Free The Wicked Baron by Sarah Mallory

Mrs Price, her bright eyes surveying the throng.
    Lady Broxted nodded. ‘More than one usually sees here, certainly.’
    ‘Well, that is to be expected,’ said Mr Price. ‘A lady performing on a rope high in the air—they have come to watch her, hoping to glimpse more than a pretty ankle, what?’ He laughed loudly at his own wit. Lord Broxted, Carlotta noted, gave only a tight little smile.
    Mrs Price nodded towards the latest group of gentlemen to appear in the Grove. ‘We are certainly acquainted with some of them. Look.’ She began to wave to attract their attention.
    Like a flock of starlings the noisy crowd changed direction and headed towards their box. To a man they weredressed in the height of fashion with their cut-away coats and light-coloured trousers.
    ‘Heavens,’ murmured Julia, moving a little closer to the viscount. ‘So many of them.’
    ‘But we know them, my love,’ cried her mama, still waving. ‘Look, there is Mr Eastleigh, and Sir Gilbert Mattingwood…Sir Peter Ottwood…oh, and Lord Darvell, too! Good evening, my lord, gentlemen. My goodness, the gaming houses will be quite empty tonight.’
    ‘We can always go back to ’em later, ma’am,’ cried a fair-haired gentleman with florid cheeks and a twinkle in his blue eyes. He bowed over Mrs Price’s hand. ‘Thought we should take a peek at the incomparable Saqui.’
    Luke followed his friends towards the supper box where Mrs Price was waving and smiling at them all. He had not really wanted to accompany his friends to Vauxhall, but when he saw Carlotta in the box his spirits lifted. He felt the usual tug of attraction as he watched at her. She had discarded her enshrouding domino and looked enticing in her gown of blue satin. The deep colour enhanced the creamy tones of her flawless skin. Her dark hair was curled artlessly around her head, providing a charming frame for her pale face and those huge dark eyes. The anger he had felt at their last meeting was forgotten. He moved forward, ready to smile, to speak to her warmly, but Sir Gilbert was there before him, turning from Mrs Price to fix his eyes upon Carlotta. By God, thought Luke irritably, the man’s almost drooling.
    ‘Talking of incomparable,’ murmured Sir Gilbert, ‘won’t you introduce me, Mrs P.?’
    Luke noted that Lady Broxted was tutting with disapproval at this forward approach, but Mrs Price merely laughed.
    ‘Of course! Miss Carlotta Rivington, may I present to you Sir Gilbert Mattingwood?’
    It was as much as Luke could do not to scowl with frustration as Carlotta gazed up at Mattingwood, a shy smile curving her lips.
    ‘Your servant, Miss Rivington.’ Sir Gilbert fixed his laughing blue gaze upon her face. ‘Now, why have I not seen you before?’
    ‘I have not long been in town, sir.’ Still smiling, she looked past him to meet Luke’s eyes for a fleeting moment. Luke knew he was frowning and he saw her smile falter, until Sir Gilbert’s next words recaptured her wandering attention.
    ‘Your first visit here, is it, Miss Rivington?’
    ‘Yes, sir, and for Miss Price, too,’ answered Carlotta. ‘We are mightily impressed.’
    ‘We have been to see the cascade,’ offered Julia in her soft voice.
    ‘And did it please you, Miss Price?’ asked Luke, determined to say something, however inane.
    Julia clasped her hands, a beatific smile upon her face. ‘Oh, very much, my lord. It was magical—such a colourful spectacle!’
    He smiled and nodded, but from the corner of his eye he could see Carlotta laughing at something Mattingwood was whispering to her. Hell and damnation, could she not see Sir Gilbert for the flirt he really was? He turned to her.
    ‘And what of you, Miss Rivington?’ he said. ‘What thought you of the spectacle—did the colours suit you?’
    ‘It is very ingenious,’ she answered him carefully but her wariness only fuelled his anger.
    ‘But not to your taste, which is for a more…classical form of art.’
    Her eyes flew to