Page 423 of From Rakes to Riches

He only had time to betray surprise because dinner was loudly announced.

“I have to escort someone else to the table,” he said in a low voice, bowing over her hand.

“That’s all right, David. I understand how important rank is. I’ll join you after dinner.”

Victoria was relievedwhen David rode inside the carriage with her, leaving his horse to be tied up behind. She’d hoped they could speak about the evening, but instead the strained silence between them was dreadful. Throughout dinner, although they had sat almost a table length apart, she had an unimpeded view of him. And he had a much closer, unimpeded view of Lady Sarah.

No wonder he didn’t like to attend these events, when he had to meet up with women who’d rejected him.

“David.” She said his name softly, her voice stark in the dark carriage. Did she dare put her hand on his arm?

But it was as if he was just waiting for her to speak, for he stiffened and said in a low voice, “When I first arrived, I noticed that Wade was ogling your breasts.”

Stunned, she stared at him. “Thisis what you want to talk about first?”

“Might as well begin at the beginning of the evening,” he said.

“David, I am short. All men look down at me when we speak. Besides, Lord Wade is your friend after all. And I did not ask the dressmaker to lower this neckline!”

He roughly turned her toward him and parted her cloak, baring her upper bosom to his angry gaze.

“I let it go because I thought I could view you in private,” he said.

She remained still, letting him look his fill. “Then did you expect to keep us both locked away, where no one would ever see me dressed for the evening?”

After a frozen moment, when his hot gaze remained on her chest and she wondered with a thrill of excitement what he meant to do with her, he looked up at her face.

“All right, I’m not making sense. You know I haven’t kept you locked in the house. I’ve even purchased an opera box because I know how you like music.”

Oh, David,” she whispered helplessly.

“But tonight, I had to chase you down. I felt like a fool.”

“You didn’t look like a fool,” she murmured, her face hot. “You looked like a man who’d…recovered. And if you want to be upset about such silly things, maybe I should be upset that I had to find out in such a public manner that you’d asked two other women to marry you.”

“You can see now why I thought I’d spare you such evenings.”

“You mean spare yourself from having to tell the truth.” Victoria couldn’t believe she was talking like this, after she’d begun the evening on a lie in the first place! “Were you worried I would meet people who would reveal Banstead secrets?”

“As you have already seen, there are no secrets among theton. But I’ll tell you another one. Lady Sarah was not only congratulating me on my marriage, but she was offering herself on the side.”

Victoria frowned at him and pulled her cloak closed. “Offering…herself?”

“As my mistress, or however else she would want to amuse herself.” He suddenly looked tired. “My, what a pleasant evening, wasn’t it?”

“She would do such a thing in public?” Victoria asked, aghast.

David touched her hand where it rested on the bench, smoothing her fingers through the gloves. “You are such an innocent, Victoria.”

“You didn’t have much innocence growing up,” she whispered, not wanting him to stop touching her, but afraid to lose this chance for honest conversation.

“No.” He looked out the darkened window as if he could see something. “After my mother died, my father found a mistress rather quickly, and moved her right into the house.”

She tried to withhold a gasp, but in the lamplight, she saw David’s bitter smile.

“An understandable reaction,” he said. “You can see why a duke would not wish his daughter to marry me.”

“But that was your father’s doing!”

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