Free The Marker by Meggan Connors

thought. He probably didn’t. “We’re not talking about me, we’re talking about you.” Taking a long look at Nicholas, James said, “I think I need to meet this girl.”
    Nicholas’s head swung in his direction. James was an attractive bloke, tall and broad, with wavy, rust-colored hair and merry brown eyes. He was engaging and charming, and rich, to boot. Women loved him. Loved him just as he was, for what he was—a pleasant, charming diversion. It was a rare girl, indeed, who sought to change him, who thought to win his heart.
    At one time, Nicholas had fancied himself to be cut from the same cloth. He charmed women, seduced them, but he never lost his heart, and, because he was careful to remind them what and who he was, if they lost theirs, well, that was their problem. He was good-looking and charming, he had money to burn, and he enjoyed his life. Yet a stubborn, dark-haired girl turned that notion on its head, for here he was, acting like a lovesick fool, loath to introduce Lexie to a man he considered his best friend. He had no idea what he would do if Lexie talked to James when she wouldn’t talk to him.
    “I don’t think so,” Nicholas grumbled.
    “Worried about the competition?” James asked with a grin.
    Nicholas suppressed the fit of temper rising in his chest at the thought that James knew him so well. “Hardly. I just don’t think you’re suited for one another. She’s not very talkative, and let’s face it, you can’t shut up.”
    “If she’s pretty enough, I won’t be interested in talk.”
    Nicholas glared at James, offended enough to want to challenge him before he realized he himself had said those very words to Lexie. James at least had the sense not to tell her to her face.
    “Just shut it,” Nicholas growled. He knew James was teasing him, but his temper flared at the thought that Lexie’s favor could be so easily won. Lexie wasn’t that kind of girl. If she were, she would already be warming his bed. He didn’t think he had imagined the way she melted into his body when he kissed her. He wanted to explore the hunger he’d felt in her.
    If she would only just talk to him.
    James, never one to take offense at anything, chuckled, got up from his barstool, walked over to the nearest blonde and easily struck up a conversation. No one could beguile a woman with his words better than James. Even Nicholas had a thing or two to learn from him. He doubted James would go back to the tables tonight. He seemed far too interested in the prospect of a woman to gamble. Back at the tables, he would find only men-or women he would have to pay for. James never paid for his women.
    He watched how James interacted with the girl for a spell. He knew most of James’s tricks, had used more than a few of them. He thought of all the ways he could charm Lexie—all the ways he had tried to charm her and all the ways he had yet to try—and realized none of them would work. Lexie was beyond his reach.
    And then it hit him, the one thing he had left to try. One thing that might actually work.
    He could court her.

Chapter 5
     
    Damn the woman, but he’d tried everything. Courting Lexie had proven more difficult than he’d ever imagined.
    He invited her to tea. Gave her what he thought was a clear invitation to join him.
    She arrived in her maid’s uniform, brought him tea, and silently excused herself.
    He asked her to go riding with him.
    She came, still in her damn maid’s uniform. One of the stable boys explained to him she didn’t own a riding costume. When he said he didn’t think she needed one and assisted her onto the horse, she rode so poorly he took pity on her and took her back to the stables.
    He asked her to dinner, invited her to sit, and insisted she finish the meal.
    She brought him dinner, took her plate to the kitchen, sat at the table, and ate there. After all, when he had insisted she eat the meal, he hadn’t specified where or with whom. When he joined her in the kitchen,