To Tame a Highland Earl (6 page)

“
Eve?”

Eve turned toward her mother, who had stopped
a few feet away and was looking at her.

“
Are you
coming?”

“
I see Miss Haverly,” Eve
said. “I want to say hello to her.” When her mother frowned, Eve
said, “Don’t worry, I will join you directly.”

She hesitated, then nodded. “I will wait with
Lady Collins there in that alcove.” She pointed to the right wall
where a group of ladies stood, then started in that direction. “Do
not be long.”

Eve angled left toward the first of the two
columns on that side of the room. She reached the column and
allowed herself to release a slow breath. This night couldn’t end
too soon for her liking.

“
Really—” Eve stilled at
the sound of Lady Annabelle Quincy’s silky voice leaching around
the column “—how did their father decide which of them to saddle
Lord Rushton with?”

“
And how did Lord Rushton
go from one sister’s bed to the other?” demanded a second woman,
Lady Willamina Consworth, if Eve wasn’t mistaken.

Throughout the evening, she’d overheard women
making low comments within her hearing, pretending to be unaware of
her presence, but none so rude as this.

Lady Quincy tittered a laugh. “I can’t
imagine his lordship settling for the older sister.”

Disgust rolled over Eve.

“
Perhaps the younger sister
did not prove to be as tasty as he had hoped,” Lady Consworth
said.

“
Apparently, Eve Crenshaw
was not all that interesting either,” Lady Quincy whispered. “Laura
Greenwood was seen leaving Rushton’s hotel room this
morning.”

“
No,” Willamina breathed.
“It seems the earl has no intention of giving up his pleasures even
long enough to wed.”

Had she heard right? Lady Greenwood visited
the earl’s hotel room today?

“
Why should he change
simply because he’s marrying?” Lady Quincy said. “After all, they
are only daughters of a baron. Getting compromised is the only
chance they have of marrying a man like Rushton.” She giggled.
“Imagine, if he marries Eve Crenshaw. Why, the three of them
might—”

Fury swept through Eve and she nearly
stumbled in her haste to circle the column and confront the women.
They took a surprised step backwards toward the wall.

“
Lady Quincy.” Eve swung
her glare onto the older of the two gossipmongers. “Lady
Consworth.”

“
Miss Crenshaw,” Lady
Consworth sputtered.

“
We did not see you there,”
Lady Quincy said.

“
Of course you did,” Eve
said.

“
Miss Crenshaw—”

“
Do not act as if you
didn’t say those things just to be spiteful and crude.”

“
How dare you?” Lady Quincy
hissed.

Lady Consworth cast a glance around them.
“Keep your voices down.”

“
Why?” Eve demanded,
raising hers. “So no one else learns how cruel you are?” The
ladies’ eyes widened. “Or perhaps you are worried that people will
guess your true feelings?” Eve snapped.

“
What true feelings?” Lady
Consworth said stupidly.

“
Willamina,” Lady Quincy
said under her breath.

“
That you are jealous Lord
Rushton did not make an assignation with you in the
gardens.”

A malicious gleam lit Lady Quincy’s eyes. “So
it is true, your sister did meet him in the gardens.”

“
Don’t be ridiculous,” Eve
retorted.

“
But you just
said—”

“
I did not say Grace met
him. I said you wished he had met you. For pity’s sake, are you so
dense that you don’t understand plain English?”

Lady Quincy gasped.

“
You said those things
about me and my sister just to be mean, knowing I was within
earshot. So don’t act indignant when I do not remain
silent.”

“
Miss Crenshaw,” Lady
Consworth said. “There has been a mistake. Please—”

“
There has been no
mistake,” Lady Quincy said in a harsh whisper. “When your sister
couldn’t trap him, you decided you could do a better job of
it.”

Eve stared. “Are you insane? I did not trap
him. He came to my room.”

Triumph shone in Lady Quincy’s eyes. “We
heard your father discovered the two of you in bed together, and
that you shot Lord Rushton. Frankly, I thought the story was too
fantastical to be true. I see I was mistaken.”

“
Annabelle,” Lady Consworth
tugged on her arm.

“
The two of you naked…”
Lady Quincy tsked and shook her head in disapproval.

“
Naked? That is a
bald-faced lie,” Eve said. “I was fully clothed, as was Lord
Rushton.”

“
I did not see your sister
arrive with you,” Lady Quincy said, “and I have not seen Lord
Rushton. Is it possible they—” Her gaze jerked past Eve and her
eyes widened.

Eve started to twist to see who approached,
but a large body bumped into her back. She whirled to face a tall,
blond gentleman.

“
Pardon me,” he quickly
said.

“
Lord Paisley,” Lady
Consworth said.

“
Lady Consworth. Lady
Quincy.” He looked expectantly at them and Lady Consworth finally
said with a flutter of one hand, “Oh, Lord Paisley, may we present
Miss Eve Crenshaw.”

He once again faced Eve and this time grasped
her hand. “Miss Crenshaw.” He bent over her fingers, his face
angled slightly away from the other ladies. His eyes lifted to meet
hers in the instant his mouth brushed her hand, and he winked.

Eve blinked.

He straightened, his face all respectability.
“Again, my apologies for ramming into you.”

“
You did not ram into me,”
she said. “But thank you, my lord, I am unharmed.”

“
I am immensely relieved.”
He turned his attention to Lady Quincy. “I believe I saw your
brother a moment ago, Lady Quincy. He was looking for
you.”

Surprise flickered in Lady Quincy’s eyes,
followed by suspicion, but she quickly demurred. “Thank you, my
lord. I will find him.”

“
Allow me to escort you.
The crowd here is the largest I have seen tonight. You are sure to
be trampled.”

Her mouth pinched in obvious frustration.

“
Lady Consworth,” he said.
“Perhaps you would like to accompany us.”

“
Oh, yes, of course.” She
took the arm he proffered.

He canted his head toward Eve. “Very nice to
have met you, Miss Crenshaw.” Then he led them away.

Eve stared. What had just happened? Why had a
gentleman she didn’t know winked at her? Were the malicious things
Lady Quincy and Lady Consworth said a part of the gossip that
others believed? Did Lord Paisley believe—understanding struck.
Lord Paisley had bumped into her as she was about to say things
that would have gotten her deeper into trouble. He had saved her,
and the wink had been his way of telling her so. He must have been
standing on the other side of the column and—oh Lord, how much of
their conversation had he overheard?

“
Miss Crenshaw.”

Eve jumped, then silently groaned when
recognition struck. Of all the people who could ruin her plans,
Lord Richard Somerset was that man. It had been too much to hope
that she wouldn’t encounter him tonight. She forced a smile and
faced him.

“
My lord.” She extended her
hand.

He lightly grasped her fingers, bowed, then
released her. “Am I fortunate enough to be the first to claim a
dance?”

“
I have only just arrived
and—”

“
Good. I want to speak with
you.”

Private conversation with Lord Somerset was
the last thing she wanted, but she could find no way to protest as
he led her onto the dance floor. Her heart sank when the orchestra
struck up a country dance. They would be on the dance floor for
half an hour. He pulled her into the line of dancers and took his
place opposite her. They approached one another in time to the
music, bowed, then backed into their former positions. She stepped
with her left foot, then the right, and everyone in line followed
as one, until the partners again approached one another and slowly
circled each other.

“
Did you receive my card?”
he asked.

“
I did. Thank
you.”

“
I will call him out,
Eve.”

She faltered in her step, but caught herself.
“That is not necessary,” she whispered.

They danced back into separate lines, then
forward again, this time switching partners. The guilt she’d
grappled with since devising the plan to marry Grace to the earl
resurfaced with a nervous turn of her stomach. Lord Rushton did not
wish to marry her or Grace. In the end, however, Grace was the
better choice. She would accept him for the man he was and embrace
a life separate from his. Grace was a beautiful woman. The time
Lord Rushton spent in her bed would be pleasurable. If he eloped to
Gretna Green with her, the polite world might talk, but nothing
more, for they wouldn’t know the elopement had been a
kidnapping.

When Eve came back around to Lord Somerset,
they locked arms and swung around.

“
I do not believe you
invited him into your room,” he said.

Blast the man. If he thwarted her plans, she
would call him out. That was the trouble with a man who believed a
woman to be above reproach: he simply couldn’t accept the
possibility she could be less than the paragon of virtue he saw her
as. A mistake Lord Rushton wouldn’t make. Her father was right. The
earl had no illusions where women were concerned. The realization
pricked her pride.

They separated again. She stepped right and
circled the gentleman diagonally across from her. He smiled as they
clasped hands and shuffled forward and back, then separated. The
couples once again stood opposite one another as each couple on the
end pranced hand in hand down the center of the two lines. When
their turn came, Eve stepped toward Lord Somerset, he clasped her
hand, and they whirled. Before she realized it, he had maneuvered
her out of the line of dancers and into a small alcove to their
left.

Her heart sped up. She had no intention of
eluding the scandal with Lord Rushton only to have her father sign
a marriage contract with Lord Somerset because gossipers saw her in
a private alcove fraternizing with him. Lord Somerset stopped and
she turned back toward the ballroom, but he stepped in front of
her.

“
My lord.”

“
I saw your marriage
announcement in the paper,” he said.

Eve gasped.

“
Just as I thought,” Lord
Somerset said. “Your father is forcing the marriage.”

“
No, I promise you, he is
not.”

The viscount’s eyes darkened and frustration
bubbled to the top. Why hadn’t he fixed his interest on Grace
instead of her? Grace adored attention. Eve had met Lord Somerset a
year ago and, while he was cordial, he’d given no indication he
felt any tenderness for her. But three months ago he had approached
her father in regards to his suit toward her. Of course, her father
had rejoiced that a reputable man showed interested in her and gave
the viscount his blessing.

“
I do not believe you are
marrying Rushton of your own accord,” he said.

“
You assume too much, sir.
You do not know me well enough to know what I would or would not
do.”

“
Are you saying that the
gossip that has been revived about you and Lord Blane after all
these years is true? Are you loose?”

Eve stiffened. “I am saying, it is none of
your concern.”

“
Miss Crenshaw—Eve—you do
not have to do this. Sit down, let us talk.”

She shook her head. “I will not sit
down.”

“
Marry me,” Lord Somerset
said.

Eve stared. “Sir, please.”

“
It is obvious he’s forcing
this marriage.”

”
Things are not always what
they seem,” she whispered.

“
Things are rarely as they
seem,” drawled a familiar male voice.

Eve jerked and Lord Somerset whirled to face
Lord Rushton. Behind the earl, the blazing light of the ballroom
haloed his large frame and she was reminded of an avenging angel.
No. Not an angel. An incredible male demon rising from the pits of
Hell.

Her heart raced as he took three leisurely
steps and halted uncomfortably close to her. Dismay at the wonder
as to why he wasn’t bound and gagged inside a carriage racing
toward Scotland vanished when she glimpsed the chilling glint in
his eyes. Horror rushed to the surface at the possibility that it
would be Lord Rushton who called out Lord Somerset.

The earl grasped her hand and brought it to
his lips. His eyes held hers as he brushed a kiss to her fingers
“This situation, for example.”

Chapter Four

Technically, Erroll hadn’t agreed to kidnap
Miss Crenshaw. Yet the warmth of her fingers beneath his conjured
the picture of her lying on the cushion of his carriage, hands tied
and bound to the door, and eyes blindfolded as they raced into the
night. His carriage stood outside. All he had to do was get her
inside and he would have her exactly where he’d envisioned having
her since he’d leaned over her bed and her breast brushed his
chest. Erroll nearly laughed. There was no other answer. He’d lost
his mind. He would have her where he wanted her—without the trip to
Gretna Green and quite willingly, if he wasn’t mistaken.