“I wish you two would call me Silas. If you can call your stuffy old duke Harry, I must have the same courtesy.”
Evelina tossed a look at him over her shoulder, playful outrage. “Ugh, I’ll have you know my Harry is anything but stuffy.”
“Heisa little stuffy, Evie,” Julia said, and winked at Silas. “He talks about crop rotations, Silas. You’ve no idea.”
He rolled his eyes theatrically and then threw a smile toward Arabella. “How have you survived him?”
Evelina brought him a whisky with a smile. “Well, he’s terribly rich and very generous, of course.” She grew a little more serious. “And I believe I care for him more than I’ve cared for any man I’ve ever known.”
Silas’s brow wrinkled a little at that passionate declaration. He sipped his drink and finally sat when the women did the same. “So it is a match of affection?”
Evelina nodded. “Yes. We met at the Donville Masquerade, so it was very passionate as a start. I was just ending my last arrangement and Harry pressed very quickly for a new one. He showered me with gifts and notes. And he made promises, all of which he’s kept over our time together since.”
Arabella let out her breath. She wanted Evelina to be happy, of course, and there was a great deal of happiness between her and Harry. But sometimes she saw how deeply Eveline cared for the man and she worried. The dukewouldhave to marry one day. What would happen to Evie remained to be seen. He made promises, Arabella knew, about keeping her, having her as his true bride even as he fulfilled his obligations.
But without legal standing, could a woman truly expect those promises to be kept?
“And what about you, Julia?” Silas asked. “Do you have a gentleman in mind to be your next protector?”
Julia let out a long sigh. “No one interests me as of yet. I’ve not the bubbly personality of my sisters, I suppose. All my affiliations have been much more temporary, fleeting. I would like something longer term this time, something with heart to it like Evie and Harry have. So I’m being careful and trying to weigh my options when I go out with friends or my sisters.”
“That’s very reasonable,” Silas said. “I could ask around, see if there’s anyone who might fit the bill.”
“That would be very kind,” Julia said. Then her eyes widened. “Oh, I’d forgotten to tell you, I have gossip!” She looked at Silas apologetically. “You don’t mind gossip, do you?”
He leaned forward and waggled his eyebrows at her. “I adore gossip. And there was never a better source of it than the courtesan network.”
Julia smiled at him and then turned toward her sisters, hands clasped. “I was out with Bianca Reynolds last night, we went to a play, and we saw Lady Blackburn.”
“The Earl of Blackburn’s wife?” Evelina asked, her brow knitting slightly. “He’s a friend to Harry.”
“The very one. She was alone, Blackburn wasn’t in sight and then Bianca told me that most scandalous thing. The couple is getting a…divorce.”
The effect of that startling news on the rest of the room was instant. All three of their mouths dropped open. Divorce was legal, of course, but difficult and expensive and always a terrible disgrace. Arabella couldn’t think of the last one she’d heard of.
“A divorce,” she breathed. “Why in the world would they do that? Couples of that level can live apart very nicely.”
“They say she has a lover, atitledlover at that. I’ve heard that isn’t all that rare for her, but this time it sounds like she wants tomarryhim. It’s already in motion, apparently, has been for months and somehow Blackburn kept it quiet. But within a few weeks it’s likelyeveryonewill know.”
“Poor man,” Evelina said softly. “Oh, that’s a shame.”
“Indeed,” Silas said. “I knew of him in school. He was a decent fellow.”
Arabella looked at him. “Where did you go to school?”
“Eton,” he said, then laughed. “Oh, all three of you just got the most shocked looks on your faces. Do I seem too much a dolt for that?”
“Too clever for such a place is more likely,” Arabella said. “I didn’t know you were sent to such a prestigious school.”
“Because I’m a bastard?” He shrugged. “I think my father had the idea that I could have the bad blood educated out of me. That I’d get a vocation that he could sniff his nose at, but still support. That I’d stay under his thumb. Instead I played pranks and got in trouble and eventually got kicked out.”
“The pranks don’t surprise me,” Julia said with a shake of her head. “Arabella was also wild with her pranks as a girl.”
He turned toward her, face lit up with laughter and interest. Her breath caught at the absolute beauty of him. “Well, I must know more about this,” he said.
Arabella shook her head and hoped she didn’t sound as breathless as she felt. “They exaggerate.”
“You added bitter berries to Miss Jenson’s cordials.” Evelina said.
