Page 99 of The Viscount's Seduction
Chapter 21
Bakeley’s blood roared. “Not my wife. Not Sirena.”
“No, no. I wasn’t thinking of her at all.”
“Kincaid.” Shaldon’s tone was a sharp rebuke, but his fellow campaigner was not standing down.
“You can trust your sons, Ned, haven’t I told you that?”
Charley sat up, and Bink lifted an eyebrow.
Kincaid stood, palms flat on the table. “The foul-up two years ago endangered Paulette, and it was only Gibson’s presence of mind that ensured her safety. Enough. We can trust them.”
Shaldon sent Kincaid a dark look, and the other man returned the glare.
Well.Perhaps the hazards of war had made them more equal than mere social position would allow for. In any case, none of the sons of Shaldon had seen Kincaid step out of rank before.
Both Shaldon and Kincaid turned their gazes on him, and it made his skin ripple.
Hot anger pulsed in him. “Not. My. Wife.”
“Indeed not,” Kincaid said.
Farnsworth followed the discussion, his expression a cipher. Bink frowned. Charley grinned.
A very loud sigh floated across the table from Father.
“We are all men at this table,” Kincaid said. “Bakeley, we don’t have time to coddle sensibilities.”
His every nerve alerted. “Sensibilities?”
Kincaid ignored him. “Some years ago, quite a few actually, there was a suspicion about some of the equipment being supplied to the army. Great profits were being made, and not all of the shipments were arriving intact. We set an agent to see what she could find out about this business.”
The pulse in Bakeley’s ear began to pound louder, sending a pain just above his right eye to join the ache in his neck. He eased in a breath. “Lady Arbrough.”
“Indeed.” Kincaid nodded.
Had his father set her to spy upon his heir? Had all his careful pursuit of the untouchable Lady Arbrough and her unexpected capitulation been a ruse? She’d had no lovers in the two years since her husband’s death.
That question would be asked later. “The whole world knows we’ve broken off. I wouldn’t insult my wife by having anyone believe otherwise. Hollister will do his snooping and discover Lady Arbrough has no access to my bedchamber.”
“He’s making excellent points,” Shaldon said.
Kincaid waved them all away. “The liaison ended around the time your courtship of Sirena began. One might infer that Lady Arbrough might have had access and seen something on your person that you obtained from Lady Sirena.”
“But that something is impossible for her to obtain now. I never entertained her at my townhouse or Shaldon House. Hollister will know she has no access now, not after my marriage.”
Kincaid frowned. “You don’t know then.” He straightened in his chair. “Paulette has said your lady is overwhelmed by the preparations for this ball.”
“Bakeley.”
He turned at Bink’s voice. “Paulette spent the evening yesterday helping the ladies with the final invitations. Sirena insisted on inviting Lady Arbrough to the ball.”
He eased in a breath and picked a spot of lint off of his coat. “Well, then. Lady Sirena knows I feel nothing but friendship toward the lady.”
What a lie that was. He was livid. He would like to throttle Jocelyn for weaseling her way into their wedding ball. “And I would not care to see her life endangered.”
Except by him, while he was throttling her.
