My Wicked Little Lies by Victoria Alexander Page A

home, I should be happy to demonstrate some of my other skills.”
    “Oh, I am a fortunate woman.”
    “Yes, you are.” His tone was matter-of-fact but his eyes twinkled. “No doubt the envy of every woman here.”
    “Well, this is a very nice gown.”
    He laughed.
    “Which reminds me, I’m not at all sure I want you to dance with our hostess.”
    “Ah, well, I can understand that.”
    “Can you?”
    “Indeed.” He nodded. “Her gown is quite lovely as well. The latest fashion from France, I believe.”
    “Your sisters and I have you well trained. But I am not so shallow as to prefer you not dance with a lady because of her gown.” She glanced at Lady Dunwell over Adrian’s shoulder. “I don’t like the way she looks at you. As if you were dessert and she is considering how very tasty you might be.”
    “I am exceptionally tasty.”
    “Yes, you are, but I am unwilling to share my dessert.”
    “Nor does this dessert wish to be shared.” He grinned. “But Beryl Dunwell looks that way at every man.”
    “No, she doesn’t,” Evelyn said firmly. “You are the one who evaded her clutches. And she is not a woman to give up easily.”
    “Nonsense, she only turned her attention to me when Richard proved uninterested.”
    “Your sisters have told me she pursued you for several years.”
    “Unsuccessfully,” he said firmly. “And then I met you and I was lost. Besides that was two years ago.” He shrugged as best he could without a misstep. “She is now married to Dunwell, whose ambition suits her own.”
    “You are a better catch than Dunwell,” she said.
    “Yes, I am.”
    “You do realize there is such a thing as too much confidence?”
    He chuckled.
    “Women like her do not give up easily.” She shook her head. “It’s only been a mere two years.”
    He stared down at her. “Why, you’re jealous, Evie.”
    “It is a lovely gown,” she said in a lofty manner.
    He laughed.
    “Very well.” She huffed. “I am always jealous, darling. You are a most accomplished man and quite handsome as well. Any woman would be ecstatic to have you.”
    “Ah, but you are the loveliest woman in the room. And I am the luckiest man.”
    “Yes.” She met his gaze directly. “You are.”
    It was a joke between them, which was the luckier to have the other. Although in truth, she had always thought she was the lucky one, and no one knew that better than she did herself.
    He laughed again and held her a bit tighter than was proper. Not that she minded. The music swelled around them, the whirl of dancers surrounded them, and it would all have been quite perfect. If only ...
    She responded to his banter but her mind drifted. She had found Adrian at very nearly the perfect moment in her life. He had been precisely what she’d needed then and remained so to this day. She knew without question he loved her as she loved him. Still, if he knew what she had been, the things she had done, wouldn’t that love be, at the very least, tarnished? At worst destroyed?
    “I have been thinking of late ...”
    He led her through another turn and she followed him without effort. Nonsense. Adrian, of all the people she knew, would understand duty and responsibility and loyalty. What he might not be able to understand was deception. Not that she had ever actually lied to him. Not in the strictest definition of the word. It was admittedly a fine point. One he might not agree with wholeheartedly. The man was the most forthright, honest person she’d ever met.
    “A mistress for me perhaps and ...”
    And they had both agreed their respective pasts were behind them. Still, his past consisted of amorous affairs and roguish living and all those sorts of behaviors second sons with too much time and money and few responsibilities tended to indulge in. Certainly, he had handled many of his family’s business affairs for years as he had a head for such things and apparently Richard had not.
    “A lover for you ...”
    “Only fair,”