Page 75 of The Lord Next Door
“You didn’t look like a fool,” she murmured, her face hot. “You looked like a man who’d…recovered. And if you want to be upset about such silly things, maybe I should be upset that I had to find out in such a public manner that you’d asked two other women to marry you.”
“You can see now why I thought I’d spare you such evenings.”
“You mean spare yourself from having to tell the truth.” Victoria couldn’t believe she was talking like this, after she’d begun the evening on a lie in the first place! “Were you worried I would meet people who would reveal Banstead secrets?”
“As you have already seen, there are no secrets among the ton. But I’ll tell you another one. Lady Sarah was not only congratulating me on my marriage, but she was offering herself on the side.”
Victoria frowned at him and pulled her cloak closed. “Offering…herself?”
“As my mistress, or however else she would want to amuse herself.” He suddenly looked tired. “My, what a pleasant evening, wasn’t it?”
“She would do such a thing in public?” Victoria asked, aghast.
David touched her hand where it rested on the bench, smoothing her fingers through the gloves. “You are such an innocent, Victoria.”
“You didn’t have much innocence growing up,” she whispered, not wanting him to stop touching her, but afraid to lose this chance for honest conversation.
“No.” He looked out the darkened window as if he could see something. “After my mother died, my father found a mistress rather quickly, and moved her right into the house.”
She tried to withhold a gasp, but in the lamplight, she saw David’s bitter smile.
“An understandable reaction,” he said. “You can see why a duke would not wish his daughter to marry me.”
“But that was your father’s doing!”
He looked at her intently, and she couldn’t say anything over her heart’s terrible pounding. She wanted to take him into her arms, to comfort him the way only a wife could.
“Of course it was my father’s doing,” he continued quietly. “We’d never had much of a relationship, and the mistress killed it completely. She would throw parties, invite the most unsavory of guests. My father indulged her, trusted her. Hell, he must have loved her, because she had the run of the house, even when he was away from London. He didn’t know about the worst of these events, but I did. And the ton knew, and never let me forget.”
She wanted to shield him from what she’d heard, but she knew he wouldn’t like it.
“Lady Walcot mentioned the parties, and the ‘scantily clad women.’ It’s not the first time I’ve heard something like this.”
He sighed. “It’s been five years since his mistress died. You’d think such speculation would eventually end, but it never will. I’m sorry you had to be subjected to it. I wanted to protect you.”
“I know.” She touched his arm, and he didn’t pull away.
“Now you know why Southern Railway has been so enjoyable for me. Those directors only care about my money, and the power I can wield. It’s refreshing.”
She sighed. “Can I ask one more thing?”
“Of course.”
“Lady Walcot also asked if the piano had been burned.”
He gave a bitter laugh. “Thoroughly cleaned, yes, but not burned.”
“What happened, David? I’d rather be prepared when people speak of it.”
“One of Colette’s friends—Colette was my father’s mistress—became so inebriated that she removed her clothes while dancing upon it. Then she sat and accompanied herself while she sang opera. She was quite talented,” he added mildly.
Victoria could not imagine baring herself before dozens of people. She would surely die from the shame. When that woman had awakened the next day, had she been overcome with remorse? Or hadn’t she cared?
He sighed. “You’re scandalized, as I knew you would be.”
“No,” she said firmly, knowing her own secrets were much worse. “I’m trying to imagine how that woman felt the next day.”
A sad smile tilted one corner of his mouth. “Always worried about everyone, aren’t you? Then worry about my character, because I hid behind the ferns and watched her whole performance.”
