Page 17 of The Misfortune of Lady Lucianna

“He, what?” Ophelia yelped.

“The nerve of that scoundrel!” Edith’s outrage would have been comical were it not for the sparkle Luci saw in her eye. Could her dear friend know precisely how much Luci had enjoyed their embrace?

“What did you do?” Ophelia’s eyes widened, her hands pressed to her bosom, still clutching her kerchief. “This is much like a real-life novel!”

Luci sniffed. “Then it would be a gruesome one.”

“Why?” Edith eyed her intently.

“Because I bit the fool.”

“Bit him?” Ophelia sat forward, her cold forgotten. “Where? On his hand?”

“No.” Lucianna shook her head, her hair loosening from its pins at the action. “His tongue.”

“How in the heavens could you bite his tongue?”

Luci frowned—and Edith giggled uncontrollably—as the auburn-haired woman pondered how one could bite another’s tongue. It was easy to identify exactly when Ophelia realized the only possible way for Luci to do such a thing.

“He…put his tongue…in your mouth?” she stammered, sending Edith into another fit of laughter. “But that would mean…”

“Yes, Ophelia.” Edith patted the woman on her back when she sputtered, breaking into a sneeze. “The Duke of Montrose slipped his tongue into Luci’s mouth. And, I suspect, she enjoyed the experience greatly—though she is obviously loath to admit it.”

“I most certainly did not—“

Edith waved her hand, silencing Luci’s protest. “Now, how did this kiss end in your deserting me and leaving Ophelia out in the cold?”

“Does he know we wrote the article about him?” Ophelia asked. “Oh, Lord Torrington promised not to tell, but Montrose owes us nothing, especially after we caused Lady Daphne to break off their betrothal.”

“No, he did not allude to knowing about our activities as the authoresses of the Mayfair Confidential.”

“Then why was he so angry?” Ophelia sat back once more, wiping at her eyes. “He was so furious, he almost ran me over in the ballroom.”

“There was no time to ask before he kissed me, nor after I bit him.” Luci hated her body for betraying her. Her face flared red, and that blasted tingling sensation between her thighs returned. She clenched her knees tightly together to keep the feeling from spreading. “That is when I ran down the path along the back of your townhouse, then down the drive to the alley, and home.”

“You walked home?” Edith’s brow scrunched.

“Of course. Do you think me incapable of finding my way home?” Luci retorted, offended by her friend’s disbelieving tone. “We only live five townhouses from one another. Both of our stables back up to the alley. It was simple enough to reach my home and slip inside without notice.”

It was Ophelia’s turn to snort—as well as a woman could with her nose blocked by congestion. “You demanded your carriage follow you about the shopping district to avoid walking to the end of Bond Street to hand off your packages.”

It was exactly what Luci had demanded on several occasions. “Last night was not a shopping excursion, I will have you know, though it will be necessary to obtain a new set of black ballroom slippers. Mine were utterly ruined by the mud and filth littering the alleyway, not to mention the dew from the lawns.”

“What of your mother?” Edith demanded. “You must have worried her so.”

“I sent word as soon as I arrived home that I’d left ill.” Her mother was likely relieved to escape the ball early after her embarrassment several nights prior.

“And you did not think to have someone tell me—a-choo—I could come out of the cold?”

“Again, I am immensely sorry, O,” Luci stood and then knelt before her friend on the lounge opposite her chair, taking her hands in hers. “I never meant for you to become ill, nor did I think I would need to go to such extreme measures to get away from the brutish man. What happened when he returned to the ballroom?”

Edith and Ophelia shared a questioning look.

“What?”

“I think we should tell her…” Ophelia glanced at Edith. “She should know.”

Edith sighed. “If we must.” Edith turned back to Luci. “A large gathering of guests witnessed Montrose kissing a woman in the gardens. They said she fled before anyone could discover her identity, and he left shortly after.”