“Oh, really?” And he almost laughed. She thought she knew him so well, but she knew nothing. She’d never know the full truth.
“You had standards four years ago,” she continued. “You never seduced anyone who would be irreparably hurt by your actions.”
“And what makes you think I’m about to start now?”
“Oh, I don’t think you’d do anything like that on purpose,” she said, “but before, you never even associated with young women looking for marriage. There wasn’t even the possibility that you might make a misstep and accidentally ruin one of them.”
The vague, prickling sense of irritation that had been simmering within him began to grow and boil. “Who do you think I am, Francesca?” he asked, his entire body stiff with something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He hated that she thought this of him, hated it.
“Michael—”
“Do you really think me so dim that I might accidentally ruin a young lady’s reputation?”
Her lips parted, then quivered slightly before she replied. “Not dim, Michael, of course not. But—”
“Careless, then,” he bit off.
“No, not that, either. I just think—”
“What, Francesca?” he asked ruthlessly. “What do you think of me?”
“I think you are one of the finest men I know,” she said softly.
Damn. Trust her to unman him with a single sentence. He stared at her, just stared at her, trying to figure out what the hell she’d meant by that.
“I do,” she said with a shrug. “But I also think you’re foolish, and I think you can be fickle, and I think you’re going to break more hearts this spring than I’ll be able to count.”
“It isn’t your job to count them,” he said, his voice quiet and hard.
“No, it isn’t, is it?” She looked over at him and smiled wryly. “But I’m going to end up doing it all the same, won’t I?”
“And why is that?”
She didn’t seem to have an answer to that, and then, just when he was sure she would say no more, she whispered, “Because I won’t be able to stop myself.”
Several seconds passed. They just stood there, their backs to the wall, looking for all the world as if they were just watching the party. Finally, Francesca broke the silence and said, “You should dance.”
He turned to her. “With you?”
“Yes. Once, at least. But you should also dance with someone eligible, someone you might marry.”
Someone he might marry. Anyone but her.
“It will signal to society that you are at least open to the possibility of matrimony,” Francesca added. When he made no comment, she asked, “Aren’t you?”
“Open to matrimony?”
“Yes.”
“If you say so,” he said, somewhat flippantly. He had to be cavalier. It was the only way he could mask the bitterness sweeping over him.
“Felicity Featherington,” Francesca said, motioning toward a very pretty young lady about ten yards away. “She’d be an excellent choice. Very sensible. She won’t fall in love with you.”
He looked down at her sardonically. “Heaven forbid I find love.”
Francesca’s lips parted and her eyes grew very wide. “Is that what you want?” she asked. “To find love?”
She looked delighted by the prospect. Delighted that he might find the perfect woman.
And there it was. His faith in a higher power reafirmed. Truly, moments of this ironic perfection could not come about by accident.
“Michael?” Francesca asked. Her eyes were bright and shining, and she clearly wanted something for him, something wonderful and good.
And all he wanted was to scream.
“I have no idea,” he said caustically. “Not a single, bloody clue.”
“Michael…” She looked stricken, but for once, he didn’t care.
“If you will excuse me,” he said sharply, “I believe I have a Featherington to dance with.”
“Michael, what is wrong?” she asked. “What did I say?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing at all.”
“Don’t be this way.”
As he turned to her, he felt something wash over him, a numbness that somehow slid a mask back over his face, enabled him to smile smoothly and regard her with his legendary heavy-lidded stare. He was once again the rake, maybe not so merry, but every bit the urbane seducer.
“What way?” he asked, his lips twisting with the perfect mix of innocence and condescension. “I’m doing exactly what you asked of me. Dance with a Featherington, didn’t you say? I’m following your instructions to the letter.”
“You’re angry with me,” she whispered.
“Of course not,” he said, but they both knew his voice was too easy, too suave. “I’ve merely accepted that you, Francesca, know best. Here I’ve been listening to my own mind and conscience all this time, but to what avail? Heaven knows where I’d be if I’d listened to you years ago.”
Her breath gasped across her lips and she drew back. “I need to go,” she said.
“Go, then,” he said.
Her chin lifted a notch. “There are many men here.”
“Very many.”
“I need to find a husband.”
“You should,” he agreed.
Her lips pressed together and then she added, “I might find one tonight.”
He almost gave her a mocking smile. She always had to have the last word. “You might,” he said, at the very second he knew she thought the conversation had concluded.
By then she was just far enough away that she couldn’t yell back one last retort. But he saw the way she paused and tensed her shoulders, and he knew she’d heard him.
He leaned back against the wall and smiled. One had to take one’s simple pleasures where one could.
The next day Francesca felt perfectly horrid. And worse, she couldn’t quell an extremely annoying quiver of guilt, even though Michael was the one who’d spoken so insultingly the night before.
Truly, what had she said to provoke such an unkind reaction on his part? And what right did he have to act so badly toward her? All she had done was express a bit of joy that he might want to find a true and loving marriage rather than spend his days in shallow debauchery.
But apparently she’d been wrong. Michael had spent the entire night—both before and after their conversation—charming every woman at the party. It had gotten to the point where she had thought she might be ill.
But the worst of it was, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from counting his conquests, just as she’d predicted the night before. One, two, three, she’d murmured, watching him enchant a trio of sisters with his smile. Four, five, six—there went two widows and a countess. It was disgusting, and Francesca was disgusted with herself for having been so mesmerized.
And then every now and then, he’d look at her. Just look at her with a heavy-lidded, mocking stare, and she couldn’t help but think that he knew what she was doing, that he was moving from woman to woman just so that she could round her count up to the next dozen or so.