“But we don’t even know if that is what has happened,” Phoebe countered. “If I could just go down to that music hall and talk to her, I’m sure—”
“No,” Marion said firmly. “That place is frequented by the lowest sort. The inspector was right to warn you off. If anyone even saw you there—”
“ThenIwould be ruined?” Phoebe scoffed.
Marion sat back in her chair. “You say that like it’s nothing. Though I suppose for someone like you, it is,” she added.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That you have a loving family and a mansion you can always return to if things go wrong. No one will ever have to know about your little dalliance with the lower classes.”
“That’s not fair, Marion.”
“No, it isn’t,” she said as she rose. “And it’s well past time you learned that’s the way things usually are for the rest of us. Good night.”
Phoebe remained in place for many minutes afterward, mulling over Marion’s sharp words. It was not lost on her that she had lobbed a similar accusation at Will. Much like there had been truth in her accusation of Will, there was truth in Marion’s. Now she understood his desire to remain alone in the pub. It seemed a perfectly reasonable reaction to having one’s faults pointed out so candidly.
“I’m an idiot,” Phoebe murmured as she pressed a hand to her face. She’d have to apologize to Will as well, then. And there was a decent chance he wouldn’t accept it.
Nine
Will gave a slow blink. Once again he stood in a crowded ballroom watching Lady Gwen dance with another man while he was supposed to patiently await his turn. He let out a sigh and shifted on his feet while his rebellious mind wandered toward thoughts of Phoebe, as it had far too often over the last several days.
Her words still stung, and if he lingered on them for too long he would feel the urge to crawl out of his own skin. But that would fade in time. Realizing just how bored he had become with his own life would take a bit longer to get over, however. Though Phoebe could irritate the hell out of him, she was undeniably fascinating. He felt a sense of excitement around her. Of unpredictability. If he wasn’t careful, he might start to want more.
And there wouldn’t be a damned thing he could do about it.
Just as a heaviness began to settle in his chest, the earl approached.
“Don’t look so morose, Duke,” he said with a devilish smile. “You know Lord Whitby doesn’t stand a chance with my daughter.”
The young baron had inherited a crumbling estate in Northumberland and a mountain of debt. He would need one of those American dollar princesses if he ever hoped to be rid of debt.
Will grunted in response. He had no real rivals for Lady Gwen’shand. Just a few more weeks of this nonsense and hopefully they could announce their engagement. Yet the thought did not provide the expected—nay,needed—relief.
“Did you have a chance to review the draft of the bill I sent over?”
It was the very one that Phoebe had so strenuously objected to. Quite rightly, it turned out.
“I did,” Will began. “How exactly are you planning to deal with the ‘festering wound of vice’ as you put it? I didn’t see anything about the specifics.” Just a lot of ranting about the moral decay of society accompanied by some heavy-handed metaphors.
“Ah, excellent question. I’ve given it a great deal of thought and decided it is naive to think we can evertrulybe rid of the flesh trade, so instead we must cut off the head of the snake as it were, and shutter the bawdy houses. Many of them are owned by women, you know. That endangers both the patrons and the tarts themselves.”
Will raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure that?”
“Women may perform the work,” he said with an ugly little snort, “but they don’t have the capacity to manage it. Especially the money some of them rake in. Besides, it’s dangerous. They could be cheated by clients or beaten.”
“That may be so, but as I understand it, many women find safety in such arrangements.”
“I’m not proposing we closeallof them, mind you. I know that gentlemen have their appetites. But we must focus on those that cater to the lowest sort.”
“Because it’s fine if an aristocrat engages in vice, but not a bricklayer?”
“Exactly.” The earl did not pick up on Will’s sarcasm. “A gentleman may pay a visit to such an establishment after a long,productive day with little consequence, but a bricklayer cannot control his baser urges and thus is likely to become bankrupt.”
The man was completely serious. Rather than point out the ridiculousness of the comparison, Will tried another approach:
“But once they’re shut down, what will happen to the people who work there?”
