Page 3 of Just Think of the Scandal (The Fairplace Family Novellas #2)

M r. Fairplace smelled like sandalwood and lavender, and his navy silk waistcoat had brass buttons stamped with fleur-de-lis.

He had deep brown eyes, she realized. Dark chocolate, like her favorite treat. And his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled.

Eliska hadn’t paid one unattached gentleman any more attention than the others. She’d conversed with them, played croquet and cards with them, listened to the girls discuss who was the most handsome—but she’d not been this close to one of them. They hadn’t paid her any particular attention, either. When the girls had debated who was most handsome, Eliska had voted for the Scot, a very tall, long-limbed gentleman with twinkling blue eyes, a Grecian nose, and a broad forehead that made him look intelligent.

She was wrong, she realized now. Mr. Fairplace was the most handsome gentleman present. Those warm, deep eyes were framed by thick lashes and his shoulders barely fit into his dinner jacket. His hair, she noticed now, was wavy, with life enough in it to be interesting. And those side whiskers accentuated a square jaw with a cleft in the chin. Oh, yes, very delicious looking. A heat began in the center of her chest, spreading across her body as every part of her became aware of every part of him.

“Miss Czerninová? Miss Elizabeth Czerninová? Are you well?”

Eliska blinked as she suddenly became aware of his concerned look, just a few inches from her face. “Oh, yes, perfectly.” She watched his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed; it was perfectly at her eye level. She fought to keep her breathing even.

Mr. Fairplace smiled, friendly and cheerful. “Good. I was concerned you were ill for a moment there.” He was so close she could feel warmth radiating from his chest. The toes of his black shoes had disappeared under her skirts. “So, tell me, what are the parlor games in the Bohemian Lands like?”

They stood as close to one another as if they were waltzing. Eliska hid a nervous smile. Waltzing wasn’t scandalous—anymore—because the couple was in constant movement. But they weren’t moving at all. In fact, Eliska could tilt her head forward and rest her forehead against his shoulder.

She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t . But she could if she wanted to.

She licked her dry lips to give herself another heartbeat to pull herself together. “Um, yes, probably quite similar. Though I’ve never played this game before.”

His eyes roved her face. “Me, either,” he whispered conspiratorially.

It took Eliska a second to remember what he was talking about. “It’s entertaining to be sure.” She flashed a nervous smile.

As the game continued, Eliska found herself hoping that he wouldn’t be pulled away. He wasn’t, not until the end. By that time Mr. Fairplace had told her about his family home in London, his older brother, his wife, and their brood of children, and inquired how long she’d been at Blatherwycke Hall (two months already), how much longer she’d be there (she didn’t know), how she enjoyed England (lovely but it rained a lot), and how she liked having Evelyn for a cousin (she demurred, he laughed).

Eliska answered him evenly, but her heat pounded at his nearness and she knew she was just one comment away from an embarrassing blush the entire time.

When the game ended, everyone properly in a circle holding hands, she sighed with relief. A house party is no place to form a tendre, she scolded herself. Eliska was in no condition for courtship, as Victoria was always quick to remind. She was going home soon.

Mrs. Baker snored quietly in her seat, empty glass toppled over in her lap. It was past midnight now, but no one was eager for bed. Most of the girls were blushing, like Eliska, and a few of the men seemed quite confident in their charms.

“Oh, let’s play Farmyard!” Victoria Glumley clapped her hands, fluttering her eyelashes at Lord William.

“I don’t think I’m familiar with that one,” Schoolgirl said.

“It’s quite simple really,” Lord William said with a smirk. “We all pretend to be animals.”

“Hush, Lord William.” Victoria sent him a saucy look.

The twins glanced at one another, unsure. “We’ve played this before—”

“Capital.” Victoria cut them off. She stood in the center of the room, in command. “Everyone, find a seat near one another.”.

“Who has not played Farmyard before?”

Eliska, Schoolgirl, and the Scot raised their hands.

Victoria smiled wickedly. “Brilliant. Everyone must shut their eyes, and I will go around the room and whisper a farm animal in each person’s ear. Then, when I shout ‘farmyard!’ we will all open our eyes, jump up, and make the noise of the animal we’ve been assigned. It will be a loud cacophony.”

Lord William grinned, stroking his mustache.

Eliska obediently closed her eyes and waited for Victoria to come around and whisper in her ear. After a few moments of listening to the men clear their throats, Victoria’s skirts swishing, and the fire popping in the hearth, she finally felt Victoria bend close and breathe into her ear, “Donkey.”

Another moment passed, and then Victoria clapped her hands. “Open your eyes!”

Eliska opened them.

“Farmyard!” Victoria shouted merrily.

Eliska jumped up and brayed as she’d been told. “Hee-haw! Hee-haw!”

Everyone sat in their seats, staring at her with varying emotions: mirth, satisfaction, embarrassment, and pity. No one else jumped up to perform their animal noise.

She froze, mortification turning her body to ice. She frantically scanned each person’s face. Had she misunderstood? She glanced at Victoria for understanding.

Victoria stood in the center of the room, holding her stomach and biting her cheeks to keep from laughing.

Lord William burst into chuckles, and Victoria could hold it in no longer. She laughed loudly.

“Oh, Miss Czerninová! You should see your face.” She wiped tears from her eyes. “Goodness, that was quite a show. How funny!”

Schoolgirl, eyes wide, looked back and forth between Eliska and Victoria. Then she burst into high-pitched giggles, the relief on her face so evident it was obvious to all that she laughed to pacify Victoria and never draw her attention the way Eliska had.

The rest of the group chuckled, some uncomfortably.

Eliska sat back down, face as red as a tomato, she was certain. She wouldn’t be humiliated. Not by a little English slip of a girl who was trying to impress an aristocrat. Eliska forced herself to laugh as if she’d been in on the prank all along. “How clever!” Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and her cheeks hurt from smiling so broadly. “What a funny English game.”

She refused to look at Mr. Fairplace. She’d thought he was so polite, so kind. He’d never displayed any sort of rudeness or meanness in any other game. Was it her?

Was she not wanted here? She forced herself to keep laughing as she looked at Evelyn, her cousin, her host.

He was laughing, too. “Ah, Elizabeth.” He shook his head. “You’re a good sport.”

Eliska’s belly flared hot with a coal of anger, but she couldn’t show it now. “Of course, cousin. What else is the foreign relation for, but to amuse the guests?” She waited until the laughing stopped, watching as Victoria sat beside Lord William, a smug smile playing across her lips.

After two minutes of the group deliberating on the next game, she stood and said quietly, “I’m heading for bed now.”

Flower and Schoolgirl waved goodbye. Mr. Fairplace frowned at her. She refused to meet his eyes.

Instead of heading for her bedchamber, however, she stopped at the little drawing room at the top of the stairs. It had a low fire lit in the grate and a stack of books on the side table by the settee.

Eliska couldn’t go to sleep now, not with the laughter roaring in her ears. She blinked away the sting of hot, angry tears. Humiliated just because Victoria could. Eliska flopped onto the settee and picked up the first book she saw, hoping to drown out the memory until she was so tired she’d fall asleep instantly.