Page 25 of One Night with a Prince
When the woman entered to find Byrne and Christabel standing there, she halted abruptly. “What the devil areyou doing here?”
“My lady,” the chef said hastily, “Monsieur Byrne came in the back way—”
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“Good afternoon, Eleanor,” Byrne told the woman.
Even Christabel had heard of Byrne’s torrid affair with the Countess of Jenner. Sothis was the famous whist-player, who won and lost thousands of pounds at the tables without blinking. Did she always wear such outrageously low-cut gowns? And hadn’t the chef mentioned guests? Tossing back the blond locks that flowed shockingly unbound over her shoulders, Lady Jenner frowned at Byrne. “You can’t come up. I’m unwell.”
“Relax, I know all about your Tuesday afternoon card games.”
Lady Jenner’s eyes narrowed. “Who told you?”
He arched one eyebrow.
The buxom female groaned. “I swear, I don’t know how you unearth everyone’s secrets. But we don’t allow strangers, so if you’ve come to play, you’ll have to get rid of your friend.”
“We’ve come to watch.” Byrne settled his hand in the small of Christabel’s back. “And my friend isn’t a stranger. She’s Haversham’s widow.”
Lady Jenner cast Christabel a withering glance. “You’rethe Marchioness of Haversham? The woman who wouldn’t accompany her husband to town because, as he put it, ‘she’s too afraid of society’?”
Christabel bristled. “What? I’ve never been afraid of anything in my—”
“Yes,” Byrne said, giving Christabel’s waist a warning squeeze. “This is the same woman. As you can see, Haversham’s description wasn’t entirely apt.”
“Still, we can’t be sure she won’t gossip.”
“I’ll vouch for her discretion.” Byrne lazily surveyed the kitchen. “But if you don’t want us to stay, I could always mention to your husband the purpose to which you’re putting the town house you inherited from your family.”
“Damn you, Byrne.” She pouted in that fetching manner only certain women could pull off. “Very well, I suppose if you only wish to watch…”
“That’s all. I want Lady Haversham to see truly excellent whist-playing, and I thought at once of you and your friends.”
That seemed to soften the woman’s temper. “Weare the best.”
“That’s why we’re here.” A devilish gleam appeared in his eyes. “To assess the competition for Stokely’s party.”
“You and Stokely won’t win the pot this year, I promise you. We’ll lead you a merry dance.” She shifted her gaze to Christabel, running it down her awful black gown with an impudence bordering on insult. “If you’re planning to play at Stokely’s, Lady Haversham, I do hope you’re better at it than your husband was.”
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlChristabel’s curiosity got the better of her. “You played cards with Philip?”
The woman’s laugh grated on her nerves. “Of course. We played him when we needed to plump our pockets after a loss. Dreadful player, your husband.”
With another grating laugh, she turned and gestured to them to follow, leaving Christabel to shake with impotent rage. All right, so Philip had been awful at cards, but it was still a cruel thing to taunt a man’s widow with.
Suddenly, she felt Byrne’s hand soothingly stroke her waist. “Pay Eleanor no mind.” Byrne led her after their hostess. “The only thing she excels at besides playing cards is being a hellcat.”
Christabel stifled a gasp at his bluntness.
“Is that why you became my lover, Byrne dear?” Lady Jenner remarked from ahead of them in silky-sweet tones. She began to climb a rather narrow staircase. “Because you enjoyed bedding a hellcat?”
“That’s why I became yourex -lover,” he shot back. “I have better things to do than serve as your scratching post.”
Lady Jenner had reached the top of the stairs, where she now stood waiting for them. Catching sight of Christabel’s shocked look, the countess apparently misunderstood the source of it, for she said with a sly smile, “I take it that Byrne didn’t say you’d be meeting one of his mistresses here.”
Christabel managed to smooth her features. “Formermistresses, you mean.”
The woman shrugged. “We come and go. He has so many.” A gloating smile touched her lips. “As a matter of fact, there are two more here this afternoon.”
