Free A Lady Dares by Bronwyn Scott Page B

wasn’t the only the one with secrets. Beautiful Elise Sutton wasn’t as open a book as he’d been led to believe.
    It was just his luck. He should have known better. When something looked too good to be true, it usually was, Elise Sutton notwithstanding. Most men would walk away and see to their own safety. But he’d never counted himself among their number. Dorian smiled in the darkness. Tomorrow he’d ferret out Elise’s secrets, right after he got a dog or maybe two. Miss Sutton was in danger and she’d just dragged him into it along with her. Of course, that made her all the more interesting, too.
    ‘I do say, Miss Sutton, you are a most interesting font of knowledge.’ Charles stoodback a step to let her precede him through the door of her town house. They’d just returned from a drive in the park, taking advantage of a rare fine day in early spring.
    ‘I’m not as interesting as all that.’ Elise laughed off the compliment. ‘I think you’re being polite.’ They’d been talking of wind and sails. Rather, she’d been talking and Charles had been listening. It had been disappointing to discover that even though Charles’s father had been one of her father’s investors, the interest in boating stopped there. Charles like the social aspect of the yachting season, but didn’t care much for the engineering. In fact, he’d known nothing at all about the differences in ketch or cutter riggings.
    ‘You make it easy to listen,’ Charles offered gallantly with a smile.
    ‘Will you stay for tea?’ Elise asked, removing her bonnet, only to be met with a discreet cough from Evans, who waited to take her things. ‘Is something wrong, Evans?’ She couldn’t imagine what it could be. Evans never interrupted. But even the littlest things could be a crisis in his eyes. Perhaps Mary the cook had burnt the scones, or there weren’t enough tea cakes. It would be her own fault.She’d been encouraging Mary to scale back her food preparation now that there was only one person in the house to feed. Well, two, counting the meals sent down to Dorian.
    ‘Miss Sutton, you have a caller waiting,’ Evans said neutrally.
    ‘More specifically,
I
am waiting.’ Low, masculine tones drew Elise’s eyes to the doorway of the drawing room. Dorian stood there, leaning negligently against the door frame, but his eyes belied his informality. There was tension behind them and displeasure. ‘I’ve been waiting over an hour.’
    He was scolding
her!
He’d barged in unannounced and made himself comfortable in her home and then accused her of being unavailable to him. His audacity knew no limits. Elise drew herself up and squared her shoulders. ‘Then you should make an appointment.’
    ‘I wasn’t aware I needed one.’
    Charles was looking decidedly uncomfortable at the interchange. ‘Lord Rowland, I had heard you were back. Welcome home.’ But there was no welcome in Charles’s voice. She heard the coldness, the implication that Lord Rowland was not appropriate company for her. She heard the scold, too, over her disobedience.He’d asked her to dismiss Rowland and she hadn’t. ‘Miss Sutton, might I have a word with you in private before I go? Lord Rowland, if you’ll excuse us?’
    Charles’s face was red with emotion when they stepped into the small music room off the main hall. ‘Will you allow me to stay? Or perhaps you will allow me to escort him from the premises? You cannot be alone with the bounder!’
    Poor Charles, she doubted he’d have any success removing Dorian even if she wanted him to. She’d seen Dorian take on a bully much larger than Charles. Such an action would only serve to embarrass Charles. ‘I appreciate the offer, but I assure you it is unnecessary. Lord Rowland has news of the shipyard, nothing more.’
    Charles’s faced turned even redder. ‘There is another issue, Miss Sutton—
Elise
, if I may? We’ve been friends for a long time. I feel it is my duty to bring this to your