Page 38 of To Pleasure a Prince

“And did you see his hair?” one of the women said. “Good gracious, you’d think he’d never even heard of scissors.”

“Or a razor. Or a tailor. Or a decent boot maker.”

They all laughed, and he tensed. Silly buffoons. Frivolous asses. And Regina wasn’t defending him now, was she? She was probably laughing right along.

He stepped out from behind the pillar, a snide remark on his lips, but it died when he realized Regina had gone. Somewhere between her defense of him and the laughter, she’d left. And one of her cousins was missing, too.

His anger burned even hotter. Ignoring the squeak one of the women made when she saw him, he scanned the lobby. He spotted Regina’s lace-capped head next to Whitmore’s perfectly coifed one just as they disappeared up the stairs.

Damn her to perdition. He wouldnotlet her keep company with some other fellow when she was supposed to be keeping company with him. He shoved through the crowd, his temper rising with every step. It was high time he reminded Lady Regina of the terms of their bargain.

Chapter Nine

Any time you let your charge out of your sight, you invite the devil Mischief to wreak his willful havoc.

—Miss Cicely Tremaine,The Ideal Chaperone

Out of the frying pan into the fire,Regina thought, as Henry led her up the crowded stairs. She should have insisted that her other cousins come along, but she’d been in too much of a hurry to escape her so-called friends and their evisceration of Marcus. If only Henry hadn’t stepped in when she’d asked Richard to take her back to her box. Henry was the last person she wanted to be alone with.

Sure enough, at the top of the stairs, he tugged her toward the right.

She tugged him toward the left. “The box is this way.”

“I want to talk to you. Alone. Your brother’s box is empty at the moment, and you and I never got to finish our last discussion.”

She sighed. Theyhadfinished it. He simply refused to accept it, which was why she’d avoided him ever since. She needed to put an end to his assumptions once and for all.

She let him lead her into Simon’s spacious box, but stopped him when he started to close the door. “No need for that.” With the lights going down in the house, it would be very dark in here with the door closed. Too dark.

He faced her with a sullen expression. “You said you’d consider my offer.”

“No, I said I couldn’t marry a man whom I regard as a brother.”

“That’s ridiculous. It’s been years since we gamboled about in your family’s deer park like little savages. God knows I don’t think of you as a sister.”

“Perhaps it’s time that you do.”

“Why? I have everything you could require in a husband, including a substantial fortune. You have no sensible reason for refusing me.”

Except that she found him pretentious and boring. Henry’s idea of a riveting evening was to gossip about everyone in his acquaintance. He probably gossiped aboutherwhen she wasn’t around. “I’m sorry, Henry, I simply don’t bear those sorts of feelings for you. And I never shall.”

“You haven’t given me a chance, that’s all.” Taking her by surprise, he shut the box door and dragged her into his arms. “But if you’d let me show you—”

He kissed her before she could stop him. She didn’t resist, first stunned, then curious to see if his kiss would affect her as profoundly as Marcus’s. But like the few other men who’d dared to kiss her, he’d honed his skills on many a pretty woman, and his calculated talent left her cold.

She wrenched her mouth from his. “That’s enough, Henry. I am not interested in you that way.”

“Nonsense.” He gripped her so that she could not escape his embrace. “Give it a chance.”

Panic shook her when she couldn’t wrestle free. “Let go of me now, drat it!”

His face turned ugly. “They’re right about you,” he hissed in her ear, as she struggled against his hold. “You’re a cold little bitch, aren’t you? You tease and flirt, but when a man shows you any genuine affection—”

“Release her, or I’ll make you regret it,” a voice growled.

Marcus! The door was now open and his massive form filled the doorway. Henry let her go with a speed that would have been insulting if she hadn’t known what a coward he was. He faced Marcus warily. “This is none of your concern, sir, so if you will leave us—”

“Do you want me to leave, Lady Regina?” Marcus asked, without shifting his gaze from Henry.