How to Entice an Enchantress by Karen Hawkins Read Free Book Online Page B

managed to insult her in the worst possible way. When she thought of his words, her chest ached with anger.
    “I do hope you will be civil to one another.” The duchess looked at them with a faintly stern expression.
    Dahlia forced herself to unclench her hands, moving her heavy reticule on her wrist so that the bands weren’t so tight. There was no need to recall thatembarrassing time. “You need have no fear, your grace. With so many guests here, I’m certain that Lord Kirk and I will scarcely have the opportunity to speak. And if we do, we’ll both be civil.” She looked at Kirk. “Won’t we?”
    He seemed to be struggling with the need to argue, but after a long moment, he gave a curt nod. “Of course.”
    “Excellent!” The duchess scratched the pug’s ear. “I have no idea what Lord Kirk has said in the past about his proclivities for society, but he was certainly eager to attend our Christmas Ball, weren’t you, Lord Kirk?”
    Lord Kirk bowed stiffly, his expression now grim. “I thought it would be most enjoyable.” His dark gaze flickered over Dahlia. “I hope it may still be so.”
    Her grace nodded. “Miss Balfour, you may be unaware of this fact, but Lord Kirk is my godson, just as you are my goddaughter. I knew his mother well.”
    “I had no idea.”
    “Yes, I have so many godchildren that I have trouble keeping up myself. I hope to invite all of them to visit me at some time or another.”
    “Not all at the same time, of course,” Lady Charlotte offered helpfully. “That would be far too many.”
    The duchess smiled and, in what seemed to be a determined effort to start some common small talk, said, “Miss Balfour, Lord Kirk just returned from Edinburgh.”
    That was unusual. Kirk rarely left the grand, rambling castle that made Caith Manor look like a gatehouse.As far as she knew, he only left his home to travel the short distance to Aberdeenshire to fetch purchases, so it was indeed a surprise to find that he’d been elsewhere.
    Despite wishing to appear uninterested, Dahlia asked, “What took you to Edinburgh?”
    “I was—” His gaze flickered to the duchess, a plea in it.
    The duchess hurried to say, “Lord Kirk was rusticating.”
    She frowned. “Rusticating? In a city ?”
    A dull color crept into his face. “Yes, for I did not attend any amusements. I had business to attend to.”
    “Ah, business.” The word burned on her tongue as her temper took flame once more. “I daresay that now you’ve used up all of your prospects near Aberdeenshire, after tricking my father into an impossible-to-repay loan, that you must go afield to find more victims for your schemes.”
    “Miss Balfour!” The duchess looked far from happy. “I specifically invited Lord Kirk because I knew he was a neighbor of yours. I thought a familiar face would serve as a reassurance, but I can see now that I was wrong.”
    “I’m sorry, your grace, but I am not on speaking terms with Lord Kirk.”
    His dark gaze locked on her. “You once were.”
    His voice, deep and rich, made her chest tighten. “That was long, long ago.”
    The duchess looked from one to the other beforeshe gave a huge sigh and placed the pug back on the floor. “Miss Balfour, I know about the loan Lord Kirk made to your father.” Lord Kirk slashed the duchess a dark look, but she continued as if she hadn’t noticed. “I’m certain he meant no harm.”
    Lady Charlotte nodded enthusiastically. “Lord Kirk would never harm your father. Why, he was actually trying to help him.”
    “By offering terms that could never be repaid?” Dahlia remembered how wan and frightened her father had been as he’d struggled to deal with the loan, and her heart hardened. “I cannot believe it.”
    The scar near Kirk’s mouth grew white. “You know I’d never intentionally hurt your father or anyone else.”
    “All I know is what you did to my father, who, in a moment of weakness, asked you for a loan he had no right to