Page 29 of The Seductive Love of a Lady
‘Yes, you told me that before, Lady Marlow. I shall try to remember in future that you do not appreciate my humour.’
Mary held his arm, warning him to be kind.
‘Should we call for you after luncheon, Mary?’ her aunt asked.
‘I will deliver her,’ he said. Her aunt’s and mother’s eyebrows rose. ‘Have no fear, I will not stay. I imagine I am not invited.’
‘I will meet you there,’ Mary said.
The women stood still, as if they were afraid to leave her here. He would let them stay longer.
‘Did you call for tea, Mary?’ He looked at her, then he could not stop his devil speaking to her mother. ‘Or I can offer you a brandy to help you suffer my company.’
‘There is no need for spite,’ the Duchess of Arundel stated.
‘My sentiments exactly,’ he replied.
Mary’s fingernails dug into the fabric of his coat.
‘Very well, ladies, as I am unwelcome here, I shall withdraw and leave you with Mary. Your servant.’ He bowed to one then the other as Mary’s fingers slipped from his arm, and a moment later he walked back downstairs, with nowhere to go. It was too early to go to Tattersall’s. He went to the stables, spoke to his horses and told the grooms to prepare the phaeton for the timehe needed it. Then leaning against one side of the entrance arch, he smoked a thin cigar as he watched the front door of The Albany, waiting for the women to leave.
A smile pulled at one side of his lips as he noticed the little street sweep, Timmy, hovering around the horses. The boy had smelt the wealth in the air, probably in the wax polish on the shining coach.
It was not long before they came out.
‘Can I open the door for you, ma’am?’ he heard Timmy say, even though the women had footmen.
He could not see the women ascend from this side, but he heard the door close, and then Timmy walked around the corner staring at a coin in his hand.
It made Drew feel as though he was even lower in Lady Marlow’s esteem than a street sweep.
I do not care!
The carriage rolled away, and he crossed the street, taking an opportunity to knock Timmy’s hat off. ‘You don’t need my pennies today, lad.’
The boy laughed.
When he entered the parlour, Mary was seated in an armchair, with a small pile of letters in her lap, one of them open in her hand. She looked up. ‘Mama brought my post.’
‘Who are they from?’
‘My cousins, and this…’ she held up the letter she had just opened, ‘is from my younger brother Robbie.’ Her concentration returned to the letter and her face lit up as she read.
It was impossible not to love her. But he had to stop, because he could not bear it when the time came that she would succumb to a better man.
Drew put his hat and gloves down, took off his riding coat and hung it on a peg. Then walked over to collect the newspaper that had been left in the other armchair. He sat down andopened it at the page he had been reading, only to realise Mary had stopped reading the letter and was reading him.
She looked extremely pretty in the dusky pink muslin dress she had chosen to wear today. The dress had embroidered rose buds at the hems of her sleeves and skirt.
‘You did not have to be rude to my mother.’
‘She came here to spy.’
‘She came to see if I was well. Which I was, until yesterday.’
Until she met his parents and discovered he was a worthless bastard. He would not wish to be married to himself. He shrugged and raised the open newspaper, deliberately covering his face.
‘And now you hide from me.’
