Forever My Love(86)
"She's not going to maneuver anyone…" Mira said, and made a wordless exclamation before adding. "I had forgotten how disagreeable you are!"
"I haven't forgotten a thing about you."
"Including my taste in reading material… or wasn't it you who sent the books?"
He made no reply as he helped her into the sleigh. A footman placed heated bricks on the floor of the vehicle for her to rest her feet on, and a thickly woven blanket was draped over her knees. Shivering a little in pleasure from the warmth and snugness of the sleigh, Mira buried her hands more deeply in her muff.
"Are you cold?" Alec inquired gently, and she shook her head.
"The books… ?" she reminded him.
"Do you like them?"
"Of course I like them. I just don't… I don't like feeling obligated to you."
"You're not obligated to me," he said casually. "Not for a few scraps of leather and paper."
"You wrote 'From an admirer' on the card," she commented, her eyes questioning, and he shrugged.
"I do admire you." He spoke so lightly that there seemed to be no real meaning behind the words at all. "No matter what happens, you're the kind who will land on your feet… and you have a talent for making friends with those who can help you the most."
"That doesn't sound very complimentary."
"Doesn't it?" he asked lazily. "I meant it to be."
The first few sleighs began to skim over the thick, well-packed snow, the bells on the horses' bridles providing a merry chorus to the thrashing hooves. Contrary to Mira's expectations, the sleighs did not travel in a single line; there were too many antics going on that prevented any sort of organization from imposingitself on the large group. A few of the young men made a game of passing each other despite the protests of their female passengers. Several sleighs tried to lag suspiciously far behind the others, leaving little doubt in anyone's mind about what the occupants intended. Stolen kisses and other quickly taken liberties were far from uncommon during a sleighing party. Just in front of them, a young man with auburn hair caught a small clump of snow that had been kicked up by the horse's hooves and surreptitiously dropped it down the neck of the girl beside him, eliciting squeals of indignation. Mira chuckled and glanced at Alec. "Who it that?"
"Spencer Whitebrook," he replied, his eyes twinkling. "A lad about your age… locally famed for his original approach to the art of courtship."
"Ah… now I am forewarned. I will tell Rosalie not to consider him as a good prospect."
"Before you start crossing names off the list, you should realize that you don't have a wide range of choice—now wait, let me finish before you give me that freezing stare. It's not because of you—God knows that you have enough of what it takes to attract a man—it's just that there's an unusually limited supply of marriageable young men this year."
"Which must explain why you're considered to be one of the prime catches."
Alec raised an eyebrow. "Are you implying, Miss Germain, that if there were more eligible bachelors around, I might not be so high on the list?" "Definitely somewhere in the middle." "You've wounded me deeply," Alec said, laughing softly. "Why such a poor opinion of me? I've been told occasionally that I'm quite tolerable."
"Sometimes you are. Sometimes you are a great deal more than tolerable… but sometimes you are a great deal less than tolerable.""Wouldn't you say that averages out fairly?"
"No… because you are less than tolerable more than half the time."
"Before I decide that you're a great deal less than; charming, why don't you tell me how living with the Berkeleys suits you?" '■
"It suits me very well, thank you."
"So demure… so ladylike… you've been spending too much time with Lady Berkeley. Tell me the, truth—you've dared to before."
"Yes, I've told you the truth before… and you waited exactly twelve hours before betraying my confidence!"
Alec was not in the least disconcerted by her accusation. "There were extenuating circumstances. The fact that he was handling you like a Fleet Street doxy in front of me was one of them."
"Don't use that as an excuse for telling Sackville that you knew his secret! It wasn't your right to do so You bullied it out of me in the first place, but I lacked enough common sense to realize that you would use it against Sackville when it suited you. It was dishonorable and—"
"Don't bring up the subject of honor in reference to any of it," he said softly, throwing her a swift warning glance. "I don't value honor lightly, my petite friend, and I regret the fact that so far it has had no place in any of my dealings with you. Of all the qualities you seem to inspire in men, honor is not one of them, nor honesty. I know exactly what I did, and what Sackville did, and the reasons why."