Wicked Temptation (Regency Sinners 6)(18)
Lady Jacqueline was an older and slightly faded version of her red-haired daughter, and a lady known in Society for her eccentricities. She had a habit of making completely inappropriate remarks while in company, as well as gadding about the town unaccompanied by a maid or companion.
Pru recognized Lord Holmes, a gray-haired and portly gentleman, but she did not recall ever having spoken to him before.
Nevertheless, Pru greeted them both politely before her attention was distracted by the butler offering her a glass of sherry from a silver tray.
She was barely aware of sipping the sweetness as she shut out the inanely twittering conversation of Lady Jacqueline in favor of once again turning her attention to studying The Sinners and their wives:
The Duke of Wolferton and his duchess, Beatrix.
The Duke of Huntley and his duchess, Isabella.
The Marquis of Deveril and his marchioness, Lady Alys.
The Earl of Carlton and his countess, Lady Heather.
Was it possible one of those ladies had been wrongly cleared of committing treason?
Or that, as Titus now suspected, it might be that none of the eight ladies under suspicion was guilty.
Titus had been quite right to caution Pru in regard to confronting the Duchess of Stonewell and accusing her of the deed without proof of her guilt. Better to wait until after Titus had completed his own investigations before—
“Your staring is bordering on rudeness,” Romney cautioned beside her softly.
Pru gave him an irritated frown, at the same time noting that Lady Jacqueline and Lord Holmes had moved away during her distraction and were now standing across the room talking to the Earl of Carlton and his wife. Possibly because Pru had ignored them both after the initial introductions.
“I am simply observing the other guests while sipping my glass of sherry,” she dismissed.
“And imagining each and every one of the ladies as being guilty of treason,” he acknowledged grimly.
“Yes,” she admitted with a grimace. “But I am also wondering… Do you suppose that Lady Jacqueline and Lord Homes are lovers?” She had observed a certain…intimacy, between the older couple.
He nodded. “Much to Stonewell’s disgust.”
“He does not approve of the friendship?”
He chuckled. “I do not think he will mind quite so much if the affair results in marriage and the removal of his mother-in-law from his home.”
“I am pleased to see you are now smiling rather than scowling as you were when we discussed the subject of sexual practices earlier,” she teased.
Titus had been scowling earlier because after their conversation on sexual practices, he would much rather have carried Pru off in his carriage and ravished her until she cried out her release, again and again. With the knowledge of a long and tedious evening ahead of him, he now deeply regretted not having done exactly that.
Pru was far from the most classically beautiful woman he had ever seen. Definitely not the most charming! Nor were her slightly rounded curves in the least fashionable. But Titus knew he desired Pru as he had desired no other woman. Quite possibly, he might even be falling in love with her.
He had no experience of the emotion, beyond observing the loving affection of the other Sinners and their wives. Perhaps with the exception of Stonewell, who was polite to his young wife but did not seem to share the same intimacy of manner with his duchess as his other friends.
Titus’s parents had not married for love but for title and wealth, his mother the former and his father the latter. They had grown to like and respect each other over time, and Titus had never had reason to doubt their love for him, but their marriage was not a love match. Consequently, he had not grown up in a household where affection was openly given or received. Had been taught that duty to one’s family and the Crown was of more importance.
He had met the other Sinners at boarding school, and over time, the eight of them had formed an alliance which held precedence over any and all other relationships. A brotherly loyalty might best describe that friendship, he believed.
Love for a woman was not something Titus had any personal experience of.
He had no idea if that was what he now felt for Pru.
But whatever his feelings for her were, he felt honor bound to protect her. From herself, if necessary. “Will you at least try to enjoy this evening as merely a pleasant time spent with my closest friends?” he prompted gently.
“Does that mean you wish me to cease my speculations regarding the relationship between Lady Jacqueline and Lord Holmes?” Pru’s eyes now glowed with humor as she looked across the room to where that lady’s loud conversation with her daughter, and the duchess’s attempts to calm her, showed the effects of the older lady having helped herself to a second glass of sherry.
Titus grimaced. “Lady Jacqueline has lived with Stonewell and Angelique since the beginning of their marriage and is, I believe, the bane of Nik’s existence. He does not say much about the situation out of loyalty to his wife, but it is clear his mother-in-law becomes more eccentric by the day. She even managed to set fire to the library here several months ago when she fell asleep in a chair reading a book and knocked over a candle while sleeping.”
Pru’s eyes widened. “After what happened to us, are you sure it was an accident?”
He nodded. “An empty decanter of brandy was found on the table beside her. She was, to put it mildly, more than a little drunk when the incident happened.”