Page 55 of An Affair with a Notorious Heiress
“I believe you’re confusing me with your husband,” Rexton said.
Grace smiled, a bit of wickedness in her eyes. “Scoundrels have their uses.”
“Once a scoundrel, always a scoundrel,” the duke said. “But then we do make life interesting for the ladies, don’t we, Rex?”
“Indeed.” And he planned to make life very interesting for Tillie later tonight.
“Hate to chat and dash,” Lovingdon said, “but we’re expected elsewhere. It was a pleasure to cross paths with you ladies.”
“We must get together for tea sometime,” Grace said. “There is a lovely new establishment called The Royal Tea Palace where my friends and I take tea on occasion. You must join us some afternoon.”
“We’d be delighted,” Gina chirped. “I’ve heard the place is exceptional.”
“I find it so. I shall see about sending an invitation around in the near future, shall I?”
“That would be lovely.”
“Good day to you then.”
He waited until the duke and duchess were beyond hearing before leaning toward Tillie and whispering, “Two down, four to go.”
The scoundrel! The rogue, the rake, the... cheater!
“Family does not count,” Tillie informed him with every bit of haughtiness she could muster.
He grinned as though she were a simpleton. “Our wager had no conditions on it, other than six people would approach us. The Duke and Duchess of Lovingdon will have been noticed, stopping to speak with you. They did have another engagement. We almost missed them because of your dillydallying earlier.”
She wanted to reach out and tweak his nose, then wrap her hand around his neck and bring him in for a kiss. She had little doubt he was going to win the wager, that four more people would be giving them attention before their time in the park was done. “I do not dillydally.”
A ridiculous thing to say when she had indeed taken her sweet time, taking pleasure in making him wait—as a sort of punishment for insisting she accompany them.
“It’s not doing my reputation any good for people to see the two of you arguing,” Gina said, impatience and perhaps a bit of embarrassment woven into her tone.
“You’re right,” she told her sister. “We should carry on.”
Five minutes hadn’t passed before another couple approached them. She recognized the couple. Mr. and Mrs. Drake Darling. While his wife had every right to be addressed as Lady Ophelia, when she had married her husband, she’d made it clear, with an announcement in theTimes, she was casting aside any ties to the aristocracy. She was an equal with her husband. While some might have thought she was lowering herself in Society, it was quite obvious the lady had an elevated position at her husband’s side. After all, the owner of the Twin Dragons was known to be ridiculously wealthy, had been raised as an equal within the Greystone household, and was acknowledged as the Marquess of Rexton’s brother.
Darling removed his hat. “Lady Landsdowne. Miss Hammersley. I am led to understand there was a bit of trouble when you were at the Twin Dragons the other night. I’d like to extend a complimentary membership to you both to make up for the unpleasantness you suffered.”
Tillie jerked her attention to Rexton. Who had he told? What had he said?
As though reading her mind, he said quietly, “He doesn’t know the particulars.”
“Lord Evanston, however, has been banned from the club,” Darling added. “Hopefully, the canceling of his membership will put your mind at ease that you’ll not be bothered should you visit again.”
She knew Rexton had been responsible for the man’s ousting. But Evanston wasn’t the only friend Downie had in his pocket. “I appreciate that, but not everyone welcomes me.”
“Send word ’round when you’re of a mind to visit,” Mrs. Darling told her. “I’ll accompany you. Once it is seen you have my support, none will bother you within those walls.”
Darling chuckled. “No one wants to suffer my wife’s wrath. And within the Dragons, she is queen.”
“To your king,” Gina chirped.
“I am merely her dragon slayer.”
“And a fine one he is,” Mrs. Darling said, reaching out and squeezing his hand. “The past may shape us, Lady Landsdowne, but it need not control us or our destinies.”
Tillie found herself wondering what in Mrs. Darling’s past had shaped her. She’d met her years ago when she was Lady Ophelia. A haughtier woman she’d never known. Her marriage had changed her. Or perhaps there was more to it.
