Much Ado About Love by Malia Martin

Author:Malia Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Chapter 9

What win I, if I gain the thing I seek? A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy.

—RAPE OF LUCRECE, 211

I an closed the distance between them with two strides. “Bea cannot go into public, Andy.” He hooked his own arm through Olivia’s and extracted her from his sister’s side.

“Whyever not?” Andy asked.

“She is not ready for such things, Andy. She is fragile still.”

Olivia glanced at him. “Fragile?”

“Fragile?” Andy echoed her pretend cousin.

“Of course, she has never been quite … right. And,” he shrugged, “well, after that last incident …”

“Incident?” Andy blinked owlishly.

Olivia just shook her head.

“Yes.” Ian lowered his voice to a whisper, “they found her in the chicken coop, Andy … it was most unseemly.”

“Oh please,” Olivia interrupted him. “Never put your pen to paper with the intent of writing anything other than a dull missive to your mother, Sir Ian.”

She turned to Andy. “What Ian is trying to tell you, with no imagination whatsoever, I would add, is that I am rather strange in the head. I never know what is going to happen. One moment I am speaking with all the intelligence of a normal being, and then”—Olivia snapped her fingers together—“poof, I’m rambling and running off to the chicken coop.”

She threw a disgusted look at Ian. “Although, truly, I think I could have thought of a better place than the chicken coop to lose control of my wits, but I defer to my cousin on that point.”

Andy looked completely confused. “But …”

“’Tis why I am here, Andy dear. I am off to spend some time with your mother in the country, away from prying eyes and situations where I might embarrass myself.”

“Exactly!” Ian exclaimed.

Olivia shot him a look of disgust. “Yes, well, except for the chicken coop part.”

“But you said you were not taking her to Mother.” Andy furrowed her brow in concentration, and then turned to her brother, and said, “Ian, you should have told me sooner.”

His sister really did have a lovely habit of not waiting for him to answer a question.

“He did not want to embarrass me,” Olivia answered quickly. “You understand.”

Andy looked between them. “No, actually.”

“But, really, Ian, we must ensure that Lord Crandle tells the truth to Sir Richard.” Olivia switched the subject conveniently. “Perhaps if we lurk in some darkened corner and listen?”

“Oh yes!” Andy agreed. “Beatrice seems in a very good mind at the moment. I’m sure ’twill do no harm.”

“Believe me, Andy, Beatrice can do much harm.”

“You give me much too much credit, Sir Ian.”

“I believe that I give you too little, cousin.”

Olivia smiled sweetly. “How flattering.” She put her hand over his, which still gripped her arm, and with one touch his anger and frustration melted into lust. “I do believe that is the nicest thing you have ever said to me.”

Ian stared at Olivia for a moment, his skin on fire where she touched him. And then he turned, deliberately brushing against the curve of her pushed-up breast. He could not help but smile as he watched the hollow of her throat deepen slightly as her breath caught.

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