“I’m sure she does not. Hence your fear of discovery.”
She did not disagree. Let him think that.
“You slipped away from me once too often, Miss Waverly. I count the last time as an insult. Or another challenge.”
“I did not seek to intrigue you further by leaving. Surely you cannot believe such a thing. Look at my situation. If it were known that I . . . that we . . . I would be ruined, and I have no family to take me back like your sort of ruined women do. If I am seen as disreputable, I will end up destitute.”
“I would never allow that to happen.”
“You have no power to stop it.”
“I will find a way. I will make arrangements.”
“I do not want arrangements. I want you to leave me alone.”
“Do not reject what you have not heard.” He kissed her lips. Heaven help her, she rose into it, stupid woman that she was. “See? You do not really want me to leave you alone. You are glad I found you. I will treat your reputation with great care, Amanda. You will see. You are not to worry any longer. You will be free again in my arms very soon.”
He kissed her again, hard and long, calling forth her own passion with savage demand. Then he melted into the shadows, leaving her trembling against the wall.
Chapter Ten
“Langford is plotting,” Brentworth said, angling his head toward the friend in question. “Brow furrowed. Eyes bright. Mouth firm. He has spotted his prey and now calculates the method of attack.”
Stratton laughed. They all sat in an upper room at their club, one which they had used for years. It was not the day for their monthly meeting, but after the theater the duchess had gone home alone so her husband might enjoy some hours without domesticity hounding him.
“I must have been elsewhere when the prey in question was spotted,” Stratton said. “Who is she, Langford?”
Gabriel ignored him.
“Miss Waverly,” Brentworth whispered none too quietly.
“No. The secretary?” Stratton considered that. “She was certainly attractive in an unfashionable way. But with a good hairdressing and better garments, she would be lovely.”
“He has seen her in a different garment. Those of a shepherdess. She is the woman from the masked ball.”
“Is that so, Langford? I’ll be damned.”
“You are both too annoying.”
“At least now you know who she is,” Brentworth said. “Although if her relationship to Lady Farnsworth does not discourage you, I will think you an idiot. That lady has been sharpening a knife for you. Seduce her favored servant and she may just use it in shocking ways.”
“I will not be cowed by the most peculiar Lady Farnsworth. As for seducing . . .” He faced the regrettable results of his long contemplation. “That would be complicated in many ways.”
“Thank God you see that,” Brentworth said.
“So much so that I find that I require your advice, gentlemen.”
His friends stared at him. Finally, Stratton spoke. “Perhaps I misheard. You, the master of seduction, are asking our advice?”
“Yes. Not on the seduction part.”
“Of course.”
“Other things.”
“Such as?”
“I will need to be absolutely discreet.” He looked at Brentworth. “How in hell do you manage that?”
