Right now he felt like he was in the thick of things with them, because all he had left in him was emotion. He didn’t like how it burned in his chest, making him want to tear at his skin, making him want to scream and swear and run wild. He had to stop that. Now.
“As I said on the drive,” he managed to choke out, “Lady Lovell and I grew up together. I once thought we…we meant something to each other.”
Derrick bent his head and Nicholas blushed. How could he not? He’d once told Derrick the story, or at least part of the story, of him and Aurora, during a drunken night when they’d all thought they might die in battle the next day.
“But she disabused me of that notion a long, long time ago,” he finished with a frown.
“I see.” Robert shook his head. “I hope you know Katherine wasn’t aware of any of that when she invited this woman to our home.”
“I’m sure she didn’t,” Nicholas said, and meant it. Katherine had not a cruel bone in her body. But it still begged a question. “But whydidshe ask her? Selina said they were friends.”
“Not friends, just old acquaintances from long before Katherine and I were married,” Robert said with a deepening frown. “And she invited Lady Lovell because she has a big heart.”
“Don’t dance around it, Roseford,” Selina snapped. “Not anymore. Katherine invited her because she fixes broken wings. And this scandal about Lady Lovell has broken both of hers. She’llneverfly again. And to think I was actually feeling sorry for her. Now I admit I’mhappyshe’s suffering if she gave you even an ounce of pain.”
Warmth flooded Nicholas at such loyal adoration. But Selina’s words confused him. “Scandal? What scandal?”
“You didn’t hear? The story has been circulating all over Society for more than a week,” Derrick said.
“Yes,” Robert said. “I assumed you were paying attention to those rumors and innuendos with the matter of the title hanging over you. Those in that sphere must know at least a little about their equals and the messes they make.”
“It’s not a habit I’ve yet formed,” Nicholas admitted, and pulled a face. “I cannot abide gossip and I try to avoid it whenever possible.”
“Then let me explain,” Derrick said, moving toward him at last. “It’s rumored Lady Lovell was frequenting the Cat’s Companion. She was seen there by a gentleman.”
“I wouldn’t call the Earl of Roddenbury a gentleman, no matter what bloody title he’s dragging behind him,” Robert growled. “He’s a drunk and a cad, and that’s coming from me.”
Nicholas staggered slightly at that shocking statement. “The Cat’s Companion. You mean the brothel?”
“The worst brothel in London,” Robert corrected with a grimace. “And that has stiff competition. There are places for fun, but that hellhole is certainly not one of them. The women are treated badly, the men are less than savory. It’s…dangerous.”
“Then Aurora would never go to such a place,” Nicholas said, somehow desperate to defend her honor.
“She did, though,” Selina insisted. “And as you said on the drive, perhaps you never really knew her at all.”
His own words repeated back to him found their mark, and Nicholas bent his head. “Perhaps not. If it were Donville Masquerade or Vivien Manning’s place, I would say her visiting there was about pleasure. As a widow, I suppose one might…understand her seeking it out.”
He hesitated because those words made him think such wicked thoughts. All those years ago, they had only kissed. Yes, there had been passion, a desire that bubbled beneath the surface, but it had never gone too far. He’d denied himself because he wanted to do the right thing. He’d wanted to wait to call her lover until he could also call her wife.
That hadn’t stopped wicked, heated, desperate thoughts from haunting him all these years, of course. Imaginings of all those soft curves naked beneath him, above him, all around him.
He pushed the thoughts aside and refocused on matters at hand. “But the Cat’s Companion?”
“I tend to agree,” Robert said. “But the rumors are rampant. And considering Katherine’s own history with those kinds of cruel whispers, my wife felt compelled to offer her assistance.”
“Didn’t Lady Lovell give her some kind of story?” Morgan said. “About a missing friend or some such thing?”
Nicholas’s head was spinning with all this new information and he held up a hand. “It isn’t right for us to stand around talking about her.”
Selina cocked her head. “You are too good, Nicholas. Are we certain he is our father’s son?”
He smiled despite the fraught topic. “More often than I wish to be. Today on the drive is a good example. I behaved…badly. Perhaps I should just leave. It sounds like Aurora…Lady Lovell…needs to be here more than I do if she is indeed being dragged through the mud. A connection with Katherine and the friends you have in attendance could buffer Aurora from the worst of it.”
“No,” Robert said, stepping forward. “That isn’t fair to you. Please don’t go.”
It was thepleasethat hit him, curling into him. Making him stare at his older brother for what felt like a lifetime and see…well, a connection he’d long tried to avoid. Did he really want to walk away? From Robert and his siblings? From the potential support he could find here amongst them and Robert’s friends?
Away from Aurora after he had just found her?
