A Dash of Scandal(60)
Millicent was hardly breathing. Tempt him? She was the one being tempted. Didn’t he know how easy it was for him to distract her and make her forget everything but his presence?
“I’m sorry,” she said, taking a step away from him and toward the window. “That was impolite. I shouldn’t have touched you like that.”
“Don’t apologize. I don’t mind that you touched me, but I can’t let it distract me.”
“But I shouldn’t have—”
“It’s all right, Millicent.”
She lowered her lashes. “Please don’t call me that. You really shouldn’t be so informal when addressing me, sir.”
“Why? After yesterday afternoon, I feel free to suggest we are intimate friends, and it’s quite acceptable for me to call on you and to address you as Millicent. And furthermore, you should call me Chandler.”
Her gaze met his again. “No, I was hoping you would forget what happened yesterday afternoon.”
“That won’t happen.”
“I forgot about it until you reminded me just now.”
He shook his head slowly and his eyes sparkled with perception. He said, “I don’t think so.”
How could he be charming even when he was mocking her? “A true gentleman would never remind a lady of an indiscretion.”
“We’ve already established that sometimes I’m not a gentleman.”
“Most times, I fear, and no truer words have you spoken.”
“And returning to the main subject we have to discuss, it is also true that you are a spy for Lord Truefitt, isn’t it, Millicent?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to deny it, but she saw in his eyes that there was no use. He knew.
She acknowledged him with a question of her own. “Were you only guessing when you first suggested it? Did I confirm it by my action?”
“Once I started adding things up, it became an easy answer to see.”
“How?” Millicent sighed, knowing how disappointed—no, devastated—her aunt would be to have lost her eyes and ears for the parties. “I have been so careful.”
“You were always making notes. I’ve watched how you walk around the parties and listen to people and then go off on your own to write down what you’ve heard. When I read what was on the back of the dance card you dropped on the floor, I assumed you were making notes so it would be easier to remember people’s names and their titles, since you were new in Town.”
“You found my missing dance card.”
“Yes, I needed to know what you were doing when you walked off alone.”
What must have really happened dawned on Millicent.
“You brute, you deliberately switched my dance card with another just so you could read what I had written, didn’t you? You changed cards with me and gave me the blank one?”
“Yes.”
“I should have figured that out myself. I’ve known from before I met you that you were a scoundrel and rake not to be trusted with anything. I knew there had to be a reason you were called one of the Terrible Threesome. You wear your title well, Lord Dunraven.”
“I’m not as bad as the tittle-tattle has led people to believe. I only switched the cards because I thought you were working for the Mad Ton Thief.”
“What? That’s ridiculous.”
“Think again, Millicent. It was a plausible idea.”
“No sane person could think that. Whatever made you come up with a connection like that?”
“Logic. The first item was stolen just about the time you came to Town. At two different parties, I found you in parts of the house where as a guest you shouldn’t have been—making notes on your dance card.”
She blinked. “You saw me twice?”
“The first time was the evening we met in the narrow hallway and later that week when you were in a private room in front of the fireplace.”
“You saw me in there?”
“Yes, writing on the back of your dance card, again.”
“You were watching me, hoping I would lead you to the Mad Ton Thief?”
“More or less that’s how it was, yes.”
“How could my making notes on my dance cards possibly connect me with the likes of a robber?” Millicent asked indignantly.
“I thought perhaps you were making notes of items in the house that could be easily stolen and hidden under a coat or cloak. Something that could be taken out of the house without notice.”