The Wedding Game(23)

‘That will not be necessary,’ he said, suddenly afraid to ask how many men had tried and failed to win her.

‘But as I said, at one time, Mr Haines was a favourite.’

‘Of yours?’

‘Simply a favourite. But on an evening much like this, he lured me to the dark walks and attempted to take liberties.’

‘He tried to kiss you.’ This was quite at odds with the awkward spinster he had been imagining.

She gave him a disappointed look. ‘You tried to kiss me, Mr Lovell. Mr Haines tried to take liberties,’ she repeated in a flat tone that made it quite clear she set her bounds of personal propriety well past a simple peck upon the cheek.

He was not sure if he was horrified or impressed. ‘And I assume you were discovered. Was there was a scandal?’

She laughed. ‘No on both counts. You should know that after our rendezvous at the Middletons’ I have no intention of being forced by scandal to marry a man I do not respect.’

He was not sure which stung worse, her glib dismissal of their last meeting or the slight on his character. Did the woman have no heart at all? Then he remembered that it did not matter if she cared for him. She was not the woman he wanted.

She snapped her fingers in his face. ‘Really, Mr Lovell, contain yourself. You are gaping at me like a beached cod.’

He gave a brief shake of his head to regain his senses. ‘I apologise, Miss Summoner. I was shocked because I thought, for a moment, I was speaking with a normal young lady. Do go on.’

There was a brief flash of those exceptional eyes to tell him that his answering shot had struck home. Then she continued. ‘As I was saying, I had no desire to marry Mr Haines and he had no desire to explain to all of London that the bruise he received did not come from Gentleman Jackson.’ She laid a finger on her cheek beside her nose.

‘You blacked his eye?’ His shock changed to awe. ‘I should consider myself lucky to have escaped from the cupboard unscathed.’

‘You only kissed my hand,’ she said.

But what a kiss it had been...

‘And a simple no did not dissuade Mr Haines,’ she continued. ‘He was most ardent. Should he claim to you that I broke his heart, it is an exaggeration. His feelings were no more engaged than mine were.’

At this, he hardly knew what to think. ‘Were you in the habit of trifling with men’s affections, Miss Summoner?’

She gave another flutter of her fan. ‘Some mutual trifling might have occurred. I was poorly chaperoned and had no mother to warn me against flirting. Since my father left me to the care of servants when Mother passed, it was most foolish of him to think he could reappear when I was old enough to marry and put strictures on my behaviour.’ While he saw no bitterness in her when she spoke of her sister, her feelings for her father were far more readable. At the mention of him, her lips thinned, her jaw tightened and the spark in her eye went so dark as to almost disappear.

‘He was fortunate that you did not ruin yourself to spite him,’ Ben said.

‘Perhaps so. But that was long ago, Mr Lovell, and no real harm was done.’ Mischief returned to the eyes peering at him from over her fan. ‘Now, I am older and wiser and have charged myself to be sure no one takes similar advantage of my sister.’

Was it meant as a warning? It certainly seemed so. ‘Once again, I assure you, Miss Summoner, that my intentions in that direction are nothing but honourable.’

‘Honourable?’ She lowered her fan to show there would be no dissembling between them. ‘At Almack’s, I heard you give high praise to my father and hardly a word for my sister. You had decided, since she was the prize of the Season, she would increase your stature. If that is all you care for, then you are not worthy of her.’

And that explained the lemonade. ‘You should not have eavesdropped,’ he said, though it was far too late to scold her on it.

‘And you should not have said things you didn’t want heard.’ The fan returned and there was another flutter. ‘It does not speak well of your judgement, Mr Lovell. Nor does it make you a suitable husband for Belle.’

Amy’s opinion of him had been ruined before he’d even gained an introduction. But that did not mean his plans were hopeless. ‘You should let Miss Arabella be the judge of her own heart.’

‘Or my father?’ The fluttering stopped again. ‘Because my father is the person you really wish to please, is it not, Mr Lovell? Since he left the raising of Belle to me, it should not surprise you that I claim the right to approve her husband. I have been both mother and sister to her for the whole of her life.’

He had been wrong about her from their first meeting, flattering himself that she pined for him or assuming that she needed help to correct her character and find a husband. She was totally in control of her heart and her future and had set both aside for the sake of her sister. And from the first moment they’d met, his behaviour had been a textbook example of what not to do to gain her approval.

He held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. ‘I have no choice but to apologise again for my behaviour. You are correct. It was reprehensible. I should not have spoken of my plans regarding a lady, especially not in a public place. But I hold firm in my belief that I would make a fine husband for your sister, despite what you might think of me. No man is perfect, Miss Summoner.’