Noelle

She was surprised at the question, and at his perception, but she answered readily enough. “Andrew invited me to the dance last night and I had to refuse him.”

“Why?”

She gave him a harsh glare. “Because I had nothing to wear. And even if I had a dress, I”—she cleared her throat—“I can’t dance.”

Both eyebrows lifted. “Why?” he said again.

“My father considered dancing sinful,” she said haughtily.

He smiled faintly. “Probably it is, but even a saint could hardly find anything objectionable about a man’s gloved hand on a woman’s waist over several layers of fabric.”

She flushed. “Nevertheless…”

“He took Miss Beale instead.”

“I know that!”

“Your temper is showing, Miss Brown,” he said wryly.

“You irritate me, Mr. Dunn. Indeed you do!”

He looked down his elegant nose at her. “You have a singular lack of tact. You dress poorly. You have no idea how to behave at table or even in a small gathering of socialites. You’re far too outspoken and high tempered and impatient.”

She opened her mouth to rage at him, but he held up a lean hand.

“But you have a certain potential,” he continued. “Elegance and a soft heart, and a pleasant way of speaking. It might be possible to…remake you.”

“Sir?”

“Remake you.” He walked around her slowly, leaning heavily on the cane. “With the proper clothes, and some lessons in social behavior, you should do well in polite company.”

“Sir, I can’t afford the proper clothes, and I know nothing of social—”

He waved away her objections. “Money is no problem, Miss Brown. I like a challenge.”

“Why should you want to do this for me?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I haven’t decided where in town I want to open my practice. I’m having a holiday. But I’m bored, Miss Brown. You present a temporary distraction that will occupy my mind and my free time.”

“Andrew would realize…”

“He would not, unless you tell him,” he replied. He pursed his lips as he studied her. “It would do Andrew good to have his lack of foresight pointed out to him. He doesn’t consider possibilities.”

The excitement she felt bubbled up into her eyes. “He might find me attractive, if I were more like the ladies of his acquaintance.”

God forbid, Jared was thinking. But he didn’t say it. He wanted to take Andrew down a peg. He didn’t want to hurt Noelle in the process. On the other hand, he might be saving her from a fate worse than death. While Andrew wouldn’t hesitate to seduce a woman he considered socially inferior, he’d think twice about giving offense to a woman of culture.

Noelle was nothing to him. But he didn’t want to see her hurt, even if she did have a low opinion of him as a man. That was vaguely amusing. He wondered how she would have reacted to him as he had been, before he began to study law. Andrew hid it well, but even now he was intimidated by his stepbrother—and without knowing anything of the past.