The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(80)

He covered her mouth and kissed her senseless. A little while later, she snuggled, warm and sated, into the crook of his arm. “Let’s go home, Gavin.”





Courting the Countess





Irena was right. Balls were a horrid, stuffy affair. And not just for all the reasons she disliked them, but because society’s rules for some bizarre reason prohibited a husband and wife from dancing with each other more than once.

Benedict wanted her in his arms. Now. Always. Everything had changed since the night he finally opened up to her. Her innocent touch and hesitant kiss had lit a fire, and though he would have been willing to wait longer, she consummated their marriage at long last. Making love to his wife was so transcendent an experience that he resented the very appearance of the sun every morning.

“Latford.” A hearty, heavy hand slapped him on the back.

Benedict turned away from watching his wife to find his friend, the Viscount Melvin.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Melvin said.

“Why?”

“Your last appearance among the ton left quite an impression.”

Benedict didn’t want to think about that. He’d thrown his wife to the wolves and naively thought she was strong enough to fight them off with sheer will alone.

“I daresay you’re making an entirely new impression tonight,” Melvin mused.

“Why’s that?” His eyes strayed once again to Irena.

“It has not gone unnoticed that you have all the appearances of a man completely besotted with his wife.”

“I am.” A strange giddiness that felt entirely unmanly but completely freeing lifted his chest. “I am a happily married man, my friend.”

“And I am glad to hear it. Just be careful, Latford. Not everyone is forgiving.” He nodded toward the group of women where his wife had been standing.

Just in time to see Irena dash away.

Benedict followed in the direction he’d seen his wife disappear. To the outside world, she would have appeared fine. But he knew her better, and something was wrong. It was in the tight line of her lips, the way she clutched her hands to her stomach, the quick steps in slippers she despised.

He found her in the library.

Of course.

He closed the heavy door behind him. The click of the latch was the only sound in the room save a soft, uneven breath.

“Irena?”

He found her sitting on a straight-backed chair facing the massive hearth on the other side of the room. She looked small against the imposing velvet piece. But not just in stature. She looked defeated. “Are you unwell?”

He crouched before her and covered her hands with his. They were ice cold. As was her gaze.

“Irena, what is it?”

“What could possibly make a man and wife despise each other to the point that they abandon their own child just to avoid being in the same house?”

A twinge of alarm shot through him. Benedict sat back on his haunches. “What are you talking about?”

“You said your parents were particularly unhappy people, but that never seemed an adequate explanation.”

“Why are we talking about this?” A cold alarm swept through him. “What did those women say to you?”

“Don’t put this on them. Tell me the truth.”

Benedict rose slowly. “I have no idea what we’re talking about.” But he did. And he was a fool for thinking he could keep this from her, for believing it wouldn’t reach her ears eventually.

Her eyes followed him as he stood. “The ton never forgets a scandal. Haven’t you learned that by now, my lord?”

The use of his title created a churning sensation in his stomach. “Irena, listen to me—”

“Tell me the truth.”

“What happened with my mother and father has nothing to do with us.”

An ugly scoff emerged from her delicate lips. “It has everything to do with us. Say it. Say the words. Tell me what happened.”

“She trapped him.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE




“Yay! Aunt Livvie’s here!”

The Thursday after the team party, Thea saw her sister’s Jeep pull into the driveway at the same time that Amelia shouted. Liv hadn’t returned a single call or text since the night of their fight.

“Did she tell you she was coming over?” Gavin asked. He had just set his suitcase by the front door and had to leave soon for a photo shoot in New York. He would only be gone for the weekend, but Thea dreaded his absence. She never wanted him to leave again. Baseball season was going to be hell.

“No,” Thea said, watching her sister through the kitchen window.

Gavin stood beside her with his hand on her back. “Do you want me to take the girls somewhere so you two can talk?”

She smiled up at him. “No. Thank you, but no. She probably just wants to get some of her things.” Secretly, though, Thea hoped Liv had simply gotten over her snit, grown tired of sleeping on her friend’s couch, and was ready to come home. And it was her home. Even Gavin had missed her.

Thea opened the front door and let Butter out. He paused to lift a leg on a bush and then ran to Liv. Thea met her on the porch.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Liv said. “I came to get my stuff.”