Regency: Rakes & Reputations: A Rake by Midnight / The Rake's Final Conquest

He smiled as a few of the young men bowed and wandered away, unsure which of his varied reputations was responsible. “Why, to your charming company, ladies. What else could lure a gentleman out on a cold night?”

“Then we shall require you to warm yourself by dancing with all of us,” Hortense teased. “There is a scandalous lack of eligible men here tonight.”

“Then you first, Miss…Hortense?”

She took his offered hand. “How very clever of you, Mr. Hunter. Most people cannot tell us apart.”

“I am observant, m’dear. Under ordinary circumstances, I cannot tell you apart, but I know, for instance, that you have a charming little quirk of raising your right eyebrow. When Miss Harriett attempts it, her left eyebrow raises.”

“The mirror effect,” she said with a little laugh. “Drat! We have been found out, Harri.”

He led her to the dance floor where a lively reel was in progress. Both Misses Thayer were excellent partners, quick, supple and skilled. The pace kept them apart quite a bit and spared him the necessity of making mundane conversation. When he returned her to her friends, he claimed Miss Harriett for a stately march.

“I conceive you have an interest in our Miss O’Rourke, do you not?” she asked when they met for a bow.

“I own it. She is family now, you know.”

“I mean beyond that, Mr. Hunter. You do not look at her as a brother would.”

Denial was useless, but perhaps he could manage her suspicions of his reasons. “Your perception astounds me, Miss Harriett. Will you expose me?”

“Tout au contraire!” She gave him a saucy wink. “I shall do all I can to encourage her. Not for your sake, Mr. Hunter, but for the good of all womankind.”

“How would such a suit serve the good of all womankind?”

“Cupid’s arrow has already brought your brothers Lockwood and Andrew down. Should you follow, I vow that women of the ton would be vastly encouraged. Yes, women everywhere would take heart that any man can be caught.”

He laughed at her outrageous analysis of the situation, though he realized there was a grain of truth in it. He and his brothers had all been single far too long, and he was apt to remain so for a good deal longer than Miss Harriett suspected.

When he returned Miss Harriett to her companions, there was another young lady he had not met. Miss Hortense performed the introduction to Miss Christina Race. She was a darkly ethereal woman, as quiet and composed as the deep green gown she wore. When he bowed over her hand, she returned his smile.

He watched Miss Eugenia from the corner of his eye, noting that she looked anxious. Was she concerned that he would not mind his manners? No. She knew him well enough by now to know he would not embarrass Miss Race.

He led her onto the dance floor for a quadrille and attempted polite conversation as they met, parted and met again. “I believe we have been previously introduced, Miss Race?”

“I do not think so, Mr. Hunter. I am certain I would have remembered.”

“Then how is your face familiar?”

“‘Twould not be so odd, sir, as we frequent the same events. Perhaps you have seen me across a room? Perhaps at the punch bowl? Or perhaps we have passed in the street?”

He conceded the point, though he still suspected they knew each other in some manner or another. “How have you fallen into such bad company as the Thayers and Miss O’Rourke?”

She laughed softly and he was enchanted by the sound. “I have known Hortense and Harriett for quite some time. Our families are connected. I have only just met Miss O’Rourke.”

“Tell me what you think of her.”

He sensed a slight stiffening in her frame as he passed her beneath his arm. “She is quite agreeable. In fact, she has requested that I join their group tonight. I think we shall get along famously.”

Miss Eugenia requested? An innocent enough way to meet and become acquainted with new people, though he could not help but think she was up to something. Miss Eugenia was not random in her actions.

The dance ended and Jamie’s anger rose when he returned Miss Race only to find that Miss Eugenia had disappeared. She’d known she was next and had tried to subvert him. How little she knew of his determination! It would take more than she was capable of to keep him from his purpose.

“Miss O’Rourke offers her apologies, but she was…ah, fatigued and has gone to the ladies’ retiring room,” Miss Harriett explained.

Harriett Thayer was not a good liar. He smiled, offered a bow, and excused himself to take up station at the corridor leading to the ladies’ retiring room.

Before long, and thinking she was now safe, Miss Eugenia rounded the corner on her way back to her friends. He fell into step beside her and took her arm, guiding her back toward the ballroom. “Ah, my patience has rewarded me. How could I possibly leave without our dance?”

Gina covered her astonishment as best she could. She’d been so sure she’d evaded him. He was more patient than she had thought. “I confess to a certain curiosity, Mr. Hunter. Have you always been quite this…social? Or is this a new habit?”

He laughed. “You have me there, although I do tend to be more social than my brothers. And, when there is something to interest me, I am positively unshakable.”

“Hmm. So then am I to gather that you are testing the boundaries of our truce? Or are you sweet on someone here?”

“Both, if I am to be honest. And, since it is my fate to dote upon someone who hates me, if you refuse me I shall be quite inconsolable.”

He led her into the strains of a waltz and Gina sighed. She was glad he had saved their dance for last. Oh, she had dreaded it, and had even tried to avoid it, but now that the inevitable had happened, she found her excitement rising. James Hunter always made her feel as if she were about to embark on an exciting adventure.

“So thoughtful, Miss O’Rourke? Or are you anxious to return to your friends?”

“They are quite diverting,” she allowed, but she was more concerned with keeping him away from Miss Race. If he made the connection between the girl and the Brotherhood, he would instantly know what she was doing. And yet, she could not help but ask, “Had you not met Miss Race before?”

A brief look of uncertainty passed over his features. “I had not had that pleasure. I must say she is quite lovely. I find it difficult to believe I managed to miss her before.”

“Connoisseur of lovely women that you are?”

He laughed and swung her in a wide circle. “Are you calling me conceited, Miss O’Rourke?”

“Heaven forbid! Fickle, perhaps …”

“For what it is worth, I rank you among the loveliest to grace the ton, Miss O’Rourke. And by my reckoning, you are generating a good deal of interest.”

The hair raised on the back of Gina’s neck. She had felt the stares, but she suspected they were for a different reason, and likely from men who had seen her naked on a stone altar. And interest was not what she wanted to generate. She’d rather blend into the background—the better to overhear snippets of conversation that could be of help to her.

“There is that look again,” Mr. Hunter said. “The one that tells me I’ve said something wrong.”

“Not wrong, Mr. Hunter. It is just that…well, I do not want to generate interest.”

“Then why have you come out in society?”

“I…I thought I should experience London before returning to Ireland.”

His eyes narrowed and he drew her off the dance floor. “That is a bare-faced lie, Miss O’Rourke. It was a lie the first time you told it, and it is now. I would hazard you have experienced more than enough of London.”

She gasped at his sudden fierceness. “The wrong London. I wanted to take a happier memory home with me.”

He took her hand and led her into the famed Albermarle gardens among dozens of strolling couples. Still, it was more private than the ballroom. He found them a bench surrounded by sculpted evergreens and gestured for her to sit. As much as she would have liked to return to the ballroom, she followed his direction.