The Viscount’s Darling Adventure by Maggie Dallen

9

Leo wasn’t certain which was worse at this particular dinner party, the stilted attempts at conversation or the awkward silences that stretched between them.

“And so, you see,” Lady Tabetha was saying a little louder than absolutely necessary. “We did not need to bring the dogs inside after all.” Her smile was so clearly forced, and the gaiety in her tone fooled no one. But Leo tried his best to chuckle at what was clearly supposed to be an entertaining tale.

His aunt couldn’t even manage that much. She was staring at the soon-to-be duchess as though she’d sprouted horns. “You let your hunting dogs into the house because of a little rain?”

“Er…” Tabetha’s smile fell as she looked to her fiancé for assistance.

“Ah!” Walton exclaimed, gesturing to a servant who walked in with a tray of drinks. “Refreshments have arrived.”

Everyone in the room seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the interruption.

Clarissa was the only one who did not leap on the chance to run away from her current conversation, and she turned back to his uncle with a dogged determination that had Leo smothering a grin. “Hunting,” she fairly shouted in his face. “I’d asked if you enjoy hunting.”

His uncle gave her the sort of stony-faced stare of incomprehension Leo and his cousins were well used to. It somehow managed to convey boredom, disdain, and anger all at once.

Clarissa didn’t so much as flinch in the face of it.

Leo lost the battle with a smile as he watched her. She seemed thoroughly undeterred by the stare as she tried a different tack by asking after his health.

“She’s tenacious, I’ll give her that,” his cousin said at his side as she too watched Clarissa’s attempts.

It was more entertaining than watching her sister Mariah stand silently beside his young, sullen cousin Edgar or the Earl of Darling and his wife try to find common ground with the spinster aunts who’d joined their party.

There’s force in numbers, his aunt had said when he’d asked if it was absolutely necessary that they bring along the entire Ainsworth clan.

“Indeed,” Leo said as he watched Clarissa’s face split in a wide beaming grin when she managed to elicit a grunt of a response from his uncle. “She certainly is tenacious.”

“She’s like a dog with a bone,” Charlotte muttered, not without a touch of awe.

He swallowed a laugh at the description, but he couldn’t seem to stop the foolish grin that stole over his features every time his gaze fell on her. She truly was spectacular. Tenacious, yes. But also clever, and brave, and a force to be reckoned with, that much was clear.

The fact that she’d managed to get them all here together in this room was proof enough of that, but her unflinching determination to keep up a one-sided conversation with his stubborn uncle only confirmed it.

“I still don’t see why I had to come,” Charlotte said.

He cast her a sidelong look of exasperation. Though he couldn’t entirely blame her. Dinner hadn’t even been served yet, and this evening already felt interminably long.

The duke seemed to share the sentiment because he chose that moment to speak to the crowded drawing room. “Dinner will be served shortly.”

Leo swore the entire room let out a sigh of relief. The sooner they could eat, the sooner they could leave.

But where would that leave them?

His gaze found Clarissa’s quite by accident. Oh all right, perhaps he’d been glancing in her direction more than was appropriate. But this time when he glanced over, she was looking his way as well, and he was almost certain he read the same question in her eyes.

If this evening ended just as badly as it started...where might they go from there?

Her eyes widened slightly as though she could read his thoughts and she had the same fear. Leo’s heart pounded furiously against his ribcage at the hint of desperation in her eyes. The look of pleading, as though she fully anticipated that he could fix this.

That he could make everything all right.

His shoulders went back and his chin lifted. That was precisely what he’d do then. “Charlotte,” he said, turning to his cousin. “I need your help.”

He nodded toward the earl and his wife. Darling’s expression looked so grim he could have been in pain. Even his wife’s smile might have been mistaken for a grimace.

They were all suffering mightily from discomfort, but it was about time someone other than Clarissa made such a stalwart effort.

“What do you want me to do?” Charlotte whined.

“Go over there and engage the countess in conversation,” he said.

Her eyes widened at his commanding tone. “And what will you be doing, might I ask?”

He narrowed his gaze on the Earl of Darling. He would conduct a pleasant conversation with that man if it killed him. “I shall speak to her husband.”

Now Charlotte’s brows rose as well. “Are you certain?” She cast a nervous glance in Darling’s direction. “I’m not convinced he’s entirely civilized.”

His huff of impatience said all he needed to say.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Very well. I suppose he hasn’t behaved so very horribly since we’ve arrived.”

“And we both know his wife is highly esteemed and well able to converse on any number of topics,” he said pointedly as he glanced in their direction.

“Fair point. But I still don’t see why I should be the one to make the first overtures of friendliness,” Charlotte said, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

Stubbornness ran in the family, and if her father could feign deafness for years on end, one didn’t wish to see all that his daughter was capable of when she set her mind to it. Which was why Leo knew better than to push in this situation.

No. When it came to his cousin, bribery was a far better motivator. “If you help me this evening, I will take your side when it comes time to tell your mother you wish to be courted by Henry.”

Her eyes flared so wide it would have been comical if they were anywhere but here. “What do you—why would you—” She gave up the ruse with a sigh. “How did you know?”

Leo gestured toward his face. “I have these things on my face I call eyes. Have you heard of them? They sit just above your nose and they are excellent for making observations.”

She pinched her lips together. “Have you told Mother?”

“Of course not.” He arched a brow. “Do I need to? From where I’ve been standing, it seems as though Henry, who might be one of the finest chaps I know, has developed an infatuation for you…”

Her cheeks turned pink as she ducked her head.

“Is it mutual?” he asked, though the answer was obvious.

She nodded. But a second later she lifted her head, her eyes filled with such misery he couldn’t bring himself to tease her any longer. “But Mother and Father will never allow a courtship between us. You know that they have high hopes for a good match, and Henry doesn't even have a title.”

Which was precisely why Leo had been surprised to see Charlotte so smitten with his friend in return. But at the last two balls they’d attended, he’d seen Charlotte watch his friend with ill-disguised longing, a look that Henry mirrored right back.

“He comes from a good family and has a decent fortune to his name,” Leo said quietly. “He might not have a title, but he’s well connected. In many ways, it’s an exceptional match.”

His cousin’s eyes shone with hope that was endearing...especially coming from her. “Then you think they might come around?”

He nodded. “If I have anything to say about it, they will.”

She flashed him a small smile as her glance darted over toward the earl and his wife. “Let me guess. In exchange, all I have to do is befriend a certain countess.”

He laughed. “Not a terrible trade, is it?”

She smirked. “I’ll do my best.” She turned to head in their direction but paused to glance back. “But Cousin…” A wicked glint filled her eyes as she glanced from him to Clarissa and back again. “Don’t think I do not realize why this is so important to you.”

He opened his mouth to protest but shut it again promptly. He couldn't deny it to her any more than he could lie to himself. Yes, of course he cared about his family’s reputation, and ending this feud was a worthwhile cause. But he couldn’t pretend his own interests were not what truly drove him to forge this truce.

He found his gaze returning to Clarissa, and he had no doubt it was filled with all the yearning he’d seen pass between Charlotte and Henry.

He just barely stifled a sigh. Curse it. If this was what it meant to fall in love, he nearly wished he’d never been struck by Cupid’s arrow in the first place. It certainly knocked a man off his feet.

But then again, he wouldn’t trade those precious few moments he’d shared with Clarissa for anything. The sigh he’d attempted to stifle slipped out as he watched Clarissa’s smile falter in the face of his uncle’s glare.

Charlotte snickered beside him and he turned to wave her off. “Go. Don’t forget you need my help just as much as I need yours.”

“I’m going, I’m going,” she said, holding her hands up in surrender.

He wasn’t far behind her, and by the time he reached the earl and his wife, Charlotte was engaging the countess with questions about an upcoming ball.

His own attempts at a civil conversation with the Earl of Darling did not go over nearly as well. A question about Darling’s country estate somehow managed to make the earl defensive, and when the earl changed the topic, they managed to disagree on that as well.

As the topic at hand was the weather, Leo suspected that there was nothing in the world they could agree upon.

It seemed Clarissa was having a similarly disastrous time because when he next spotted her she was flushed, her eyes wet with unshed tears and…

Oh no.

His aunt looked far too pleased with herself as she walked away from Clarissa toward the dining room.

“I-I just...I’ll just be a moment,” Clarissa stammered, before turning and fleeing toward the hallway.

“But dinner is—” her sister Tabetha started and stopped as Clarissa fled from the room. When it was clear Clarissa wasn’t immediately coming back, Tabetha flashed a brilliant, if strained, smile at the group. “I’m sure she’ll be joining us momentarily.”

Leo stared at the door where she’d disappeared. She would be back. He knew it as well as he knew his name. Clarissa was too strong and too brave to stay away for long. But his aunt had clearly upset her, and that he could not abide.

Charlotte gave him a warning look as she headed toward the dining room. And he knew she was right. He couldn’t go after her. It wasn’t proper. How would it look to the others? Why, if anyone realized they were both absent, they would only stir up more trouble, and—

Oh, curse it.

Even as he thought of all the reasons he should ignore Clarissa’s plight and head into the dining room with his family, his feet were carrying him toward the door.

He’d just make sure she was all right, that was all. It wasn’t like he was seeking out trouble.

He found her in a darkened room further down the hall. Or rather...he heard her sniffles. And when he walked inside, they turned to a gasp. “Leo? What are you doing here?”

He hesitated in the doorway for a moment. Excellent question. What was he doing here?

Courting trouble, that was what. But for the life of him, he couldn’t stop himself. Not when he heard the misery in her voice. And as she shifted and he saw her beautiful face with the tears on her cheeks, he couldn’t bring himself to care about the trouble to come.

He couldn’t care less that this was improper.

The woman he loved needed him, and nothing in the world meant more than that.