“And learned he was a bastard. I already knew that. He told me at once. It should not matter to anyone, but perhaps my heart is too good if I think so.”
Jasmine threw up her hands. “Tell her, Ophelia. Perhaps she will hear it better if it comes from you.”
“Tell me what?”
Ophelia looked pained. “We do not expect you to care that he is a bastard. However, it is his character that gave us pause. Itis not the best. He has a reputation that we thought you should know about, lest you... that is, so he does not...”
“Seduce and abandon,”Jasmine boomed. “Tell lies, take advantage, and bring shame upon your family.”
Her voice rang through the drawing room. Eva looked to be sure the windows were closed.
“He is reputed to be very wicked,” Ophelia said. “Most skilled in his seductions. Wives, widows, women of maturity like yourself—”
“Mostly wives,” Jasmine said. “But our friends say he considers any female over twenty-three fair game, and some suspect he has even deflowered innocent girls.” She lowered her voice, as if confiding a secret. “We are told that he employs certainexotictechniques that leave women enthralled, even addled, and unable to give him up. Some of the highest-born ladies, names you would know, have sought to keep him closer than is wise. As a young man right out of university he had a long affair with one lady, who herself has a reputation for romantic excess. The relationship became notorious. She kept him like a pet and spent a small fortune on him.”
“Perhaps she corrupted him,” Ophelia offered. “His current character would not be his fault, then. Not entirely.”
“Oh, sister, sister, sister. You will always look for excuses for the wicked. It does you no credit.”
“That is not true. You always see the worst and I do not, that is all.”
Eva cleared her throat to draw their attention, before she witnessed a long exchange of bickering. “I am grateful, of course, that you chose to share this with me. I need to reassure you that Mr. Fitzallen has no such interest in me. I am the last woman to turn such a man’s head, even for a few hours. I think we can all agree that while he may someday be wicked with a lady in Langdon’s End, it will not be me.”
They both looked at her in a peculiar way. Then at each other. Then at her.
“It goes without saying that we are not concerned aboutyou,” Jasmine said.
“It is Rebecca whom we fear will attract his wickedness.”
Of course. They worried for beautiful Rebecca.It was me he almost kissed. He gave that little gift to me. I am the one he might seduce and abandon.She came close to saying it. Shouting it. Except she knew the sisters were correct. She was in no danger. None at all.
On reflection—much reflection—she had concluded she had been mistaken and he had not almost kissed her. For one thing, from the sound of things, Gareth did notalmostkiss women. Far from it.
“You are so good to be concerned for my sister. I am truly touched. If it gives you any peace, let me say that he barely looked at her when he visited.”
“That is a common strategy of such men. The question is whether she looked athim,” Jasmine said.
“How could she not? Of course she was impressed. He is very handsome. However, after he left, I asked her what she thought of him. Her response will amuse you. She said he was beautiful, but old.”
“He can’t be more than thirty years,” Ophelia said. “Perhaps even a few years younger.”
“To a girl her age, thirty is ancient. It was when I was eighteen.” Rebecca’s dismissal of Gareth as too old had been a mixed blessing. While she was glad Rebecca would not form a tendre for him, finding her sister a husband would be much harder if she persisted in thinking thirty years was old.
Ophelia looked relieved. Jasmine appeared half-appeased.
“You must keep an eye on her, all the same,” Jasmine said. “Who knows what wily plans he might have. He has no fortune,so if the worst happens she will hardly be better off if he does the right thing, which his reputation suggests he will not. Other than a modest income from the duke, and that pile of stone he now calls Albany Lodge, he has nothing. As a bastard, he never will.”
Eva stood. “I will be very cautious and make sure Rebecca does not get enthralled or addled, I promise. Now, I must return to her. I have been gone overlong.”
She stepped out of the house, not knowing whether to be insulted or amused. The sisters Neville had not told her anything she had not already surmised about Gareth. Of far more interest had been the reference toexotic techniques. She wondered what in the world that meant, and why they apparently left women begging for more.
On her way home, she remembered the errands that had sent her to town in the first place. She fished into her basket for a letter that had come. She had picked it up while posting one of her own.
Sarah had written. She opened the letter, hoping she could give Rebecca good news. She made a little jump of joy after she read the first sentence.
Sarah had invited them to visit for a few days when next they went to Birmingham.
***
