“How did she misunderstand it all? I have been wondering. Well, we have all been wondering it, in my defence. It is not as though she is simple. She was intelligent enough to marry into money without needing to fulfil any wifely duties, at least.”
He felt his breath hitch, his skin prickling with heat. Only he could think of his wife in such a situation.
“You will refrain from speaking about my wife that way,” he replied, shocked by his reaction to Anna being spoken of in such a manner. “I will not tolerate her being spoken of as though she is not my duchess.”
“Yes, we all know how good your wife is. Any other lady might have heard about your carriage coming from the north and questioned you, after all.”
Spencer blinked. He had not considered that. Had he come from Africa, as he claimed, he would have come from the south. Of course, that was not where he had been, but they were not to know that. He could not let them believe it.
“Lord Smythe, if you believe that the only reason you would see my carriages in the north is because of me, then you are sorely mistaken. I have estates all across the country, but of course, you would not know that. We do not all have an innate desire to flaunt our wealth, after all.”
Alexander sputtered, trying to maintain his composure. Lord Smythe scowled, but only briefly. Then, he fixed his smile again and acted as though nothing had been said at all.
“Will you be hosting a ball yourself soon?” he asked. “It would be a pleasant way for you to reenter society.”
“I am considering it. Should I host one, I will send you an invitation.”
That was enough to satisfy the man, and he took his leave.
“Social climber,” he grimaced. “I cannot stand people like him.”
“The word people is being rather too polite, I would argue,” Alexander quipped. “Do not pay him any heed. People do not listen to the likes of him. If anything, they cover their ears entirely so they do not have to hear of his forty-seven bedrooms.”
“Does he truly have that many?”
“I do not know. I have never paid him a visit.”
“Of all the things you know,” Spencer huffed, only to be interrupted by a sudden commotion nearby.
Both gentlemen turned, and Spencer’s eyes settled squarely on none other than his cousin. He was standing with a drink down his front, his face almost purple.
“At least I know that he is in attendance tonight,” he said quietly. “I require a word with him.”
“I do not know that he will grant it to you,” Alexander replied.
Spencer did not understand quite what he meant at first, and then he realized how his cousin came to have a drink spilled on him.
Anna was standing in front of him, her glass poised as though she had launched her drink with force at him, and her face was expressionless. She had no emotion over what she had done, the perfect opposite of Walter.
Without another word, Spencer made his way over to them. He could not hear them, but he could see Walter speaking angrily to Anna, who at last had begun to falter. She was clearly in shock. What had happened that caused her to look that way? Spencer glanced around, instinctively seeking the threat.
He stepped in front of her, which only made the whispers increase. At the sight of him, Walter seemed to soften, but only slightly.
“What happened?” Spencer asked.
“What happened, dear Cousin, is that your wife is out of control. Do not ask me for an explanation, but her.”
Spencer did not want to believe him. Anna was quick to speak her mind, but he never would have assumed that she would do something so improper. It was not how she handled matters, and he had at least been pleased about that.
“I demand an apology!” Walter continued. “To be treated like this by your hellion of a wife, and have her accuse me as if it were my fault, is appalling!”
“If my wife did it, it must have been an accident,” Spencer argued. She never would have–”
“It was no accident,” Anna said clearly, causing him to turn around.
She had not moved, her glass still posed as it had been before. The mutinous glint in her brown eyes suggested she’d be more than happy to finish what she’d begun. Spencer glared at her, and at last he began to hear what the people around them were saying.
“I knew she was a harridan.”
