Bridal Favors - Engaged in Wickedness Read Online Free

Murray. And he, of course, had really been waiting for Debra.
    Or so she thought until he extended his hand to her and asked her a question. She thought he intended to ask her to dance. That was the usual way of things. But no, his words were something altogether more thrilling.
    "Lady Gwen, would you care to walk about the ballroom with me?" he asked.
    And without even thinking twice about it, she said, "Oh yes, that would be lovely. Have you seen the gardens? They are breathtaking at this time of night."

 
     
     
    Chapter 3

     
    Edward took her arm and tried to contain his glee. Finally, the woman he had tried to approach for weeks now was smiling at him as if she had just been given a great prize. She wanted to be on his arm. She wanted to take a stroll about the ballroom with him. And perhaps she wanted a great deal more.
    As did he.
    Could she have fallen into his trap so easily? He experienced an equal measure of disappointment and terror. Disappointment because he had hoped that Lady Gwendolyn would be as interesting and clever as she appeared. Terror, of course, because she probably was and he would be a fool to underestimate her.
    "Oh dear," she said with a dramatic sigh. "Have I got a spot on my face? Is my hair askew?"
    He frowned, startled by her bizarre questions. "I beg your pardon?"
    "You are staring. Perhaps it is because I am not as pretty as you hoped."
    "You are well aware of your beauty, Lady Gwendolyn, and I think you are fishing for a compliment."
    "Goodness, only my grandmother ever called me Gwendolyn. And only when she was very cross. You must call me Lady Gwen."
    "Merely Lady Gwen?" he teased. "Not the beauteous Gwen, the radiant Gwen, the magnificent mirage of the miraculous Gwen?" Those had all been used by her beaus this very evening.
    "That last one is my favorite," she said with a giggle. "I'm not sure that Mr. Graham knows the true meaning of mirage."
    "Yes," he drawled. "I heard you tease him about that and he did seem rather confused."
    She paused and frowned up at him. "You heard that?"
    "Of course I did. I was standing directly behind Mr. Graham."
    She gasped in a delightful way, her sweet mouth shaping into a perfect O of horror. Then she frowned. "You were not. I would have noticed you if you were."
    "I assure you I was, and you did not."
    She flushed, her eyebrows drawing together as she searched her memory. It was a measure of how distracted he was that he thought the hair of her eyebrows were sexy.
    "That cannot be right..." she said, more to herself than to him. She seemed so genuinely distressed that he patted her hand.
    "Do not fret. I assure you, I am well used to being forgotten."
    "Now you are bamming me for sure," she said. She lifted her chin and they once again began their steady walk about the ballroom. "I cannot imagine not remembering you."
    "I am very pleased by that," he said. He spoke simply and from the heart as was his nature. But she apparently found it very odd, twisting her head enough to look at his face. That necessitated him stooping down so she could see him. Though what she thought would find was beyond him. "Do I have a spot on my nose?" he asked.
    Her cheeks flushed a light brighter, and she hastily looked away. "No, no of course not. I know so little about you. Tell me of your family, where you come from, how do you come to be in London."
    He smiled, pleased anew by her interest and that his plan was progressing so very well. "I am not that very interesting," he said, toying with the idea of spicing up his history just to make it more interesting to her. But he tended to forget lies—or even slightly altered truths—and was always found out. So he spoke the truth and prayed that it was enough. "I'm a country baronet who has come to London in search of wife. I have one sister, a mother, and an aunt, all of whom are with me."
    "And your father?"
    "Passed of a fever after being kicked in the belly by his favorite goat."
    She snorted, then pressed a hand to