“You bas—”
“You have a horde of solicitors and endless stacks of money ready to rush to your defense. She has nothing. That makes you a damned bully.”
“Apparently she has you.”
“There is that.”
For a long moment the duke looked at him. “And just what is in this for you, Kilcairn?”
“I get to marry her.”
The duke looked stunned. “Marry her,” he repeated. “Why?”
“I have my reasons.”
“But if you marry her, she doesn’t need me to defend her against Lady Welkins’s accusations. Your name provides as much a shield as mine does. Marry her, for God’s sake, and leave the Retting name out of it.”
Lucien shook his head. He was beginning to understand where Alexandra got her stubborn streak. “No. It has to be your name. And don’t ask me to explain, because I won’t.” No one would believe him, anyway.
“Where is this tearful reunion supposed to take place?”
“I’m holding a dinner party on Wednesday.” Now came the hard part, when he had to actually ask the question, and give Monmouth the chance to refuse. “Will you be there?”
The duke sighed heavily. “I’m not sure I would want you as an enemy, Kilcairn. I’ll be there.”
“Without Virgil.”
“Without blasted Virgil.”
When Lucien slipped into the cellar right at sunset, Alexandra’s first thought was that he looked as though he could use a strong drink. “You’ve been busy,” she said, picking a stitch out of her embroidery.
“Rose was here?”
“Yes, Thompkinson dragged her out about an hour ago. Apparently they spied your aunt approaching up the street.”
Softly he shut the door behind him, and her heart fluttered a little. She was not going to succumb to his charms again, she told herself sternly. It was too difficult to kiss him and be angry with him at the same time, and she was determined to remain angry with him.
“That’s the footstool from my bedchamber,” he said after a moment, eyeing Shakespeare curled up on the plush burgundy beside her.
“Yes, the other ones weren’t soft enough.”
He turned his skeptical expression on her. “The other ones?”
“Yes. Shakespeare can be very particular.”
“I see. Especially when his mistress is feeling particular, no doubt.” He hesitated, then pulled her dressing chair over to sit opposite her. “What did you and Rose discuss?”
She wasn’t used to seeing him hesitate about anything, and it unsettled her out of the speech she’d been ready to make about manipulating eighteen-year-old girls with his infamous charms. They’d nearly worked on her; Rose didn’t stand a chance. If he was still being cautious, it had to be because of her—or because he was still plotting something. “We talked about how wonderful Robert is, and how wonderful her birthday was, and how pretty I look in my new green muslin, and—”
“And when do you get to the part where you discuss how wonderful I am?”
“Rose is easily impressed.”
“Hm.”
Alexandra couldn’t help laughing at his put-upon expression. “I’m actually trying to recall whether we discussed you at all.”
Lucien lifted an eyebrow and favored her with a sensual smile. “I find it difficult to believe that my name didn’t arise once in the conversation.”
