Free Indiscreet by Carolyn Jewel

sure most other men failed to comprehend.

    Conflating her appearance with her character was, he realized, the mistake other men made with her. Indeed, she was young and lovely enough to arouse any man's interest With her, though, the usual courtship always failed; witness Lieutenant Russell. Sabine Godard was not a woman to be won with flattery and gallantry. One must woo her mind, not her heart which, like his, was set someplace very far away. '

    "Lord Foye," she said. He took a breath and smelled the roses. "When I told Godard you were here, he sent me to fetch you to him."

    He looked down at her and smiled faintly. "Miss Godard."

    "Come, my lord, and say good evening to Godard." She smiled, and for the first time since he'd met her, he was the recipient of a genuine smile of hers. That his desire, his inappropriate ardor for her, only increased did not improve his mood. "He will be so pleased if you do."

    "Very well." He held out his arm and waited. "Oh, come now," he said in a low voice. "We've had this conversation. Did we not come to a satisfactory conclusion, then?"

    She looked at his arm and smiled, a private sort of smile. Then, she placed her hand on his arm. "Yes, my lord. We did."

    "Excellent" He decided that Mr. Lucey was right. Miss Godard ought to be married. Just not to someone like Lieutenant Russell. A military marriage had its rewards, of course, but she needed not a man of uniform but one of intellect A man who would appreciate the uniqueness of her mind. "Now, are you enjoying yourself tonight?"

    "Mr. Lucey gives a ball at least once a fortnight" She looked up at him, as of course she must given their relative heights. The crowd was thick and they could not walk quickly. They were at ease with each other, or, more accurately, she was at ease with him. It seemed confession was indeed good for the soul. "Godard enjoys the spectacle, I think."

    'There is at least good conversation to be had," he replied. His sentiment had the advantage of being honest Dancing interested her as little as it did him, and he did enjoy conversation with men of intellect such as Sir Henry. And his niece, for that matter.

    "Mrs. Lucey expects skulduggery tonight," she said.

    "Indeed?"

    "Don't look just yet, but there to your right is the Italian ambassador. In the dark gray coat He's very charming. Mrs. Lucey and I suspect he means to attempt to lure his cook back tonight I advised her to post footmen at the entrances to the kitchen. And to offer the cook another salary increase."

    He laughed. Not only because it was polite of him but also because she had so unexpectedly amused him.

    "Do you think you will dance tonight?" she asked.

    Foye looked down at her, eyebrows raised. Now here was an interesting development A door opened wide for any other man. "I am too old for dancing, Miss Godard."

    She tipped her head sideways with her chin tilted toward him. There was amusement in her eyes. For a moment his breath really did stop in his chest What the devil was she thinking? That he was foolish? Prematurely old? Or was she smiling because he hadn't followed with the question every other man would have asked after being led to the well, so to speak?

    "I'm quite sure several of the young ladies will be swooning at the thought of dancing with a marquess. Miss Anna Justice among them, I am quite sure."

    "Anna Justice." He stopped walking, and so did she. He felt perfectly foolish for thinking for even a moment she had been hinting at anything with respect to her. She stayed with her head cocked, assessing him. "The notion of young ladies swooning to dance with me is absurd."

    She gave him another of those penetrating looks of hers, the kind that sent a jolt of heat through him. Her eyes were the reason, he decided. The way the outer edges tipped up just enough to make the shape exotic. Her eyes made him think of sleepy kisses at the conclusion of an exhausting night

    "I expect," she eventually said, "that you