If the Earl Only Knew (The Daring Marriages) by Amanda Forester Page B

grin. “Gave up trying to make you and Dare fashionable by putting you in decent clothing. Decided instead to make homespun the newest thing.”
    Kate stared at him. “You can do that?”
    “You watch me.” Tristan grinned at her like a cat with a mouse under its paw. “And I spread the word that Sir Richard’s cravat, which I never did like, is an abysmal failure. I now call any fashion flop a ‘Sir Richard’!”
    * * *
    “Wynbrook House. Why did it have to be Wynbrook House?” muttered Silas Bones, his feet freezing in the slush of the London streets. He was careful to remain in the shadows outside of light cast by the gaslight.
    “Don’t like the house, Cap’n?” asked his second, a wiry man with a stocking cap pulled low over his brow.
    “Went to Eaton with John Arlington, and now look at me, trying to break into his house. There’s irony for you,” said Silas in the urbane tone of a London gentleman. It would have been more effective had he not been casing a house to rob it.
    “So you want we should leave?” asked the man in a hopeful tone. He would not complain to return to the warmth of the local pub.
    “No. It just makes it harder is all. Darington has gotten rich off of me, and I must reclaim it.” The shame of being forced to steal from the home of an old schoolmate was utterly Darington’s fault. The man had taken not only his fortune, but his self-respect as well…and for that, Darington would pay.
    “Watch the house while I get the others,” Silas commanded. “I want to know when they come and when they go. I cannot afford to be seen.”
    “B-but it’s cold out here!” complained the thin man.
    Silas turned slowly back to the man and glared at him, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
    The man changed his tune. “Watch the house. Aye, Captain.”
    Silas stalked away, his anger growing with every frozen step. This was all Darington’s fault. Whatever it took, Darington’s riches would be his.

Eleven
    Kate was counting the days until her opportunity to leave the presence of Lord Wynbrook. She decided the best approach to her confusing feelings was to push them far beneath her conscious awareness and hope they would never surface again. So far, it had been a losing battle, for which she blamed Wynbrook entirely.
    After her last disastrous ball, Kate was surprised when her hosts invited her to another one. She retreated to her room and considered faking a megrim. A knock on her door caused her heart to flutter. Perhaps it was Wynbrook?
    Kate shook her head at her own nonsense. Of course it was not Wynbrook. “Enter!” she called, trying to gather her wits.
    Her brother stalked through the door and gave her a dark look. “Not another ball,” grumbled Robert.
    “You were the one who wanted to stay here,” Kate shot back at her brother.
    “Hardly thought that meant my presence at…at…”
    “A Christmas party?”
    “Yes! That.”
    “If you could find a bride quicker, we could avoid any more of these social events once we leave Wynbrook House.”
    “That is your best argument for the married state yet,” Robert commented dryly.
    “I don’t suppose,” said Kate with sudden insight, “that you might be interested in Jane? They are feeling pressured into marrying her off quickly, and you already know her, so you would not have to form a new acquaintance.”
    “I already considered the idea, but she would not have me,” said Robert with a sigh.
    “She turned you down? Why?” Kate was outraged on her brother’s behalf. He was worth a thousand Sir Richards at least.
    “She thanked me for the offer but said something about how she wished to marry someone who was in love with her.”
    “Odd notion.”
    “Quite.”
    “What has love to do with marriage?” asked Kate.
    Robert shrugged and retreated out the door. “Need to dress,” he muttered, escaping the befuddling topic of the human heart.
    A few hours later, Kate clutched her brother’s sleeve as they entered