Page 5 of The Seductive Love of a Lady
‘Do you think he intended marrying her?’
‘Of course he did, at some point,’ Farquhar answered. ‘He was after her fortune.’
His lady companion pulled on Farquhar’s arm.
Half of Drew wanted to laugh, the other half would willingly knock the boy down…
The first woman who had spoken squealed, her hand covering her mouth as she noticed Drew approaching. Farquhar turned scarlet.
‘Your voices are carrying,’ Drew stated in a hard, measured voice. ‘If you malign a man, at least have the guts to do so to his face and not behind his back. And if you’d care to observe what you risk, you may meet me at Manton’s practice range on the morrow, Farquhar, to see how well I shoot. Or, you may prefer, to simply not speak ill of myself or my wife?—’
‘We were not—’ one of the young women began.
‘My dear, I heard…’ Drew stared at her, ‘and I’ll not have it repeated.’ His gaze travelled about the group. They were all cowed.
And these are her friends…Drew scoffed as he walked on.
‘Can you believe he?—’
‘He is still in earshot, Bethany, and even if he were not, I do not fancy giving him cause to call me out.’ Farquhar at least had received and understood the message.
Drew saw his friends leaving the card room.
‘Gentlemen!’ Drew called. ‘Have you had a good night?’
‘A very good one for me,’ Mark answered, patting a pocket.
‘A not so good one for Peter,’ Harry said.
Drew looked at Peter. ‘Ah, well, you can afford it at least.’
‘I played ill, I am out of sorts. Your wife has shattered my hopes of the fair Miss Smithfield.’
Drew laughed. ‘Did you have any honest, decent hopes, you scoundrel?’
‘I do not recall even mentioning decent or honest, but whatever my intent, my hopes are dashed. Your wife warned her off.’
‘Ah. I can explain that. She was not asleep last night, she heard you talking. I am afraid you shot yourself in the foot.’
‘Bloody hell!’ Peter barked with a laugh, drawing eyes from about the room.
‘Bloody hell indeed. I took a battering for not being the author of those love letters…’
‘Then we must apologise in person,’ Harry stated with bravado.
‘Yes,’ Peter agreed. ‘You have to let us speak with her, you cannot keep your wife from us. Or are you ashamed of us now you are rich?’
‘I am still not as rich as you, Peter,’ Drew responded, ‘and therefore why would I have reason to cut you? Come, I will let you speak with her, as long as you behave.’
‘I am wounded,’ Peter said theatrically, pressing his hand to his chest over his heart. ‘Do I not always behave?’
‘No,’ Drew answered, looking at them all, ‘we do not, but I must start behaving now I am married, and you must respect my wife when you speak to her, understood?’
They laughed, not taking him seriously in the least.
He turned, with a sigh, wondering if he had just cast his marriage a death sentence. But these were his friends, who were more like brothers to him than his brothers had ever been. They were, and always would be, a part of his life. Mary had to accept that, it was not negotiable.
Her eyebrows lifted as she saw them coming and her skin pinked. Clearly she did not wish to meet them, but there was a point to be made here. He would do much for her, but he would not reject his friends.
