“Did you? What a strange thing to say. I don’t look anything like her,” Matthew quipped. “Nor does this man’s wife have the might to do what I just did.”
Rubbing his shoulder, he eyed Varley, who appeared in distress and in disarray. “Someone is going to have to pay good coin for that door lock.”
“What areyoudoing here?” Varley demanded, sounding peeved.
“I’m sorry,” Matthew replied, ready to start swinging his fists. “Was this a private party?”
“Obviously,” Varley replied, gesturing to Purity and to the bed.
Purity stared at him as if she thought he might believe the arse. To reassure her, he winked before crossing his arms and addressing Varley again.
“You are certainly going about it slowly, old chap. If I had this goddess alone in a room, we would be in a tight clench as soon as the door closed and rolling on the bed a minute later.”
“Foxford!” his delightful wife exclaimed, her pale cheeks staining pink.
He grinned but had to turn his attention again to the blackguard who began smoothing his hair as he spoke.
“How do you know we weren’t so passionateandquick that we’ve already made the two-backed beast?” Then the man made a great show of swaggering to the bed and snatching up his cravat, which he jammed into his pocket.
“Varley, my good man, if you can make love to a woman without disturbing her hat, then you are a better man than I. Or far less energetic, at any rate. Now, why don’t you tell me what this is about before I thrash you within an inch of your life.”
Purity stepped forward. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Lord Varley simply wanted to speak with me. He’s not a contented man, you see, and he went about trying to make himself feel better by hurting you. He never meant me any real harm.”
Matthew noticed Varley was staring at Purity in shock. Apparently, he hadn’t thought his defense would come from that quarter.
“He sought to hurt me through you,” Matthew reminded her, “and if I’m not mistaken, he hoped to ruin your reputation beyond repair.”
“Yes,” she agreed, “but without actuallyruiningme if you understand my meaning.”
He well-nigh rolled his eyes at his lady’s precise way of speaking. Besides, Matthew had alreadyruinedher in that regard thoroughly and enjoyably many times over. That was hardly the point.
“She is trying to cover for herself,” Varley insisted. “Of course we swived, and she only just put her hat back on.”
Matthew couldn’t help it. He smiled, and then he started to laugh.
Chapter Thirty
Matthew wanted to hate Varley, but he felt sorry for him, stuck with Emilia Tupmoure for a wife.
“No one will believe Lady Foxford chose you over me,” Matthew said. “I am sorry to say, but it’s the truth. I have a reputation for pleasing ladies to the point that they have taken some lunatic measures to keep me.”
Varley looked at Purity. She nodded sagely.
“He is the Fox, after all,” she said.
Varley winced.
“Doyouhave a nickname, my lord?” she asked him.
Varley’s nostrils flared. “No.”
“Well then,” she said, shrugging slightly as if that was the end of it.
Matthew had to stop himself from laughing out loud at the man’s confounded expression.
“I suggest you return to your wife and try to work it out with her,” Matthew said. “You destroyed your own engagement by getting caught with Emilia. I had nothing to do with it. Why don’t you set aside your anger with me and embrace the female you ended up with?”
Varley clenched his fists, maybe reliving the moment when he lost his fiancée and her massive fortune, caught with his head under Emilia’s skirts.
