The Study of Seduction (Sinful Suitors, #2)(6)

Mama paused while settling onto the settee. “A dockworker! For shame, Edwin—what a thing to say to a lady! Have you no pretty compliments to offer?”

When he stood blatantly unrepentant, Clarissa said, “If Edwin knew how to compliment ladies, Mama, he would be too popular in society to settle for having dinner with the mere likes of us.”

“There’s no settling involved, I assure you,” he said irritably.

She was congratulating herself on getting beneath his cool reserve again when Warren stepped in. “Play nice now, cousin. We need him.”

“For what?” Clarissa asked.

Instead of answering, Warren gestured to the settee. “You’d better sit down. I’ve got something to tell you and your mother.”





Two


A short while later, Edwin watched as Clarissa demanded answers of her cousin. “And this letter from Niall requesting your help was just sitting here waiting for you? How long?”

“Only a few days,” Warren said.

“They should have sent it on!”

“We would have missed it, then. We were already on our way here.”

“And why did he send it to you, not us?”

“Because he wanted to keep you and your mother out of it if he could.”

Lady Margrave gave a bone-chilling cry. “Heaven help us all! My poor boy is in danger—I just know it! Or he’s gambled away all his funds!”

“I’m sure it’s nothing like that,” Warren said through gritted teeth.

“And Niall would never be so foolish as to lose everything at the tables,” Clarissa said grimly.

“He could have taken up with a bad crowd over in Portugal!” Lady Margrave protested. “I mean, if he was daft enough to get into a duel over some soiled dove all those years ago—”

“Mama!” Clarissa said, with a furtive glance at Edwin. “That’s enough.”

“It’s not as if the whole world doesn’t know how your brother ended up in exile,” Edwin said. “Blasted young bucks and their dueling. It’s been the bane of half the families in England.”

A flush of embarrassment stained Clarissa’s cheeks. At least, he assumed it was embarrassment. What else could it be?

Stiffening, she turned to Warren. “When are we leaving?”

“We are not leaving,” Warren said with a scowl. “You and your mother are staying here while I go to Portugal.”

“Mama can stay, but why can’t I go with you? I can help.”

Warren eyed her askance. “Do what? I don’t even know what I’ll be facing. Niall’s message was cryptic, and his circumstances unclear. All I know is that he needs me to help him out of a spot. I’m not dragging you with me when I’m unsure what to expect.”

“You cannot go, my dear,” Lady Margrave cried. “You might be captured by pirates! They roam those seas, you know.”

“Now, Mama, the likelihood of my being cap—”

“Oh, dear, dear, no. You mustn’t go. Only think what might happen to you!” Clutching her chest, Lady Margrave fumbled in a jeweled box on a table next to the settee. “I need my salts. Where are my salts?”

Without a word, Clarissa rang for a servant, then walked over and pulled a vial out of the box. “There, there, Mama.” With astonishing patience, she knelt to wave the vial under her mother’s nose, then urged her to lie down on the settee. “Just rest a moment while I have a word with Warren, all right?”

The lady’s maid hurried in at that moment, and Clarissa said, “Mama is feeling faint. Please sit with her. His lordship and I will be right back.”

She headed for the door that adjoined the library, and Warren followed. Edwin hesitated, but it seemed only right that he join them, given that he was supposed to be part of Warren’s plan.

And she barely seemed to note Edwin’s presence, too intent on berating Warren. “This is madness! I can’t believe you mean to go without me! If Niall is in trouble—”

“There’s naught you can do about it,” Warren snapped. “You’re staying here, and that’s final.”

Muttering curses, she roamed the library like a caged lioness. Tendrils of her hair were escaping their pins, her cheeks were flushed, and her strides were so quick, they gave him glimpses of ankle. God, but she was glorious in a temper.

Edwin had never seen her angry. Cross, yes. Sarcastic, oh yes.

But in a fury? Never. And now that he was witnessing it, he found it fascinating. Considering that he generally hated dealing with emotional women, that surprised him.

She rounded on Warren. “So you’re going to leave us here to worry ourselves sick over you and Niall for the next month or so.”

Edwin couldn’t suppress his snort. Now she rounded on him. Damn.

“Do you have something to say, Lord Blakeborough?”

The formality of her words should have given him pause. It didn’t. “Warren and Niall are grown men. They can take care of themselves, and will probably do it better without you tagging along.”

Planting her hands on her hips, she narrowed her eyes at him. “Stay out of this. It does not concern you.”

“Actually, it does,” Warren broke in. “While I’m away, Edwin is going to accompany you and your mother to whatever social engagements you wish to attend.”