'Tis the Season for Lady Sarah - Maggie Dallen Page 0,11

mother and Marigold waiting for her to join them…she swallowed the words of explanation and gave a short nod instead. “I know him well enough,” she said stiffly. “But I do promise that even you will find no fault with my behavior this evening.” She turned to walk away but paused. “Not because of you,” she said, just a little too sharply. “But for Max and Marigold’s sake.”

He arched a cynical brow but she did not give him a chance to answer. Fortunately, the arrival of the first guests saved her from having to be polite one moment longer than necessary. What did she care what Everly thought—of her or Mr. Stallworth?

Just because Mr. Stallworth did not have a title was no reflection on his character. And his lack of communication these past eighteen months had been due to him being away on a voyage, anyone could understand that.

As for his accusation that he was a rogue, a rake… Pfft.

Though their time together had been brief, she knew a pure heart when she met one and Mr. Stallworth was most definitely a man of quality. She’d prove it to Everly and everyone else.

And then they’d see that not only was she really in love but her judgment was sound. She was a woman now, and able to make good choices with her life.

4

Theo glared at Sarah. Her nose was in the air again.

Granted she had an adorable nose and an even cuter chin when it was angled up like that, exposing the long slender column of her neck, but still.

She annoyed him to no end.

They were once again locked in a battle of wills. His hands curled into fists at his sides. He wished to shake some sense into her. Hold her in his arms and make her see the error in her thinking. Stallworth was nothing that she believed.

She’d painted a lovely picture of the man with her youthful and wholesome brush but paintings were often fiction. The artist's eye could create the ideal from the mundane, making a man who was less than average into a work of art.

Then he snorted at his own thoughts. What was it about Sarah that made him wax poetic? Dramas, plays, paintings. Who was the fool again?

At least Sarah had real beauty and a great many redeemable qualities. He could justify his own behavior. What he didn’t understand was why she insisted on putting that slimy merchant on a pedestal.

But the air he’d been holding in rushed quickly from his lungs again.

He knew why.

Sarah had fallen in love.

And not with Theo.

He pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. What was he thinking? He didn’t want her to love him. Did he?

He was happy being the emotionally distant rake. Keep his dalliances light and his emotional connections even lighter. The one who didn’t end up hurt because he never gave his heart away.

And falling for Sarah, that was most definitely a heartbreak waiting to happen. She’d been nothing but clear on that account. She was already in love no matter how unworthy the man.

And he had no intention of allowing the attraction he felt for her to grow into anything more than a minor nuisance.

He shook his head.

He’d been in love once. It was a state of affairs he’d never allow again.

The first woman he’d given his heart to had been Lady Evelyn Chase. A dark-haired beauty with a laugh that could fill a room. She’d been larger than life and he’d slipped under her spell almost instantly.

When her dark sparkling eyes had met his…the rest of the world had melted away.

He’d gone to every party that she’d attended. Quietly, they’d become inseparable. At least he’d thought so.

There had been signs that all was not well, but he’d ignored them. She’d insisted on only dancing one dance every ball. She’d give excuses why he couldn’t come to court her. But she’d smoothed over any fears her qualifiers created with other, prettier words.

Their relationship was special, she’d said. Just for them. She didn’t want anyone else to break their bubble of happiness. Not yet.

And when they’d slipped out to the garden to share kiss after kiss, Theo had known he’d propose to this woman. He’d pushed his fears aside and focused on his feelings.

It was Max who’d helped him see the truth.

It had begun when they’d been at White’s the day after a ball. Max had seen him slip away with Evelyn the night before. But his friend hadn’t been happy