right now it seemed she had a tiger by the tail—or rather a werewolf.
Asher laughed at her fears. 'Let me call you Clair.'
Clair breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
Before more could be said by either party, the drapes were shoved aside and Clair was suddenly standing face-to-face with a very angry Ian. 'Have you no care for your reputation?' he cried. 'Asher is a renowned womanizer, and here you are alone with him.' His fists clenched, his green eyes burning with rage.
With undisguised interest, Asher examined the byplay between the two. 'The cavalry arrives,' he remarked.
Ian glared. 'Stay out of this, Asher!' Returning his attention to Clair, he bitterly scolded her, 'You don't know what you're doing. Believe me, Asher's bite is much worse than his bark.'
Asher arched an elegant shoulder. 'That's rather the pot calling the kettle black,' he said.
Ian ignored him, searching Clair's eyes for some tiny spark of forgiveness. 'Asher's not to be trusted,' he went on.
'And you are?' Clair inquired coldly. As she took in Ian's fierce countenance, she could feel waves of jealousy rolling off him. Plan B was a smashing success. Somehow she managed to hide her triumph.
Her words struck Ian forcibly. With a pained expression, he beseeched her, 'Clair, forgive me. Please? I am sorry, truly sorry. I never meant to hurt you.'
Asher jumped in with both feet. 'But you did hurt her, didn't you?' the top-lofty earl accused. Taking Clair's hand in his, he craftily added, 'I told you Ian would wound you. It's in his nature.'
Ian snatched Clair's hand away from Asher, a feral look coming into his eyes. 'Back off, Asher. She's mine.'
Clair snatched her hand away from Ian. 'In a pig's eye!' And with those words Clair departed pertly, leaving a forlorn and frustrated Ian and a very amused Asher.
'She's an intriguing woman. You don't have to worry any longer that I will kill her,' the Earl of Wolverton remarked.
Ian turned, his fists clenched. 'She's mine, Asher, and what's mine I hold,' he growled. He would never let Clair end with Asher. The earl wasn't fit to touch the ground Clair walked on. 'Take my words to heart, Asher. Back away or blood will be spilled. Yours!'
'Oh, I do hope for blood,' Asher taunted. 'I could use a good drink.'
Ian advanced, his eyes glowing a dark green. 'This is no game. And Clair is not prey.'
Asher only shrugged. 'Threats won't work. Besides, you should be overjoyed that I no longer see Clair's research as a problem. In point of fact, I have resolved the problem with Miss Frankenstein's belief that I am a werewolf—or it will resolve itself.' He shuddered in amused revulsion at the word 'werewolf.' His was noble blood, the blood of both earls and vampires, and certainly not that of some four-footed creature at the beck and call of the moon.
'And how, pray tell, have you done that?' Ian asked.
'I will invite Clair and her aunt to be guests at a small country house party I am having that starts on Tuesday.'
Despite his anger, Ian caught on quickly. 'Wednesday is the full moon. And when you don't change into a wolf, Clair will be there to witness your nontransformation.'
'Quite.' Asher's expression was bland, not revealing his devious Plan A, which he had named
'How will you manage the days?' Ian asked. 'Clair is a suspicious creature by nature.'
'Again, that is calling the kettle black,' Asher laughed.
Ian scowled.
'The guests will arrive late Tuesday afternoon. I will be called away on an emergency through Wednesday day, and Thursday the guests will be leaving in the morning.'
Ian nodded, his expression grim. 'Not bad. But Clair is going nowhere near you without me. I take it I am invited?' It was really not a question.
'I had really rather hoped to avoid it,' Asher replied. He turned his back and departed.
'I will see you on Tuesday,' Ian called out. His cousin Galen approached with a wry expression on his face.
'Gripping performance, coz. Dare I ask if there will be an encore?' he inquired.
Ian grunted and started to leave.
'Where are you going?' Galen asked.
'To find Clair.'
'She left right after she spoke with you.'
'Bloody hell! I wonder which rout she went to next?'
Galen shrugged and Ian stalked away, muttering under his breath, 'Just wait till I find the little hellion.'
'Isn't love grand?' Galen remarked to no one in particular.
Several routs later, Clair would have agreed with Galen's assessment in spite of her ill humor. She stood impatiently tapping her slippers as she waited for Ian to show up at the Bennington manor and glare at her. So far he had tracked her to the Faltisek fete and the Love rout. She was fairly sure that he would put in an appearance at the Benningtons', the last event of the evening.
Her anger was dwindling as Ian chased her around the town. At the beginning of the evening, she had wanted to give him a piece of her mind. Now she realized he had a huge piece of her heart, the swine.
Love was scary, exciting, and, utterly remarkable, Clair determined. And the reality of it was so much better than all her lonely midnight fantasies. Ian had touched an invisible part of her, hidden even from herself. He had made her whole. He both completed her and complemented her. Together they shared an inseparable nature like atoms with covalent bonds—a theory her uncle Victor was considering. If only Ian hadn't lied to her.
Clair felt a sudden brush against her sleeve and a cool wind on her neck. Startled, she turned to find Asher watching her with a proprietary look, his teeth white and gleaming.
'I should have known,' she said.
Asher leered at her. 'It must be my lucky night.'
'Are you following me?' Clair asked, somewhat amused. Since Ian wasn't here, she might as well pursue her werewolf research.
'To the ends of the earth, Clair, the ends of the earth.'
She laughed, the sound light and tinkling, causing Asher to smile. He could listen to her laugh forever. And he would, if he had his wicked way.
'Do you know, you are the first person to laugh at me in a very long while.' It was not a question.
'How long? Ten years, twenty years? Hmm… a hundred?' she asked, crossing her fingers behind her back. It was a pretty weak ploy, but still she had to try.
In the pursuit of science, it was far better to try and fail than never to try at all.
The earl chuckled. 'Come now, surely you don't think I am as old as that? However will my ego take this new insult?'
'With your consequence, I imagine you'll survive infamously well.'
'Clair, you are a delight. Come away with me. We'll go to Paris and drink champagne in bed.'
'Champagne gives me hiccups,' she countered, keeping an eye out for Ian. Surely he would track her here, and soon?
Eyeing Asher, Clair got the feeling she might have bitten off more than she could chew. Especially when he said, 'All right then, come away with me to the country.'
When she gave him a frosty look, he added mischievously, 'I am having a house party at Wolverton Manor from this coming Tuesday through Thursday, with a small ball being given on Wednesday. Would you and your aunt Mary do me the honor of attending?'
Clair wanted to jump for joy. The wolf was inviting her to his den! She could almost feel the plaque given for the Scientific Discovery of the Decade.
Yes, she would gain her proof, Clair thought, her mind spinning. But she had to admit to some surprise, in spite of her inner victory dance. Wednesday night was the full moon. All shapeshifters would shift into animal form
