Marquess of Menace (Lords of Scandal 10)

A very lovely woman he thought might be Emily nodded her head. “Oh, that does make sense.”

Another huffed. “So we’re just going to keep traipsing about the streets of London like sacrificial lambs?” He looked at the fourth sister. Was it Abigail?

He ran his hand through his hair. “Isabella…” he cleared his throat. “Would you mind chaperoning a meeting between Eliza and myself?”

“Of course,” Isabella answered at the same time Eliza let out a huff of breath.

“I don’t need my little sister as a chaperone.”

He quirked a brow. Somehow, he relaxed with her irritation. This was Eliza. And this was why eldest sisters usually married first. Having a younger sister chaperone would chafe most women.

“It’s for your protection,” Isabella started. “Society—”

“I don’t give a fig about society.” Eliza sat back down and determinedly stuck her fork in her plate of food. “Eat, my lord. And then we will go in the sitting room next door and we’ll be certain to leave the door open in case society arrives.”

He couldn’t quite keep from chuckling as he crossed to the buffet. A man might as well have a full stomach before he proposed a sham marriage.

Chapter Eight

A half hour later Eliza sat across from Dylan, the silence stretching out between them. The door was open, and she was absolutely sure her sisters were all pressed to the wall just outside the room listening to every word.

She drew in a deep breath as she blinked to keep from rolling her eyes to the ceiling. An audience didn’t make this awkward at all.

“Do you know where I am supposed to be right now?” Dylan asked, stretching out in his chair, his long legs crossed at the ankles in front of him. He looked large and masculine and…delectable.

“Where?”

“I am supposed to be meeting Carmella’s cat.” He gave her a lopsided grin as he chuckled out loud.

Her stomach twisted at the boyish gesture. He looked even more handsome like this, relaxed and happy and virile. “I beg your pardon?”

“Carmella. She wished for me to meet her cat.” He swiped a hand down one cheek. “That is what I could be doing right now. Courting a woman and her feline.”

“And instead here you sit with me.” She straightened in her chair. “Where will you find a new heiress?”

One of his brows lifted. “Hmmm. Let me think. Heiress? Heiress? Where might I meet one of those?”

Her mouth dropped open. Because she should have known that was where this conversation headed but somehow…she hadn’t. “But I’ve already told you. I don’t wish to marry.”

From the hall, she heard the faintest gasp. Standing, she glared at the open door.

“I am well aware, which is why I have a proposition for you.” He stood too, moving closer. “But first, I need to tell you about me. I want you to know the truth about me, what you’re getting into, before you decide.”

A warm sensation slid down her chest. He trusted her, she heard it in those words. “All right. Just give me one moment.” Then she crossed over to the doorway, peeked out, stared at all three of her sisters, who had the decency to look embarrassed, and then shut the door, turning the lock. “Pray, continue.”

He pressed his mouth together, suppressing a grin, as she came back over to him.

“Eliza.” He reached for her hand, slipping his fingers into hers. “I’ve done very little right in my life.”

His hands were large and warm, his skin sliding along hers. “How so?”

He shrugged. “The typical mostly. I drink too much, carouse too often. My family was very serious and I never seemed to belong.”

She winced. “That must have been difficult.”

“I suppose it was, but I didn’t help matters. I went out of my way to be even more troublesome…”

“Not surprising. You’re a strong man. If you’d just fallen in line, you’d be weak. I’m not much for doing what others tell me to do either,” she said, then gestured back at the now closed door.