Page 49 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
He stepped between her and the view from Boodle’s windows. ‘Imagine,’ he said dryly. ‘I am on my way to my club. More to the point, what are you doing? This is St James’s. You ought not to be here.’
‘My brother-in-law, Charles, is in there. I need to speak with him urgently and the porter refused to take a message. What else was I to do?’
He gazed at her in astonishment. ‘Ladies do not visit gentlemen’s clubs.’ He could not help sounding scandalised.
‘This is an emergency. I went to his lodgings first, but they said he had come here.’
She went to a bachelor’s lodgings? Here? In St James’s? If she had been seen…her reputation would never recover.
A vision of her calling at his house flashed across his mind. He imagined himself pulling her inside his front door and…kissing her. Hard.
His body heated at the thought. Damn it all. What was he thinking? Furious with his own lack of control, he glared at her. ‘Great heavens, woman, do you have no sense? Do you not care about your reputation?’
Her gaze widened in astonishment, but somehow, he had the sense of amusement lurking in the depths of her eyes. ‘Of course I do.’
‘It doesn’t seem like it.’
‘Can you give a message tothe Count for me?’
‘First let us leave here. Then we will discuss next steps.’
He took her by the arm and drew her back the way he had come.
She tugged her arm free. ‘You cannot tell me what to do.’
‘For goodness’ sake, don’t be a little fool.’ He caught her arm again. ‘Walk with me.’ This time she did not pull away. ‘It wouldn’t be so bad if you had brought a maid or a footman. Let us hope no one saw you.’
‘Someone did,’ she said cheerfully. ‘A man waved back. I was hoping he would come outside to ask me what I wanted.’
Devil take it. ‘Didn’t your aunt tell you that St James’s is out of bounds for any woman of good breeding?’
They turned onto Piccadilly. A man with a tray of pies balanced on his head dodged around them.
‘I really do not see why you are so annoyed,’ she said, waving off a lass selling lavender. ‘I simply needed to speak to my relative. And besides, you said that as long as I did not commit a crime or run off with a married man, I need not worry.’
He held on to his temper. ‘Clearly, I was wrong to think you had a smidgeon of common sense. If you were recognised, you might as well leave town right now. Any woman sighted on St James’s will be seen as beyond the pale of good Society. No hostess will accept your presence.’
An odd expression he could not read passed across her face. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Positive. As a chaperone, your aunt is worse than useless.’
‘Do not say such things.’ For once she sounded truly concerned. ‘You must not blame Aunt Lenore. I will not have it. I am at fault for my own mistakes.’
He glanced around. What the devil was he to do? ‘Walk with me in the park where we can speak freely.’
‘Do you think you should? Won’t talking to me tarnish your reputation also?’ She threw the words at him like a challenge.
He grimaced. ‘Unlikely.’
‘Because you are a duke.’
He nodded. It wasn’t fair, but there it was.
They strolled along the Queen’s Walk in Green Park. He looked about him for somewhere they could talk without the chance of being overheard. He guided her across the lawn to a large oak tree with branches that dipped low, providing a bit of a screen. It wasn’t ideal and they could not stay here long.
‘I think you are making a great fuss about nothing,’ she said dismissively, gazing up into the branches above her head.
His ire rose once more. ‘Listen to me, you little fool, you are one whisper away from ruin. Do you not understand this?’
