Page 5 of Once a Scoundrel

She stiffened at the subtle flirtation. Drat her flip-flopping stomach! And drat him for being so charming, for being so...him. He’d always been able to flummox her with only a passing compliment. Apparently, some things never changed.

“Mama is thrilled to have you as our guest,” she commented, swiftly changing topics. Best to keep the conversation away from flirtations and firmly on the painfully proper.

“I would never refuse an invitation from the duchess.” He glanced across the room in their parents’ direction, then looked down into her eyes as he turned her in the corner and led her back across the floor. “Or miss an opportunity to see you again.”

She ignored the butterflies in her belly, knowing his words were only empty flattery. “How odd, because Hartsfield is only a short ride from Elmhurst Park, and you returned to England in June,” she reminded him, an air of pique permeating her voice. “You’re a bit late in paying a call to close family friends.”

His smile faded. “I am, and for that I apologize. You know how much you mean to me.” He squeezed her fingers and added quickly, “How much all the Westovers do. But I had business to attend to at Elmhurst Park that kept me away.”

She didn’t believe that. When had he ever cared about his estate? During the years he’d been gone—long before that, if truth be told—she’d heard rumors about the mismanagement there by a series of land agents he’d hired to care about the estate in his stead. But there was another rumor that had caught her attention...“I’ve heard that you’ve decided to resign your commission and remain in England.”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” he half-muttered, gazing down into her eyes. “I do have a marquessate and responsibilities here, you know.”

“Oh, I know that.” She gave a pointed lift of her brow. “I’m just surprised that you do.”

Hisexpression hardened at her chastisement, then softened into a grimace. “I suppose I deserve that.”

Faith supposed he deserved a lot more for running away to join the army and leaving his family worried. Leavingher. And if the rumors about his having a mistress and illegitimate son were true, oh, how much more he deserved!

“I’ll admit that in the past I’ve been a bit...”

“Inconsiderate?” she prompted, unable any longer to keep her anger at bay. If it were possible to cut a man while waltzing in his arms, this was it. “Selfish? Irresponsible? Callous for not considering your mother’s worry,allof our worry—”

“Yes, all that,” he wisely interrupted and twirled her through a tight circle before she could describe more of the concern and pain he’d left in his wake. “But I’m a different man now. I’ve come back to England to start over.”

Ha! And tigers changed their stripes. “I don’t—”

“Starting with you, Faith.”

The sincerity in his voice startled her, so much that she tripped. He tightened his hold around her and expertly kept her upright in his arms and moving through the steps. Surprised, she stared into his eyes, her pulse beating so furiously that she feared he could feel it.

“Me?” she squeaked. And drat his eyes for glittering like that at her discomfort!

Except that what she felt when he gazed so earnestly into her eyes wasn’t discomfort. Far from it. A warmth simmered low inside her, the comfort of an old friendship mixed with the familiar longing she’d always felt for him, and when he squeezed her fingers, an electric tingle shot up her arm to her breasts, pebbling her nipples beneath her bodice.

“But I meant nothing to you,” she protested softly, somehow keeping her voice from breaking. “And I told you, I’ve forgotten all about it. There’s nothing to forgive—”

“That’s a damned lie if ever I heard one,” he bit out.

She stopped dancing, too stunned to care that the other couples had to step around them or that a new round of whispers went up across the ballroom.

“I was an arse for leaving you the way I did,” he explained ruefully, bitter anger aimed at himself, “without so much as an explanation.”

“Yes,” she agreed in a breathless whisper, “youwerean arse.”

Wisely ignoring that, he said instead, with remorse thickening his voice, “And for that you have a right to blame me.”

She tried to pull her hand away, but he held tight to her fingers, refusing to release her. “It doesn’t matter any—”

“I want your forgiveness, Faith. I will do anything to have it.” He sucked in an uneasy breath. “Can you at least make an attempt to forgive me?”

The sincerity on his face sliced into her, leaving a raw wound in her belly. “I don’t know if I can...I don’t know...” Fresh tears stung at her eyes, and her words choked.

“All I ask is that you try.” He tenderly squeezed her fingers.

She gave a jerky nod. “I’ll try.” It was the most she could promise now, when her confused heart simply didn’t know what to feel.

He took her back into position in his arms. They danced on silently for several more measures before he murmured, “You must have hated me.”