Free How to Seduce a Scoundrel by Vicky Dreiling

described
you
last evening,” he said.
    “Now, now,” Hester said. “She was only a tad tipsy.”
    “She was three sheets to the wind,” he muttered.
    “If you had not acted like an ill-mannered ogre last night, none of this would have happened,” Julianne said. He’d all but made a public declaration when he’d gazedinto her eyes after their waltz. Then he’d denied any tender feelings for her. He was a heartless cad.
    “You blame
me
for your indiscretion?” he said, his voice rising.
    The dogs growled.
    “You are agitating Caro and Byron,” Julianne said.
    The dogs growled louder.
    “Hush,” Hester cried.
    The dogs started yapping. Hawk ordered them to cease. They kept barking, making Julianne’s temples throb.
    “I will see to them.” Hester pushed to her feet. Despite her cajoling, the canines refused to obey. Then she grabbed two biscuits off the tea tray, walked to the door, and called out, “Treat, treat.”
    The spaniels raced out of the drawing room.
    After Hester followed the dogs out and shut the door, Hawk took three long strides until he stood at Julianne’s feet. “Now you will explain, and don’t lie. I’ll know.”
    His words last night pierced her heart anew.
Lady Julianne is practically a sister to me
. He knew that he’d misled her and everyone else at that ball.
    “Answer me,” he said.
    She rose from the sofa, refusing to let him loom over her—not that it did much good since he was a head taller. “You presume I planned to escape the ballroom for mischievous purposes.”
    “It is fact, not presumption,” he said.
    “I left the ballroom because you made a scene when Ramsey asked me to dance.” Her hand had shaken uncontrollably. If her friends had not intervened, she might have shed tears and disgraced herself.
    “I thought you would have the grace to take responsibility for your poor judgment,” he said.
    “You embarrassed me in front of my friends.”
In front of the entire ton.
Misery engulfed her. Everyone had heard his words. Others standing nearby had smirked. And he was so blind he didn’t even realize what he’d done to her.
    He scoffed. “Ah, I see. You were so disappointed that you ran off to drown your sorrows.”
    She ought to be relieved he’d not guessed the real reason she’d left the ballroom, but his callousness made the pain far worse. “I needed something to soothe my nerves.”
    “That, my dear, is one of the sorriest excuses I’ve ever heard.”
    She glared at him, tempted to ask him what his excuse was for misleading her and everyone else at the ball. But if she voiced the words, he would know she’d tumbled head over heels for him. She would never give him that satisfaction. “You made a spectacle of yourself. Ramsey is my friend’s brother, and you insulted him. You had no right to refuse on my behalf.” In truth, she would have claimed weariness to avoid dancing with Ramsey, but she’d no intention of admitting
that
to Hawk.
    “I had every right,” he said in a low, dangerous tone. “You will stay away from him.”
    She didn’t give two straws about Ramsey, but she would not let Hawk give her orders. “I will not treat my friend’s brother as if he were a pariah. If I wish to dance with him, I will.”
    Hawk’s eyes blazed. “If you think to add Ramsey to your long list of conquests, you had better think twice. He is not one of those besotted cubs who hang on your every word. You are out of your depths with him.”
    “I am not a green girl fresh out of the schoolroom,” she said. “And your concerns about Ramsey are ridiculous. He would never do anything to risk his reputation or that of his family.”
    “I know the man. He’s risked scandal repeatedly. His exploits reached his father recently. The marquess is pressuring him to marry in hopes of reforming him—a wasted effort, I might add.”
    “Now I understand. You object to Ramsey’s marital aspirations because the loss of one bachelor could spur a matrimonial