“Not just any man,” she went on, her cheeks turning pink.
Did the chit wear a perpetual blush?
“I’d like you to teach me how to seduce a specific gentleman.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. Yes, it seemed he had heard the young lady right, after all. Harry studied her objectively. With Anne’s golden ringlets, fair skin and blue eyes, she easily fit with Society’s standard of a perfect, English beauty. She did not however, fit with the beauties he’d come to appreciate through the years, including her sister, the dark-haired, brown-eyed Lady Katherine, Duchess of Bainbridge, whom he’d tried to seduce last year. Tried and failed.
The gossip sheets reported Lady Anne to be both proper and pretty and not much more than that. In other words, a tedious bore he went to great pains to avoid.
Not that he wasn’t above a good flirtation, but not with this pert baggage.
“Will you not say something?” She stomped her foot more like a child in the nursery than a young woman he’d just kissed senseless.
A kiss that, if he were being truthful, had been somewhat captivating, and if he were to be entirely truthful with himself, a kiss he’d like to further explore. He violently shoved back such dangerous thoughts. “No.”
She frowned, seeming displeased with his curt reply.
He went on before she could continue pestering him. “One, as a friend of your sister, I’d never dare assist you in this mad scheme to trap some poor—”
“Not trap,” she said, shaking her head.
“—gentleman,” he continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “Two,” he proceeded to tick off on his fingers. “You like me even less than I like you.”
“Ah, yes,” she wagged a finger under his nose. “But I’m reasonable enough to put aside my personal differences on matters of importance.”
“Three,” he caught her wrist. His large fingers encircled the delicate flesh. “Though you are passably pretty, I couldn’t even begin to drum up interest enough to help you.”
Hurt flashed in her eyes. “Pleasantly.” She wrenched her hand free.
He furrowed his brow. What was she on about?
“The papers have called me pleasantly pretty.” Something in her tone hinted at a young woman who desired more than being gossiped about and ascribed labels by a judgmental ton.
He dragged a hand through his hair. “Bloody hell,” he cursed. The little termagant brought out the worst in him…and ladies didn’t ever bring out the worst in him. Not the young debutantes, not the eager widows, not even the frowning dowagers. Lady Anne, with her usual, reserved-for-him-frown and often-harsh words, on the other hand, did. “Forgive me,” he said. “That was uncalled for.”
She waved a hand. “You needn’t apologize for being truthful, my lord,” she said with far more somber maturity than he’d imagined her capable of. She held up her palms. “But I need help and I decided to enlist your aid first.”
First.
Which, of course implied there’d been a second gentleman whose aid she intended to seek out if, nay, when, he refused to take part in her imprudent plan.
If he’d been any other rogue, Harry suspected she’d be ruined by now with her skirts up, bodice lowered, as he instructed her on all the ways to seduce whomever it was she wanted to seduce.
Anne spoke softly, pulling him back to the moment. “You have a notorious reputation and I…” Her gaze skittered to a point beyond his shoulder.
Harry told himself not to ask. He really should send her on her way, back to the ballroom and forget she’d ever put the scandalous proposition to him. “And you what?” he asked, tersely.
She jumped. The color in her cheeks deepened. “And I thought as Katherine’s friend I could trust you with my request and also trust that you wouldn’t, er…” She fanned her cheeks. “You know.”
No, he really didn’t know. He recognized the perils in acknowledging as much. He eyed her warily. “What wouldn’t I do, Lady Anne?” And then promptly wished he’d never fed his curiosity.
“Why, you wouldn’t take liberties with any inappropriate embraces.” Her pink cheeks burned red.
“As opposed to the more appropriate embraces?” Droll humor underscored his question.
Anne nodded once. “Er, yes, I do suppose I see your point,” she conceded.
He’d intended to send her away with a curt rejection, back to her protective, but not protective enough, mama’s side. Except, she’d mentioned Katherine and as a friend, he could not in good conscience let her go without talking some sense into her senseless head. He’d wager his entire land-holdings that if he sent her back to the evening’s festivities with a simple no, she’d surely find the second someone on her list to help her with this plan. He balled his hands into fists. “Who do you intend to seduce?”