Lord Merriweather stepped back. “I intended no insult, Lady Bromton.”
“No insult was taken,” she replied, returning her gaze to Giles. “You are causing a scandal.”
“No.” He sunk to his knees. “Now, I am causing a scandal.”
More than one lady in the room echoed Clarissa’s sigh.
“I wish to ask a most essential question,” he said.
She bit back a smile. “We are already married, my lord.”
“I know. I am here,” he said with utter solemnity, “to ask you to play billiards with me.”
For a moment, she just stared. Then, she started to laugh. “Yes,” she said with a hiccup. “I will play billiards with you.”
“And only me?”
She joined him in his kneel. “And only you.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled.
“I knew you were strong enough to wrestle fate,” she said.
His lips brushed hers, and then, his hand cupped the back of her neck. There, before all of his Tory friends, the Marquess of Bromton became a scandal.
“Ten minutes!” Lord Farring exclaimed. “I leave the two of you alone for ten minutes.”
“Lord Farring,” Mrs. VanHeldt interrupted, “I do believe that is her husband.”
“Well, thank God,” Farring replied. “I am exhausted.”
Katherine opened her eyes. “Giles,” she whispered, “who are these people?”
Giles grinned, a wide, boyish grin. “Representatives of the demimonde you so dearly wished to meet.”
“You didn’t.” She choked on a laugh.
Lord Merriweather and his wife departed with a great deal of noise.
Farringtsked. “Looks as if you’ll have to take a place at the Whig table.”
“I will be going my own way from now on.” Bromton helped Katherine rise. “Lady Bromton, may I introduce my mother, Mrs. Blackwood?”
Katherine glanced back and forth between mother and son and then held out her hand. “I cannot tell you how delighted I am to meet you.”
A sheen sparkled in the older lady’s eyes. “Thank you for returning my son.”
…
Katherine and Giles giggled as they tumbled into Giles’s carriage
“Was that,” Giles kissed his wife, “insincere and clumsy?”
“That”—she returned his kiss—“was glorious.”
“You aren’t sorry I caused a scandal?”
“I would have cautioned you against such a display,” she said primly. Then, she grinned. “But after tonight, no one is ever going to mention the unmarriageable maiden again.”
