Read Online A Little Bit Wicked by Robyn DeHart - Free Book Online Page B

could only withstand so much temptation. But she was not the right woman to distract him; she was far too advanced in years. She had to be at least six years older than he.
    He needed a wife, and she had no desire to be said wife. Or anyone’s wife, for that matter. She much preferred living life on her own terms.
    “What about Gwyneth Montrose?” Maureen said, finally offering up a name. “She’s lovely and seems rather intelligent.”
    “True, and we know each other, but we aren’t close enough that I would need to feel guilty should he abandon her once the marriage is done,” Clarissa said thoughtfully.
    “Very good,” Vivian said. She wrote down Gwyneth’s name and tried to place the girl. If she wasn’t mistaken, Gwyneth was a relatively tall woman with nondescript brown hair, but kind eyes. She wasn’t overly talkative and seemed to have a pleasant disposition. Perhaps she was the right sort of woman for Marcus. But Vivian knew even as she wrote the woman’s name down that Marcus would no more be interested in her than he would be paying court to Her Majesty.
    “Very well. Whom else should we consider? We should have a collection of women to introduce him to. Allow him to select one that interests him, “ Vivian said.
    “Make him feel as if he’s making the choice,” Rose said.
    “Precisely,” Vivian agreed.
    “Oh, what about Constance Brindwell?” Clarissa asked. “She’s very pretty. And sophisticated.”
    Not to mention a bit of a flirt, if rumors were to be believed, but Vivian kept that notion to herself. She wrote the woman’s name down. They needed good choices for him, someone who would help him lead the Kincaid family, someone to whom Clarissa could look for womanly advice, though clearly she had her aunt for some of that.
    “Annie Liddle,” Maureen said. “She’s very quiet, but a pretty little thing.”
    She was indeed quite pretty. Perhaps too pretty, but Vivian wrote her name down as well. What did it matter to her if Marcus married himself off to the prettiest woman in all of London? In all of Great Britain, for that matter. She cared not a whit about any of that. She did not want his attention, and this was precisely what needed to happen to prevent him from giving it to her.
    Once he had a real marital candidate in his sights he’d forget about Vivian. She was older than he. Gray had already begun to shimmer in her brown hair, and lines had begun to play at the corners of her eyes. Men, especially men like Marcus, did not want women with age showing. They wanted younger, plump, ripe women who were ready to birth children. Vivian was past that part of her life. She was nearing five and thirty, for heaven’s sake.
    “Eloise Jennings,” Clarissa said. “We were friends once, but lost touch, and she was always very humorous. Marcus enjoys a good laugh, I do know that about him. I suspect Eloise might amuse him.”
    Vivian wrote down the girl’s name. She’d never had any encounters with Eloise, which she supposed was a good thing considering Vivian’s particular skill. The less she knew someone, the more likely it was the person had had no personal scandals.
    Marcus did seem to have a rather advanced sense of humor. She certainly didn’t consider humor as one of her virtues. Oh, what did it matter? She nearly smacked her thigh with the small notebook to shock herself out of her wistful thinking. The point was to get good ideas about whom to introduce Marcus to at his first big ball since his return.
    A handful of other names were tossed around and Vivian wrote them all down. They discussed the group and made some additional notes. “Clarissa, did you bring the invitations as I asked?”
    “I did.” The girl reached into her bag and withdrew a pile of envelopes. “These are for this coming week.”
    “Excellent. Now let us make our plan to see which would be most advantageous for Marcus to attend. If he is to meet a lovely lady and begin courting her, we want that to