Deceived & Honoured - The Baron's Vexing Wife (Love's Second Chance #7)(3)
“So that Cullingwood will leave her alone,” Tristan snapped, clearly agitated.
“Then you dance with her,” Derek huffed, in no mood to humour his friend. However, the strained look on Tristan’s face told him how deeply the golden-haired lady had affected him.
“I can’t,” Tristan grumbled. “I already danced with her once, and the evening is barely half over. I cannot lay claim to her for the rest of the night or people will talk.”
“So?” Derek prompted, remembering how his friend had teased him before, determined to return the favour.
As expected, Tristan rolled his eyes. “So, I need you to intercept her before Cullingwood can lead her off the dance floor. Besides it would be a good opportunity for you to mingle. Since you have no interest in her, this should not be too difficult for you.”
Ignoring the ache in his own heart, Derek allowed the touch of a smirk to show on his face. “What makes you think I’m not interested in her?” he asked, watching his friend’s face closely out of the corner of his eye.
Once more, as expected, Tristan’s head jerked up, shock evident in his narrowed eyes as his hands involuntarily balled into fists.
Delighted to have hit his mark, Derek chuckled. “She truly made an impression on you, didn’t she?”
“Yes, she did,” Tristan snapped, impatience only too visible in his blue eyes. “Now, go.”
Derek drew in a deep breath, unable to deny his friend such a heart-felt request. “Fine,” he grumbled, equally unable to keep the annoyance he felt out of his voice as he strode forward, waiting until the dance ended before he stepped up to the lady who so obviously had stolen Tristan’s heart. He could only hope she was worth it.
As they stood up together, Derek breathed a sigh of relief when she showed no interest in conversing with him. Instead, her gaze drifted around the room, allowing him to return to his own observations. Torn between his seething rage toward Townsend and utter disappointment as well as fascination regarding Lady Madeline, Derek thought his heart would give out when the last notes of the music finally drifted away, and Townsend approached Lady Madeline, bowing to her and asking for the next dance.
Staring at them for the better part of a minute as though waiting for the hallucination to disappear, Derek finally cleared his throat, reminding himself that whatever happened next was none of his concern. And so, with a last regretful look, he turned around and walked away, wishing he could believe his own words to be true.
After all, was it not the utmost duty of a gentleman?peer or not?to protect those in peril?
Chapter One ? A Gentleman's Duty
London, July 1806
Four Months Later
Never had Derek felt at ease in a large crowd, which was especially true when that crowd consisted solely of lords and ladies of the ton. However, right then and there, at Lord Kingsley’s ball, he felt something akin to pleasure.
“It is truly wonderful to see you again,” the Duchess of Cromwell beamed as she embraced Tristan’s sister, Henrietta, warmly. Her dark red tresses swung forward, coming to rest next to Henrietta’s pale blond curls, as the two women held each other tightly. “It has been too long, Henrietta,” she added, suddenly standing back and gazing into her friend’s face. “A part of me feared, I would never lay eyes on you again when you all but ran off to Scotland.” The voice caught in her throat, and her eyes misted, prompting her husband, Edmond, to place a comforting hand on the small of her back.
A booming laugh echoed to their ears, and Henrietta turned her head to glower at her own husband. “I fail to see how this is amusing,” she reproached him with feigned displeasure in her voice. Her eyes, however, shone with mirth.
Connor Brunwood, the new Marquis of Rodridge and Henrietta’s Scottish husband, grinned at her, his dark eyes sparkling with mischief as he pulled her into his arms, unimpressed by the hushed whispers his behaviour elicited from the rest of the guests in attendance. “If only ye had run off with me,” he teased her, utter devotion shining in his gaze. “However, I do remember ye were quite unwilling to even be civil with me.”
Tristan’s sister shrugged. “You deserved it. After all, you went behind my back to secure my hand in marriage.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “Will ye never let me forget that?”
“Not likely,” she whispered, smiling up at him sweetly. “After all, where would be the fun in that?”
As Connor groaned, the rest of them broke out laughing, and Derek had to admit?at least to himself?that Tristan had been right. There were good people among the ton. Nothing was black and white. These people who stood here beside him that night were devoted and loyal friends.
Friends who made mistakes.
Friends who were led amiss.
Friends who did not always do the right thing.
And yet, when it mattered, they stood side by side and risked everything to save the other.
Glancing from Tristan to his golden-haired wife, Beth, as she leaned into him, his arm gently wrapped around her, Derek smiled. Everything had turned out the way it ought to have. Despite Derek’s own disbelief, his friend had found true love, the one woman who completed him.
“Anna, I admit I never thought I’d ever enjoy one of these events,” Henrietta stated, echoing Derek’s own thoughts, as she glanced from the Duchess of Cromwell to her brother. “A lot has changed in so little a time, and I truly wish we could stay longer.” A touch of sadness came to her eyes at the thought of their departure.