Her answer was to give him her arm. He put her hand on his sleeve and escorted her down the corridor and around the corner to the library. He opened the door quietly, pulled her through, and shut it. He led her over to the settee and saw her settled. Then he left to light a candle that sat on a nearby table. Next, he strolled over to a far bookshelf where he rummaged behind some books before producing the bottle of wine.
“You weren’t jesting when you said you stashed it.”
He grinned at her. “Couldn’t risk some efficient maid finding it and putting it back in the kitchens. Mary, perhaps?”
From the sideboard he pulled out two wineglasses. Popping the cork off the bottle, he poured the dark red liquid before coming back to join Danielle on the settee. He handed her a glass.
She took a sip. “This is quite good.”
“Better than the port?” he asked.
“I don’t know. You came in before I had any of the port.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d wonder if youhadbeen waiting up for me.”
She laughed. “Don’t flatter yourself, Mr. Cavendish.”
He tipped his head to the side. “Half of my day would be in ruins if I stopped flattering myself.”
“Why do I not doubt that?” She leaned back, took a long drink, and sighed.
“Long day?” he asked.
“Not any longer than any of the others,” she said in voice that sounded weary.
“Why are you wearing those clothes?”
Cade glanced down at himself. He was wearing the same coarse woollen breeches, cheap burgundy waistcoat, and scuffed boots he’d had on all day. The clothes Monsieur Duhaime could afford. “What do you mean?” Better to play dumb than to explain himself.
“I don’t know. You seem a bit… underdressed for a Mayfair drawing room.”
He held up his glass to the firelight. “I prefer to find my amusements in parts of town outside of Mayfair.”
Danielle raised her glass, too. “I can drink to that.” She took a sip. “What do you think your brother would say if he found us here?”
Cade pushed out his long legs and leaned his head back against the settee next to hers. She didn’t admonish him for it. Progress. “Ah, no doubt there would be scolding and reprimands. Perhaps a lecture. Don’t worry. It would all be on my head, not yours.”
“And Lady Daphne?” Danielle asked.
He groaned. “She’d no doubt be embarrassed by her incorrigible brother-in-law’s outlandish behavior.”
“Incorrigible? Outlandish? Is that what you are?”
“You haven’t learned that about me yet?”
“Oh, I knew. I just didn’t realize that’s how you would describe yourself.”
He was impressed with her honesty. “I’ve never put much stock in pretending to be something I’m not.”
“Such as?”
“Such as an honorable gentleman.”
“You’re not honorable?”
“I suppose I have some honor but it’s not the kind that gets you a viscountcy. Called a paragon.”
“Like your brother?”
