The Wicked Baron Read Online Free Page B

around the crowded ballroom. Her aunt was at her side, regarding her with some concern.
    ‘Pray do not tell me you have the headache, when everything is going so very well. Come, child, your next dance partner will be looking for you. I am so pleased for you—all but two dances taken this evening! It can be a little difficult when one is new to town, but I knew that as soon as the gentlemen saw how well you dance they would come begging to be presented to you.’
    ‘And did Lord—Lord Darvell ask to be presented, Aunt?’ Carlotta tried to keep her voice casual.
    ‘Oh, yes. He came straight up to me and begged for an introduction.’ She dropped her voice to say confidentially, ‘Carlotta, Darvell is a very wild young man.’
    ‘I know that, Aunt. The Wicked Baron. I have heard all about him.’
    ‘Oh, well, I should not call him wicked , exactly,’ temporised Lady Broxted, determined to be fair. ‘Indeed, no one has heard anything of him for the past twelve months,but his conduct before that, when he was still in the army—well, it is not fitting that I should tell you everything, but you are best to beware of him, my love.’
    ‘If he is so very dangerous, I am surprised that you should introduce him to me!’
    Lady Broxted sighed. ‘I know, but Broxted is well acquainted with the family and it would be very difficult not to acknowledge the connection. I think it a great pity that Darvell sold out. Mayhap he thinks to settle down.’ She tapped Carlotta’s arm with her fan. ‘He may be looking out for a rich wife, for I believe he has not a penny to his name. If so, then he may set out to charm you, Carlotta, but your uncle would not wish for a liaison there , my love.’
    Carlotta gave a brittle laugh. ‘You need have no fears in that direction, Aunt!’
    ‘Good. However, one cannot deny that he is very engaging and will make you a handsome dance partner. By the bye, his brother James owns Malberry Court. I tell you this so that you are forewarned; we must not let slip your family’s connection with the house, must we?’
     

    By the time Lord Darvell returned to claim his dance, Carlotta had decided she would be cool and aloof. She would treat his lordship as if they had never met. However, when he took her hand in his own firm grasp, she was not prepared for the surge of emotion that seared through her. She had closed her mind to those first long months after she had left Malberry, the lonely nights when she had cried herself to sleep. Now with one touch he had brought it all rushing back, the longing, the desire and the sheer, blinding agony of finding he had gone.
    Carlotta bit on her lip; even now she could not bring herself to think too much of those dark, empty days, afraid that if she did not keep it locked away, her grief would grow and consume her. It was better to concentrate on her anger. He had betrayed her and she wanted to hurt him as he had hurt her. She set her mind to consider how best to do it. Eyes glittering, she answered his attempts to converse with monosyllables, earning a frowning look from her partner. When he suggested they should sit out the second dance she silently acquiesced and accompanied him to a quiet alcove. He smiled at her as they sat down together.
    ‘You are looking very well, Carlotta. I hardly recognise you.’
    She unfurled her fan. ‘La, I am glad of that, my lord! I vow I was such a gauche little thing when we first met.’
    ‘You were charming.’
    Carlotta had not wasted her time at Miss Currier’s seminary. She summoned up memories of a certain rich, spoiled, young lady she had met there, and with the sole aim of distancing herself from him as soon as politely possible, she gave a very creditable titter.
    ‘Oh, dear me, I was utterly innocent then, and ready to make any number of mistakes. Thank heaven my uncle the earl found me when he did.’
    ‘Do you think so?’
    ‘O lord, yes! I had no polish at all, and no possibility of making a great match,