Page 61 of One Night with a Prince
The sudden tension in Byrne was palpable. “Is she? Then she’ll have to entertain us with them some night, won’t she?”
“Indeed, she will,” Lord Stokely said, with a smirk.
When Lady Kingsley looked ashen, Christabel wanted to scream. Who was she to Byrne, blast it? Then Lord Stokely left the Kingsleys to offer Christabel his arm. “Shall we go in to dinner, Lady Haversham?”
She stiffened, but couldn’t refuse. As Marchioness of Haversham she was the highest-ranking female currently present, so the host would naturally take her in to dinner. Which meant Byrne would have to take in one of the lower-ranking guests—like Lady Kingsley, perhaps. Christabel couldn’t prevent her surge of jealousy at even the possibility. She let Lord Stokely lead her off, feeling Lady Kingsley’s eyes on her the whole way. It was slim comfort to know she wasn’t the only one wondering about Byrne and his women.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlDinner was a lavish affair, which meant lots of French dishes, of course, so Christabel spent the early part trying to figure out what was what, without making a fool of herself. Even the lowly Talbots seemed at ease with the dizzying array of exotic dishes. Unsurprisingly, considering this company, it included not only oysters but pomegranates. And probably some Spanish fly—whatever that actually was—sprinkled among the dishes, too.
Thankfully, the woman to Lord Stokely’s left kept him occupied, and although the man to Christabel’s right should have been talking to her, he was too busy indulging in expensive delicacies to bother, so at least she didn’t have to manage polite conversation.
Not that anyone else’s conversation was terribly polite. Despite the presence of ladies, several rather bawdy jokes were told, only about half of which she understood. And no one protested them, not even Lord Kingsley, who looked the prudish sort. He was too engrossed in flattering Lady Jenner, who sat beside him.
Then there were some soldiers who actually took snuff at the table. She began to wonder why she’d worried about her manners, Lord Stokely’s friends seemed rather ill behaved. Except for Lady Kingsley, of course, who sat swanlike amidst the ducks, with back straight and lips pursed, taking tiny bites as she periodically cast longing glances down the table at Byrne. Christabel wanted to slap her. Her only consolation was that Byrne didn’t seem to notice Lady Kingsley’s looks, or if he did, he hid it well. Indeed, he was one of the men telling the bawdy jokes. Lord Stokely leaned over to Christabel just as the dessert was brought round. “They’d make an interesting couple, don’t you think?”
She feigned ignorance. “Who?”
“Byrne and Lady Kingsley.”
She stared him down. “Rather mismatched, I’d say.”
“And what would you say if I told you Byrne once asked her to marry him?”
Struggling to hide her shock, she reminded herself that Lord Stokely was no more trustworthy than anyone else at this scandalous party. “I’d say you don’t know Byrne very well.”
“It surprised me, too, but I heard the story from Lady Kingsley herself. We had a…er…brief encounter in Dublin, and you know how women get when they’re in the throes of such. Very confessional.”
But that didn’t mean the confessions were true. How could cynical, feckless Byrne have proposed marriage to anyone? If not for his intense reaction to Lady Kingsley, Christabel wouldn’t believe a word. Suddenly Lord Stokely glanced down the table, then smiled. She followed his gaze to find Byrne staring at them with an odd fury in his face.
Had he guessed what Lord Stokely was saying? Or was something else making him regard their host with such venom?
“What happened between them?” she whispered, determined to find out what she could about LordGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlStokely’s claims. “I take it she refused him?”
“Of course she refused him.” His eyes gleamed with delight at sharing a choice bit of gossip. “Lady Kingsley was a wealthy merchant’s daughter. At the time of her come-out, Byrne had just opened his gentlemen’s club. And though his contacts were solid enough to get him invited to the sorts of balls she attended, her family couldn’t possibly countenance him as a son-in-law.”
“How did Lady Kingsley herself feel about it?”
“If not for his situation, she might have accepted him, I suppose. Byrne can be charming when he wants. But heis a natural child, after all, with no relations that will admit to him. And her fortune was probably what attracted him, a fact that she and her family had to know.”
Christabel couldn’t see Byrne marrying to gain a fortune, for all his talk of having no soul. “Did she say that?”
“Not in so many words, but it’s obvious. She was toying with a dangerous connection, so when Kingsley came along and took a fancy to her, her family aggressively pressed the match. In the end she did what any woman of sense would do—she married Kingsley.”
Christabel repressed a snort. Woman of sense, indeed. Any woman of sense would have followed her heart. And clearly, the woman had once been in love with Byrne, perhaps still was. Was that why Lady Kingsley had allowed Lord Stokely to bed her? In personality he was something like Byrne, albeit a pale imitation.
Had he been in love with Lady Kingsley? Was he still?
As that question plagued her, she glanced over at Lord Stokely’s gloating face, and another sickening realization struck her. “That’s why you invited her, isn’t it? To torment Byrne.”
“I invited her for the same reason I invitedyou, my dear. Because you’re both excellent whist players.” A mocking smile touched his lips. “Or, in your case, I can only assume so from the fact that Byrne chose you as his partner.”
If ever she’d needed a motivation for playing well, this was it. “You assumed correctly, sir. I mean to win the pot, if I can.”
He leaned closer to press his mouth to her ear. “And if you don’t, you can always try winning your host instead.”
A chill swept down her spine, but before she could react to that disgusting statement, Byrne’s voice boomed down the table. “What’s all this about new rules for the games, Stokely? You’ve kept us in suspense long enough.”
With a smile meant just for her, Lord Stokely rose and turned his attention to his guests. “Thank you, Byrne, for reminding me.”
