Chapter 3 #2
“Usually, I wouldn’t hesitate to agree with you wholeheartedly, Elliot. But the lady we’re talking about is Olivia Darington. Moonlight, darkened corners and no witnesses is not only a perfect setting for seductions…” Alexander swallowed noisily, “…it’s also perfect for a murder.”
Scowling at Elliot’s raucous laughter following his statement, Alexander turned his back to look out of the window that overlooked the gardens. And stopped dead.
Was that Olivia?
He squinted and stepped closer to the window.
Sure enough, there were her lustrous curls bobbing up from the bushes.
What on earth was she doing?
He watched in amused captivation as she spied him standing by the window and raised a hand to beckon him outside.
“What has caught your attention?” Elliot asked, stepping over to stand at Alexander’s shoulder.
Alexander watched as Olivia’s eyes widened a split second before her head disappeared once more. He could assume, then, that she didn’t want his friend knowing she was out there.
Biting back a grin, he turned to Elliot to make his excuses.
“Nothing, I just fancy a walk.”
Elliot’s eyebrow rose in disbelief.
“You? Walk?”
“Yes, me walk,” Alexander huffed. “It’s not that bloody unusual.”
Elliot frowned but thankfully didn’t question him any further, and Alexander swept from the room and dashed toward the garden.
Just what was the little hoyden up to now?
“What took you so long?” Olivia snapped more sharply than she intended. She’d been trying to get Alexander’s attention for an age, watching furtively from the bushes like a thief in the night, not to mention getting tangled in twigs and branches.
“A thousand apologies, my lady,” he responded sarcastically, “but I couldn’t very well announce to Elliot that there was a young woman desperately awaiting me in the bushes, could I?”
Olivia’s temper flared at his tone.
“How nice for you, to finally have a woman actually want your attention,” she said sweetly.
His answering grin could have melted the frost surrounding them and Olivia suddenly felt unaccountably warm.
“Believe me, sweetheart,” he said softly, “I’ve never had a problem with women not wanting me.”
The arrogant swine.
This ridiculous conversation had gone on long enough.
“Much as I enjoy tales of your exploits whilst stuck in your shrubberies, I would rather speak plainly, farther away from the house,” she bit out snippily, refusing to acknowledge his inappropriate and wildly flirtatious comment. “And I’m not your sweetheart.”
He seemed to know he’d affected her however, as he chuckled softly before offering Olivia his arm.
Olivia placed her hand lightly on his bottle green superfine and fought valiantly to suppress the shiver of awareness that coursed through her body.
Gracious. This wouldn’t do. The last thing the man by her side and his ego needed was to be made aware of her reaction to him.
They walked in silence until they reached the walled garden beyond the shrubs and flowers.
This would afford them privacy to talk. Just talk.
“So.” Alexander was the first to break the silence. ”Why were you watching me from the bushes?” he asked casually.
Immediately, Olivia’s teeth were set on edge.
“I was not ‘watching’ you,” she responded hotly. ”I was trying to get your attention to discuss your idea about the problem.”
“Hmm and you were so desperate to see me again you simply couldn’t wait until tonight. I’m flattered. So, does that mean that you admit that your sister is a problem?”
Olivia dug in her heels, forcing him to stop walking and spun to face him, snatching back her hand.
“’Tis you and your odious friend who are the problem, Fincham. Not my sister. And the only person desperate here is you. Just what are you about sending secret missives to Jane?”
His face was a picture of confusion.
“I saw her hide it,” she continued, ignoring the ridiculous sting of hurt. “And I don’t know what you’re about, sending us both letters and – and trying to throw me off your scent by pretending she’s in danger from that St. Clare fellow. But if you think to distract me while you – while you –“
Olivia trailed off, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
She could hardly just blurt out such things with Alexander Stratford.
“While I what?” he pressed, grinning. He knew, the blighter. He knew she was discomfited.
“While you seduce her into engaging in activities entirely inappropriate for a single man and woman to engage in,” she finally answered, quoting directly from the lectures of comportment her mother had made her attend after the almost-drowning-him-in-the-Serpentine incident.
Alexander looked at her in surprise for a moment before throwing back his head and bursting into laughter.
Olivia positively refused to let herself dwell on the strength of the muscles in his throat, or the husky sound of his laugh, and chose instead to be furious at his laughing at her.
“Where did you hear such a thing?” he asked, still grinning widely.
“I don’t know what you mean?” She sniffed.
He raised a brow and bent slightly to look directly into her eyes.
“There is no way such virtuous drivel came from the hoydenish Olivia Darington,” he said softly.
Blast the man. He was right, of course.
“I am a grown woman, Alexander,” she spat, not noticing she’d slipped and used his Christian name.
“Not a little girl any longer. And I know, ‘how to conduct myself in a manner befitting a young lady of good breeding,’” she quoted again before coming back to her point.
“As does Jane. And you and your debauched friend — well, you are trying to make her conduct herself in a manner absolutely not befitting a young lady of good breeding.”
He grinned again at her convoluted sentence.
“I’m not interested in anything to do with your sister Olivia, save keeping her safe. Besides, I shouldn’t worry too much if I were you. After all, our encounter in the gardens all those years ago didn’t steer you down a path of destruction, did it?”
The mention of that day seemed to suck all the air straight from Olivia’s body.
Why had he brought that up? She wasn’t prepared to speak of such things, especially with him.
She glanced up into his distractingly green eyes and was immediately irritated by the smug, knowing look in them.
The man had an ego the size of Westminster.
It was about time someone deflated it a little.
Giving her best, most believable innocent expression, she answered as sweetly as she could.
“I hardly think one, insignificant, thoroughly forgettable embrace would be enough to send me down a path of destruction,” she said with faux innocence. “Why, nothing even happened for heaven’s sake.”
Later, Olivia would wonder how she hadn’t noticed the sudden, dangerous glint in his jade eyes.
She would wonder why his growl of frustration hadn’t been warning enough of his intentions.
But she had paid no attention to these things, and so, when he suddenly reached out and grabbed her in his arms, pulling her body against his, she had been taken completely unawares.
As his lips had descended toward her own, his whispered words sent shivers down the length of her spine.
“Perhaps it’s time something did happen,” he said before crushing her lips beneath his own.