Page 3 of In the Highlander's Bed

But first she had to slip past Headmistress Hillary’s eagle eye.

She’d thought the task doable, until Captain Jonathon Ardmore, the man who sent half the hearts at Madame Lavaliere’s swooning, decided to fix his attentions upon her.

Really. The man was worse than a bloodhound in tracking her down. Constance had spent the past half hour attempting to avoid him and failing, since once again he was blocking her path.

“Captain, we have already danced,” she said, dropping her voice, hoping no one overheard his second request.

Of course, she knew better.

Off to her left, Lady Mary Alice Herrington was fuming. Captain Ardmore washers, or so she’d told everyone before this evening’s event began. She was not taking his defection well, especially his defection to Constance.

And, in spite of her urgency to run away, Constancedidtake a measure of pleasure outof that. Lady Mary Alice needed to be knocked down a peg. She’d made Constance’s life miserable…that is, until Charlotte had married Lord Phillip.

Evil brother-in-law or not, that marriage had been a powerful tonic in Constance’s life. Before it she’d been the butt of every nasty little jest or prank. They’d laughed at her American accent and simple, straightforward ways. But now she’d been raised to Lady Mary Alice’s rank and given all the privileges due the daughter of a wealthy and important family.

Of course, Constance wasn’t certain that she didn’t prefer her earlier ignoble state to the tender-hook scrutiny of the staff at Madame Lavaliere’s. Headmistress Hillary had doubled her lessons in deportment and behavior, admonishing her to work harder now that she was to make a brilliant match.

If that wasn’t enough to make a girl want to escape, Constance didn’t know what was. Especially if it meant being polite to the likes of Captain Ardmore.

“I defy all approvals and disapprovals,” Captain Ardmore declared. He was in his late twenties, with sloped shoulders and a rangy build that reminded her of a scarecrow her neighbors back in the Ohio Valley had used. “I could nomore hold myself back from you than I could refrain from charging enemy cannons.”

Constance remembered having a very different reaction that moment when their eyes had met across the room. After hearing Lady Mary Alice and the others carry on about him, hers had been one of disappointment. She didn’t understand why he wore such a fussy wig, with its tight row of curls across his forehead. In her opinion, any man worth her interest didn’t wear other men’s hair, or douse himself in scented water when he should be drinking it to sweeten stale breath instead. A man who couldn’t use soap or tooth polish was not one she could enjoy.

She flipped open her fan, the movement a smooth twist of her wrist as drilled into her for hours. “Certainly I am not as dangerous as a cannon,” she suggested, wondering what he would think if he knew she had a knife strapped to her right thigh. She always wore it in spite of Headmistress Hillary’s reprimands.

“You are, where my heart is concerned,” he answered with so much false sincerity Constance had to stifle the urge to gag. It would have been unladylike.

Instead, she said, “Or could it be I am more attractive to you, dear captain, since my sistermarried the Lord Phillip Maddox and I am now a relation to the Duke of Colster?”

His eyes widened at her bluntness.

She continued, enjoying herself. “You see, we’ve met two other times and I never impressed you then.”

“I must have had other matters on my mind,” he murmured. “My responsibilities at the garrison are quite rigorous—” He stopped at the eyebrow she raised over his excuse. “Or I was a complete fool,” he amended before smiling, an expression that reminded her of a tinker pushing inferior goods for too high a price. “Please, let me make amends for my slight now.” He reached for her gloved hand, boldly lifting it to his lips as he whispered, “I shall never be so remiss again.”

He was going to kiss her hand. Panic mixed with annoyance.

Constance had never been kissed by a man in any form. She had avoided it. Her first kiss was going to be special. She wasn’t going to waste this rite of passage on a hand peck by someone who irritated her.

Closing her fan with military precision, she rapped him on the head before his lips could touch her kid gloves.

The startled man pulled back.

“I beg your pardon, Captain,” she said, reclaiming her hand. “My fan slipped.”

“Why you vixen.” His sudden anger was a bit startling. “Do you think to embarrass me?”

“You are doing a perfectly acceptable job of that on your own,” she answered. Perhaps he intimidated other women, but not her.

His lips curved into a harsh smile. He took her arm by the elbow, pinching it tightly as he leaned close to say for her ears alone, “If you thought to set me off, you’re wrong. You were right earlier. Iwasinterested in your family connections, but now it isyouI find intriguing.”

“And I find you a bore,” Constance replied calmly even as her chest tightened with alarm. She didn’t need this. Didn’t want it. He’d have his eye on her all night, and she’d never be able to run away—

“Captain Ardmore, you have not yet danced with Lady Mary Alice.”

Headmistress Hillary’s intervention could not have been more welcome. The headmistress was a dour Scottish lady who was no one’s fool, as Constance had learned repeatedly, much to her regret.

Apparently the captain also had a healthy respect for Headmistress Hillary. He released his hold on Constance’s arm, glancing aroundand realizing he’d been in danger of creating a scene.