The Untamed Earl(41)
Alex shook her head. “You’re not her ideal suitor.”
“Who is? Sir Lancelot?”
“Perhaps.”
“She’ll be waiting a long while if she’s waiting for me to turn into Lancelot, for God’s sake.”
Alex shrugged. “That’s what we’ve been studying, isn’t it? How to make you into the perfect romantic gentleman?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and kicked at a pebble that had somehow made it onto the terrace.
“I fear it’s a lost cause. Your sister doesn’t seem a bit more impressed with me tonight than she has been in the past.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Alex replied softly.
“And given her reaction to my offer of champagne, and my speech about horses, I’m beginning to wonder if everything you told me about her is correct.”
Alex paled slightly. “She’s … difficult,” she repeated lamely.
Now Owen shrugged. He didn’t want to talk about Lavinia. Something else was on his mind. “Did the gentleman with whom you’re enamored ask you to dance tonight?” Why did Owen hope she said no?
Alex blushed beautifully and glanced away. Her gloved fingertips glanced over her collarbone.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said softly.
Surprise marked her features as she turned back to look at him. “Why, Lord Owen, I do believe you’re learning a bit. I don’t think the man I met a few days ago would even have known he’d embarrassed me.”
Owen chuckled at that. “You’re learning as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with such a fetching smile on your face, and when you touch your neck in that particular spot, I—”
She blushed more deeply, and Owen clamped his lips together. He was certainly embarrassing her now. Blast it.
He ducked his head and cleared his throat. “Well, the man’s a tosser if he can’t see the good in you, Alex.”
Her head snapped up and her dark eyes met his. “Do you mean that?”
“Of course I do. I curse my father every day for picking your sister and not you.”
Alex gasped. Her hand fell away from her throat.
Damn it. He shouldn’t have said such a reckless thing. What could she possibly reply to that?
“My apologies. I don’t mean to be so boorish,” he said. “And I don’t mean to seem so cavalier about it all. I know your heart belongs to someone else, but I never expected it to be this difficult to court a lady with the intention of marriage. I’ve never tried it before, true, but it’s proved deuced difficult.”
The surprised look caused by his earlier statement slowly drained from Alex’s face. “I’m sorry Lavinia is so much trouble.”
Owen shrugged again. “It’s hardly your fault. You’ve done nothing but try to help me. I cannot fathom how two such different young ladies were born to the same parents.”
Alex laughed. “Believe me, I ask myself that same question quite regularly.”
He stepped closer and touched her hand. “Thank you, Alexandra. For helping me.”
She glanced away. Those couldn’t be tears in her eyes, could they?
“What do you propose to do, about Lavinia?” she asked quietly.
He tipped up her chin with his thumb. “I propose that we meet again for another lesson. Tomorrow.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The next day, Owen arrived nearly a half hour early to his appointment at Cass’s house with Alex. He’d never arrived half an hour early to anything in his life. Why was he so eager to see Alex again?
He was sitting in a chair in the foyer with his hands shoved in his pockets, waiting, when his sister walked by. “Come into the drawing room with me for a moment, won’t you, Owen?”
Owen groaned. Cass obviously wanted to speak to him about something specific. This couldn’t be good. But he was using her house as a rendezvous point with Alex, and he couldn’t very well refuse his sister’s request. He hefted himself from the chair and followed her into the nearest drawing room.
“Yes?” he asked brightly once the door to the room had closed behind him.
Cass turned in a swirl of white skirts. “What exactly are you doing with Alexandra Hobbs?”
Owen paced across the floor toward the fireplace. “What do you mean?”
“Don’t be coy with me, Owen. I’ve helped you to meet her here, so I feel somewhat responsible for her. I want to know exactly what your intentions are.”
Owen rubbed a knuckle against one temple. What was appropriate to tell? “We’re in business together, you might say.”
Cass arched a brow. “Business? Are you certain, Owen?”