A Dash of Scandal(80)

Chandler kept the horses at a trot until they were out of the park. The carriage wheel hit a hole and almost bounced them off their seat.

“Sorry about that,” he said, without looking over to Millicent.

“I see it didn’t take too many words for her to put you in an unfortunate temper. I’m sorry if you are unhappy she saw us together.”

Chandler threw Millicent a glance. “Damnation, no. I’m unhappy you saw her.”

“Is she a lady you only meet in secret?”

“She’s no lady, and I don’t meet her at all.” He stewed for a minute, then added, “She is Lady Lambsbeth. I’m sure you’ve heard all the gossip about us so I won’t recount a word of it. We didn’t part on friendly terms, and I intend to leave it that way.”

Millicent remained quiet.

He pulled back on the ribbons and slowed the horses to a walk. He didn’t want to hurry the trip home, he’d just wanted to get Millicent away from Lady Lambsbeth.

“You’re right. She put me in a foul temper, and I shouldn’t have let her. I’ve told her I have no desire to pick up our relationship where we left off, but I’m not sure she knows I’m serious yet.”

“I believe your show of rudeness went a long way toward doing that today.”

He looked over at her and smiled. With the most guileless of statements, she could make him feel so good. “You really think so?”

“Without a doubt.”

“I might finally be rid of her?”

“I would say, sir, that there is a very good chance you will be called the brute of London by all her friends.”

“Will you tell Lord Truefitt about it so he can put it in his column?”

“At the earliest possible moment.”

What had gotten into him? He was suggesting she put his name in the gossip column and he was teasing about Lady Lambsbeth. Had he gone daft? And why did he feel it was so important that Millicent know that he was no longer involved with Lady Lambsbeth?

Chandler realized he was changing. His life was changing and it was all because of Millicent.

“Good. Now, what were we talking about before we were interrupted?”

“I believe we were talking about making lists and going over them.”

“We had finished that subject. We were talking about how much I wanted to kiss you.”

“No, Lord Dunraven, I believe we had finished that subject as well. May I suggest we talk about what a lovely day it has been.”

“Why not?” he said with no enthusiasm and turned his attention back to the ribbons.

One unimportant subject was as good as another.

He had promised to behave, and he would, but why couldn’t he bear the thought of never kissing her again?





Seventeen




“The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.” Someone should tell this to Lord Dunraven. The earl seems to be getting more ill-humored with each passing day that the family raven is not returned to its nest. It’s on good authority this one reports that in an outing to Hyde Park, Lord Dunraven rebuffed Lady Lambsbeth, a lady he once admired, and left her to catch his carriage dust.

—Lord Truefitt, Society’s Daily Column

Millicent stood in a far corner of the ballroom, trying not to watch Chandler. He was on the other side of the dance floor talking with his good friends Lord Chatwin and Lord Dugdale, handsome gentlemen with affable smiles and charming manners. She’d had the pleasure of meeting both of them earlier in the week.

She had caught Chandler’s eyes glancing her way more than once tonight. Her stomach had quickened each time his gaze swept over her.

It had been a week since their ride in Hyde Park, and, much to her surprise, Chandler hadn’t made any attempts to meet her in secret. She was conflicted with a mixture of gratefulness and disappointment because he had finally decided to respect her wishes and not pursue her. She should have been relieved, but that’s not what she was feeling.

They’d managed a few snippets of conversations during the evenings while dancing at the various parties they had attended during the week. Sometimes the dances were so lively it was impossible to talk. Other times it would be a dance where they had to change partners so it was difficult to have a conversation of any merit.

In the end she had a short list of the tallest ladies to keep an eye on each evening, and Chandler had a long list of gentlemen to watch. She hoped to hear tonight that he had news from Mr. Doulton’s inquiries into the list of names Chandler had given him, but the evening was growing late and he hadn’t approached her.