Then Came You (The Gamblers #1)(92)

After a minute, she felt Alex move slightly, as if he intended to roll away from her. Pretending to have fallen asleep, she kept her arms locked around his neck, her limbs heavily entangled with his. When he attempted to disengage her, she affected a drowsy murmur and wrapped herself tighter. To her relief, he settled back, his chest rising and falling rapidly beneath her head. She wondered at the reason for his disturbed breathing. He must know what he had said. He must regret it.

But dear Lord…she wanted it to be true.

Alarmed by her own thoughts, she somehow managed to stay relaxed against him. He deserved someone far better than her, someone pure, innocent, untarnished. If he did care for her, it was only because he still didn’t know what she truly was. Once he knew about her bastard child, he would leave her. And if she allowed herself to fall in love with him, her heart would shatter into a thousand jagged pieces.

“You don’t need me to remark on what a hopelessly vulgar mess this is,” Lady Lyon said sternly, regarding the newlywed pair in the manner of a governess having caught her charge kissing in the corner with an ill-bred peasant. An elegant woman with gleaming silver-white hair and direct blue eyes, she possessed a strong, flawless bone structure that had made her a renowned beauty in her youth.

Alex shrugged apologetically. “But Aunt, the truth is—”

“Don’t attempt to tell me the truth, you impetuous boy! I’ve heard the rumors, and that is quite enough.”

“Yes, Aunt,” Alex replied humbly for the tenth time, sliding a sideways glance at his wife. They were in the gold and green parlor of Lord Lyon’s mansion on Brook Street. Lily was huddled in a nearby chair, her gaze fixed on her folded hands. He struggled to suppress a grin, never having seen her look so chastened. He had warned her what to expect. True to his predictions, his elderly aunt had lectured them in her imperious way for at least a quarter-hour.

“Gambling, nudity, promiscuity, and the merciful Lord knows what else,” Lady Lyon continued sharply, “all carried out in the public forum, which places the two of you quite beyond redemption. I hold you just as accountable as your wife, Raiford. Your part in this is no less reprehensible. In fact, it is more so. How dare you wantonly cast aside your sterling reputation and sully the family name in such a manner?” She shook her head and regarded them severely. “The only wise step you have taken is to come to me with this. Although I can’t help but think it is too late to pluck the two of you from the jaws of social ruin. It will be the greatest challenge of my life, gaining you entrée.”

“We have absolute faith in you, Aunt.” Alex said in a penitent murmur. “If anyone can accomplish it, you can.”

“Indeed,” Lady Lyon replied sourly.

Lily raised a hand to her lips, wiping away the twitch of a smile. She relished the picture of her husband being scolded like a troublesome schoolboy. In spite of the old lady’s enthusiastic dressing-down, it was clear she adored Alex.

Lady Lyon regarded her suspiciously. “I fail to understand why my nephew married you,” she announced. “He should have wedded that well-behaved sister of yours, and made you his paramour.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Lily said, speaking up for the first time. “I was perfectly willing to be his mistress. It would have been a far more sensible arrangement.” Smiling sweetly at Alex, she ignored his sardonic stare. “I believe he compelled me to marry him out of some mistaken idea that it was possible to reform me.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Heaven knows where he got that notion.”

Lady Lyon regarded her with new interest. “Hmm. Now I begin to understand the attraction. You’re a spirited chit. And I don’t doubt you’ve a quick wit. But all the same—”

“Thank you,” Lily said demurely, interrupting before another round of scolding began. “Lady Lyon, I appreciate your willingness to exert your influence on our behalf. But gaining us admittance into respectable circles…” She shook her head decisively. “It can’t be done.”

“Indeed,” the elderly woman said frostily. “Then let me inform you, my impertinent miss, that it can and will be done. Provided you manage to keep from making any further scandalous exhibitions of yourself!”

“She won’t,” Alex said hastily. “And neither will I, Aunt.”

“Very well.” Lady Lyon gestured for a housemaid to bring her lap desk. “I shall begin my campaign,” she said, in a tone that must have resembled Wellington’s at Waterloo. “And you, of course, will follow my instructions to the letter.”

Alex strode to his aunt and kissed her wrinkled brow. “I knew I could depend on you.”

“Fustian,” she replied rudely, gesturing for Lily to approach her. “You may kiss me, child.”

Obediently Lily pressed her lips to the old woman’s proffered cheek.

“Now that I’ve had a look at you,” Lady Lyon continued, “I am assured that all of the rumors about you can’t be true. Decadent living always shows in the face, and you look far less degenerate than I expected.” Her blue eyes narrowed. “In the right clothes, I suppose we could pass you off as a woman of reasonably good character.”

Lily gave her a small curtsey. “Thank you,” she said with a meekness that bordered on burlesque.

“We’ll have a problem with the eyes,” Lady Lyon said disapprovingly. “Dark, heathenish, full of mischief. Perhaps you could find some way to restrain the expression in them—”