Page 7 of Not a Chance in Hell (The Chances #6)

March 19, 1840

“N ow b-behave—”

“I know how to behave at a card party, Mama,” said Lilianna dismissively as the three of them stepped into the Daltons’ upper sitting room, where the evening card party was taking place. “It’s Samuel you have to worry about.”

He smirked. “Lil, I would never cause trouble.”

“There he is, arguing with his sister in public,” Lilianna said with a grin, nudging her brother. “Utterly incorrigible.”

Their mother sighed. “I sh-should have asked your f-father to accompany us.”

“Never fear. We won’t let you down, Mama,” Lilianna’s brother said resolutely, helping himself to three glasses of wine from the platter of a passing footman and handing them around. “We shall be the pinnacle of… the pinnacle of… what shall we be the pinnacle of, Lil?”

“Propriety,” she said with a wry smile. “I think that’s the word you’re looking for.”

As befit the Chances. They were, after all, the most prestigious guests at this card party, as far as she could tell. There were the Glenarms, the Zouches, though thank goodness without their eldest son, and the Quintrells were here too. She’d heard tell the Braedons had been invited and it would have been lovely to see them again, but Lilianna could not be sorry that they were absent. There was only one person her roving eye was attempting to find.

Her shoulders slumped as she realized he was not there.

“—and p-please don’t lose too m-much—”

“As if I would lose a hand of cards, Mama!” Samuel said beside her.

Lilianna barely listened. She was not here to see him , she told herself determinedly. She did not want to see him at all. Did not miss him at all—the very idea! No. Definitely not. Not at all.

“—won’t you, Lilianna?”

“Whatever you say, Mama,” she said swiftly, without waiting to see what the request had been. Her mother hated Society and had agreed to chaperone Lilianna before Samuel had also agreed to attend. The least she owed her mother was obedience.

Her brother was staring. “I thought you hated whist, Lil.”

Ah . Well, that was why you should heed the conversation going on around you and not just blindly agree to whatever it was your mother wanted.

Lilianna smiled weakly at the older, dimpled woman who had at some point joined their trio. “Oh, Lady Dalton, how lovely to see you. Whist, was it?”

Ignoring her brother’s snorts of laughter, Lilianna swept through the large room to a table with two empty chairs. The two gentlemen beamed at the approaching pair of ladies.

“Lady Lilianna,” one of them said, rising to pull out Lilianna’s chair.

Well, it was not much of a hardship, Lilianna supposed graciously as she accepted her cards. She would sit here for twenty minutes or so, endure whist, a game that had to have been created purposefully to annoy, then return to her mother. Whist could be endured if there was sufficient flattery involved.

For five minutes or so, she lost herself in the game. There was not much else to entertain in the place, after all. Lord Dalton had secured a trio of musicians, but other than that, it was the card tables and the company. There wasn’t much to inspire a mention in the scandal sheets in either direction.

“And that’s a trick!”

Lilianna smiled vaguely at the oval-faced young man who looked so pleased with himself. “So it is.”

Her focus drifted around the room. Was there to be any excitement? There did not appear to be any guests of note, though there was a great deal of chatter over there in the corner…

And there he was.

Her whole body thrummed with anticipation. She had been unable to eke out the guest list from Lady Dalton, but she’d hoped, presumed, that the Earl of Taernsby would be here. And he was.

And he looked…

Lilianna swallowed. It was not appropriate for young ladies to be conscious of just how handsome a man was, and so she attempted not to be. Unfortunately, there was very limited control she could exert over her fluttering pulse and the tingles of heat flowing over her body.

Because her eyes could not look away from the tall, handsome man who laughed so charmingly on the other side of the room. Lilianna’s eyes meandered lazily over the broad shoulders, examined the nape of his neck, noticed the way his crown curled.

Lord Taernsby laughed again and his merriment was a melody Lilianna wanted to hear again. It was most infuriating, but there it was.

It was pleasant to see him there. It was—

“Lady Lilianna,” said a distant voice.

Lilianna blinked. She was still seated at the card table and judging by the way her companions were all staring, it was her turn.

Oh, dear.

“Right, two shillings,” she said hastily, throwing down two coins and immediately returning her attention to Lord Taernsby.

He was no longer alone.

But he wasn’t alone before, was he? Lilianna’s mind whirled as the game around her continued. He had been laughing, so there must have been someone with whom he’d been laughing.

As Lilianna’s attention moved to his companion, her blood ran cold.

A woman.

And not just a woman—that might have been bearable. This woman was beautiful. Stunning. Exquisite. By the delicate jade beading on her gown and the matching jade handle of her fan, it was evident she was a wealthy woman. By the way she tilted her head and giggled, her gaze feeding hungrily on the Earl of Taernsby, she was a woman on the hunt.

Lilianna watched Lord Taernsby lean close to the woman. He murmured something delectable in her ear.

“Lady Lilianna!”

It was only after she had thrown down the cards and stood up, her chair tipping over behind her, that Lilianna realized she had done so. She blinked hazily for a moment at her fellow card players, whose mouths were open and whose lips were making remarks of shock and astonishment.

“But the game—”

“What has happened? Where is she going?”

Lilianna neither heeded them nor replied to them. She was too busy being furious.

How dare he? How dare he?! Flatter her, kiss her, listen to her talk behind a screen like he was a complete imbecile… and flirt with another woman? Court her , whoever she was, perhaps?

No. Absolutely not.

She had never felt rage like this before, never felt pain like this before. She had perhaps never cared like this before, a thought Lilianna swiftly pushed away just as she had pushed away from the table.

She had to speak to him.

All thought of propriety was gone. All concern about what people would say, what the world would see, what people would think—it was all immaterial. She had to speak to him.

“—and then I told him,” the woman was saying flirtatiously, casting looks up at Lord Taernsby that were unsubtle in their meaning, “I was only smiling at him because—oh.”

“Lilianna!” Taernsby growled in pain.

Lilianna ignored him. It was easy to, when the rage of jealousy was still pouring through her veins, forcing her forward.

She’d grabbed him by the collar and began dragging him away from his new friend, continuing to ignore his muttered complaints. What did it matter? She needed answers. She deserved them. And she wasn’t going to ask the questions she needed answering in front of that—that woman!

Lilianna finally released him when she had sufficiently dragged him to the other side of the room. It was quiet here, almost empty. Near the corner was a large potted plant and she pulled him behind it.

There. Still in public and therefore respectable, yet hidden enough to have a private conversation. As long as they kept their voices down.

“What the devil are you doing?”

“I think I should be the one asking questions, thank you!” she fired back in a hiss, glaring. “And keep your voice down.”

“ Me ! Keep my voice down?” Taernsby’s eyes were wide, his expression astonished.

Lilianna drew herself up and increased the ferocity of her glare. “Yes.”

She was panting. When had that happened? She had not noticed. All she had been focused on had been getting that woman away. Or rather, him away from that woman.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw to her satisfaction that the woman had drifted away. She was now surrounded by a trio of gentlemen who were making her laugh just as Taernsby had.

Lilianna turned back to him. “Taernsby, you—”

“Oh, is that what you’re calling me now, is it?” He grinned. “Very intimate, I like it.”

Tempted to swear under her breath just like Benjamin so often did, Lilianna squared her shoulders and glared. “How dare you?!”

Taernsby blinked. “How—How dare I?”

“Yes, how dare you?” Lilianna hissed, trying her best to keep her voice low and a smile on her face. It would not do for anyone to presume that they were sharing something ridiculous.

Like a lovers’ tiff.

“Remind me, who was it who dragged whom over here?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That isn’t the point,” Lilianna said dismissively, ignoring the way that such an expression warmed her. “I can’t believe you. You were just standing there and—and doing it!”

Taernsby frowned. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“Talking to her—laughing with her, flirting with her, whoever she is!” said Lilianna sharply. “I cannot believe you would do that!”

Her words hung between them for a moment.

She had expected him to glare, perhaps, or hang his head in shame. An apology would have been suitable, given the circumstances, and she would accept it graciously, making absolutely sure he would never do it again.

“You’re jealous,” said Taernsby, a delighted expression slipping over his face.

The room must suddenly have gained an influx of people. That was the only explanation for why heat poured through Lilianna’s body, pink rising from her décolletage and surely covering her entire face.

“What? No, I’m not,” she denied automatically.

“You are. You’re jealous.” The tall earl looked down at her with savoring eyes. “Lilianna—”

“ Lady Lilianna,” she corrected sharply.

Her correction did not appear to matter. “Lilianna,” Taernsby said quietly, giving her name a timbre of seduction and intimacy that made her shiver. “You can attempt to berate me all you wish—”

“I will!”

“—but all you will do is convince me that you like me,” he finished with a wicked look in his eye. “You do, don’t you?”

“Nonsense,” Lilianna said cuttingly.

How outrageous for him to even think such a thing, much less say it aloud! Like him? Like him? She could hardly stand the sight of him—but if she was going to have to suffer through it, she refused to do so while seeing him butter up another woman!

When Lilianna looked up warily, Taernsby was grinning.

“Why are you so upset then, Lilianna?”

“I told you before. It’s you . How you act. Not me.”

“Don’t you think we’re a little past that?” His voice was soft, alluring, tempting Lilianna to step closer to hear him. She only just managed to stop herself.

She swallowed—hard. “I just don’t think you should be—”

“Paying any woman attention, other than you.”

Lilianna frowned, her hands clenching into fists by her side. Oh, he is so aggravating! “That is not what I said.”

“But it’s what you thought,” Taernsby countered. “Isn’t it? Tell the truth, Lilianna. You aren’t the sort of person to lie. Tell me. Why did seeing me speak to Lady Marjorie upset you so much?”

Her breath was short, her shoulders tight, and this was all wrong. The idiot man was supposed to just apologize and walk away, speaking to neither herself nor this Lady Marjorie ever again. But instead, she was here, talking to him, needing to talk to him, longing for the conversation to be prolonged.

Something wasn’t right. Was she sick? Coming down with a fever, perhaps?

Lilianna gasped as Taernsby took a step closer to her, mere inches away now.

“Tell me what’s got you so riled up.”

The following words slipped from her mouth before she could stop them—but then, he had told her to tell the truth. “You are supposed to be courting me ,” Lilianna whispered, looking up into his eyes as a jolt passed through her stomach. “Not her. Not anyone else.”

There was a look of triumph in his eyes, but it passed swiftly, leaving only something akin to understanding in its wake.

“You have been remarkably consistent in wishing me not to be courting you, Lilianna,” Taernsby pointed out.

It was most unfair of him to do so. Lilianna could not deny it. How many times had he asked her to marry him now? Four? Five?

And each time she had rebuffed him, and reasonably so. The man was a rake, the Earl of Taernsby, a Nelson, whose family name did not offer much in the way of respectability. If she had known the Countess of Barlow was his relation, she would have refused to meet her for tea. She would not have fallen victim to their little trap.

She was a Chance. There was no possibility of her and him, of the two of them… No. It was not possible.

“You said you didn’t like it,” Taernsby continued, his voice low, persistent. “Except for that kiss, obviously.”

Lilianna’s cheeks burned. She had to stop him speaking. She could not hear about that kiss without thinking about… about how good it had felt. About how she had been unable to stop thinking about it since it had happened.

She had to stop him. “Taernsby—”

“Oh, I do like it when you call me that,” said the earl in a whisper that had the harmonics of a growl. “Yes, I definitely like it.”

Lilianna sighed with exasperation. “My lord, then.”

“Are you truly that contrary?” he challenged her.

She looked up into his eyes and saw cunning, and cleverness, and smiled. “Yes. So, my lord—”

“You know, if you’re not going to be nice to me, then I may as well walk away and find Lady Marjorie again,” Taernsby pointed out easily with a shrug. “Is that what you want, Lilianna?”

Oh, it was all so frustrating! There was such heat within her, clouding her judgment, frustrating her mind into confusion, that she could not think what to say.

No, that was not what she wanted. Couldn’t he see? Had she not been plain enough? There needed to be an understanding between them, though of what variety and nature, she could not fathom.

What I really want , Lilianna thought ominously, is not to have him. Is for no one to have him.

Yes, that was it. She did not want him, but she certainly did not want any other woman getting notions of having him to herself. That would be unsupportable.

What was the term for that?

“You know, anyone would think that you like me,” Taernsby said lazily.

Lilianna’s temper sparked up once more. “I most definitely do not!”

He examined her closely, his attention making her thighs tingle. When he spoke, it was in a low, melodious voice that made Lilianna want to do terrible things. “Then why are your hands on my chest?”

Her gasp was lost in his low chuckle. Lilianna looked down, horrified to discover that she had at some point, goodness knew when, splayed both palms against the Earl of Taernsby’s chest.

He was warm. Very warm. She could feel his heat pouring through his clothes, layers of linen and cotton insufficient to keep his warmth away.

Unheeded, a low moan gushed from her throat.

It happened so quickly, she barely knew what he was doing. Taernsby grabbed her hands, grasping them tightly, then pushed them away.

Lilianna blinked, his absence, the lack of his touch suddenly cold. “Why did you—”

“Why did you ?” Taernsby said quietly, his words urgent. “God, woman, you blow hot and cold. I can’t keep up with you. Do you want me?”

“N-No.”

“Then you don’t want anyone else to have me?” he shot back.

Lilianna swallowed, panic filling her mind.

What did she want? Why couldn’t she stay away from this irritating man? Why was he making it so difficult? What was it drawing her here, making her focus on him to the detriment of everything, of everyone else?

It was akin to losing control and she did not like it. Her mind spun whenever she was in his damned presence and she couldn’t explain it. There was no rational explanation.

She swallowed again and this time noticed how Taernsby’s gaze followed the bob of her throat.

Lilianna smiled. But it wasn’t all one way, was it? No, she had some sort of control or influence or something over him. She just did not understand what it was.

“Look at all the other ladies who are in attendance here tonight, Lilianna.”

Lilianna almost shied away from the sudden connection, but she couldn’t. That would require breathing, and apparently, she did not do that anymore.

The suddenness of his movement had shocked her, but not any less than what Taernsby had moved to do. He was standing behind her now, his right shoulder pressed into hers, and she could drink him in. Oh, this was too much. Too close, too intimate.

“Look at them,” Taernsby repeated quietly.

She should have told him to leave her alone—should have stepped away, forced him to be reasonable. Perhaps tried to force herself to be reasonable.

Yet it was not possible. She was locked in the moment, unable to step away, unwilling to. This intimacy, this closeness, it was far too much.

Yet somehow not enough.

Lilianna obeyed, luxuriating in being ordered about in a way she had never celebrated before. She hated being ordered about—so why did this feel so delicious?

“You see them?”

“I… I see them.” She gasped, just about finding enough air to speak.

Taernsby’s voice was a breeze against her neck and it made her toes tingle. “Every single one of these ladies could be with me. They could be receiving my smiles, my laughter, my jokes. I could be standing this close to them, teasing them—”

Lilianna’s gasp caught in her throat. Oh, she never wanted it to end.

“—yet here I am with you.” Taernsby’s voice became, just for a moment, a low chuckle. “And the thanks that I get for that? Very little.”

Lilianna exhaled. “You don’t want an easy conquest.”

It was both the right and the wrong thing to say. Suddenly, his hips had angled against her buttocks and Lilianna could hardly think. The intensity of the touch was too much, and she wanted it again. And again. And again—

“You’re right.” Taernsby stepped back.

Lilianna almost put a hand out to the wall to prevent herself from falling.

What on earth was happening to her? What was he doing to her? It was ridiculous, it was wonderful, it was awful, it was utterly unacceptable.

After blinking a few times to ensure her vision wasn’t going to disappear, Lilianna turned. Taernsby was leaning against the wall with that damned eyebrow raised.

He must have known how good he looked when he did that, didn’t he?

Taernsby grinned, as though he could hear her thoughts. Was she that transparent? Were her thoughts etched across her face?

“So, you like me,” he said conversationally.

“I do not,” Lilianna said swiftly.

“I don’t know why you’re bothering to hide it,” Taernsby said with a shrug. “I mean, you can lie to yourself—”

“I am not lying to myself!”

“—you can lie to me—”

Infuriating man. Did he think that everything he spouted was going to be agreed with—would be listened to? “I am not lying to you!”

“—but you can’t lie to them,” he said softly.

“And what’s more—them?” Lilianna halted.

Somehow, she had stepped forward and was pointing a finger against Taernsby’s chest, her nose a mere inch from his own as she glared, desperate to prove him wrong.

Because he was wrong. There was absolutely no possibility that she liked him. Him? With his arrogant manners and his presumptuous proposals and his devilishly kissable lips?

Wait a moment, that isn’t right.

Taernsby was grinning. “Them,” he repeated with a nod.

Slowly, Lilianna turned on her heels. Because she was in such close proximity to the most irksome man she had ever met when she did so, her shoulder rubbed into his and she almost curled into him.

Oh, no.

She stumbled away, trying to pretend to the entirety of the Daltons’ card party, who were staring at the pair of them, that she had not been just pushing the Earl of Taernsby up against a wall and leaning so close to him that the merest breeze would have had them kissing.

Oh, no, oh, no, oh—

“You like me,” came the quiet, confident whisper of a rogue. “And if you don’t, you have certainly just given the whole card party that impression.”

Lilianna swallowed, her cheeks burning as she took in people’s expressions. Shock, confusion, in a few quarters delight at her potential societal downfall. In one corner stood her mother, whose mouth was open, and Samuel, who looked like he was stifling laughter.

She whirled on her feet. “You did this on purpose!”

Taernsby was grinning. “I can’t say that I know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do!” Lilianna could hardly speak, she was so mortified.

He raised both hands in surrender. “I was merely minding my own business when a beautiful lady dragged me over here.”

“You—You flirted with that woman on purpose. You knew I would—”

“Would what?”

“Would care!” It didn’t matter that she was honest now; the disaster was almost over. “Would bring you aside and argue with you and you, you’d get me all… all…”

Taernsby licked his lips. Lilianna tried not to notice. “Riled up?”

“Yes!”

His smile was now wolfish, hungry, eager, and desperate for her . “And is it working?”

It was a miracle she could speak and walk away at the same time. “No.”