Dangerous Loves Romantic Suspense Collection by Dorothy McFalls

could hear Lady Waver, George’s mother, rushing about, giving last-minute instructions to the servants. Certainly his imagination was joining in the excitement, creating villains where none existed and seeing shadows of men in the home wood. His nerves must surely be undone.
    But again, out the corner of his eye, he fancied he saw a clear outline of a man. His senses alert, Nigel gazed out into the dark grove.
    An unmistakable pair of eyes flashed from within the shadows of the wood. Someone was definitely out there watching him.
    “Lady Waver!” he called out. He paced the portico, eager to track the intruder. A round woman with bright eyes and flushed cheeks joined him on the front steps.
    “Ah, carriages are approaching,” she said cheerfully. “The house will soon be filled with activity.”
    If he went through the house and out the back way, he might be able to sneak up on whoever was hiding in the woods. Perhaps those eyes belonged to the cove who’d put that burr in Zeus’s saddle.
    “My lord?” Lady Waver said, her cheerful smile fading. “Is something wrong?”
    “Yes.” He started toward the front door. “Please greet the incoming guests and give them my apologies.”
    Lady Waver caught his arm. “My lord!” she cried. “You don’t plan to greet them yourself? Surely your guests are expecting—”
    He slipped free from her grasp and gave a brisk bow. “I trust you will manage well enough without me, madam.”
    The guests would have to make do without him. He had a shadow to catch.
    * * * *
    Nigel returned from his search of the woods to find that the carriages had already emptied of their passengers. Other than the ripped piece of wool he’d found hanging on a tree branch, there were no other signs to suggest there had been an intruder on the property, no other evidence to prove he hadn’t imagined his being watched.
    Just to be safe, he sent Guthrie, a rather burly footman, to thoroughly search the woods and report anything suspicious.
    Perhaps he should also find George and—
    “I will not have it!” a round tone sang out just as he entered the front hall.
    Damn and blast. The guests .
    Nigel forced a grin and forged forward, prepared to play the friendly host.
    Lady Waver stood in the middle of the entrance hall, her face red as a cherry. “But—but Lady Dashborough, you cannot mean to leave .” She waved her stout hands in the air while blocking the path of three ladies who were trying to push their way out the front door.
    Nigel drew a deep breath. He’d expected trouble, and though the prospect of confronting the formidable Lady Dashborough frayed his nerves, he was not unprepared.
    “Ladies,” he said, as he strode quickly across the hall to greet the unhappy women.
    Lady Dashborough was the first to turn around. “Lord Edgeware, how dare you?” She punctuated each word and then thrust her chin in the air. “We are leaving.”
    “Leaving?” he echoed. He leaned against an interior column and let a crooked grin form. “Why ever for, my lady? You’ve only just arrived.” He knew the picture he created, the untamed bachelor with a gleaming smile.
    Lady Dashborough, still a beautiful woman in her own right and one of the most influential gossips in the ton , stepped toward him. Her hunched shoulders relaxed a good three inches.
    “There has to be a mistake,” she said, her voice softening to almost a whisper. “Your hostess has shown that Mercer creature to one of your guest rooms. We cannot be expected to consort with a woman of…of… that sort . I cannot imagine how the Baneshires manage to allow that thing to live in their home, much less allow it to act as chaperone for their daughters. I, for one, would have swiftly kicked it out and let it fend for itself in the stews where it assuredly belongs.”
    Nigel gave a quick nod to Lady Dashborough’s two daughters before taking the grand lady’s hand in his. “I am sure you would have done just that. I can understand