‘Damn.’ The legs of the man next to him locked and he dug in his heels like a stubborn mule. ‘I thought you meant... Damn.’
But it was too late for him to change direction without being unspeakably rude. Ben pressed on, forcing the man the last few feet. ‘Miss Summoner, how nice to see you again. Are you enjoying your evening?’
‘Mr Lovell,’ she said. The knowing smile she directed to him suddenly disappeared. ‘I had been enjoying it.’ The words left the clear implication that her pleasure had come to a sudden end upon seeing his companion.
‘Have you met my friend, Mr Haines?’
‘Yes.’ If her greeting to him had been chilly, her acknowledgement of the other man was positively glacial.
‘Miss Summoner,’ Haines answered, with a shallow bow, never taking his eyes from hers, like a man facing down a wild animal.
‘Mr Haines was wondering if you would care for refreshment.’ He jabbed a sharp elbow in the other man’s ribs, causing him to drop the top sandwich from the stack.
She looked down at it as if it was poison, then back up to stare at the two of them. ‘No, thank you.’
‘Well, then,’ Haines said, with a sudden, relieved smile. ‘I must go and ask someone else.’ He shook Ben’s hand from his shoulder, turned and left the two of them to an awkward silence.
She was staring at him now, and Ben wondered if it was her basilisk gaze that had put Haines off his game. Guy Templeton had claimed to be disturbed by it as well. Though it was threatening, he could not see what they found so troubling in it. Perhaps they felt the same desire he did, to stare back and study her as closely as she seemed to be studying him.
It was rude to stare, he reminded himself. And after their last meeting, showing this woman any interest at all sent a message he did not want to give. He did his best to change the stare into a surprised blink. ‘Well, that did not go as well as I’d hoped.’
She responded with a raised eyebrow. ‘What, precisely, were you hoping for, Mr Lovell?’
‘Merely to broaden your acquaintance. I think it is a shame that such a pretty girl should have so few male friends.’
‘Suitors, you mean,’ she said, still not smiling. ‘Perhaps no one wants to spend time with a frustrated spinster.’
There was no point in pretending their last meeting had not happened, if she meant to throw his hasty words back in his face. ‘I apologise. I should not have said such a thing.’
‘Even if it is true?’ she said, finishing his thought. ‘As I told you before, it is not.’
‘But it surprises me that your sister receives so much attention, while you receive none at all.’
Instead of drawing her into a wistful admission of disappointment, she laughed. ‘Do you talk this way to all the girls, Mr Lovell? You truly are new to the marriage mart, to say such things.’ She added a coquettish flutter of her fan, as if to cement her disguise as just another silly girl.
He knew her too well for it to work. Her actions were as calculated as his were. ‘I was merely matching my statement to your behaviour, Miss Summoner. You are a surprisingly blunt young woman.’
She nodded. ‘Then let me use that candour to enlighten you. First of all, I am not moved by your obvious flattery. I will not apply false modesty and deny that I am passably pretty. But neither will I pretend that Belle is not my superior. I might be pretty, Mr Lovell, but my younger sister is a goddess.’
It was true. And said without a trace of the envy he expected to hear in such a statement. ‘But some men do not want to worship at the feet of perfection. A goddess can be haughty and distant, not the warm flesh-and-blood woman who makes for a good...helpmeet.’ What was he saying? He had been about to suggest something totally inappropriate for a conversation with a lady. Even worse, he had forgotten his purpose in talking to her was to gain the hand of that same goddess he was now denying.
If she had noticed the pause, she did not acknowledge it. ‘If you knew Belle, you would discover that she is not the least bit distant. She is as human as the rest of us and as sweet tempered a creature as God ever put on this earth.’ She gave him another arch look. ‘That is why we are so careful in her company. I would not see her taken advantage of.’
‘Of course not,’ he agreed hurriedly. ‘But though concern for your sister is admirable, it is a shame that she overshadows you.’
‘I do not find it so,’ she said. ‘Because it is not true. Last night you assumed my Season was a failure. But you were not in London for my come out, Mr Lovell. I assure you, I received more than enough attention. In fact, I entertained the suit of your Mr Haines for several weeks.’
‘You knew him?’ By Haines’s shocked reaction, it had been obvious that he knew of her. But Ben had assumed that it had been the same mock-shuddering response Templeton had given him and not based on actual familiarity.
Then he noticed the glint of nostalgia in her eye.
‘What did you do to the poor fellow?’