Page 2

Unbelievable.

A most terribly odious person, if she ever saw one. And she was supposed to marry him? Tie the rest of her lifetohim? Alexander had to have been drinking when he conceived the brilliant idea that they would make a fine match.

Scarlett would much rather hang herself with the drapery cord than wed the Marquess of Colton.

“There is no need for that, My dear Lady.” The Marquess rose from his plush seat. “I shall make all the necessary arrangements. No need to fret at all.”

Her mama shot her a look as if to say,“See? He is a nice man, after all.”

Scarlett was fairly certain that the Marquess possessed scales underneath his human skin. The man somehow justslitheredover to her, putting himself right up to her face without so much as a warning. Even his smile made her want to bolt.

“All my darling betrothed needs to do is be there for the wedding.” His cold blue gaze narrowed on her as he gripped her wrist a little too tightly.

“Unhand me, My Lord,” she told him through gritted teeth.

But he did not seem to pay her any heed at all.

“You are hurting me.”

Still, the Marquess of Colton did not relax his grip, only grinned ever wider as he stooped and looked at her a little more closely. “You will not embarrass me, will you, my sweet?”

Sweet? She would give him so much sweetness he would drown in it!

She smiled back up at him. “Your embarrassment will only be compounded if you continue this ludicrous pursuit, My Lord.”

There. She saw it—the weak point in his scaly, snakey armor.

His gaze flickered. His grip on her relaxed the slightest bit.

And Scarlett went in for the blow that she hoped would finally knock him back.

“I am no longer pure.”

A stunned silence fell over the room, and the Marquess immediately dropped her wrist as if she had scalded him. Scarlett rubbed the tender flesh with a triumphant smile.

“What?” Her mama’s gasp sounded much louder than it truly was. “Scarlett!”

I am so sorry, Mama, but I must do this.

She shook her head and smiled sadly at her mother. “It is true, Mama.”

Alexander closed his eyes and groaned, “Oh, dear God in heaven!”

At this point, Scarlett was confident she was the only woman in the whole of London to gleefully admit to her scandalous behavior. If ruination was what it took to shake the slithering Marquess of Colton off her tracks—and her wrists—then she would embrace the reputation of a soiled woman most fervently.

“I… I kissed someone,” she admitted hoarsely. She added in an embarrassed look for good measure. No harm in further fueling her disgrace.

The Dowager Countess looked as if she might faint right there on the expensive carpet as she swayed on her feet. She had gone visibly pale as she looked at her daughter with wide, frightened eyes.

“W-When?” she stammered. “W-Who?”

Scarlett took a deep breath and prayed to the high heavens that this falsehood would prove to be her saving grace in this rather dire situation.

“The house party at Fitzroy Park. There was a treasure hunt, you see, and…” she trailed off dramatically and raised teary eyes to her mother.

When her mama’s eyes widened even more, Scarlett knew that her mother had connected the dots. Added two and two to make four.

If her declaration had been the spark, and the admission of the details became the kindling, now it was time to fan the flames. With luck, she’d make sure this whole scandal grow into a conflagration wild enough to keep the Marquess in eternal disgust and, hopefully, away from presumptuous thoughts of matrimonial bliss with her.