Chapter 17

Colin frowned when he saw her turn her back to him. Even then, he could not help but admire the gracefulness of the way she sat. Lady Alice Barkley had the regal composure of a queen and the all-consuming fire of a newly-born phoenix.

And he was the moth drawn to her flame, heedless of the danger that he put them both in with every moment his desire remained unquenched.

"I do not see Ethan around." Hudson, the Duke of Wolverton, snorted. He crossed his arms over his chest as his dark eyes scanned the parlor with a hint of impatience.

Daniel merely shrugged. "You know how he is. He never comes on time, so he can draw even more attention to himself."

The words sounded reproachful, but the tone belied the camaraderie they all shared. All of them Dukes and Wolves, admired and feared in equal measure by the marriage-minded ladies of the ton.

The three men sat in relative silence, allowing the chatter of the young ladies to fill the air instead. Fortunately, this small group of misses, including Colin's betrothed, did not seem the least bit inclined to approach them in the efforts of trying to "tame a Wolf"—a rather foolish endeavor that had often sent many a young lady scampering away in tears, only to embolden another in her place.

No, the young ladies present seemed quite content to leave the gentlemen to their own devices—a fact which somehow irked Colin when he noticed that Alice had not looked over at him even once since he had met her at the front door.

"I have told you countless times to cease glancing over at the young lady like a lovelorn swain," Daniel warned him, his eyebrow arched as he regarded Colin with a knowing look. "If you want her, then what is stopping you?"

Myself,he wanted to reply. My own selfish desires and the inherent darkness in me that will only destroy us both.

Instead, Colin merely shrugged. "I have told you before that this betrothal is nothing more than a farce. In three weeks, we will declare ourselves ill-suited for each other and get on with our lives."

Hudson regarded him with a piercing look. "Somehow, that does not look like it to me."

"Then what should it look like?" Colin retorted. "None of us have ever been betrothed—or have any plans to at all."

"Yes," Daniel replied drolly, "but none of the rest of us are pining like an idiot either."

Colin was about to vehemently deny that he was "pining like an idiot," as his friend had put it, when Ethan strolled in through the door, looking charmingly apologetic with his hair slightly disheveled and an affable smile on his face. As expected, he did not go directly to his friends. Instead, he went over to the ladies.

"Good afternoon, My Ladies," he greeted them most congenially.

The young women all turned towards him, and seeing his warm and open attitude, they did not hesitate to chorus in welcome. Colin noted in particular how Alice's eyes lit up when she saw his friend, when she had been pointedly ignoring him for the better part of an hour. His hands curled into fists at his sides as he inwardly debated whether it would be in bad form if he punched one of his oldest friends in front of his betrothed.

"Oh, this looks interesting," Hudson murmured, his dark eyes glittering with excitement.

Daniel chuckled. "Blackthorn, you might want to get ahold of yourself. You look just about ready to murder someone."

"If I was to murder someone," Colin muttered through gritted teeth, "you can rest assured that he definitely deserved it."

"Oh? It looks to me that you are about to take your anger out on an innocent man…"

He rolled his eyes at his friends and stalked off to the group of young ladies. Immediately, their chatter seemed to lose some of its earlier spirit as they regarded him with wary smiles. Alice, he noted, did not even look at him, which only made him irrationally angrier.

"Good to see you, Sinclair," he rumbled. "You never could come on time."

His friend just smiled sheepishly at him. "My carriage threw a wheel," he explained.

"Your carriage always throws a wheel at the most inopportune times," Colin replied, pointedly ignoring the glare that his younger sister threw his way.

He casually positioned himself behind Alice, draping his arm over the sofa behind her as he belligerently stared at his friend.

Ethan, curse him, only stared back with laughter in his eyes. Colin took it as the challenge that he knew it was. He had been friends with the man for so long that he did not need to speak—he could tell Ethan was already up to some mischief.

It was rather obvious in the way his friend's lips curled into a sly smile when Alice turned her body just the slightest bit away from him, avoiding his gaze altogether.

She was still cross with him, he knew. But that did not mean that she could treat his friend better than she regarded her own betrothed! She was his betrothed, after all—not Ethan's. She shouldn't look at Ethan—or anyone else—more favorably than she did at him.

"I have never attended Lady Wellington's house parties before," Lady Scarlett remarked with an enthusiastic smile as she turned towards Evie in a clear attempt to break the ice. "But my mama tells me they are particularly entertaining!"

Entertaining, indeed. The purpose of a house party, after all, was not merely to gather friends together in a more intimate setting, but it was also to bring together the marriage-minded ladies and gentlemen of the ton.

And was not Alice's purpose in agreeing to their fake betrothal to allow her more time to find a suitable match?

Like hell she is!Not while she is my betrothed!

"Oh! Grandmama assures me that she has a lot of activities in store for us!" Evie happily clapped her hands together. "There will be games, of course, and picnics out in the gardens…"

"Games?"

Colin turned sharply when he heard the excitement in Alice's tone. Her vivid green eyes lit up, and her sensual lips curled into a genuine smile.

"That sounds rather exciting!"

Ethan laughed. "Oh, yes! I have attended one of Lady Wellington's house parties before, and let me tell you—she certainly can get quite creative when it comes to these things!"

Knowing how crafty his grandmother could be, Colin had a good grasp of what she had in store for all of the guests over the weekend. He also had the distinct feeling that the next few days would prove to be an extreme test of his patience and self-control.

As Ethan regaled the young ladies with all sorts of tame stories of house parties in the past, Colin frowned as he looked over at Alice, who sat there looking absolutely enraptured.

Why the hell was she looking like that at Ethan when he was right beside her?

* * *

Alice sidled away from the man who had so casually draped his arm behind her, eager to get away from the sheer magnetism of his presence. She could not help but be drawn to him, but at the same time, she was still much too annoyed with him to even consider having anything to do with him.

Colin Fitzroy was simply the most contradictory person she ever had the misfortune to meet, and worse, he demanded the same absurdity from her!

When he pressed even closer, she could no longer help but shoot him a warning glare, one that left no space for any misunderstandings between them. Unlike him, she was growing tired of these games. If he wanted to ignore her, then why could she not do the same to him?

Unfortunately, the Duke of Thorns had a particularly strange aversion to being ignored, even when he was the one doing the snubbing in the first place. She had not quite forgiven him for the humiliating rebuff she had suffered at Hyde Park. As to how she was going to achieve the same over the weekend in his country estate, she supposed, she had to be a little more devious.

I could just surround myself with people. Surely, he would not try any mischief with so many eyes on him…

But then again, she also had to account for the sheer audacity he possessed.

One only has to think of what is the most shameless course of action, and he is bound to do it!

Alice inwardly moaned to herself.

She had to learn how to think the way he did, which was no small feat at all.

"Alice?"

She shook her head a little as if to clear her thoughts. Phoebe was looking at her with a slightly worried expression. She smiled at her sister in reassurance.

"I do apologize," she told the group. "I was… just looking forward to the entertainment on the weekend!"

That false burst of excitement seemed to allay her sister's suspicion, and the rest of the group burst into excited chatter, with Phoebe and Evie both excited at the prospect of their first house party as the newest debutantes in the group while Scarlett recounted some stories of house parties she had attended in the past.

Through it all, Alice was distinctly aware of Colin and the searing heat his presence radiated just slightly behind her. She sat up a little straighter, refusing to even glance behind her to glare at him. She would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he got under her skin.

Instead, she turned all of her attention to Scarlett and Ethan, smiling so much that her cheeks hurt.

It was then that she felt the soft warmth hovering over her left ear as Colin leaned in slightly behind her.

"Are you really going to ignore me for the entire duration of your stay here, little lamb?" he whispered, looking incredibly calm as he did so.

Alice felt her breath hitch in her throat. She detected the displeasure in his voice and knew that he thoroughly disliked having a taste of his own medicine. This made her smile even more as she continued to pretend that she had not heard him at all.

Or that he was even there.

"You are going to pay for this," he promised her, his voice low, dark, and utterly compelling, sending a little shiver of excitement down her spine.

Just as he was about to add another layer to his threat, she saw the Dowager Countess sweep into the room with a wide smile on her face. The excited chatter in the parlor petered off to a respectful silence as everyone turned towards her.

"I would like to thank everyone for making this journey to Fitzroy Hall as early as today," she announced. "I know that you all must be tired and famished, so if everyone would so kindly follow me to the dining room, dinner will be served shortly."

Naturally, nobody was going to say anything disagreeable about the hospitality of their host. Everybody stood up and followed Lady Wellington out of the parlor, Alice included.

She heard Colin laugh softly behind her and shuddered, knowing that their little war was far from over.

"I would like to see just how far you think you can run from me, little lamb," she heard him say. "I assure you that you will not get very far away."

Oh, she knew that he was going to make things difficult for her. It was simply in his nature. He was a Wolf, after all.

And really, she should not be enjoying being called his "little lamb" so much.

But why did she feel a strange, little thrill at his words? It was almost as if she was looking forward to what he had in store for her…