A Lady's Guide to Improper Behavior by Suzanne Enoch Read Free Book Online Page A

in this I disagree. A touch, palm to palm, is demure enough. And by that small gesture I can know if a mutual attraction exists.”
    A L ADY’S G UIDE TO P ROPER B EHAVIOR
    F irst Theresa had wanted Tolly James to attend the party, then she’d decided it would be best after all if he didn’t. Then she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about what she would say to him under either circumstance.
    And then he’d appeared. Those whiskey-colored eyes had already been gazing at her when she first spied him, and she wondered how long he’d been looking at her. That seemed significant, especially after he’d said that he intended to watch her all evening. A delicious, excited shiver ran down her spine.
    She had suitors aplenty, but no one who spoke so directly or made so little effort to be charming. Why she found that attractive she had no idea, but in allhonesty it might have had at least a little to do with his appearance. Even so, it wasn’t a question of overlooking his manners because his other qualities compensated.
    Rather, it was the whole of him that just felt more…interesting than anyone else of her acquaintance. More interesting, and more real. Not a predetermined set of witticisms and observations she’d heard a hundred times before. She merely needed to remember her own rules, and they would end the evening with her having proven that last night was only a misstep, and that he could gain more respect and empathy from people by minding his manners.
    Theresa glanced over her shoulder at him again, to find him still watching her, sitting back with a glass in one hand. Even just sitting there, he was unlike everyone else in the room. It was as if he’d been marked by whatever it was he’d been through. Not on his handsome face or even his leg, but deeper inside where it only showed in his eyes.
    A hand brushed her arm. Startled, she turned around. “Alexander,” she said, smiling as she recognized the tall, golden-haired man standing before her.
    Behind his back they called him “Alexander the Great,” though Alexander Rable, the Marquis of Montrose, more than likely wouldn’t have minded hearing it said to his face. He sketched an elegant bow. “Tess, you look absolutely ravishing this evening.”
    “Ah. For that compliment, you may have a waltz.”
    “Good. I was worried that I’d arrived too late to claim any dance, much less a waltz.”
    “I was about to give it away.”
    “But you didn’t.” He took the dance card andpencil from her fingers. “You were about to leave me with nothing but a country dance, weren’t you?” A slight scowl drew his arched brows together, and he lifted his head again. “‘B. James’?” he read.
    “Yes. Colonel Bartholomew James. My cousin married his brother.”
    “I know who he is.” The marquis’s gaze moved past her to where she knew Tolly still sat, no doubt watching the entire exchange. “My cousin is with the East India Company, you know. And there are some rumors that James deserted his men, and that’s why he’s still alive. More or less.”
    All she had to do was look into Colonel James’s eyes to know that he hadn’t deserted anyone. Except for his own family, of course. Arguing about a man whom she barely knew, however, wouldn’t be seemly. “I believe we’re at a dance, Alexander. That means we should discuss only pleasant topics.”
    “How pleasant would it be for you, then, to limp about the floor with him? There are a multitude of less sought-after chits available tonight to offer him charity. Cross out his name.”
    “I could never do such a thing.” Not even if she wanted to, which she didn’t.
    “Don’t frown at me, Tess,” Montrose said smoothly, returning her dance card to her. “I’m only saying that you needn’t put yourself out when there are others who would be happy to do so. As far as anyone else knows he’s a wounded hero, after all.”
    She did not need anyone to tell her what her duties and options might be.