‘You must remember me, my lord. Diane Kennings. Now Mrs Diane Morningside.’ If she could have added unfortunately without causing scandal he thought she might have. Nick had a slight recall of her visage through the drunken haze of sotted twenty-three-year-old eyes.
‘We have heard such stories of your time away, Lord Bromley, and you have returned looking like a pirate.’ The others giggled, but there was an undercurrent of anxiety.
The two men beside him whom he knew only vaguely looked on with interest, waiting for the start of a new scandal, he supposed. Once he would have enjoyed the challenge. Now he just wished fervently that young Christian Challenger might return forthwith, Frederick in tow.
‘I don’t think you can believe all you hear, Mrs Morningside. Mine is a fairly sedentary tale.’
‘They say you got rich at the game of cards and that you are every bit as reckless as you always were, my lord?’
The implication was clear as the woman flicked her fan this way and that.
‘Age mellows one and a seat at the gaming tables has palled in its excitement. If I could give you any idea of my future intentions, I would probably have them as being a simple farmer.’
‘At Bromworth Manor? Such a beautiful property, my lord. One of the finest in Essex, it is said.’
God, where the hell was Frederick? Nick looked around to see others glancing their way with as much interest on their faces as Diane Morningside seemed to have on hers.
How could he have possibly liked this, then? How could he not have seen the shallow amorality of such pointless conquests? He wished he did not remember all the many faces of his paramours, all the tears and pleading and the futile awful hope for so much more than he could give them.
Then Frederick was there and with a slight tip of his head Nick excused himself from the party and took him aside.
‘I am leaving. Now.’
‘I will come with you. You can drop me home.’
* * *
In the carriage five minutes later Nicholas leaned back against the leather cushion and began to laugh.
‘Was it always like that?’
‘As far as I can remember it was.’
‘And we liked it?’
‘Once we did.’
‘Your brother Christian and his friends want to buy out my share of Vitium et Virtus. As far as I am concerned he can have it for free.’
‘You’ve changed, Nick.’
‘I know.’
‘You seem happier.’
That wiped the smile off his face because he was happier and the person who was making him so was Eleanor Huntingdon.
‘When you met Georgiana, how did you know she was the one that you wanted as a wife?’
‘I could not stop thinking about her. She drove me so damn crazy I thought I would go mad.’
Hyde Park to one side was dark and cold as they passed it, small shadows in the undergrowth attesting to those who would sleep rough tonight. He was lucky with his friends and his house and his title. But he needed to protect himself and all those about him whom he loved.
‘I’d like your help with something. Is there any chance of a meeting at Vitium et Virtus tomorrow at around noon? I’ll ask Jacob and Oliver to be there as well.’
‘It sounds serious.’
‘It is, but it will be easier if we all put our heads together.’
