He bowed. “Of course.” He took her hand before she could step away and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Until later, my lady,” he murmured, pressing a second, lingering kiss to the back of her hand.

Elizabeth fought the urge to yank her hand away, forcing herself to wait for him to release it instead. She gave a curtsy and walked away, gripping Mary’s arm tightly. “If you ever leave me alone with him again, I swear that I will tell Tommy and Marcus every single prank that you and I ever pulled so that you will be walking on eggshells for the next five years with fear of what they’ll do.”

Mary laughed softly. “Oh, my dear, I am the mother of two rambunctious boys. Trust me, I already live in fear of what they’ll do. Did I tell you that one of the little beasts put a dead fish in our bedchamber last week? It was so dreadful.” She tried to sound haughty, but her amused smile gave her away. “Anthony swears he can still smell the fish in our room.”

Elizabeth tried to give her an innocent smile. “I wonder where they could have gotten that idea from?” she asked, deciding that it was probably best not to mention that they hadn’t found the fish that the boys had hidden behind Mary’s dresser.

“You wouldn’t know anything about that now, would you?” Mary asked casually. They walked along the wall, heading towards the courtyard doors where their mother was waiting for her.

“Me? Why ever would I do that to you?” She pressed her hand to her chest in feigned innocence, but Mary wasn’t buying it.

“Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps you felt that I was owed a little something for going along with Mother’s scheme to make you spend more time with Lord Dumford.”

“Hmm, you know, you could be right,” she said thoughtfully. It was exactly the reason why she’d suggested the idea to her nephews. Her mother was desperately trying to make a match of her and Lord Dumford and Mary was helping. The man was near forty, balding and boring. The man was also a Marquee, which, in her mother’s book, meant everything.

Mary was pushing the match for other reasons. The man would never hit her and would probably have very little to do with Elizabeth once she gave him an heir and a spare. If Elizabeth couldn’t marry for love, Mary would rather have her sister settled in a safe match.

Mary laughed. “I should have known. Anthony will be livid when he finds out.”

“No, he won’t. He adores me. He’ll think it’s good fun. We both know he’ll do something to get back at me, probably by the end of the week.”

Mary shrugged. “You’re probably right,” she said, clearly biting back a smile.

Elizabeth knew whatever they did to her that Mary would be behind it. Things were looking up. At least while she was forced to remain in London for the next two months she could have a little fun.

The sight that welcomed them was enough to sober her immediately. Their parents stood next to Lord Dumford, who was looking rather smug. Their mother's polite smile turned absolutely pleased when she spotted Elizabeth. “There you are, my dear.”

Elizabeth forced herself to smile. Lord Dumford took her hand and bowed, pressing a chaste kiss against her knuckles that left her cold. “Good evening, Lady Elizabeth.”

With a forced, barely-there smile, she curtsied. “Good evening, my Lord.”

Her father cleared his throat. “Elizabeth, Lord Dumford has been telling us of his lands in the lake region. It’s very interesting.”

“That sounds lovely, my Lord,” she said, trying not to cringe when she spotted several men walking towards them, probably hoping to steal her for a dance or a walk. Five of them were known fortune hunters and the others were known bores. She wasn’t sure which was worse, but at the moment she was in no mood to find out.

“If you would please excuse me, I believe that I could use some fresh air,” she said softly, relieved when her father gave her a small nod of approval.

“Should I accompany you, Lady Elizabeth?” Lord Dumford asked, looking expectant that she would agree.

She forced a polite smile. “No, thank you. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your evening, my Lord. I shall only be a moment.”

“Perhaps you’ll do me the honor of a dance when you return?”

Her father nodded slightly and she knew that her reprieve from this torture would only be short lived, but she would gladly take whatever she could get at the moment.

“That sounds lovely, my Lord. I look forward to it.” As she moved to leave, a few of the matchmaking mothers turned their attention on her and gestured for their sons to approach her. Realizing that she needed to leave immediately if she had any chance at all, she turned and walked slowly towards the terrace doors. Once she made it to the lawn and the safety of darkness she grabbed up her skirts and made a run for it, praying that no one would follow.

---

“Oh, Mr. Bradford, do come meet my daughters, Lady Penelope and Lady Emma,” a rather rotund woman said. Robert couldn’t for life of him remember her name, but he was positive that he’d seen her at one time or another speaking with his mother.

He pasted his most charming smile on his face. “It would be my pleasure.” He kissed the hand of Lady Penelope and noted that she was rather fetching. He then greeted Lady Emma, who was unfortunately her mother’s daughter. He was willing to bet the girl weighed two stones more than him and she was short, making the extra weight all the more tragic.

Lady Penelope fluttered her eyelashes at him in a very flirtatious manner. Even though he had no plans on marrying anytime soon, he wouldn’t mind spending a little time with a beautiful woman. “Lady Penelope, would you care to take a turn about the room with me?”

She looked down shyly, an act he was sure. “That would be lovely, Mr. Bradford. Thank you.”

Robert took her hand and placed it on his arm. He could barely feel her grip through his jacket. It was a shame that women of her class wore gloves everywhere. For once he would like to feel a woman’s bare hand on his arm. A firmer grip wouldn’t hurt either. Her touch felt cold and distant to him. He hated these games, but he would be willing to play them to make his mother happy, or if it meant that he could steal a kiss from a beautiful woman.

“Lady Penelope, have you been enjoying London?”

“Yes, the weather has been delightful,” she answered. Her answer was short and proper and without a trace of an original thought. He’d been hoping to engage in an actual conversation to pass the time. No, perhaps he hadn’t asked a good question. Maybe she wasn’t like the rest of these mindless drones who cared about nothing except finding a husband with a title and a large purse.

He cleared his throat. “Have you been to the theatre lately?”

She smiled brightly at that. He enjoyed the theatre himself.

“Oh, I’ve really enjoyed going. Papa allowed me to purchase three new gowns just for the theatre. I have one in light pink, one in light green, and a pretty violet dress. Also, I bought new bonnets and gloves. It was so delightful!”

He could cry. He really could.

“What play did you attend?” he asked, hoping there was a way to salvage this conversation.

“Pardon me?” she asked, clearly confused.

“What play did you attend? When you wore your new dresses, what play did you attend?”

“Oh!” she exclaimed as if this was a new and unexpected line of questioning. “I didn’t wear my new dresses to the theatre. I wore my yellow dress, because it went better with the gold curtains in my family’s box.”

“The play, Lady Penelope, what was it?” Please let her know this. Damn him and his standards. He didn’t consort with whores, married women or innocents. Well, he didn’t take more than a few kisses from an innocent. The one universal problem he had, he couldn’t stomach the company of empty-headed women.