Proof by Seduction (Carhart #1)

He’d manfully prepared himself to resist her blandishments—for now.

But Madame Esmerelda was ignoring him as best she could from two feet away, and talking with Ned. And he didn’t know which annoyed him more—that he wished she would try to cloud his judgment, or that it was clouding without any effort on her behalf at all.

Her behavior didn’t fit. Nothing about her fit.

“Ned,” she was saying, “don’t lose sight of what you must do this evening.”

Ned clasped his hands in front of him in barely contained excitement. “We’re going to meet Blakely’s future wife. How should I greet her?”

Gareth winced. From time to time, his cousin was prone to overexuberance. He could imagine the disruption the youth might cause.

Apparently, Madame Esmerelda could, too. She shook her head. “Oh, Ned. Be respectful and mannerly. And remember that Lord Blakely won’t greet her until he’s ready to present the elephant.”

“Oh, very well.” Ned slouched against the seat and folded his arms. “But only because you say so.”

Gareth was not used to being ignored. Most especially not by women he kissed. He was already weary of it. “Madame Esmerelda.”

She looked over, unwillingly.

“After I finish the third task, how soon do you predict I will fall in love and propose marriage?”

“Within a month.” Her voice quavered uncertainly at the end of the sentence.

“And that’s all I have to do—perform the three tasks, wait a month, and if I don’t marry the girl, Ned will know you’re a fraud?” He held his breath. If she agreed, this would give him precisely what he wanted. Verifiable performances. Measurable outcomes. And most importantly, a finite, achievable end that would justify whatever humiliation he felt because of her tasks.

“Another possibility is that you might follow the spirits’ guidance and marry her.”

Gareth snorted.

Ned kicked Gareth’s leather half boot in the darkness. “Hurry up, then, and get carving.”

There was a third anomaly to consider. Ned did everything Madame Esmerelda told him. If she had told him to hand over ten thousand pounds and leap off London Bridge wearing lead footgear, Ned would be fish food at the bottom of the Thames. For a first-class fraud, she was doing a miserable job extracting money.

“Never you mind about that, Ned,” Gareth said. “There’s no need for me to start carving.”

“But the task—!” Ned almost choked on his indignation.

“There’s no need to start, as I’ve already finished. I thought it best to get this over with as soon as possible.” Gareth reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an ebony lump. Light from a passing lamp glinted off the surface.

Madame Esmerelda motioned, and he handed it over. She took it in her hands, and then brought it close to her face, squinting, turning the misshapen chunk of wood over. The piece of ebony was as round as it was wide, scored and gouged with his pocketknife. Her mouth puckered as if she’d bitten a lemon.

Some explanation seemed necessary. Gareth pointed to the lump. “Elephant.”

“Goodness.” She rotated the figurine about its axis. “Could you perhaps have made it more…more elephantine?”

Gareth rather disliked being found wanting in any area. The fact that he couldn’t carve should not have unnerved him. After all, he shouldn’t care what she thought of his abilities on that score. It wasn’t as if her opinion mattered. And it wasn’t as if the skill was of any importance to a marquess. He folded his arms and mustered his coolest expression. “The assigned task did not precisely play to my strengths.”

She sniffed. “What did you expect? To seduce a lady with a geometrical proof?”

“Seduction?” Gareth’s gaze flitted down her bosom. “I had thought we were talking of marriage.”

Madame Esmerelda colored and thrust the ebony back into his hands.

“Wait,” protested Ned. “Let me see it.”

Gareth handed over the lump. He made eye contact with his cousin, and silently promised dire retribution should Ned start laughing.

Ned saved his own life by merely frowning in puzzlement. “Where, ah, where is its trunk?”

Gareth fished about in his pocket and pulled out a thick splinter of wood. “It came off. During the carving.”

Madame Esmerelda stared at it, and shook her head. “Well. This evening, I think you ought to engage in multiple activities that do not, as you say, play to your strengths.”

“Yes,” Gareth said with a noisy sigh. “I’ll have to give away the elephant to whichever horrific debutante you point out.”

Madame Esmerelda shook her head. “And.”

“There’s an and?”

“Lord Blakely, if there isn’t an ‘and’ there’s a ‘but.’ Give away the elephant. Please, try to do one other thing. Smile.”

“Smile?” He glowered at her. “Is that the next task? To grin like a loon?”

“It’s not a task,” Madame Esmerelda said. “It’s a suggestion.”