Page 6 of A Sporting Chance (The Chances #8)

And neither do I , she reminded herself.

Except… Except that for her, that meant wearing one less petticoat when it was hot and hoping no one would notice, or helping herself to a third cake in company, even if it was frowned upon.

At its most extreme, it meant pretending she was of the working class and brazenly walking about without a chaperone, as she was doing right now.

As if her parents had even thought their reputations were worth salvaging enough to send a chaperone along with the sisters when they’d fled the scandal.

But she did not gad about paying men to permit women where women were not permitted!

“Are you not coming?”

Kathleen blinked. Lord Leopold had stepped through the door, which she had not noticed had now been opened, and was waiting for her to follow.

Follow, into a place she was not permitted to learn a skill ladies were not encouraged to practice.

Just as she was about to make her excuses and hurry home, ready to share the whole adventure with her sister, Kathleen caught Lord Leopold’s eye.

And saw the challenge.

“Of course,” Kathleen said airily, stepping forward as though she had been merely detained by her appreciation of the external architecture.

Her lips parted as the door closed behind her. The external architecture was nothing to the internal architecture.

There were columns, yes, but these were wider and taller, reaching the top of a double-height ceiling.

A great chandelier hung between two of them, illuminating, in the evenings, she was certain, the great expanse.

She could barely see the ceiling, but what she could make out was elegantly painted with Greek and Roman gods, all in their splendor.

There was red velvet carpet placed upon the marble floor, and even that was impeccably clean and extravagantly impressive.

“Now, let’s get outside and find some butts.”

Kathleen almost fell over. “I beg your pardon?”

“Butts, Miss Andilet, butts,” Lord Leopold said calmly as he strode forward toward a door. “We must have butts.”

Had she truly heard him say—no, she could not have…

“Butts, Miss Andilet!” he called over his shoulder, not bothering to glance behind him, perhaps presuming that she was following him.

Kathleen knew she should not. This man was a rake, that much was certain. Shouting such a word about the place, where anyone could hear him, anyone could see them together…

Her feet darted forward, her body lunging toward the man who was most evidently not suitable for her company. He had stepped through the door and she followed him onto the green lawn and blazing sunshine.

They were where he had been before. Kathleen looked to her right and yes, there was the woodland where she and Angela had hidden.

It looked remarkably close, from here. Bother—no wonder they had seen her.

“Excellent, there is no one here,” said Lord Leopold brusquely, pulling off his jacket.

“I…” Kathleen had intended to say something, and it would have been a very intelligent, clever something, she was certain.

If she had not been momentarily distracted by the fact that Lord Leopold was taking all his clothes off.

Not all of them. Kathleen realized in an instant that he was merely repeating the change of attire that he and all the other men had performed when she had been watching before.

The jacket off, the cuffs of his shirt unbuttoned, and the slow roll of his sleeves up his arms. His very strong arms. His arms that looked strong yet soft. Why, if she reached out—

Kathleen managed to stop herself. Thank goodness Lord Leopold had been looking in the other direction.

“I hoped we would be alone,” Lord Leopold said as he glanced her way, his cheeks going a little red.

Her own cheeks could have boiled a kettle.

Now what, precisely, did he mean by that? Did he mean that he’d hoped to get her alone—for what purpose? Or was he embarrassed by her, mortified by her presence and desperate not to be seen by her?

“So. Archery.”

Kathleen blinked. Archery . Yes, that was the reason they were here. That was the pretense, that was the bet. The bet she had made merely so that she could spend time in this man’s presence.

Her father was right. She was just as bad as her sister.

“Have you any experience with archery before? Any at all?” asked Lord Leopold, as though they were seated at a dining table and he was merely asking her a question.

The sun was too bright. That, or Kathleen was being dazzled by the man, which arguably was just as likely.

“Miss Andilet?”

Kathleen , she wanted to say. Call me ‘Kathleen.’

She was not that daft. “No. No,” she said firmly, attempting to get a hold of herself. “No, I have no experience with archery whatsoever.”

“In that case, we will start with the basics,” Lord Leopold said with a brief smile. “Please look at my butt.”

Kathleen almost fell over her own skirt.

“I…I do not believe you wish me to do that, my lord,” she whispered, hardly able to speak as her attention was inexorably drawn to the impressive form of the man’s behind.

She really shouldn’t have looked at it, and she really should not have enjoyed looking at it—but then, the man had instructed her to do so.

After all, it was perfectly natural. A lady could enjoy and appreciate the fine form of a gentleman, as long as he did not notice. After being invited to do so directly…

“Now, we aim toward the butt in the hope of hitting the center,” came Lord Leopold’s most intrusive words.

Kathleen blinked. Her gaze had settled on the man’s delicious derriere in his trousers, but now that she looked up, she could see that Lord Leopold was pointing at the target several yards away.

At… At the target.

“The—the target is called a ‘butt’?” she asked in horror.

Lord Leopold turned to her, his slackened face a picture of amazement. “Why of course. What did you think I was speaking of?”

And this , Kathleen thought, is the moment for the ground to open up and swallow me whole, and for my existence to be written out of the history books.

Not that she would ever make it into the history books. That was for gentlemen. And queens.

“Butts,” she said decisively, begging the flush that was flowing up her stomach not to reach her décolletage. “We aim arrows at…at butts.”

“Just so. The crucial thing to remember…”

Whatever it was, Kathleen would never remember. One could not remember what one had never heard.

Because as she looked at Lord Leopold, she was a tad taken with the curve of his mouth, the way his tongue flicked over his lips as he spoke, the confidence of his voice… Not the words themselves.

Kathleen swallowed hard. She should not have been getting so easily distracted by such a gentleman. She should not have been getting so easily distracted by any gentleman.

Here he was, risking his… Well, not his reputation, exactly, but certainly risking gossip by abiding by his side of the bet to teach her archery, and all she could do was think about his behind!

She glanced at it one final, she told herself, time. It really was a most delicious—

“Are you paying attention?”

“Butt,” Kathleen said instinctively, her eyes flickering to his face.

Lord Leopold was smiling. Why he was smiling, when she was busy making a complete ass of herself, she did not know.

Wondering whether the ground truly would swallow her up if she continued to make such an idiot of herself, Kathleen tried to laugh. “I mean—butts are a part of archery! Yes, I am paying attention. Most certainly, I was not distracted in the least.”

His raised eyebrow suggested her witty repartee had not exactly worked. “Indeed. In that case, can you tell me anything about archery?”

Kathleen swallowed, but she stepped to the side and airily waved a hand. “That is a butt.”

Do not look at his—

“Yes, well done,” said Lord Leopold with a laugh. “Anything else?”

If only her mind had been a tad more focused. If only she had tried harder to listen to his words.

If only Lord Leopold Chance did not have such a delightful—

“No,” Kathleen admitted, a wry smile creasing her lips but swiftly disappearing. “I was not paying attention.”

“I thought as much. You know, it’s not very fair to bet me that I cannot teach you,” Lord Leopold pointed out quietly, “when you are the one not attending.”

Words rushed through her mind. Words like, I was attending to you, but not a part of you I should be staring at .

Words like you are intoxicating and I want to stand closer to you .

Words like I don’t know why you agreed to this foolish bet.

We didn’t even agree terms and that makes me wonder why you are here.

And how I can keep you here.

Words like that. Words Kathleen would never say.

“Let’s start again,” said Lord Leopold brightly. “So. Your bow is constructed of two primary elements: the bow and the string. The bow has an upper limb and a lower belly, either side of the grip. The strings…”

And she truly did try to pay attention. Kathleen had rather enjoyed lessons with the governess she had shared with Angela and their brother, while he had remained at home, and her mind was curious.

If anyone else had been giving the lecture—old Miss Clarke, for example, the governess who had taught her years ago—she would most definitely have paid attention.

As it was…

“…and that is why yew is the best wood for bows, because of its strength and flexibility,” finished Lord Leopold. “Any questions?”

Questions. A thousand questions, most of them inappropriate.

Kathleen tried to smile. “You know a great deal about archery.”

Flattery was one of the keenest ways to entertain a gentleman. Her mother had been very clear on that; to pretend ignorance and flatter a man’s intelligence, that was the surest way to his affections.

Both Angela and Kathleen had once attempted to argue with their mother on this, but their mother had just smiled. “Well, it worked with your father.”

Apparently, it was not going to work with Lord Leopold. He frowned. “It is not ‘a great deal.’ It is the basics. Do you seek to flatter me, Miss Andilet?”

“No!” Heaven forbid . “No, I just—”

“Because this is naught but a lesson. An archery lesson, to be clear,” he continued, and there was a strange sort of stiffness in his back now, his hands clasped behind it.

“I would not wish—I mean, you and I both have reputations to maintain. We are out in the open, I am not hiding what we are doing, for I do not believe it needs to be hidden. I have nothing to hide. But still, you know there are others who would not approve of you being here with me without a chaperone present.”

Kathleen blinked. It was a relatively long speech to defend himself from an accusation she had not made.

And the comment about the chaperone? She would not address it.

If she did, she might have to explain what she and her sister were doing in London to begin with, and she had not the heart for that at present.

“I just… You know more than I do. About archery, I mean.”

Lord Leopold appeared to be battling something internally. Precisely what, Kathleen did not know. Maybe he regretted rising to her bait. Maybe he realized just what a foolish thing he had done, to agree to teach her archery.

“Let us talk of the history of archery,” he said quietly, his eyes flickering with interest.

Not an interest in me , Kathleen reminded herself. In archery.

“Yes, let’s,” she said weakly. “That feels like a safe topic.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Nothing,” Kathleen said hastily, trying to smile at the handsome man who surely had no business being so strong. “Tell me… Tell me why butts are called ‘butts.’”