But she did, and it sent warmth winging through her. In the shake of a lamb’s tail, her thoughts flew, as they constantly did, to their wedding night, to being naked before him, to having him touch her ...
“Let me dance with you at the next ball,” he continued. “Twice, in fact. By then, our engagement will have been announced more formally than your mother did the other night. I, for one, will notplaythe happy bridegroom. I shall truly be one. If you can manage to smile, we shall seem a happy couple indeed. Everyone will be jealous, and they can all go to—”
“Foxford,” she stopped his blasphemy.
“Why, Lady Purity, you broke your own rule and interrupted me. I am aghast.”
Against all odds, a glimmer of mirth danced through her. She smiled.
Somehow, he’d managed to put her in a better mood and even make her feel less distraught. She supposed he was correct, and she would do better to hold her head up and not give a fig about the opinion of anyone beyond her family, who loved her.
Matthew had succeededbeyond what he could have hoped. But then, after they had passed through the crowded St. James Park and were strolling along the edge of Green Park, nearly at the Diamonds’ home, Purity asked him a difficult question.
“What aboutyourfamily?”
His heart sped up.
“What would you like to know about them?”
“When shall you introduce me to them? Won’t they be astonished to learn you have a fiancée and are engaged to someone they have never met?”
“My father is deceased,” he told her.
She squeezed his arm.
“My father told me. I am sorry for that.”
“He died seventeen years ago. I couldn’t tell you exactly from what. Influenza, I believe. My mother remarried. Since her new husband is a Scot, they live in Edinburgh, as do my full sister and my two half-brothers. We can visit after we are married. I’m sure my mother will adore you.”
“Very well.”
He’d wrapped that up neatly, without having to go into how he and his stepfather had often been at loggerheads, or the relief he’d experienced when he went to English boarding school to escape Edinburgh.
After university, he had never gone back except for brief visits. He wanted to look at the future and starting his own family, not dwell upon the past.
To that end, he made Purity promise to attend a dinner and dance at the end of the week before taking his leave. Feeling a tad cowardly, he decided not to enter the Diamond home in case her parents still had the recent column in hand.
Instead, he was of two minds. One told him to go directly to Lady Varley and blast her hair back, for he was certain she was behindThe Timesrubbish. The other, though, directed his steps to his club, hoping Varley would be there. Maybe gloating.
Lady Fortuna smiled, and the man was already seated in the dining room. Even better, Quinn wasn’t there to stop him from confronting the wretch.
Walking directly to the table at which Varley was scoffing down a plate of roast beef, minted peas, and Yorkshire puddings, Foxford wasted no time.
“You’re a loathsome worm without a backbone, taking your spite out upon an innocent lady. Tell me, do you toss off while reading about other people in the paper?”
Instead of jumping to his feet with fisted outrage, which would have suited Matthew perfectly fine, Varley smiled.
“Good day, Foxford. What’s all this bristling about? You’ve never mindedThe Timeskeeping us up-to-date on your adventures before.”
“My adventures are my business. Why don’t you mind your own?”
Varley shrugged. “I promise you, I do.”
Matthew flexed his fingers. Gentlemen around them had stopped eating, pausing with silverware to their mouths. A few had newspapers on their tablecloths and eyed him with amusement. In a moment, someone was probably going to call out a wager on how many blows it would take him to level Varley to the carpet.
Matthew took a deep breath. He wished the red haze weren’t before his eyes, but where Purity was concerned, it was difficult to take a placid view of her tormentor.
If fisticuffs weren’t in his future, perhaps he could still get in a low blow. Towering over the seated Varley, he said the most disrespectful thing that came to mind.
