Authors: Ashley March
Willa decided to ignore A lex with the same dedication with which she applied herself to consuming every spoonful of the first course. Not that he tried to make conversation with her, as the discussions of the other guests and the width of table would have made it difficult for them to speak to each other . . . But if he had, she would have given him the cold shoulder. A s it was, he sat across the table and talked to the lady on his right, while she focused on the man to her left, Mr. Lunsford.
Fortunately, once she paid attention to him, Lunsford was a much more charming and amusing dinner companion than he’d been a dancing partner.
A s the soup was taken away and replaced with the second course—a veal in mustard sauce—Willa turned to him and said, “Mr. Lunsford, you seem to be a very nice man.”
“Oh, I am, my dear Miss Stratton. Don’t believe anything Lady A lthea says.” He’d already expressed his dismay during their consumption of the soup that Jo had, without his knowledge, added Thea to his preapproved list of guests for the evening.
“Very nice,” she continued, “which is why I don’t understand how you and Mr.
Laurie get along as you do. Is it only because you are his investor and the promise of fortune binds you together? Or perhaps you have a charitable heart which recognizes someone in need of your friendship? How do you tolerate him so well?”
Lunsford chuckled. “I believe you are the first woman I’ve met who hasn’t fallen directly in love with Laurie, Miss Stratton. A lthough I suppose you did leave my company so you could dance with him at the Winstead masquerade.” Willa ignored the foolish reminder of this latter part and scoffed at the former.
Willa ignored the foolish reminder of this latter part and scoffed at the former.
“First woman not to fall in love with him? Surely not.”
“A h, but ’tis true. You would think that with my superior form and vast charm I would have the advantage—not to mention that I dress much, much better than he does—but while I may attract ladies to my side initially, it is he they clamor for at the end.”
“You’re also the son of an earl, while he is a nobody,” Willa added.
Lunsford waved this away, the light from the candles sparking a reflection off of his fork. “A s to your other question, we are friends now, but I was first only an investor in Joseph Laurie’s company. A lex and I met in Moscow while I was on holiday—”
“You went to Moscow on holiday?” She’d been twice to Moscow, once in the winter and once in the summer, and both times the weather proved to be unbearably dreadful. She couldn’t imagine anyone visiting the city for pleasure.
Lunsford smiled, lowering his gaze as he took a sip of wine. Then he slid her a look from the corner of his eye. “There was a woman.”
“Oh.” Willa glanced across the table at A lex. She didn’t know why she did it; there was no cause to do so at that moment, and yet she did. He was watching her, and when their eyes met, she could no more look away than she could have stopped herself from kissing him in Italy. No, she could well believe Lunsford when he said that all the women became enamored of A lex.
“Yes, there was a woman, and she was in love with me.”
Willa dragged her gaze back to Lunsford. “How could she not love you?” He tipped his head toward her. “Thank you, Miss Stratton. That is a very good question. A nd yet we went to a dinner party one evening, she met Laurie, and though I managed to steal her back for one dance that night, I could tell that she was lost to me.”
“Did you love her?”
One of Lunford’s brows winged high. “Love her? No. Why do some women believe it is necessary for a man to love in order to want?” He sighed heavily, casting a glance up the table toward Thea, then returned his attention to Willa.
“To shorten the story, Laurie made a bargain with me. He told me that if I would listen to him speak about his dyes and why I should invest in his company, he would return the woman to my arms.”
Willa’s fork clattered to the table—but not before it rang against the plate first and sent the eyes of those half the table away glancing in her direction. She calmly picked the fork up again. “You bartered her?”
“A h. I see you are dismayed, Miss Stratton. Perhaps if I told you how desperately I desired her it would help you feel better?”
“Not very.”
“Surely there is something in your life that you’ve wanted beyond all reason.” A gain, with no necessity for doing so, Willa glanced across the table at A lex—
this time discreetly, at least, using the pretense of lifting her wineglass in order to covertly observe him. His head was tilted toward the lady at his side, and he was covertly observe him. His head was tilted toward the lady at his side, and he was making her laugh.
She returned her attention to Lunsford without saying anything.
Lunsford cut a piece of veal and popped it into his mouth, moaning with delight as he chewed. The sound caught the attention of the lady on his opposite side.
“A pologies,” Lunsford said, then: “That veal is delicious!” Turning back to her, he motioned to her plate. “Have you tried the veal?”
“I have, thank you.”
“I’d heard Laurie was able to steal the Fenwicks’ chef, but until now I didn’t believe it was true.” He then cut another piece and said, “I think you should marry Laurie.”
Willa stared. “I beg your pardon?”
He inclined his head. “Of course, if you must marry at all, then I understand your first choice would be to marry a title, but I must tell you that even though I’m the son of an earl, I’m only the second son. No need to woo me.”
“I have no desire to marry you, Mr. Lunsford.” She grinned at his expression of feigned injury. “A lthough if you were the heir, I might change my mind.”
“A h, but he’s to announce his betrothal soon to Lady A lthea, so that will do you no good.”
Surely she’d misheard. “Lady A lthea?”
“Unfortunately for my brother, yes. A lthough I must say, I did try to warn him.” Lunsford continued cutting into his veal, as if the subject bored him. “However,” he continued a moment later, “I would like to bring your attention to the fact that you are currently in England hoping to make a match among the aristocracy, and my dear fellow Laurie purchased a house in Belgrave Square with an accompanying carriage that—” He shuddered. “Regardless, let us say that he has made great sacrifices with the hope of also marrying into the aristocracy. I assume your hope for marriage is the same as his: to expand his family’s . . .” His voice trailed away as he looked across the table.
She didn’t correct him about her reasons for being in England. She didn’t say anything. Instead, Willa followed his gaze and found A lex giving Lunsford a questioning look. A s he noticed Willa’s stare, he shifted his focus to her, then looked away.
Lunsford sighed. “A s I was saying, Miss Stratton, have you considered merging the two companies through marriage? You would be stronger together than apart, every investor helping the two of you instead of only one.” Willa lifted a brow. “A nd as a result investors would probably receive more, too.”
He smiled. “This is true.” Leaning forward, he turned his head and peered up the table. “Yes, there. Sitting three seats away from Lady A lthea. Do you see the man with the black hair?”
Willa leaned forward and peered, too. The man sat straight and tall, his black hair thick, his shoulders broad. When he smiled, his teeth formed an even white row. He seemed to suck in the air of those around him, as if his mere presence row. He seemed to suck in the air of those around him, as if his mere presence commanded their attention and their every breath. Odd that she hadn’t noticed him when she’d strolled through the drawing room beside A lex earlier.
“Yes, I see him,” she said.
“That man is the Earl of Uxbridge, the heir to the Marquess of Byrne. He is the only unmarried lord here at the dinner party tonight. You could marry him and lead a life of dull monotony, plagued by people constantly deferring to your elevated status, with your children one day ruling over Society during their generation.”
A t the mention of the name Uxbridge, Willa’s attention held. A pparently Lady Marianna wasn’t the only reason A lex hadn’t wanted her to come to the dinner party. She knew Uxbridge was Woolstone’s brother, but she’d had no idea what he looked like before. If she were honest, she’d imagined him . . . differently.
Middle-aged, paunchy perhaps, with crooked yellowing teeth. But Woolstone’s brother was neither older nor ugly. He was actually quite . . . mesmerizing.
She found it suddenly advantageous to pose as the rich A merican heiress seeking to marry an English title. Turning back to Lunsford, she smiled as he continued.
“Or you could marry my friend the untitled but very debonair Mr. Laurie over there”—the tines of his fork arced through the air—“and live a life of excitement as you discuss potential investors together. A nd enjoy your mutual obsession with dyes. A nd . . .” He paused.
Willa shook her head. “You seem to have stalled in listing the reasons why we should marry, Mr. Lunsford. A nd after only two. This isn’t very encouraging, I’m afraid.”
He frowned. “No, it isn’t. Not at all.” He tilted his head, considering her. “But, of course, there remains the only reason why I mentioned it in the first place.” She fought against the urge to look down the table at Uxbridge, to catch his eye and begin the flirtation at once. “A nd what is that?” she asked.
A grin spread wide across his face. “Such a merger would make me very, very rich. Wealthier even than Lady A lthea’s family. She wouldn’t be able to stand it.”
* * *
half an hour seemed far too long, in A lex’s opinion—he stood from the table and gestured toward the dining room doorway. “Shall we rejoin the ladies in the drawing room, gentlemen?”
A s they walked back, Lord Dutton attached himself to A lex’s side. “My wife has ordered me to leave Miss Stratton alone, Mr. Laurie, but I’m interested in hearing more about this dye business.”
A lex tensed. “Would you like to hear of the Stratton dye business or the Laurie dye business, my lord?”
The older man’s gaze was shrewd. “I imagine I’d like to hear more about the The older man’s gaze was shrewd. “I imagine I’d like to hear more about the Laurie dye business. Specifically, I’d like to hear about why, if I decided to invest in such a business, I should invest in your company and not in Stratton’s.”
“That is a very good question, my lord.”
A s they entered the drawing room, A lex searched until he spotted Willa sitting near one of the windows, speaking to Jo, Lady A lthea, and his mother. His mother was smiling—no, laughing—as Willa spoke, her hands shaping a box in the air.
A lex frowned, even though she had settled herself far away from Lady Marianna.
He would far have preferred seeing her becoming good chums with Woolstone’s sister.
Willa had no need to charm his family. A nd he didn’t want them to like her. Of all the people, surely his mother understood why Willa Stratton could be nothing more than their enemy. A t least Kat appeared to have gone off somewhere else, making friends with the other ladies as she was supposed to do. But he needed to separate Willa from Jo and his mother—
“A nd do you plan to expand to A merica, Mr. Laurie?”
A lex swung his head toward Lord Dutton. Damn it. He’d forgotten he was still there. This was more important than she was. Lord Dutton was an earl with much influence among the other gentlemen of the ton. A nd he even had a daughter . . .
“Indeed I do, my lord. Stratton might be the largest dye maker in A merica right now, but there’s a new competitor he’s dealing with. While they’re dueling it out, I have plans to slip in and make Laurie and Sons the best-known and favorite dye maker among all A mericans.”
“Plans, you say?”
A lex glanced toward the window. “Yes, but I’m afraid I can’t explain everything yet. A s a shareholder, of course, you would be the first to hear of the news and the first to see any new invention.”
Dutton was silent for a moment as he regarded him. “I’m interested in hearing more, Laurie. Will you be at the Massey ball?”
“I will, my lord.”
“Then I look forward to seeing you there. A nd we shall talk some more.” He clapped A lex on the shoulder. A lex bowed as Dutton turned and walked away.
Well. That couldn’t possibly have gone any better even if Willa had somehow shipped herself back to A merica. A lex straightened and squared his shoulders with a smile. Only a week into the Season, too. He’d made the right choice.
Moving into Holcombe House, taking Lunsford’s offer to help him become part of the ton circles. The rest of his family would soon see he was right.
A t the window, it appeared his mother and Jo had moved on. Only Willa and Lady A lthea remained to speak, and A lex had no qualms about leaving his nemesis with Lady A lthea. He had two people he needed to speak with tonight.
He’d failed in getting beyond formal parlor chatter when he visited Lady Marianna before, but he had every hope that either Woolstone’s sister or brother would be able to point him in the right direction.
able to point him in the right direction.
He had to find the Madonna dye before Willa did. Before it had been a simple matter of making the ton envious and arousing aristocratic investors’ interest in Laurie & Sons. The possibility of increasing their wealth was nothing to be scoffed at, either. But now everything had changed; the Madonna dye meant more. Now it was a matter of pride.
A lex turned and let his gaze roam over the other guests in the drawing room.
He found Lady Miranda, Lord Dutton’s daughter, and cringed. She looked even younger than Kat’s nineteen years. Fresh-faced debutante, indeed. He watched as she simpered and giggled, but it didn’t take long for his attention to drift away. He would dance with her at the Massey ball, but at the moment he was not intent on the subject of his future bride.
Soon he located Lady Marianna, Woolstone’s sister, as she stood among a group of other guests nearby.
Lunsford had all but salivated at the sight of her during the masquerade. With her mask off, she appeared even more beautiful. Glossy black curls were piled on top of her head and hung in tendrils at her neck and ears. Her eyes—doe-shaped and pale blue—watched everyone around her carefully. Observing. Considering.