Wear boots,” he called after them as they walked away.

Hull turned around and gave him a questioning look. He supposed it was an odd command. But Evan hurried to Rebecca’s side and apologized for deserting her so unceremoniously.

“What woman has dared to refuse you?” she asked casually.

“Have you lost your mind? No woman would refuse me.”

“Did the lady you intended to flirt with not join the set?”

He gave her a smile. “Not every plan works out.”

As he said it, his heart momentarily stopped. Had Susanah just given him a time to stop him from pestering her? What if she didn’t have any intention of showing up tomorrow night? It wasn’t as though he could knock on her door and demand to see her at midnight.