After The Kiss -1 by Suzanne Enoch

Author:Suzanne Enoch [Enoch, Suzanne]
Format: epub
Tags: Historical
Publisher: Avon
Published: 2010-05-09T22:00:00+00:00

“So I keep telling everyone.”

“And you have quite excellent instincts,” she observed, timing her comments to the moments when the dance brought them together.

“Yes, well, an angry little birdie mentioned that you might be in need of an ally tonight.”

She turned and nearly missed a step. Sullivan had arranged this? She wished she dared ask that question aloud, but being overheard speaking about him certainly wouldn’t improve matters for her, or for him. But he’d thought of her, and he’d sent help. Unlikely help, but help indeed.

“It’s still very nice of you,” she said as they joined hands and circled again.

Lord Bramwell gave her a dark smile that unsettled her a little. “I’m not the least bit nice. I enjoy having people owe me favors. Now you owe me one.”

“I—”

“And I’m about to make it two favors. Stay away from the angry bird, Isabel. He’s on a path with no safe haven in sight. And you don’t want to be there when pheasant season begins.”

A shiver ran through her again. “Have you told him that?”

“He knew when he began this that it wouldn’t end well.”

“What if…” She hesitated. Why in the world should she trust this man? Even as she asked the question of herself, though, she knew the answer. She trusted him because Sullivan trusted him. “What if I can convince him to leave this path?”

Eyes black as pitch assessed her. “Someone is going to lose,” he said finally, joining in the applause as the dance ended. Then he placed her hand over his arm while they looked for her parents. “Stand close to him, and it will very likely be you.”

“Where will you stand?”

He shrugged. “I’m a shifty, self-serving sort of fellow. I suppose it depends where the greatest benefit to me lies.”

As he smiled and handed her off, Isabel didn’t know whether she believed him about that or not. He did have a very changeable reputation. But he’d made an appearance, and he’d helped her tonight. As for—

“Isabel, there you are,” Oliver said, nodding at her parents as he reached her side. “I hope I haven’t arrived too late to secure a place on your dance card.”

Hm. Perhaps now that Lord Bramwell had smiled on her, everything wasn’t as lost as she’d begun to fear. “You may have your pick, Oliver.”

“Then I choose the first waltz.”

“It’s yours.”

Phillip returned to claim her for the next dance, and she did finally end with an adequate complement of partners. It hadn’t been easy, though, and it wasn’t something she looked forward to encountering ever again.

And charming as she tried to be, Lord Bramwell’s words kept running through her mind. Because he’d been very correct about Sullivan. Mr. Waring was headed toward a very bad carriage wreck. And she’d already lived through one of those. She wasn’t certain she could face another.

Chapter 15

Sullivan stifled a yawn. He generally enjoyed the early mornings, and particularly those when he attended Tattersall’s horse market, but this morning he would rather have arrived early at Chalsey House.

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