Pulling his strings? He could have happily lived the rest of his life withoutthatimage in his head. “I’ve told you already. I’ve finished with her.”
Whether she was finished with him, well . . . that was another question entirely, wasn’t it? He’d got the earrings off her, yes, but he wasn’t fool enough to believe that would be the end of it. If Selina were presented with an opportunity to wreak her revenge on him, she’d seize it in an instant.
“That’s still the case, then?” Grantham toyed with his glass, but his sharp gaze remained on Jasper. “She hasn’t lured you back in?”
“God, no. I’ve learned my lesson as far as Selina’s concerned, I assure you.” He may never take another mistress again, in fact.
Basingstoke eyed him for a moment, then nodded. “I’m glad to hear it, Montford.” He reached for Jasper’s empty glass. “Another brandy?”
“I may as well, I suppose.” He needed a bit of time to figure out how to get two troublesome dukes out of this room. The earrings were certainly somewhere near the chaise. It wouldn’t take but a moment to find them.
“So, Montford.” Basingstoke poured the brandy and handed the glass back to Jasper. “My wife tells me you did, in fact, turn up for dinner last night. Hours late, of course.”
My wife. Basingstoke was fond of those two words and said them as often as he could. Not that Jasper begrudged the man his satisfaction. The Duchess of Basingstoke was a delight, and Basingstoke’s tenderness toward her was rather charming.
Pathetic, of course, but charming, nonetheless.
“The duchess is correct. I did come, and much to my shock, I found Miss Prudence Thorne enthroned in the chair behind your desk, behaving for all the world as if she’d just been crowned queen.”
Grantham snorted. “I doubt that, Montford. That doesn’t sound like her. I’ve never met a lady less inclined to draw attention to herself than Miss Thorne.”
No, but then she didn’t need totryto draw attention to herself. She’d caught his attention easily enough, and right after the debacle with Selina, too, when he’d vowed to never again be taken in by a pretty face. “Perhaps not, but she’s the sort of female a man likes to keep his eye on, all the same.”
“She’s the sort of female a mandoeskeep his eye on, whether he likes it or not, Montford.” Grantham chuckled. “Very fetching, indeed. It’s the green eyes.”
“They’re notgreen, Grantham. They’re hazel, and there’s nothing so special inthat. There are dozens of ladies in London with hazel eyes.” Not a single pair of them the same shade as Miss Thorne’s, but that was neither here nor there. “You might have told me she was in London, Basingstoke. She despises me, you know. She could have crept up behind me and slit my throat with your letter opener.”
“Rather messy, that.” Grantham took a sip of his brandy. “Bloody, you know.”
“Yes, that would have been dreadful,” Basingstoke agreed. “I’m rather fond of my letter opener. It was my grandfather’s.”
Jasper scowled at him. “As it was, she gave me a proper dressing down.”
Basingstoke raised an eyebrow. “One you did nothing to deserve, of course.”
“Of course not. What’s shedoinghere, Basingstoke? No one comes to London in August, for God’s sake. She claims she’s come to see the duchess.”
“I don’t know why you’re so suspicious of her, Montford. Shedidcome to see Francesca.”
“I daresay she did, but that’s not the only reason. She’s come to find a husband, hasn’t she?” Not that it mattered tohim, of course. He wasn’t the least bit interested in Miss Thorne’s romantic prospects.
Basingstoke took a swallow of his brandy and set his glass aside with a sigh. “Very well, Montford, you’ve puzzled it out. Miss Thorne has made up her mind to marry, and Franny has found a gentleman she believes will do very well for her. Miss Thorne is in London to meet him, and Franny has high hopes it will lead to a courtship.”
Jasper gazed down at his own glass of brandy, his mood turning inexplicably sour. “Who?”
Basingstoke blinked. “Who, what?”
“Who is the gentleman the duchess has chosen for Miss Thorne?”
“I don’t see why that matters to you, Montford.”
“Itdoesn’tmatter.” Why should it? “It’s purely curiosity, Basingstoke, nothing more.”
Miss Thorne might not be fashionable, or have much in the way of family or fortune, but she did have the steadfast friendship of the Duke and Duchess of Basingstoke, which was nearly as valuable. He might not care for the lady, but that didn’t mean he wished to see her sacrificed to some blackguard. “Not Westview, I hope. The man has half a dozen mistresses stashed a block apart in Wellington Street. Carruthers won’t do either, as he drinks to excess—”
“For God’s sake, Montford, do you suppose my wife would suggest her dearest friend wed a lecher or a drunkard? I can assure you she’s taken the utmost care with—”
“Not Horsley, either. I can’t prove it, but I’m certain he cheats at cards.”
