Read Our Wicked Mistake for Free Online

lightly, and that in itself was part of the problem. “I am aware of that. What is he now, six?”
    “Trevor is seven,” she supplied, looking more con fused than ever. “Luke—”
    He couldn’t possibly do this, hurting her even though it wasn’t his intention. It might be ill advised, but he bit out, “You are beautiful, generous, desirable. I desire you still.” The carriage was slowing, and he was relieved the conversation he’d avoided so diligently for the past year was nearly over. “But we don’t suit for one important reason, my dear Madge, and it is an insurmountable one.”
    “Enlighten me.”
    They rolled to a halt and he lost no time opening the door, alighting and offering his hand to help her out.
    Madeline refused to take it, sitting stubbornly in the froth of her yellow skirts, her mouth set. “You have come this far, Altea. Enlighten me as to this insurmount able reason.”
    God help him. She was so very beautiful.
    “Can you promise me you won’t die?”
    Her eyes widened and her lips parted.
    Gently he said, “No, of course you can’t. Now, then, I hope you have a pleasant visit with your sister in law, and don’t worry further about the little matter with Fitch. It is well in hand.”

Chapter Four

     
     
     
    T he symphony of whispers rose and fell and rose again with the arrival of each guest, and particularly, Eliza beth Daudet noted, when her brother was announced. Something had happened she wasn’t aware of, and whatever it might be, it certainly had tongues wagging. Asking her mother was out of the question. If it involved a female, Elizabeth was supposed to pretend she didn’t know gentlemen like Luke entertained themselves that way.
    Luckily, she knew precisely how to find out what was going on.
    Elegant in dark evening wear, Luke strolled to the edge of the crowd, his height giving him the advantage as he scanned the milling throng. He smiled in acknowledgment when he spotted her sipping champagne and standing with a small group of her friends, and then a beautiful woman with red-gold hair and a daring décolletage swooped in and coquettishly took his arm, and his attention was diverted.
    The notorious Lord Altea was Elizabeth’s guardian, and she was not unaware it amused the ton to no end to see him diligently monitoring her social life. She found it a bit funny herself, but doubted Luke enjoyed the role of chaperone imposed on him. It wasn’t at all that he neglected to fulfill his role as viscount and, subsequently, head of the family, but since his return from Spain he was . . . distant.
    He didn’t talk about it, but something had happened to change him. Maybe it was just the war itself; it was beyond her realm of experience and she couldn’t begin to understand, but it was there .
    There didn’t seem to be a better way to describe it, though how was a man supposed to act after spending half a decade away from his home and enduring blood shed and danger and whatever else returning soldiers refused to mention in polite company?
    It could hardly be Lady Hart’s blatant interest in Luke causing the current furor, Elizabeth knew, for the lady in question had been in full, unabashed pursuit for weeks now. There was no scandal in someone flirting with her handsome older brother. Women did it quite frequently.
    “Excuse me.” Her smile was perfunctory, for the small group of young ladies around her were more ac quaintances than close confidants. “I promised his lord ship a dance.”
    Suitably vague. The reference could apply to most any male in the ballroom, for there were plenty of titled gentlemen in attendance. Elizabeth handed her glass to a passing footman with a tray and scanned the crowd as she circled the swirling dancers. There. She caught a glimpse of a familiar profile, her quarry’s partner a young woman she recognized as the daughter of one of Parliament’s more influential lords, which could possi bly be why Miles was now swirling her across the