Free Tenacious Trents 01 - A Misguided Lord by Jane Charles

Lady Anne, he could forget the hoyden
across the room. Yes. That was it. He simply needed to find a more
suitable lady. With those thoughts, Clayton returned to the
ballroom and began to look once again for the lady to become his
countess.
    The perfect candidate stood not far
away. She wasn’t titled and came from a humble background. Clay
racked his brain for a name. Oh, yes, Miss Audrey Montgomery. She
was a lovely lady with golden hair and soft brown eyes. Her smile
was radiant and she was at ease with herself.
    Clayton pulled away from the wall and
sauntered over for an introduction. She wasn’t as lovely as Miss
Westin, but prettier than Lady Anne. Her figure wasn’t as full as
Miss Westin, yet she wasn’t overly thin as Lady Anne. And, while
she wasn’t outgoing as the woman who plagued his thoughts, Miss
Montgomery did converse often, and outside of her chaperones
earshot. Yes, she seemed to just what he needed.
    There were five other gentlemen in her
company at the moment and Clay begged an introduction from the
young woman’s uncle, Lord Everston.
    She smiled shyly and dipped into a
curtsey. “It is an honor, Lord Bentley.”
    Clay bowed. “Might I have a
dance?”
    She held her dance card out to him and
Clay had it in his fingers but a moment before Jordan was at his
side, yanking it from his hands.
    “ Of all the nerve,” Miss
Montgomery hissed.
    Jordan grinned, unrepentant and
penciled his name in the one and only dance left available, which
happened to be the last waltz of the evening. He grinned and handed
it back to Clay. “Sorry, old chap, she doesn’t have any dances left
for you.”
    Clay arched a brow at his brother.
This was quite out of character for Jordan.
    “ I have no objection to
crossing out Mr. Trent’s name and adding yours, Lord Bentley.” She
shot Jordan a look that could kill. “Especially since I already
rejected Mr. Trent’s offer to dance earlier this
evening.”
    Something was going on between these
two and Clay was not about to step into the middle. “I will leave
that honor to my brother, Miss Montgomery.”
    “ Brother?”
    “ My younger brother, who
apparently needs to still learn some manners.”
    Jordan didn’t even flinch. Instead, he
executed a courtly bow to Miss Montgomery. “I will count the
minutes until we waltz.”
    She gritted her teeth and forced a
smile.
    Clay bowed and walked away, Jordan at
his side.
    “ Do me a favor,” Jordan
said low. “Cross Miss Montgomery off of your list of potential
wives.”
    Clay looked at his brother. “You wish
her for yourself?”
    A slight blush came to Jordan’s cheeks
and he glanced about. This was a very interesting turn of events.
He’d never seen his brother blush before.
    “ Truthfully, I don’t know.
The woman has practically cut me each time I’ve tried to dance or
talk to her. It is really quite disconcerting. I have no idea what
she has against me. She doesn’t even know me.”
    “ Perhaps your reputation
proceeds and she has already decided against you.”
    Jordan stepped back rather affronted.
“That is not very fair, now is it?”
    Clayton could only laugh. “Perhaps you
should change your ways if you wish for a respectable young lady
like Miss Montgomery to want your company.”
    Jordan frowned. “I am not sure I wish
to go to that extreme.”
    “ Then perhaps you don’t
really desire a dance with Miss Montgomery.” Clayton turned on his
heel and walked away from his brother. Regardless of whether Jordan
got his dance or not, Clay would not approach Miss Montgomery
again. She may be a lovely lady and perhaps perfect for his
purpose, but Jordan had already set his sights on her and no lady
was worth the bother if she pitted brother against
brother.
    But this also left him with
the problem of finding another lady whom he could consider for his
wife. As he scanned the room his eyes lit on Miss Westin once
again. Damn and blast . Why was she always where he did not want her to be, pulling
him