Her heart beat out a heavy thump in her chest. Through the sudden influx of blood rushing in her ears, she heard Artemis say, “I don’t know what is going on between you and that man, and I suppose you’ll tell me when you’re ready, but I will say this: You’ve certainly chosen a handsome one to bestow youraffectionupon.”
In that instant, a certainty came to Beatrix.
She would never tell Artemis—or anyone else, for that matter.
What existed between her and Dev—be it affection orsomething moreor something else—it was only for them.
On the heels of that unsettling certainty came a wish.
That she had followed instinct earlier and gone back to bed.
And now, for her sins, she would have to watch Dev woo another woman.
How was she going to come through the next several minutes unscathed, much less the next three days?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dev understood his role today—and the two opportunities it presented.
First, as host, he had the opportunity to give society what it wanted—opulence, the fulfillment of whims, and the general pleasure-seeking they so enjoyed. Since they did little else, he supposed frivolity was what they lived for.
This morning, pleasure came in the form of archery.
“It’s too bad Richmond couldn’t stay,” opined the Earl of Bridgewater from behind his openTimes.
Yesterday, once the Duke of Richmond had completed his thorough inspection of Little Wicked and the stables, he’d been gone by the evening meal.
“I have a filly I think would suit his stables,” continued Bridgewater, offhand.
As he’d been a fringe member of thehaut tonfor nearly a year, Dev had gained the ability to parse between the lines of Bridgewater’soffhandstatement.
The earl needed money.
Which Dev knew, of course, as the fact was a central element of his plan to win Imogen.
Yet what aristocrat didn’t need money?
Dev still didn’t understand how that worked. Nobs took it as their right to have the finest of everything in life, yet they did nothing to earn the blunt to attain it.
The economics simply didn’t work.
Except those very same economics worked for a man like Dev—and others like him on the rise. Those economics had yielded him Little Wicked, Primrose Park, and…
Beatrix.
What a strange thought.
But it was true when viewed from a certain angle.
If Lydon had managed his finances better, his daughter wouldn’t have entered into an arrangement with a man like Dev.
Well, a man had to take his luck where he found it.
The absence of Richmond notwithstanding, the house party seemed to be a success with close to forty members of the highest echelon of society attending. Beatrix had been correct. If he invited them, they would attend and happily partake of his hospitality.
Most were still abed and would be so until the middling hours of the afternoon—thehaut tonloved its late nights—but others were interested in partaking of activities and archery had been the one this lot had agreed upon.
His eye caught on a small cluster of figures. There stood Shaw, supervising his eldest daughter’s shooting lesson, which was being taught by the Earl of Wrexford. Even from here, Dev could see both earl and young lady were blushing furiously. He was no matchmaker, but there was no mistaking how the wind blew there—a young earl and a young heiress.
