A Study In Seduction(5)

Yet she had nothing more to offer him.

“Lord Northwood,” she finally said, “what do you propose?”


Alexander paused for a moment and stared at the woman before him. Who was she? Why did she make him so… curious? And why was embarrassment flaring in him because she knew about the scandal?

“I propose, Miss Kellaway,” he said, his words clipped, “that you throw your infernal notebook into the fire and leave me the bloody hell alone.”

Her eyes widened. “I’m certain you realize that is not an option,” she said quietly.

He gave a humorless laugh. So much for attempting to frighten her off. “One can hope.”

He could just give her the damned locket back. That would be the gentlemanly thing to do, though he suspected she wouldn’t accept the gesture. For her, it had to be done through payment or exchange.

He rolled his shoulders back, easing the tension that lived in his muscles. His earlier frustration with Talia lingered, and now with Miss Kellaway here… it would be no wonder if he concluded women were the cause of all the world’s troubles.

Certainly they were the cause of his.

“You’re correct about this.” He tapped the book with a forefinger. “My mother ran off with another man. Younger than she, even. Horrified society. Ever since, people have thought of us as rather extraordinarily disreputable.”

“Are you?”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know. I give little credence to gossip. It’s not easily proved.”

“You require proof, do you?”

“Of course. Mathematics, after all, is built on foundations of proving theorems, deductive reasoning. It’s the basis of my work.”

“All in this book?” He paged through it again with disbelief. Scribbled equations, lists, and diagrams filled the pages, some smudged, some crossed out, others circled or designated with a star.

“Those are notes, ideas for papers,” Lydia explained. “Some problems and puzzles I’ve devised for my own enjoyment.”

Alexander laughed.

Lydia frowned. “What’s so amusing?”

“Most women—indeed, the vast majority of women—engage in needlepoint or shopping for enjoyment,” Alexander said. “You devise mathematical problems?”

“Sometimes, yes. May I have my book back, please?” Her frown deepened and she extended her hand. “You needn’t find it all so funny, my lord. It can be very satisfying to craft a complex problem.”

“I can tell you a thousand other ways to find satisfaction.”

Her lips parted, shock flashing in her eyes as the insinuation struck her. He held out the notebook but didn’t loosen his grip. Lydia grasped the other end of it and appeared to collect herself, her chin lifting.

“Well,” she said, “I daresay you couldn’t solve one of my problems.”

He heard the challenge in her voice and responded as if she’d just asked him to place a thousand-pound bet. He let go of the notebook.

“Couldn’t I?” he asked. “How certain are you of that?”

“Quite.” She cradled the notebook to her chest.

“Certain enough to wager your locket?”

She wavered an instant before giving a swift nod. “Of course, though I’d insist upon establishing the parameters of a time frame.”

The parameters of a time frame.

The woman was odd enough to be fascinating.

“If you can’t solve my puzzle in five minutes’ time,” Lydia continued, “you must return my locket at once.”

“And if you lose?”

“Then you may determine my debt.”

He gave her a penetrating look that might have disconcerted any other woman. Although she bore his scrutiny without response, something about her demeanor seemed to deflect it, like tarnished silver repelling light.

“Lord Northwood,” she prompted, her fingers so tight on the notebook that the edges crumpled.

What would move her? What would provoke a reaction? What would break through her rigid, colorless exterior?

“A kiss,” he said.

Lydia’s gaze jerked to his, shock flashing in the blue depths of her eyes like lightning behind glass.

“I… I beg your pardon?”

“Should you lose, you grant me the pleasure of one kiss.”

A flush stained her cheeks. “My lord, that is a highly improper request.”