Page 402 of From Rakes to Riches

“Of course, my lord.”

If he was going to say something else, he seemed to forget. Instead his gaze roamed down her body in a lingering fashion, so intent she could almost feel it as a touch along her skin. A blush rose to overtake her face, and she prayed no one noticed.

After dinner, Lord Thurlow escorted Victoria and her mother up to the drawing room, assuring her that he and Lord Wade would be joining them momentarily. And then he went back down to the dining room and firmly shut the door.

Victoria put her hands on her hips and frowned.

“Why are you upset, my dear?” her mother asked, taking a seat on an overstuffed chair near the bare hearth.

Whywasshe upset? Gentlemen usually wanted time away from the ladies after dinner. But listening to the men talk revealed so much about her husband. She didn’t want to miss any of it.

“It’s nothing, Mama.” She found her needlework where she’d left it. She liked to lose herself in the colors and textures, to examine the possibilities of the designs only she could create. But tonight it did not soothe her mind.

Then realized with shock that her mother had also begun her own.

Her mother took a few stitches, then without lifting her head, said, “Frowning will give you forehead wrinkles, my dear.”

Victoria tried to smile, but her pleasure at her mother’s progress slowly faded as she imagined what her husband and his friend were discussing. Would Lord Wade try to talk Lord Thurlow into attending the ball?

12

David poured Simon a drink and then helped himself. “Did you enjoy teasing my wife?”

“I never teased her,” he said solemnly, almost successful at hiding the twinkle in his eyes.

“Then did you enjoy teasing me?”

Simon’s amusement faded, and he actually looked tired. “You need to get out more.”

“I’m out every day.”

“Let me be more specific. You need to take your wife out and about.”

David studied his glass very deliberately. “She’s already attended a luncheon and a dinner party with me.”

“Whose?” Simon asked with disbelief. “I attend every luncheon and dinner party.”

“The Huttons and the Bannasters.”

He frowned. “I’ve never heard of them. Could they be—railway directors?”

David smiled. “How did you ever guess?”

“Oh, that’s right—you were using your wife as a social partner to further your business interests. Hope she didn’t mind that.”

“She didn’t. She’s even planning our own dinner party as we speak.”

“With the railway directors.”

“Yes.”

“Well,thatyou’ll have to invite me to. I can’t imagine you as a host. But after that you need to try exposing her to the society you were born into. They’re your birthright, and your future children’s birthright.”

“Simon—”

“I think it’s a little too easy for you to just keep things the way you’ve always done them, because Victoria gives you no trouble. Yet she obviously means a bit more to you than you thought she would, so perhaps you’re even worried about society’s reaction to her.”

“I already know how society reacts to her, because she told me.” David drained his glass. “She doesn’t need that kind of humiliation again.”

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