Free The Pleasure Trap by Elizabeth Thornton Page B

going for long walks, and so on.”
    Lady Sayers looked hopefully at the dowager. “I’m not much help to Eve. As you know, I never had a Season before I married. I hardly know what gown is proper to wear for which function. I’ve never been a follower of rules myself.”
    Amanda said sweetly, “Oh, Ash can help there, can’t you, Ash? Many ladies of rank come to him for advice when they are selecting a new wardrobe.”
    Ash sent his cousin a killing look, but he spoke gently. “I’m always happy to oblige a lady.”
    “There you are, Eve,” said Amanda. “It’s all settled then.”
    Eve would have liked to send Amanda a killing look, as well. She restrained herself and said as pleasantly as she could manage, “Thank you for the offer, Lord Denison, but it’s not necessary. My aunt and I ordered our wardrobes when we first arrived in town, and most of our gowns are already made up.”
    Lydia lost no time in entering the conversation. “Is your offer open to one and all, Lord Denison? Because if it is, I would gladly accept it.” She gave Eve an arch smile.
    Ash’s lashes lowered to half-mast. “I’d be happy to oblige.”
    Lady Sayers clapped her hands. “Oh, that is very generous of you, Lord Denison. Perhaps you’ll do as much for my niece when she arrives in town?”
    The conversation moved on, but when the topic turned to books and writers of Gothic fiction, Ash saw the opening he’d been waiting for and seized it. “What about this Angelo fellow who writes for the
Herald
? He leaves his readers hanging. Who or what are the ghosts waiting for? Why doesn’t Angelo finish his stories?”
    Lady Sayers shook her head. “It’s no good asking us. We haven’t read his stories. We’ve been too busy preparing for the symposium.”
    Ash sat back in his chair. “What, no one has read them?”
    Except for Lydia, they shook their heads. She said coyly, “I have, and we’ll just have to wait and see what Angelo does next.”
    Anna Contini said, “You’re not Angelo, Lydia. You just like to tease us.”
    Miss Claverley was gazing into space. “I don’t think he has finished yet,” she said. “I think there is more to come. I wonder…” Her voice faded.
    “Why do you think there is more to come?” Ash asked sharply.
    Miss Claverley gazed at him for a moment with unseeing eyes, then her cheeks went pink as she came to herself. “I beg your pardon. My mind wandered. Did you say something, Lord Denison?”
    “I asked why you thought that Angelo wasn’t finished yet.”
    “I don’t know how I know. It just came to me.”
    “Our Miss Claverley,” said Lady Sayers, “is something of a seer. She can read palms, tea leaves, and tell fortunes. Oh, it’s all in good fun, but she can be astonishingly accurate in what she knows about her subjects.” She giggled. “That’s us.”
    Ash turned his head and raised his brows. The silent message was meant for Amanda, a joke they could share, but it was Eve Dearing who was in his line of vision. Their eyes met briefly, then she turned her head away.

    An afternoon call was supposed to last no more than thirty minutes, but this call had turned into a hen party. Lady Valmede had started something by reminiscing about the old days, and, by general consent, the ladies soon decamped for Lady Sayers’s dressing room to look over the garments she had carefully packed away, cherished mementos of her youth. Ash, meanwhile, was left in the music room to twiddle his thumbs until his grandmother and cousin were ready to leave.
    He spied Eve’s notebook, picked it up, and began to thumb through it. Near the back, he found something he’d missed before, a map of the southeastern border of the city, stretching to Dartford in Kent. She’d marked off places of interest. It took him a moment to realize that they were all the homes and estates of people of rank and money.
    He heard steps approaching the door, quickly replaced the book, and crossed to the table with its