Men and women were pairing off by the moment, disappearingfrom the drawing room in search of pleasure. As he looked on, a pair of buxomblondes escorted a masked man he was certain was the Duke of Eversleigh fromthe room. Lucky blighter.
“I must apologize,” purred a familiar voice at his side.
He turned to find Nell watching him. “I’m afraid yourapology doesn’t matter.”
She winced. “I didn’t mean to muck it up for you, Simon,truly.”
“There’s nothing to muck up,” he lied. “I didn’t know whoshe was but now I do.”
“You must have had a lovely time smoothing her ruffledfeathers.” Her eyes narrowed as she considered him with thinly veiledskepticism. “You disappeared for two hours.”
“I was napping,” he said, careful to keep his tone bland.
“Rubbish. You were bedding her.”
A guilty flush crept over his cheekbones. “Go to hell,Nell.”
“Such poetry.” She winked. “You’re not the only man who’ssmitten by her, you know. Ravenscroft appears to be prepared to kiss her veryhem.”
His gaze went back to his wife. She was standing deucedclose to the earl. Her breasts were nearly brushing against his arm, forChrist’s sake. “I’m going to kill him,” he vowed.
“I’ll not have bloodletting at my soiree,” she admonishedfirmly. “Tell me, Simon. How is Eleanor?”
He stiffened at the mention of her. “I wouldn’t know.”
But Nell was ever a dog with a bone. “I’ve heard she’sliving at Billingsley’s country estate and that she’s breeding.”
Breeding. Eleanor was with child. The revelation hit himwith the force of a fist. But there would have been a time when he’d have beenhit with the force of a raging stallion. She had done her duty by Billingsley,then.
“Then she ought to be happy,” he forced himself to say,though he didn’t think it was true. Billingsley was a notorious brute and givento drink. The thought of Eleanor at his mercy had once been enough to make himill. He’d been prepared to do anything to keep her from going to her husband.But she had not wished it.
“Are you happy, Simon?”
Nell’s unexpected question shocked him. No one had ever, inhis recollection, asked him such a thing. He wasn’t even certain how to answerher. “I suppose that depends upon whether or not my little wife is planning onleaving your drawing room with Ravenscroft.”
A smile played with the corners of Nell’s lips. “You’rejealous,” she observed. “That settles it. You’re definitely smitten with yourlittle wife, as you call her.”
Smitten. Devil take it. Was he? Obsessed, perhaps. Consumedby lust and the need to be inside her, absolutely. But the word smittensuggested something deeper, something based on emotions he’d thought he’dsealed away like a secret room. His eyes sought out Maggie once more. She wasresplendent in her evening gown. There was no outward sign to suggest that shehad been naked and in his arms a mere hour before. But he knew.
“I don’t like this,” he grumbled, more to himself than toNell.
“I daresay you don’t.” There was humor in Nell’s voice.
He was going mad. There was no doubt about it. He tore hisgaze from his wife and looked down at the woman at his side. He tried to summona crumb of the desire he felt for Maggie and could not. Damn it, he could notallow another woman to ensnare him as Eleanor had done. He caught Nell’s handin his and raised it to his lips for a leisurely kiss at the sensitive turn ofher wrist.
“Go to bed with me,” he suggested on a whim. A dark voice inhis head told him he’d be better off if he forgot his wife and his promise toher. After all, he owed her nothing. The past two days had been an aberration.
Nell’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m not the woman youwant.”
Of course she was right. But he was foundering. “I don’tknow what the hell to do.”
“I shall tell you.” Her tone was frank, pure Nell. “You’llgo to her side and make your claim upon her. Why bother playing silly games?Let yourself free, Simon. You aren’t encumbered by Eleanor any longer.”
Eleanor and Nell had been friends once, but something hadhappened to change all that. Though she had continued to extend invitations tohimself and Eleanor over the years, Nell had not bothered to hide her dislikefor her sometime friend.
He considered Nell’s edict now, eager for the distraction.“Why do you harbor such ill will toward Eleanor?” he asked, curious. He hadoften wondered, but Eleanor had never wanted to discuss their falling out.
Her expression became shuttered. “Some secrets are bestkept.”
