Page 71 of A Relentless Rake

“Oh, Miss Everett!” Daphne dramatically covered her heart with her hands. “Wasn’t Signorina Poggioli just divine?”

Mary nearly swooned in agreement. “Justdivine!”

Olivia suppressed a smile. The two girls had overheard Mrs. Cavendish make the same comment about the opera singer who had performed that evening’s entertainment, in the same overly dramatic fashion as if she were the diva instead of Signorina Poggioli, and now they were parroting it back. Just as they had done earlier when they’d held their coffee cups so affectedly that Olivia was afraid one of them would put someone’s eye out from the way their elbows jutted into the air.

But they were having a good time on their first society outing, and Olivia was relieved to have them here. Oh, it was cowardly of her, but if she surrounded herself with the girls—whose exuberant excitement was enough to keep everyone away—then she wouldn’t have to speak to anyone. She could hide in corners and on terraces until it was time for tonight’s command performance to be over. Then she could collect Justine from her aunt and go home, where she could slink away to her room, pull the covers up over her head, and cry in peace.

So far, her plan was working. Most of the guests stayed as far away from the chatty girls as possible. Including Alec. Although after what he’d said to her in his study, she was certain he was doing everything in his power to remain as far away fromheras possible.

He shouldn’t have been here. She should have been safe from him. After all, the Earl of St James didn’t attend such tame society events as this. Yet there he was, his very tall, broad-shouldered, and undeniably handsome presence constantly reminding her of the horrible mistake she’d made of being in his arms.

She would have to be more careful in the future. For tonight, though, the best course of action was simply to avoid him and somehow find a way to…a way to…

The girls weren’t talking.Thatwas never a good sign.

Olivia felt the tiny hairs on her arms stand on end as she gazed at the two girls, who both gaped speechless at something, orsomeone, behind her. She knew from the sinking in the pit of her stomach—

“Good evening, ladies.” Alec’s deep voice rumbled down her spine and sent a cascade of hot shivers prickling across her skin. “I trust you’re having an enjoyable time.”

Daphne and Mary nodded dumbly in unison, their eyes wide as tea saucers. They made a frantic grab for each other’s hands, as if to assure themselves that the moment was real and they were truly being addressed by the Earl of St James.

“Good to hear it,” he murmured, sarcasm lightly touching his voice.

Olivia could sense his strong body just behind hers. She knew without having to look that he was smiling at Daphne and Mary with that charming grin of his, the same one that found its way unbidden into her dreams every night.

“I know what will make this evening even better for you.”

Olivia held her breath and waited suspiciously.

“You should ask Lady Gantry to introduce you to Signorina Poggioli.”

For a moment, neither girl moved. They just stared past her, entranced, as if he were a living god come down from Olympus.

Olivia rolled her eyes.

“Tell her that St James insisted you be introduced,” he prompted.

They squealed with delight at having an earl’s introduction, then jumped up and down before rushing back into the music room to descend upon Lady Gantry and the unsuspecting opera singer like a very small plague of locusts.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Olivia scolded in a low voice and turned to face him. Despite all the reasons why she needed to stay away, her body panged with sudden arousal at his nearness, and her heart tugged her toward him.

Inhaling a sharp breath, she stepped back.

He frowned at her reaction, but together, they watched the two girls gush out compliments to the singer. “I wanted to speak with you alone.”

“And so trapped that poor woman.” Yet Olivia couldn’t help the pulse of satisfaction that Signorina Poggioli was now being bombarded by a hundred questions at once, since that same very alluring, very buxom woman had sent flirtatious looks in Alec’s direction all evening. “Go on, then,” she urged curtly. “We’re as alone now as we’re ever going to be again.”

He visibly stiffened at the cutting edge to her words.

She immediately regretted them, and her shoulders slumped as she softened. “What do you want to say to me?”

“That night at Vauxhall, what happened…”

She caught her breath to steel herself for what was coming. He’d cut right to the crux, as if he were afraid the signorina would remember she was a diva and send the girls away at any moment and back to the terrace to interrupt them.

“You surprised me.”

“So I gathered.” Her heart plunged to the ground. He didn’t offer an apology. She was so naïve to expect one! A man like Alec Sinclair would never apologize to a woman, certainly not for having her in his arms.