Read In Want of a Wife? for Free Online

emerged a little unsteady and she cleared her throat. ‘People are going to start wondering why we’re closeted here on our own.’
    ‘We’re in full view of one and all. I doubt even the most imaginative could jump to any wrong conclusions.’
    Which had the effect of immediately making her think of exactly what ‘wrong conclusions’ anyone might have in mind: which wasn’t a comfortable thought.
    ‘I can see Rose looking for me,’ she mumbled, which wasn’t a complete lie. ‘And besides …’ She sidled to one side and was relieved when he stood back, clearing a space for her, obviously as glad to see the back of her as she was to see the back of him.
    ‘Besides … what?’ His keen eyes took in the heightened colour in her cheeks and the stray strands of her chestnut-brownhair that were already disobeying orders and tangling about her face; she impatiently tucked them behind her ears.
    ‘Besides.’ Lizzy shot him a look from under her lashes. ‘Nicholas’s sister is beginning to get a little impatient. She’s been glowering in this direction for the past fifteen minutes. I think she’s waiting for you to wind up this conversation so that you can go and pay her some attention.’ The leggy blonde had not moved from where she had been standing an hour before. Maybe she was just too deadly bored to move.
    Louis frowned and glanced around him.
    ‘I think,’ she continued tartly, ‘she looks a little jealous that you’ve been cooped up here with me. Are you and she an item?’ Lizzy looked at Louis with an innocent, wide-eyed expression and wondered if she dared risk asking him how he liked the limelight being pointed in
his
direction. Judging from the shadow of intense discomfort that crossed his face, not a lot.
    ‘You can’t tell me that it’s none of my business,’ she tacked on swiftly before he could reply. ‘You’ve spent all evening nosing into
my
private life, and it’s only fair that I get the chance to do the same. So … are the two of you involved? Is that why she’s here—to keep an eye on you?’
    This was definitely well into the arena of overstepped boundaries. Louis didn’t encourage any sort of intrusion into his private life by anyone, but where was his automatic response to slam shut the door in her face? ‘If you’re asking me whether I’m currently involved with someone, then the answer is no, although I’m at a loss to understand why you’d be interested in the first place.’
    ‘I wasn’t asking you if you were going out with someone! I was just pointing out that—’
    ‘I had no idea that Jessica would be here. Or her sister Eloise, for that matter.’
    ‘Well, they obviously share your low opinion of all of us.’ Lizzy had now backed away to a safe distance and shefelt some of her courage and fighting spirit being restored. ‘Because they couldn’t even be bothered to dress appropriately.’ Her face was expressive of distaste.
    Louis didn’t say anything. The presence of Jessica at Crossfeld House was unfortunate. Over the past two years, she had been increasingly overt in her flirtations with him, despite his resounding lack of encouragement. And now he was forced to admit to a certain level of disgust at their blatant scorn for their surroundings. Louis didn’t consider himself a snob. He was rich, he was careful and he was wary of gold-diggers. But Jessica and Eloise belonged to that category of spoiled rich kids who thought it was acceptable to sneer at people they considered lower down the pecking order. He had no time for them and even Nicholas, loyal brother that he was, privately despaired of their airs and graces.
    ‘I quite agree,’ he found himself saying, and she looked at him in surprise. ‘It’s rude, it’s contemptuous and it’s inexcusable.’
    ‘You agree with me?’
    ‘Why the shock? I’m a big guy. Maybe the box you’re trying to cram me into is the wrong shape?’
    ‘I don’t think so!’ Lizzy said tartly. She belatedly