The Major Meets His Match. ANNIE BURROWS

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       Chapter Four

      ‘Lady Harriet,’ he said, raising one eyebrow.

      ‘Lord Becconsall,’ she replied tartly.

      He grinned. Because addressing him by his title had not managed to convey the same degree of censure at all. But then, as she very well knew, lords could get away with staggering around the park, drunk. Or riding horses bareback for wagers.

      Whereas ladies could not.

      Not that she’d been doing either, but still.

      ‘I suppose you expect me to feel flattered by your invitation to dance,’ she said, ‘when you are notorious for not doing so.’

      ‘Flattered?’ He raised one eyebrow. And then the corner of his mouth, as though he was biting back a laugh. ‘No, I didn’t expect that.’

      ‘Do you want me to ask what you did expect?’

      ‘Well, if we are about to delve into my motives for asking you, then perhaps I should warn you that you might not like mine.’

      ‘I’m quite sure I won’t.’

      ‘But would you like me to be completely honest?’

      ‘Yes, why not,’ she said with a defiant toss of her head. ‘It will be a...a refreshing change.’ At least, in comparison with all the other encounters she’d had in Town, where people only talked about trivialities, in what sounded, to her countrified ears, like a series of stock, accepted phrases they’d learned by rote.

      ‘Well then, if you must know, I felt so sorry for you that I felt compelled to swoop in to your rescue.’

      ‘My rescue?’ That was the very last motive she would have attributed to him.

      ‘Yes.’ He looked at her with a perfectly straight face. ‘You looked so miserable, sitting there all hunched up as though you were trying to shrink away from the silly clothes and hairstyle you are affecting tonight. And I recalled the impulsive way you dropped to your knees beside my prone body, to give what succour you could. And I thought that one good turn deserved another.’

      Harriet sucked in a short, shocked breath. Though it was more in keeping with what she knew of him so far to fling insults at her, under cover of escorting her to the dance floor, than to swoop in to her rescue.

      He would definitely never say anything so...rude to any other lady to whom he’d just been introduced. It just wasn’t done. Even she knew that.

      But then, since he held her reputation in the palm of his hand, he clearly felt he could get away with saying anything he liked.

      ‘Well, if we are being honest with one another,’ she said, since what was sauce for the goose was sauce for the gander, ‘I have to say I agree with you.’ There, that should take the wind from his sails.

      ‘Surely not. Or—’ A frown flitted across his face. ‘Is your duenna compelling you to wear gowns of her choosing?’

      ‘I wish I could say you were correct. But this display of poor taste is entirely my own doing,’ she said.

      ‘You are deliberately making yourself look ridiculous?’

      Far from looking shocked, or disapproving, Lord Becconsall only appeared intrigued.

      But the necessity of taking her place in line, and dipping a curtsy as the first strains of music blared, prevented either of them from saying anything further. Which made her grind her teeth. Because of course she had not been deliberately trying to make herself look ridiculous. She’d just never had the chance to spend whatever she wanted on clothes, that was all. And it was only with hindsight that she’d seen that modelling her wardrobe so slavishly on Kitty’s, who had always looked so fashionable and pretty whenever she’d come to visit, had been a mistake.

      But from now on, she was going to ask the modiste, and her aunt—and, yes, even Kitty—if the styles and fabrics she was choosing actually suited her.

      For some time the intricacies of the dance meant that he could only take jabs at her during the few seconds during which they passed or circled each other. Jabs which she could deflect by looking blank, then twirling away as though she hadn’t heard them.

      ‘You are supposed to smile at your partner, just occasionally, you know,’ he informed her at one point.

      ‘I might do so were I dancing СКАЧАТЬ