Page 29 of Keeper of Secrets

“Fine.”He closed the door again, swearing to himself that someone had been outside the door.Was he just paranoid?Did he have a spy?Was it Chloe?

He shook his head.The idea of a challenge so salacious should excite him.He’d never been faithful to a woman.But Chloe danced through his thoughts.The woman he wished to bed was her.But that was ridiculous.He was the one who was adamant about remaining in the club and her actions were now suspect.

The other two men headed for the door then, bidding him goodnight.Ryker considered pouring another drink but opted to stare into the fire instead.He’d erred somewhere critical, and he needed to figure out where and correct the mistake.

He wanted to say that sliding his finger into Chloe was the error, but that had felt more right than anything he’d done for a long, long time.

CHAPTERNINE

The next morning,Chloe swallowed down a lump as she sat waiting to receive guests for calling hours.

She’d hardly slept and as she thought of last night, tears threatened to fall from her eyes once again.

Silly, silly fool, she chastised herself.

Just because Ryker had touched her in the carriage didn’t mean he wanted her or cared about her at all.Their intimacy hadn’t changed anything between them.Not his feelings and certainly not the arrangement he’d proposed.

While he had no intention of bedding his wife, apparently he intended to lie with other women.

Why hadn’t this occurred to her sooner?

She bit down on her lip, remembering the events of last night.Her bedroom was at the front of the house.She’d heard the carriage arrive, and then the ringing of the front bell.

Still dressed, she’d made her way down the back stairs and stopped outside of Ryker’s study.She knew it was wrong to listen to a private conversation but also…

There was so much she didn’t know and only a little time to decide about her future with Ryker, so she’d stood just outside the door as the men had talked.But she’d learned far more than she’d bargained for.

She drew in a trembling breath, trying to steady her nerves as the butler arrived to announce Countess Green.

Chloe rose from her seat, taking the other woman’s hands and kissing her cheeks, but even she could tell her actions were stiff, automatic.

Ryker had sworn her to secrecy on the details of their arrangement, but did she even owe him her loyalty after what he was planning?

She looked at Caroline, worry knitting the other woman’s brow.Did she trust the countess with her secrets?They’d only met the day before.And while she was a simple country girl, even she knew to divulge secrets carefully.

“I have a problem that I do not know how to solve.”

“What sort of problem?”Caroline asked as they both sat down the on the settee in front of the fire.

Chloe cleared her throat leaning closer.“The duke…”

Caroline’s gaze lit with understanding.“Has he pressed his suit?”

Chloe nodded.“But also…” And then in a whispered hurry she told Caroline about Ryker’s plans to bed a widow, a bet between friends, though Chloe suspected they were more of a… club.But she didn’t tell that detail to Caroline.Instead, she focused on the possibility of their match and the fact that he had no plans to be faithful.

The rest she kept to herself.The club, the proposed moratorium on touching, the fact that he’d ship her off to some private corner of the dukedom.

It was enough.Caroline’s gaze filled with worry.“Oh dear.Your situation is very complicated.”

“How can I marry him knowing that he’ll bed other women at every opportunity?But if I don’t?Where will I go and who will even want to marry me?He determines whether I have a dowry.Without one, I’m lost.”

Caroline shrugged.“Some women are able to look the other way.I don’t think I’d be able to either.”She sighed.“You really do need a simpler, less complicated husband.”

Chloe shook her head.“I don’t think I have much time to find him, before I find myself attached to the duke.”

“At what event is he going widow hunting?The Rightly ball?”

Chloe nodded but Caroline tapped her chin.“Plenty of eligible men will be there.You could both begin hunting for new prospects and catch the duke in the act of seducing another woman.”

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