Page 20 of To Pleasure a Prince

Gritting his teeth, he reminded himself that hewantedthis reaction. He wanted Lady Regina to witness how people outside Castlemaine always regarded him—with fear, revulsion, suspicion, or contempt.

Except for the lady herself, that is. But she was probably well schooled in disguising her reactions.

As the carriage set off, his gaze shot to where she sat across from him. She truly was a master at hiding her feelings. She was the only person whose opinion of him he couldn’t read.

All the more reason not to trust her.

When she caught him watching her, she smiled. “I hear that Louisa is to play both the pianoforte and the harp this evening. I had no idea she was a harpist.”

“She isn’t. She plays it very ill. But whenever I point that out, she insists that I don’t appreciate harp music sufficiently to judge.”

“Miss North plays the harp like an angel,” Foxmoor bit out.

Marcus eyed him askance. “Yes, she looks perfectly angelic when she plays it. Too bad the music she produces is about as angelic as an owl’s screech.”

Lady Regina laughed. “Simon wouldn’t know—he’s practically tone-deaf. An owl’s screech or a nightingale’s warble are all the same to him.”

“And you?” Marcus asked Lady Regina. “Do you have an ear for good music properly played?”

“I’ve been told that I do. And though your sister may not play the harp very well—I’ll have to reserve my judgment since I haven’t yet heard her—she has a lovely singing voice and is more than adequate on the pianoforte.”

He snorted. “She ought to be, considering how much I paid her music teachers.”

“I thought you didn’t spend money frivolously,” she quipped.

“It isn’t frivolous to protect one’s ears.”

A reluctant smile touched her pretty lips. “Is that why Louisa paints such nice watercolors? Because you took measures to protect your eyes?”

“The best art teachers money could buy.”

“Sweet heaven, all that protection must have cost you dearly.” Her eyes twinkled at him from across the carriage. “What with the dancing masters to protect your feet and the riding masters to protect your Thorough-breds—”

“Not to mention the tutors to protect my reason from daily assault.” He shot her a deprecating glance. “Ah, but then you probably don’t consider it important to educate a woman’s mind. God forbid she should know Shakespeare or read Aristotle to improve her reasoning. As long as she’s pretty and accomplished in the feminine arts, it doesn’t matter if she’s stupid, does it?”

Her smile vanished. “Of course not.” She glanced out the carriage window. “We’ve reached our destination—what a pity for you. Now you’ll have to wait until we get through the door to continue enumerating my faults.”

His jaw tightened. He wasn’t sure how he’d done it, but this time he knew he’d wounded her.

Fine. That would teach her not to play with dragons, wouldn’t it?

After they left the carriage, and Lady Regina swept ahead of him, arm in arm with Miss Tremaine, Foxmoor fell back to join Marcus. “Good show, old man—excellent courting technique, the whole insult thing. She’ll be yours in no time.”

As Foxmoor then hurried ahead with a smug smile, Marcus nearly called out that he didn’twanther to be his. But that would tip his hand to the enemy, and he wasn’t about to do that.

Nonetheless, even the sight of Louisa waiting impatiently in the doorway for their arrival could not banish his disquiet.

“Marcus!” Louisa cried as he approached. “You really did come! Lady Iversley said that you were going to, but I didn’t dare believe her.”

A lump lodged in his throat as he looked her over, marveling again at how grown-up she seemed these days. “How could I miss my sister’s grand performance?” he said gruffly as he bent his head to kiss her cheek.

She swatted his arm with her fan. “Fiddlesticks—you missed my court presentation and you missed my coming-out ball. I hardly think you came here forme.”With eyes sparkling, she glanced inside to where Lady Regina and Foxmoor were being greeted by the Iversleys. “But I don’t mind.”

The lump in his throat slid down to settle like a rock in his belly. Damn, he hadn’t even considered how Louisa would react to his showing up here with Lady Regina. Louisa thought this was a real courtship, which couldn’t be good.

“Don’t get your hopes up, angel,” he murmured. “Dipping one’s toe in the water isn’t the same as going for a swim.”

“It could be,” she said brightly. “If one discovers that the water is fine.”