Free Wicked Nights With a Proper Lady by Tiffany Clare Page B

reason for wanting to do so other than a desire to be alone with her.
    Who was he fooling besides himself? What wasn’t honorable about courting a lady he enjoyed spending time with? Well, there was the small fact that he was aiding his friend in a false courtship of Lady Charlotte. He’d have to figure out the right and wrong of it another time.
    Finally, he laid eyes upon her among a throng of ladies and a couple of gentlemen—all of his acquaintance.
    Carleton approached Leo and Tristan as they entered the parlor. They’d agreed to come to this party on the grounds of discussing their mutual interest in the sugar imports act. All three owned land in Barbados. All three of them would be forced to either sell their plantations or risk losing any money generated from their sugar business in the Caribbean.
    “So glad you could make it. My wife is pleased that you agreed to even out our numbers for dinner.” Carleton took Tristan’s hand with fondness and then Leo’s. Lord Carleton had been a close friend to Tristan and Leo’s fathers.
    “We’re glad for the wonderful company,” Tristan said to the older man. “Besides, when will a better time arise to strategize our next move? The party tonight makes everything more convenient.”
    Leo did not miss the stressed enunciation on “everything.”
    “Shall we mingle to even out those numbers you spoke of?” Leo gestured to the room all the while eyeing the gaggle of women at the center.
    Miss Camden wore a less unappealing navy-colored dress this evening. Still drab, but prettier than the one she’d worn to the duchess’s ball. He had to wonder if she owned anything that complemented her shapely figure.
    She avoided his gaze, so he stared at her cousin, suspecting she’d be quick to include him in whatever conversation they were currently immersed.
    She did not disappoint.
    “How do you fare this evening, my lords?” Lady Charlotte gave Tristan a smile that revealed dimpled cheeks.
    “Well, my lady,” Tristan answered. “I daresay, with the luck I’ve had in spending time with you two nights in a row, I should test my hand at the craps table before the night is through.”
    Lady Charlotte blushed for all in the company to see.
    Well played, Leo thought.
    Miss Camden chose that inappropriate and outrageously flirtatious comment to intervene. “Perhaps,” she said, a coy smile tilting her lips, “we should all try our hands at cards since we seem to bring about such luck.”
    “You must know, Lady Hargrove,” Lady Carleton said when everyone around them seemed wide-eyed and agog at Genny’s open rejoinder. “That Lord Barrington and Miss Camden go back a number of years. I do believe they met at my house party four summers past.”
    “You are correct,” Leo responded, giving her a flash of mischief in his slow smile.
    “It was an interesting time.” Lady Carlton laughed. “So much happened at that house party. There was that matter with a young woman and another of the unattached guests.” Everyone’s focus was naturally on Lady Carleton as she gave them this old bit of gossip. Audience captive, she continued, “Of course it was so long ago that none of it is worth hashing over now.”
    There was an undercurrent of significance to her tone that Leo didn’t fail to notice. Was it directed at both him and Miss Camden? He couldn’t be sure. He suspected Genny thought the same thing because she did not raise her eyes to his.
    “Yes,” Genny said, “it was an age ago. And let it be a lesson to the young ladies that you can never put your eggs in too many baskets. I had two suitors at that house party.”
    He didn’t fail to notice she neglected to include him in that number. He was slightly hurt by that fact. It wasn’t as though he could gainsay her. He’d never made his intentions clear where she was concerned. It surprised him how much he regretted that now.
    “Then why ever did you not marry?” Charlotte asked.
    “Not every man is