Page 53 of The Lord Next Door
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?
Chapter
Twelve
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, that you’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.”
“Was whatever you’re referencing a recent event?”
He frowned. “She wrote it in our journal, so no.”
“This girl who can confront your father—and yes, your servants told me she visited with him today—is not a girl any longer, but a woman. She could handle herself, if given the opportunity. But I think you also have memories you don’t wish to confront, and going out into society will make things uncomfortable for you.”
David rose to his feet, ostensibly to refill their glasses, but a lurking part of him wanted Simon to leave. His friend was as inquisitive as a physician. “More brandy?”
“Of course.” When David was leaning over him to pour, Simon said, “No one will remember Colette.”
David stiffened, then turned his back to set down the decanter. “I don’t wish to discuss her.”
“Or your father, obviously. She was his mistress, David, not his wife. No one will even remember that she lived here.”
David remembered well enough for everyone. “Simon, don’t be naive. It was only a few years ago. Hell, two families refused me their daughters in marriage because of my father’s scandalous conduct.”
