Anthony stared at her a moment before a grin touched his lips. “French, no doubt,” he murmured.
“Indeed. You know of it?” she asked, her eyes rounding.
He inhaled to answer and then dipped his head. “I rather imagine most libraries in Mayfair have a copy,” he said, his own face reddening. “If not of that one, then another, similar...” He stopped speaking and took a deep breath. “Might you share what you found particularly... alarming?”
Danielle glanced over at the library table. “Davy showed me a color plate of a woman bent over a...” she pointed toward the table... “a library table, and a man was behind her—”
Anthony cleared his throat. “You needn’t say anything more,” he stated.
“It’s why we’ve decided we’d rather not marry,” Danielle blurted.
“What?”
Danielle thrust out her chin. “I’ll not be subjected to such an indignity,” she stated.
“Nor would you be,” he replied. When Danielle regarded him with surprise, he added, “Those...positionsaren’t meant for respectable husbands to be employing on their genteel wives. They’re...” He stopped and swallowed, suddenly aware they were no longer alone in the library. “We really shouldn’t be speaking of such things.”
Danielle frowned. “If not married couples, then who would be doing it?”
Anthony didn’t respond, his worried gaze directed at the rather tall man who was leaning against the end of one of the library shelves, his arms crossed over his chest. From the expression David Fitzwilliam displayed, Anthony wondered if he would be meeting the man at dawn in Wimbledon Common. “My apologies, my lord.” Anthony moved to stand, sure he was about to suffer the consequences of being found with Danielle without a chaperone in sight.
David straightened and waved at Anthony to remain seated. “Oh, you’ve nothing for which to apologize, Breckinridge. I’m well aware of the issue regarding my daughters’ discovery. You would think with my having owned a rather lucrative gentlemen’s club featuring only the finest courtesans, that my daughters would be better—”
“Father!” Danielle admonished him.
Anthony furrowed both brows and then glanced over at Danielle. “I thought you said your father was dead?”
She glanced over at David’s ghost. “He is,” she replied.
His eyes widening in alarm, Anthony stared at David. “For a dead man, you look rather well, my lord.”
David dipped his head. “Thank you. I think so, too.”
“So... you... you’re aghost?” Anthony stammered. Then he remembered that morning, when Andrew had told Daphne he was haunted by a ghost.
David rolled his eyes. “Yes, I suppose I am.”
“You spoke with me in the park yesterday.” Anthony’s voice was calm despite his growing sense of dread.
The late earl nodded. “I did.”
Anthony stared at David before turning his attention on Danielle. “Well, this certainly explains much,” he said.
“It does?” Danielle countered.
“Yesterday. In the park. How he could be in two places almost at the same time.” He turned back to David. “You were almost in two places at once, were you not, my lord?”
“Amazing, isn’t it?” David remarked proudly, straightening. Then he sobered. “So why is ityou’resitting there with Diana and not with Dahlia? You could be kissing my eldest in the gardens,” he accused. Then his eyes narrowed. “Already changed your mind, have you?”
Anthony’s eyes rounded in fear. “I... I, uh, merely wished to—”
“Breckinridge merely wished to know if Davy has changed her mind regarding marriage,” Danielle put in. “And as for kissing anyone in Lady Morganfield’s gardens, well, there’s really nowhere to do it without being caught,” she claimed. When her father directed a raised brow in her direction, she blinked. “Not that I would have first-hand knowledge, of course,” she quickly added.
David pulled his chin into his neck, which had him displaying a double chin and a frown that was most frightening. “Why not just ask the lady directly?” he queried, his attention back on the viscount. “Do what I suggested in the park yesterday?”
Anthony cleared his throat. “I don’t wish to annoy her, my lord,” he replied. “Further anger her... if indeed Lady Dahlia is still angered by what happened in the park.”
“Coward,” David said under his breath.
