To Con a Gentleman (Dalton Family 1)

She sat back with a defeated huff and folded her arms. “Well. That quite takes the wind out of my sails, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t give up now,” he said with a smile. “I was very much enjoying that icy glare.”

“You’re not supposed to enjoy it,” she said. “It’s supposed to scare you.”

He shrugged. “Perhaps I enjoy being scared?”

She rolled her eyes again. Why did he seem to enjoy her so much? He would do well to remember that the woman was trying to con him. That should really bother him more than it did.

Chapter 6

Rose was angry. She was angry because she had somehow been outsmarted by the womanizing earl sitting across from her. The fact that she couldn’t seem to keep herself from liking him only intensified her anger. She should hate his sarcastic devil-may-care attitude. Instead, she was drawn to his lazy smile and the way he constantly looked at ease no matter how much she tried to ruffle his feathers.

For some reason, she was finding it difficult to view him as the disgusting pig that his reputation implied. There was something about him that was almost…kind. But then again, rakes didn’t get women to warm their beds with a gruff, off-putting demeanor.

She had never before lost control of a situation. And yet, here she was, sitting in an earl’s carriage, betrothed, and on her way to spend a week with his family. It was maddening. More than once, she considered pulling her pistol out and threatening him to turn the carriage around. Even then, she assumed he would simply grin and say something witty that would make her want to laugh. He was too easy going.

It would serve him right to get shot.

Rose pulled up the shade on the window and looked out. The low winter sun danced across the expansive hills and farmland. In any other situation, she would have enjoyed the sight immensely. As it was, she was cursing every inch because it took her further away from the safety of London. The safety of solitude.

“Oh, come on,” said Carver with a playful grin. “You can’t still be vexed with me. You’ve tortured me enough this last half-hour with your silence. This is no way to begin a betrothal.”

She leveled a glare at him. “Abduction is no way to begin a betrothal and yet here we are.”

He smiled fully—making the dimple she suspected a reality. “Touché! But in my defense, I had no way of knowing that you would be so opposed to spending a week at my family seat.” A week? “Most women would jump at the chance. And it will give us plenty of time to get to know one another before we marry.” Of all the absurd!

Was he truly planning to marry her? Rose didn’t think so. She had studied him quietly that past half-hour and had decided this must have been some sort of game for the earl. But she was good at games and certainly was not going to be the one to show her cards first. For now, she would continue the ruse and play along, at least until she got to Dalton Park and could make her escape.

“I just don’t like to be surprised, that's all. It makes me feel…”

“Surprised?” he said with a tipped brow. Blast him. “No use hiding it. I can clearly see you are trying not to smile.” Did he miss nothing? Rose had a sinking feeling that she had finally met her most well-matched opponent. Would he uncover the truth of her identity? Turn her in? She refused to allow herself to grow nervous. And yet, every time his gaze settled on her, her heart raced.

“I am trying not to smile because I do not feel like smiling. And I think it very ungentlemanly of you to force me into it.”

He chuckled a little. “And just how am I forcing you to smile?”

“Well, you don’t exactly leave me any choice when you continue to say things I find funny.”

He smiled and raised both of his brows, somehow looking boyish and more genuine than she’d seen him look so far. “You find me funny?”

“Only a little,” she said, adjusting skirts that really didn’t need adjusting.

“Poor thing. That took a great deal for you to admit, didn’t it?” Do not smile. Do not smile. “Why else are you cross with me? Have I not done exactly as you secretly wished? You cannot honestly say that you would have preferred to have been paid off rather than enter into marriage with a wealthy earl. You’ll be much more comfortable this way.”

Doubtful.

Rose knew that she would be much less comfortable as a married woman than a self-sufficient thief. And although he was turning out to be much kinder than she had anticipated, he was still a cad.

“Is there perhaps someone else you care for? Someone who will be deprived of your affections if we married?” he asked when she didn’t respond to the first question.

She shook her head. “I have no one else to care about.” The honest words flew into the air before she could think better about it. And now there they were, staring and taunting her for making yet another mistake.

His brows lifted. “No one? Not even family?”

She swallowed and quickly tried to invent a new story. But for some reason, when his eyes were settled so intently on her, she had a hard time thinking straight. “I do not have any living family. And life in service hardly provides enough time to develop any relationships.” Or the life of a criminal.

“That sounds lonely.” Lonely. That unwelcome word buried itself deep in her chest without permission. Is that what she had been feeling lately? She forced her gaze back out the window, unwilling to give in to the weakness she had begun to feel over the past few weeks.