“Are you through listing all the reasons why I hate my life at this moment?”
“Lily—”
“I was fine until you came along. I need you to go away. Forever.”
He’d been thinking the same, but hearing it from her was like a kick in the teeth. She was right. Neither one of them wanted the involvement. Why couldn’t he leave it at that and walk away? “Put on one of your pretty silk gowns. Come to Eloise’s party.”
“So your Scottish sweetheart can make fun of me in Gaelic?”
“She won’t make fun of you. I won’t allow it.”
“How thoughtful of you.” Her tone was laced with sarcasm. “I look forward to the announcement of your betrothal. You deserve each other. Your grandfather will be apoplectic. That should delight you.” She darted under his arms and hurried downstairs to the front door, where Pruitt was standing, trying to mind his own business and at the moment obviously wishing he were anyplace but by the door.
Lily marched past him and threw it open, her pert chin raised in indignation. “Ewan, go back to your sweetheart. And don’t you dare spy on me through the window again!”
No one could out-stubborn a Scot. “Pruitt, talk sense into the girl.” Turning back to Lily, he felt his frustration mounting and knew he was about to make a Scottish ass out of himself. Why did he care that Lily wasn’t at the party? Why did he care that she was jealous of Callie? Unnecessarily so. He felt his gut churning. “I’ll stand outside your door and wait for you.”
“Make yourself comfortable. You’ll have a long wait.”
“Make no mistake, ye’re coming to that party with me, lass. Ye canno’ hide behind yerrr baboons and yerrr books.” He winced at his rolling r’s and thickening brogue, a sign of his mounting frustration. “If you’re not out here in five minutes, I’ll haul ye over my shoulder and carry you there myself!”
Complete ass of himself.
Instead of fury, he saw genuine confusion in Lily’s eyes. “Why?”
A simple question. One of the many he’d been asking himself. Why the party? Why the kiss? Why did he need Lily? He needed her desperately. He hated needing anyone. “No one makes up my mind for me. Not my grandfather. Not Callie. Not you. If I’ve a mind to marry a bluestocking Sassenach, then that’s what I’ll do.” He walked out, slamming the door behind him.
He was a complete and utter baboon’s ass.
CHAPTER 14
LILY STOOD GAPING at the front door for a long moment before finally turning to her butler. “Pruitt, what did he mean by that?”
“I’m not sure, Miss Lily. I think he just proposed to you.”
She shook her head and laughed. “No. No... that’s not... oh, crumpets. Do you really think so? He can’t have meant it. He’s going to marry Caledonia MacCorkindale. She called him darling.”
“But he kissed you.”
She winced. “You saw that? Never mind. Don’t answer. Truly, Pruitt. What do you think? Should I go?”
“Do you love him?”
She winced again. “Isn’t it painfully obvious?”
“Yes, Miss Lily. It is.”
“What would you do if you were in my shoes?”
“It isn’t for me to say, but I’ve never known a Farthingale to back down from a challenge.”
She nodded. “Thank you, Pruitt. You’ve been immensely helpful.”
It didn’t take Lily very long to slip out of her day gown and into the ivory silk with pale blue sash already set out on her bed. Ashton would simply have to wait another day for his lemur papers. She’d finish the report in the morning and somehow slip it to him tomorrow afternoon, no one the wiser.
To her surprise, Ewan was still standing by the front steps. She hadn’t really expected him to be there. He gazed at her with a surprised but satisfied smile that reached into his dark eyes. “Lass, you look beautiful.”
Prettier than Caledonia MacCorkindale? In truth, she wasn’t the most worrisome challenge. The Duke of Lotheil was the man to fear. He wanted an English wife of noble blood for Ewan. Lily hadn’t a drop of blue blood in her. No, the only things blue were her eyes. The men in her family were tradesmen. Successful ones, but still commoners. Plain red blood. “Ewan—” She didn’t know what to ask. She sensed that he didn’t know what he wanted. He’d tell her once he worked it out.
He straightened to his full height, looking ruggedly handsome and dangerous while standing under the moon’s glow. He reached out to take her hand. “Let’s go to a party, lass.”
He escorted her to Eloise’s familiar residence and led her inside, but he paused beside the music room. “Lily, will you allow me to introduce you to Evangeline? Properly this time. I know it’s asking much of you. I’ll understand if you prefer to avoid her.”