A Hero for Lady Abigail by Dallen, Maggie (i can read book club txt) 📕

she interrupted with a laugh. “Dear me, you look as though you might be ill, you're so discomfited.”

“I am not—”

“It’s all right, really.” She laughed again. She couldn’t help it. He was just so very...easy. Not simple, by any means. But he was so genuine. What one saw was what one got. The lack of artifice was positively endearing. “I did not come here to attempt to woo you, Major Mayfield.”

“Oh.” He couldn’t have hidden his relief if he’d tried. “I hadn’t assumed...that is...I didn’t mean to presume as much.”

Abigail might have been insulted by his very obvious relief. In fact, she would have been if she’d truly set her cap for the man. But she had no real interest in the major and so she was merely intrigued. “Would it be so very dreadful to be the object of my affection?”

He blinked at her. “Are you being sincere right now or is this another one of your games?”

“Another one of my games?” she shot back. “Have you known me to play games before?”

“Yes.” His gaze was direct. “Wasn’t that what last night was all about? I cannot pretend to know why you wished to be seen dancing with me, but your means of going about it wasn’t exactly subtle. You were up to something.”

She met his level gaze evenly. “Very well. Perhaps I do enjoy my games.”

He made a hmph noise that was somewhere between amusement and exasperation. “Well, at least you’re honest about it.”

Honest? Her? Hardly.

“Why don’t you save us both some trouble and tell me what you need from me.” Major Mayfield’s voice was stern, but not unkind. And the look in his eyes…

She swallowed thickly. It wasn’t just kindness. It was understanding, too. Or at least, his gaze said that he wished to understand.

“Lady Abigail.” His voice was little more than a growl. “Tell me what you’re up to.”

She tipped her chin up. “Believe it or not, I came over here to save you.”

His brows shot up. “Oh, so you’re saving me again? From what? A pleasant afternoon in the sun?”

She smiled at his teasing. “I’ve just saved you from Sir Geoffrey, haven’t I?”

All amusement fled his features as he frowned down at her. The look in his eyes somewhere between unhappy and...disappointed.

She sucked in a quick breath as her stomach twisted in the face of his disappointment.

“Sir Geoffrey is a war hero, Lady Abigail. He deserves to be treated as such.”

She blinked rapidly as a horrible sensation swept over her. Shame. For a moment she saw herself as he saw her and she was just like Charlotte. No, she was worse, because she couldn’t even pretend to be kind. “You’re right.” She barely recognized her own voice, it was so scratchy and raw. She cleared her throat and tried again. “You are right. I apologize.”

“It’s not me you ought to apologize to,” he murmured. He ran a hand through his dark hair and glanced around, no doubt ensuring Sir Geoffrey hadn’t overheard from where he stood just paces away with her mother.

“You’re right,” she said for a third time. He couldn’t know how rare that was. She wasn’t certain she’d ever admitted to being in the wrong before, and certainly not three times in a row.

His sigh was weary when he turned back to her. “I want no part of this.”

Her lips parted in surprise. “But you don’t even know what I’m proposing.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve heard enough about your antics to know—”

“I thought you don’t listen to gossip,” she snapped.

He tilted his head down. “I was at the Arundel party, remember? Not to mention, I have eyes and ears, Lady Abigail.”

She clamped her mouth shut, suddenly feeling for all the world like a child. She hadn’t done anything wrong at the Arundel party. She pursed her lips as memories came back to her. Trying too hard to gain the marquess’s notice, speaking ill of the woman who was now his bride…

“All right, fine,” she said at last. “I will admit I haven’t always behaved...well.”

His lips twitched and she narrowed her eyes. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Of course not.”

“But I’ve always had my reasons.”

His answering stare was unimpressed.

“It’s not all fun and games out there,” she said, horrified beyond belief to hear her mother’s longtime mantra coming out of her mouth. “People must do whatever they need to in order to survive.”

“She tells the man who’s fought in a war,” he murmured softly.

Heat stole up her neck and into her cheeks. There was nothing aggressive nor cruel in his tone. He was merely speaking the truth.

And she was merely speaking like a spoiled entitled lady of the ton.

She looked away. “Yes. Fine. You are right. I will not try to justify my former actions any longer.”

He was quiet for so long that she forced herself to look back his way just to see what he was thinking. It was impossible to say.

“You don’t need to justify anything to anyone,” he said. “But if you’re truly sorry about any of your past words or deeds, perhaps it is time to change course.”

His words struck her somewhere between her ribs and her throat. They seemed to lodge there, not letting her speak. No one talked to her like this. No one, but certainly not an eligible young man.

Her mother’s fake laughter beside them brought her back to the moment. Back to herself. She forced a sunny smile. “Perhaps you are right. Which is why you’ll be happy to hear that I meant what I said. I’m here to help you.” She glanced meaningfully toward Charlotte who was sneaking glances in their direction as well.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

She smiled and adopted the bravado tone that made gentlemen grin even as they shook their head. “Do you know the most glorious thing about being me, Major Mayfield?”

He arched his brows. “What’s that?”

She leaned in just a hair too close for propriety’s sake and tapped him playfully with her fan. “Everyone wants what I have.”

His brows drew together,