Page 52 of Bad Luck Bride

“Willing? Are you joking? Simon jumped on the idea at once, saying it’s a perfect way to entertain the investors as well, which means Wilson will be invited. Devlin will be there, too, of course,” she added airily, “but that shouldn’t matter to you, since you aren’t some timid little rabbit who runs away.”

Kay gave her friend a wry smile. “You really are a devil, Delia, when you want to be.”

“Yes, so Simon tells me daily.”

“And you don’t care?”

Delia grinned. “Not a jot.”

Kay felt a sudden, wistful pang. “I envy you,” she murmured. “I care terribly what people think.”

“It’s different for me. I’m a rich widow. I have the luxury of not caring. But about the party, the date is set for the fifteenth. Audrey, Nan, and Pen will be there. Sadly, Idina can’t come, for she’s going to Scotland with Rothmere for a wedding. One of his cousins or something.”

Kay made a rueful face. “Just as well, I suppose. I wouldn’t want to make things awkward for the house party or cause any friction between Idina and Rothmere.”

“Nonsense. I told Idina I was inviting you, and she wrote back heartily approving the idea. And,” she added before Kay could recover from her surprise, “she’s told her husband she wants to see more of you, and that he didn’t have any say in the matter. He gave in with hardly a grumble. When a woman really puts her foot down, a man has to give in.”

Kay thought of Wilson’s hard face and was doubtful, but she didn’t say so.

“So, you will come, won’t you?”

“I’d like to,” Kay replied. “I truly would. But…”

She paused, Devlin’s words from the other night echoing through her mind.

So do you really want to spend the future repeating the past? Do you really want to live your life letting a second man dictate to you where you’ll go and what you’ll do?

Of course she didn’t want that, but she also knew that things weren’t as clear-cut as Devlin made them out to be. “But,” she said at last, hedging, “I’m not sure I ought to attend. Between Jo’s debut and the wedding plans, I’m just so busy right now.”

It was true, and yet it also sounded terribly lame.

Do you really want to marry a man who will decide for you what friends you’ll have and what parties you’ll go to?

As Devlin’s questions echoed through her mind, Kay’s gaze slid to Josephine, who was now dancing with Lord Synby’s handsome eldest son. “I really don’t know how I’ll get everything done before June as it is.”

“I know it’s only a few weeks before your wedding,” Delia replied, “but surely you can spare one teensy little weekend away? I shall invite Josephine as well, of course, so do it for her, if not for yourself. She and Cassandra will have no end of fun, and Cassie can introduce her to some of the young people of the county. And don’t worry about the wedding. I’ll help you get everything arranged in time.”

“It’s not only that.”

“Then what is it?”

Kay hesitated, knowing discretion was her wisest course, but the urge to confide in her friend was too great to resist. “I don’t think,” she said, the words like sawdust in her mouth, “Wilson would like it if I attended the party.”

“Why ever not?” Delia laughed. “Surely, it’s not because of Devlin Sharpe? What does he think, that Devlin is going to seduce you and take you off to Gretna Green in some bizarre attempt to repeat history? Heavens!” she added as Kay made a grimace. “That is what he thinks, isn’t it? That’s the real reason you didn’t come to the soiree, isn’t it? Because Wilson is jealous of Devlin?”

“I suppose he is, though it’s ridiculous, really.”

“Is it?” Delia smiled a little, her expression half wry, half amused. “You don’t think it’s reasonable for him to be jealous of a man nearly half his age and twice as good looking? A man,” sheadded when Kay made an impatient sound, “with whom you have a romantic history?”

“Exactly,” Kay agreed with an emphatic nod. “History is what it is,history, as in the past. Over and done with. Dead and gone. Buried,” she added for good measure.

“All right, all right,” Delia said, still smiling. “I appreciate your point. No need to keep hammering away at it. And since that’s the case, are you really going to allow Wilson’s unfounded jealousy to prevent you from coming to my party? Or is it that you don’t want to come and can’t bear to tell me so you’re using Wilson as an excuse?”

“It’s not that!” she cried. “As I already told you, I do want to come. But—” Kay broke off, swallowing hard. “Wilson is a complicated man.”

“No man is complicated. And a little jealousy is good for them. The only way for a woman to deal with a man’s jealousy,” she went on as Kay opened her mouth to reply, “is to show him he has nothing to worry about. Which is impossible to do by the tactic of avoidance. Trust me on this. I’ve been married three times, darling, and I know what I’m talking about.”

Kay had no doubt of that. But sadly, she did not have her friend’s experience handling the vagaries of the sterner sex. “That’s all very well, but I can’t afford—that is, I don’t want to antagonize him. It’s not worth the risk,” she added, reminding herself firmly of that fact as she spoke.

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