Sin With a Scoundrel (The Husband Hunters Club 4)
Page 37
Was that because he was here?
Shaking off her abstraction, Tina accepted his offer of a seat on the sofa, removing her gloves and bonnet and setting them beside her. Tina’s head had begun to ache, and she told herself it was from too much thinking. She had her plan, she must follow it. Horace was her target. Anything else was completely unacceptable.
But the words sounded like she was repeating them as a child repeats times tables, and they no longer held any meaning.
“You didn’t tell me how you came to be there last night,” she said, with a crease of her forehead.
“Didn’t I?” His smile was bland, his expression unreadable. “I am a friend of Sir Henry. He knew my father. They were in the army together.”
More army friends. That explained it then. Although not completely. It occurred to her that despite his charm and warmth, Richard was a man of secrets. She had placed her future and her reputation in the hands of a man she barely knew.
Aware of the silence, she looked up and found him watching her, that seductive, charming smile curving the corners of his lips. She wanted to trust him, she really did.
“I didn’t do a very good job, did I?” she blurted out. “With Horace, I mean.”
“These things take time, Tina. You mustn’t give up yet.”
“Is that what you tell your other clients? How many actually succeed in marrying the person of their choice?”
“I’ve had one . . . no, two failures, and they were for reasons beyond my control. So you are in safe hands.”
Instinctively, her gaze dropped to his hands. She remembered the heat of them against her bare skin, his confident, smooth touch, and the sound he’d made when she kissed him, as if he wasn’t quite in control of himself after all.
Her mind was drifting again.
To pull herself back, she spoke briskly of the first thing that came to her head. “Maria, my maid, is walking out with Archie. Did you know that?”
“I did. Archie told me.”
“It is strange that they should come together like this. Maria seems to think it was coincidence.”
“An accident of fate.”
“He won’t hurt her, will he?” she said quickly. “She has been on her own for years—as long as she’s been our maid.”
“Archie isn’t the sort of man to hurt a woman, and certainly not one he cares about. Even so, I’ll have a word with him.”
“Of course my mother will be horrified when she discovers he’s your servant. I just hope she doesn’t put a stop to it before it’s had a chance to begin.”
Richard raised a dark eyebrow. “My apologies for my scandalous reputation, but I can assure you Archie is entirely his own man. He’s never come to me for advice where his love life is concerned.”
She wondered if she’d hurt his feelings. He wasn’t showing any emotion, but she sensed something beneath his urbane manner. And yet he had no reason to feel hurt; she’d only spoken the truth. His reputation was bad, and Lady Carol might well interfere if she thought her maid was in moral peril.
“Speaking of reputations, I’m surprised that Gilfoyle has never tried anything with you,” Richard interrupted her thoughts. His gray eyes were watchful, almost brooding.
“What sort of anything?” she asked warily. “You mean has he attempted to seduce me?”
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“Yes.”
“No, he hasn’t.”
“Have you wondered why?”
“Perhaps because he has no interest in me. That is why I’ve come to you.”
“So he has never tried to touch you? Never?”