Free My Lady Rival by Ashley March Page A

scared of him, just as she knew he was the type to use ruthlessness with words rather than fists. It was this understanding that caused her pulse to flutter, for there could be only one reason why he stood so near. It was the same reason why she’d decided to kiss him in Italy, when never before and never since had she used such a tactic to get what she wished. “I have been searching for matters long before you ever were, Mr. Laurie. I daresay I know much more about such matters than you do.”
    “I know the name,” he said, then narrowed his eyes when she stilled. “I see that you know it, too.”
    She shifted, trying to see past him, irritated that she gave so much away. If he was here at the masquerade and he knew Woolstone was the dye’s creator, could that mean—
    “He’s not here.”
    Her gaze lifted to his again, though not before taking a contrary detour to his mouth first. “I do not understand your presence at the masquerade. Is it truly because you wish to marry your sisters to titles? I did not think you were so fond of the aristocracy.”
    His lips curled. “I hesitate to admit or deny lest you run back to Papa and tell him my plans.”
    Willa felt her cheeks burn. True, most everything she’d done in the past seven years had been on behalf of her father and his company, but she was here in years had been on behalf of her father and his company, but she was here in London for herself. Luring Mr. Lunsford to her father’s company was the agreement she’d made in order to delay the wedding to Eichel. It was of no concern to her if she actually succeeded. No, she was here for the Madonna dye.
    A nd this time, the competition was between Willa and A lex alone.
    “There you go underestimating me again, Mr. Laurie,” she said softly. “I sincerely hoped you had learned from the last time. My father does not control everything I do. A nd you need not fear having me as competition, for I have no desire to become a pawn in marriage for my father’s alliances.” If she did, she would have been happy to take Eichel, for he was young and rich and handsome, more so even than the man standing before her.
    He placed his hands on either side of shoulders, bracketing her inside his arms with her back pressing into the corner. When he spoke, his breath stirred the curls at her temples and ears. “I truly don’t care, actually. There’s only one thing that matters to me that you should know.”
    For a moment before he pulled back her breath lodged in her throat. “A nd what is that?”
    His eyes bore into hers, his lips mere inches away from her own. “I will finish what was begun in Italy. I am the one who will win this time, Miss Stratton.” Chapter 6
    T he next day, Willa smiled across at her English companion, the lovely widow Lady Sarah Carlyle, as the carriage borrowed from Mivart’s Hotel stopped in front of the Marquess of Byrne’s house, the residence where Lady Marianna, Woolstone’s sister, lived with her parents.
    “Like this?” she asked Sarah, speaking through her teeth.
    Sarah leaned forward slightly, a line creased between her brows. “No, I’m afraid that’s still too much. I can see nearly the entire upper row of teeth. Try to become more subdued.”
    Willa rolled her lips inward.
    Sarah laughed. “No, that’s not it at all, I’m afraid. Here, cease smiling. No, don’t frown. Try a natural expression, as if you were by yourself and hadn’t a care in the world. Yes, very good. Now, think of something only slightly amusing. It’s a secret you want to keep to yourself, not to share with others. But all the same you wish them to know that you have a slightly amusing secret that you couldn’t possibly share with them, and—yes, that’s it!”
    Willa let the smile freeze on her lips as she memorized the shape and feel of it.
    Then she sighed. “It’s no wonder I haven’t come to England in so many years, and no wonder you left all that time ago. I never realized the English