Free Guarding a Notorious Lady by Olivia Parker

odd tilt to their heads. What was happening to their necks?
    Rosalind turned to look past the dancers at the other side of the room. Even the women over there seemed to be suffering from the same peculiar head tilt.
    She followed their gazes . . . directly to Nicholas’s kilt. Her mouth opened on a small gasp. Apparently, the sly creatures were all trying to get a peek.
    A new surge of jealousy sprouted within her. She didn’t begrudge him his inheritance. She was delighted for him. But life had seemed so much simpler when he had been her own little secret.
    Rosalind smirked. Could she blame them? He was rather breathtaking.
    But she’d had about enough of all these women ogling Nicholas and his bare knees. And his sculpted calves. And his trim waist.
    Seven dances. Seven! And he had not asked her once.
    “Rosalind.”
    Blinking out of her musings, she turned to find Gabriel standing before her.
    She smiled in greeting, her brows lifting. “Yes?” Another minuet had ended and some guests were marveling at the grace of the dancers.
    “As the last dance of the evening is approaching, I wanted to give you one last instruction.”
    “What is it?”
    “It was not below my notice that you danced with a number of gentlemen this evening. More than usual, more than you ought to have.”
    She sighed quietly.
    He ran a hand through his hair. “Tomorrow, after Madelyn and I depart, when they come calling, and you and I both know who I’m talking about, you are to inform Briggs to tell them that you are not at home.
    They will insist on leaving cards, I realize, but then they had better get the hell out of my house. It’s not safe.
    Not with that damnable wager setting fire to their heels. ”
    Rosalind blinked slowly. He had just given her a splendid idea.
    “Please, do not fret,” she said simply.
    The chords signaled that the waltz was about to begin. It was the only waltz of the evening.
    Gabriel gave her a nod, then strode across the room to retrieve his wife for the dance.
    Tomorrow, Rosalind would welcome the deluge of men coming to call. Perhaps with a houseful of male visitors, her guardian would have no choice but to lurk about the windows—or perhaps he’d be bold enough to come to call himself.
    And once the matter of dismissing her guardian was settled, she could focus all her energy on an entirely different matter.
    Season after season she had concentrated on other people’s happiness in matters of love. And now with Nicholas in London, it was time for her to make her own match.
    He had wanted to kiss her, she was sure of it. And yet, he’d hesitated. She wasn’t certain why, but she knew without a doubt that if Nicholas Kincaid had come to London to find a bride, that woman was come to London to find a bride, that woman was going to be her.
    Her plan set, Rosalind couldn’t help but smile with proud satisfaction as she watched her brother sweep his wife into his arms, gliding her effortlessly onto the dance floor. They looked perfect together, quite like they completed each other. No one could deny their being in love.
    It occurred to Rosalind then that no one had asked her to dance. She looked about, spying Nicholas sauntering in her direction.
    Her heart skittered. It was the last dance of the evening, the only waltz, and very fitting that he ask her.
    He neared, his paces slowing.
    Lifting her chin, she straightened her spine and took a deep breath, her acquiescence poised on the tip of her tongue.
    And then he passed her by and walked out of the room.

Chapter 5
    ll ong walks in the countryside had never failed to clear Nicholas’s head in the past.
    Unfortunately, he was currently traversing a crowded, sooty city, and any thought-clearing he managed amid the clattering of wagons, carriages, and bustling people only seemed to make more room for all things Lady Rosalind Devine.
    And when it came to that particular woman, his imagination often wandered into dangerous territory.
    As he turned the corner