“She does.” To Elspeth’s astonishment, her mother leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I have to congratulate you, Marina. However I tried, I never managed to prize my daughter away from those dreadful dowdy frocks. She’s always been my cuckoo in the nest. In Town, I could never keep Grace, Prudence and Charity out of the shops, and I could barely get Elspeth into one.”
“We can go shopping next time we’re in Edinburgh,” Elspeth said in a tentative tone and was surprised at her mother’s immediate enthusiasm. Perhaps she’d become a little too comfortable with her place as the family afterthought, and perhaps her mother’s benign neglect wasn’t altogether the result of selfishness.
“I’d like that very much.”
Elspeth listened with half an ear as Mamma and Marina discussed Italian fashions, while she wondered if this new look might improve her relations with her mother. It wasn’t what she’d expected, but it was a change she’d welcome.
Chapter 8
By the time Brody sat down to dinner, he was almost in charity with his hostess. The fact that Marina had placed him next to Elspeth went a long way toward softening his resentment. As did Elspeth’s palpable amazement at the flood of compliments she’d received on her changed appearance. Amazement and blossoming pleasure. Ugolino and Giulia remained the center of attention, but nobody missed how stylish young Miss Douglas looked in midnight blue silk and cream lace.
Brody had no right to feel disgruntled. On Elspeth’s behalf, he’d come to resent the way her family overlooked her. But some unworthy element in him had gloated to know that only he was perceptive enough to notice her beauty and charm.
“What is it?” she asked under her breath, as fish replaced the soup course and the party’s happy chatter buzzed about them.
“Pardon?” he asked.
“You keep staring at me.”
“You’re a lassie worth staring at.”
Those full, pink lips tightened in displeasure. “You never thought that before.”
He cast her an unimpressed glance and cut into his fillet of sole in lemon sauce. “You know that’s nae true. I stared at ye well before you decided to turn into a diamond of the first water.”
Self-consciously, she touched the elaborate arrangement of curls framing her face. “Don’t you approve?”
With a grunt of amusement, he raised his glass of hock in a mocking toast that at heart wasn’t mocking at all. “Dinnae be a daft wee widgeon, Elspeth. Of course I approve. You’re beautiful.”
Faint rose tinged her cheeks, and her eyelashes fluttered down. “Thank you.”
“I like what you’ve done with your hair. It makes me want to take ye to bed.”
She gave a soft gasp, and her gaze whipped back to his face. “You’re being wicked again. You just can’t help yourself.”
He shrugged. “When I see ye, I certainly can’t. I imagine that’s the reaction Marina’s maid aimed to create.” He paused. “Although to be fair, I wanted to take ye to bed when your hair was pulled back so tightly, it made me wince. And I definitely commend whatever sorcery you’ve accomplished with yon blue dress. I always thought you had a magnificent bosom. Now the rest of the world can see enough of ye to agree with me.”
The rose deepened, and the magnificent bosom swelled most impressively. He braced for a scolding. He deserved one. After all, he was behaving like a cad, considering she was an innocent and his friend’s sister, and he was sitting at the family dinner table. But he loved the way her eyes flashed when he teased her. That hadn’t changed, despite her dressing to dazzle.
But instead of delivering a set down, Elspeth regarded him curiously. “Do you never have a normal, sensible discussion with a woman? Something about—I don’t know—what she did today, or her family, or the books she’s read? Is it always this flirtatious nonsense?”
Under her probing gaze, he shifted in discomfort. Especially because, while it was sadly true that his usual banter with females was nonsense, when he told Elspeth he wanted her, it wasn’t nonsense at all. “You dinnae like it?”
Brody waited for her to say no. To his surprise, her eyes flickered away again and she concentrated on her meal. “Of course I like it. I’m as susceptible as any other woman to a handsome man’s flattery—as you very well know, or you wouldn’t do it. But all this teasing and taunting make it impossible to know you in any genuine way. Perhaps that’s why you do it.”
“What a bleak assessment.” His lips turned down, as he endured another, sharper pang of discomfort. Her perception wasn’t altogether welcome. “But be fair, lassie. I ken what ye did all day. I ken everything I need to about your family. If we discuss books, you’l
l discover how woefully ignorant I am, and decide I’m no’ worth your trouble. I cannae allow that. What else is there? I could tell ye some scandalous stories about my last visit to Edinburgh, but they’re nae suitable for polite company.”
“Would you really?” To his surprise, he caught a spark of interest in her expression as she looked up from her fish. “I’d love to know more about the demimonde.”
His lips twisted in a wry smile. “Ye probably wouldn’t.”
“But you might tell me later?”
“I might. But where does that leave us now? I could talk about your bosom.”
Her turn for a wry smile. “You’ve certainly spent long enough looking at it.”