The Reluctant Suitor (41 page)

“Aye, I got to know quite a number of them in my years away from home. I called many of them my friends, but I care not for the likes of Roger Elston.”

“Can you tell me why
exactly
?” she prodded irritably. “Mayhap I could better understand your aversion if you were to explain it to me.”

His broad shoulders moved upward indolently. “ ‘Tis a feeling I have, nothing more.”

“And do you often base your contempt for a person merely on a feeling, my lord? Perhaps you’ve mistaken intuition for an upset stomach.”

His eyes danced as they delved into her own. “Was that what Father was suffering when he got the heady notion we should be wed?”

Silenced by his jibe, Adriana turned her gaze away from him in a lofty manner. Only when she felt his hand settle rather possessively upon the small of her back did she face him again with a fair amount of surprise.

Giving no heed to her look of astonishment, Colton urged her toward the dance floor. “I hope you don’t mind dancing with a man hindered by a limp.”

Although Adriana had seen no slightest evidence of a flaw in his step earlier, she hoped they could forego such exercise for the sake of her own poorly trampled feet. “We could just as well sit. As you know, it wouldn’t be the first time for me tonight, and if your abilities are anything like Roger’s, I strongly suggest we do.”

“Absolutely not!” Colton stated emphatically. “

At least not while that malapert-untutored-in-social-graces is still on the premises.” With a gentle, yet unrelenting pressure, he pushed her forward.

She peered at him over her shoulder, feeling like an errant child being prodded by a parent. “You’re rather persistent, aren’t you?”

“I suppose,” he allowed, accompanying his reply with a facial shrug. “At least the men in my company thought so.”

“I’m not one of your men,” she retorted and had cause to wonder what would follow as she heard his soft chuckles.

“Believe me, my dear, I’ve never mistaken you for one of them, not even for an instant.”

“Thank you for small considerations,” she responded, exaggerating her gratitude.

His eyes gleamed tauntingly into hers as she chanced another glance. In spite of her snide retort, his smile remained undiminished, his hand on her back unrelenting. “You’re welcome, my dear, but it took no mean mental feat on my part to recognize the difference. None of my men ever looked even remotely appealing to me, especially while soaking in a bathtub.”

“Shush!” Adriana scolded, flushing scarlet again as she looked about to see who was near. “Someone will hear you!”

“Not while the music and chatter of the busybodies are causing such a din. If you’re not aware of it yet, the gossips have now noticed that you’re with me instead of Roger.”

Adriana cast a surreptitious glance about and realized what he said was true. Another rippling wave of excitement was making its way through the elderly matrons.

When they reached the dance floor, Colton faced her as he swept his gaze over the heads of the majority of guests, searching for the one he had earlier defamed. “Frankly, considering the lad’s eagerness to assault me and challenge my right even to come near you, I shall enjoy staking my claim on you.”

Adriana had cause to wonder if Colton was genuinely interested in her or merely eager to thwart Roger’s aspirations. The idea was enough to cause the back of her neck to prickle. “Just to spite the lad, as you call him?”

Folding his hands behind his back again as if he were standing in a library with a roomful of men rather than on a ballroom floor with her, Colton grinned down at her, undeterred by the fact that dancing couples were forced to halter their steps in order to go around them. “Why, if needs be, my dear, I’d even be tempted to marry you just to frustrate that young whelp’s ambitions.”

The dark eyes flared, evidencing Adriana’s heightening irritation. “You needn’t worry that I will accept your proposal, my lord. My father did allow me some choice in the matter.”

The corners of his mouth twitched with amusement. “Singed your pretty feathers a mite, did I?”

Her icy glare pierced him. “Your pardon, my lord, but the last time I looked, I wasn’t wearing any.”

“Crystals, then,” he corrected as his sparkling eyes swept her from head to toe in a way that made her blood race. Stepping near, he slid an arm behind her waist and captured her slender hand within his. “

Even without such ornamentations, my pet, you’d still be a rare beauty,” he murmured softly and waltzed her around the dance floor before offering another conjecture. “I’m sure your friend, Lord Harcourt, thinks so; he seems to be having trouble keeping his eyes off you this evening. But then, he was having difficulty with that very same thing when I first met him, even more so at Melora’s wedding. I believe he fancies himself in love with you.”

“Have you grown annoyed with Lord Harcourt because he asked me to dance? Is that also why you’re upset with the
lad
?”

“I’m not annoyed with Lord Harcourt. He’s a very sensible man, and a gentleman of honor. ‘Tis also apparent he has incredibly good taste, especially in women. As for the lad, you already know my feelings toward Roger.” He shrugged. “As for myself, I’d be satisfied if you were to smile merely for my pleasure.

”

“What can you expect from me?” Adriana retorted. “Not knowing what these next three months will bring, I find myself in a bit of a quandary. I can only wonder why you’re even considering courting me. I know how much you value your freedom.”

For a lengthy moment, his translucent gray eyes probed the dark depths of hers. Did he indeed want his freedom more than he wanted her? That had been the question haunting him in recent weeks, yet even now he was wont to dismiss his growing enthrallment with the lady. “I came back to do my duty to my father and my family by assuming the marquessate, Adriana, and if I find that that also entails marrying you, I shall do so.”

“You needn’t go to such extremes,” she stated, wounded by his callous commitment to the existing contract. “I’m quite willing to accept another if you’re truly averse to the idea of marrying me.”

Colton couldn’t explain away the nettling sense of irritation that came swiftly upon him. “By that, I suppose you mean Lord Harcourt.”

Adriana raised her dainty chin a notch. “As you said, my lord, he is a gentleman. I could do far worse for

myself.”

“Would you prefer him over me?” Colton asked, sharply elevating a brow. His growing annoyance gave him cause to wonder if he would be as dedicated to rejecting their betrothal if it meant losing her to another man. Previously he had only considered his determination to get through the courtship without making concessions to commitments that would likely lead people to think he was merely kowtowing to his father’s decree, yet he hadn’t really considered she wouldn’t be there for him to court on his own after the three-month tenure.

“If you have no regard for me, then ‘twould be in my best interest to marry a man who wants me. . . .”

“Are you saying that Kendrick asked you to marry him?”

“Yes, I believe he said something to that effect.” Adriana tilted her elegantly coiffed head as if trying to recall Riordan’s precise words. “In fact, he urged me to abscond with him this very night.”

Something strangely vexing roiled within Colton. It was an experience he had only had some inkling of once before, but this time he recognized it for what it was. Bluntly he asked, “Have I reason to be jealous?”

Adriana laughed rather skeptically. “Why should you be? I was under the impression that for a man to experience jealousy he must consider himself in danger of losing a cherished love to a rival. ‘Tis apparent you don’t care a whit about me, so why would you be envious?”

“You could be mistaken.” A meager smile was the best he could manage.

Adriana tossed her head with a scoffing laugh. “What is that very old adage, my lord? Seeing is believing?”

The darkly translucent eyes gleamed back at her. “Father said you had backbone. In fact, he said a lot of things about you that I couldn’t believe at the time. When I left home, you seemed like such a wee little mouse, afraid of your shadow, except when you got angry with me for pestering you and Samantha. I think during our courtship I shall enjoy searching for all those assets Father claimed you had.”

Adriana wondered if he was deliberately discounting what she had said or if he was merely dense. The latter seemed highly unlikely. “Don’t you understand that I’m giving you leave to dispense with this whole thing, not only the betrothal, but the courtship as well.”

Colton lifted his chin thoughtfully. Losing her was the last thing he wanted, of that he was confident. “

Lord Harcourt seems to be a man of excellent taste and character. He fought valiantly during the wars and was also in line to make general if he had stayed in, but he chose not to. I would be willing to wager you’re the main reason he came home. Admiring the man as I do, I think ‘twould behoove me to probe the matter of our betrothal in much greater depth. My father thought you were special; obviously Riordan is of the same conviction. Before I can make a fair and prudent judgment for myself, I must come to know everything about you. The only way I’ll be able to accomplish that is by courting you as the contract demands.”

“You’re intentionally dismissing the importance of what I’m trying to tell you,” Adriana accused, thoroughly frustrated.

Capturing her gaze, Colton plumbed the dark depths as he stated with conviction, “I mean to accomplish my part of the agreement, Adriana. If you have no intention of honoring your father’s word, then please tell me now, and I won’t trouble you further.”

Adriana bristled. “That has always been my purpose, my lord. I merely offered to withdraw whatever claims I have on you because I thought you wished to be free of the agreement.”

“Now you know better.”

“I have difficulty discerning your thoughts, my lord. Your actions seemed to suggest the converse.”

“Your actions, my dear Adriana, suggest to me that you are the most contrary young lady I’ve ever met,”

he countered. “I should hope in all truth that is not the case.”

Adriana felt properly put in her place, knowing she
had
been brusque with him almost without exception since his return.

Colton swept his gaze over the top of her head as he considered the sea of dancers moving in time with the music. Perhaps she didn’t realize her deepening effect on him and was actually trying to do the honorable thing by releasing him from his commitment, but as much as his pride might have rallied at his freedom to choose his future bride, the idea of losing his firm grasp upon Adriana Sutton went sorely against his grain. He supposed in that respect he was no different from Roger, except that he had an advantage his father had arranged for him. “I can’t blame Lord Harcourt for wanting to marry you. You could brighten any man’s life.”

Not sure how she should take that particular statement, Adriana peered up at him suspiciously. “Do you have a fever, my lord?”

A soft chuckle escaped Colton’s lips as he glanced down at her. “How many compliments must a man bestow upon you, Adriana, before you recognize them for what they are?”

“Compliment, you say?” she asked in a doubtful tone as she probed the dark gray orbs for what they would reveal. If she had expected him to offer confirmation under closer scrutiny, then in that she was to be disappointed.

“Find anything?” he teased, his eyes glinting with amusement.

“No, I didn’t,” she admitted. “Probably because you’re very adept at hiding the true import of your words behind that wayward grin of yours.”

Laughing softly, he whirled her around the ballroom in ever-widening circles, moving with an easy strength that readily compensated for the slight limp that still lingered. “And you, my dear Adriana, have a very suspicious nature. Have you really no idea how beautiful you have become?”

Even more wary now, she reminded him, “You once called me a scrawny little gamine, remember?”

His darkly shining eyes dipped briefly into her bodice for another glimpse of the womanly fullness scantily adorned by creamy lace. “I can easily attest that that statement is no longer true, Adriana. If you must know, I can barely refrain from ogling you.”

His probing inspection proved puissant in its knee-weakening ability to dismantle her composure. It left her nigh breathless, reminding Adriana of his leisured perusal from the vicinity of the tree weeks earlier. If anything, that singular memory was far more heady in retrospect than any of the other encounters she had had with him, and that rather mystified her, considering how he had perused her in the bathing chamber.

Yet in that cubicle she had not been cognizant of the almost tangible yearning that she had seen in his eyes outside the church. Nor had he, then, seemed as cocksure of himself or his appeal. If anything, his desire for her had seemed vulnerable, as if he were indeed afraid of losing her. “Is that what you were doing outside the chapel after Melora’s wedding?”

Colton accepted her inquiry in stride. “I was simply admiring your assets, my dear. A man would have to be blind not to appreciate everything about you. I might have done so at closer range, but your army of suitors had you well barricaded. When you stormed out of your parents’ drawing room, I came to the conclusion that you didn’t want me anywhere near you until our courtship began. As much as I yearned to whisk you away from all your admirers that day outside the church, I was certain you’d resent it.”