Page 26 of So Wild A Heart

“Must I?” Miranda replied lightly, and though she spoke to his uncle, her gaze was on Ravenscar. His eyes remained equally fixed on her.

“I am sure Miss Upshaw is not surprised, Uncle,” Ravenscar drawled in his most irritatingly upper-crust voice. “She is well aware of what a barbarian I am.”

Miranda smiled at him with false sweetness, and he swung abruptly away. “I must take my leave now. Mr. Upshaw, Mrs. Upshaw, pleased to meet you. Baldwin. Miss Upshaw.” He pronounced her name with great precision, turning back toward her and adding a bow so courtly it was a sarcastic statement on its own.

“My lord. So pleasant to see you, as always.” Miranda returned his gesture with an equally grand curtsey.

Devin’s jaw clenched so hard that she could see the muscle in it jump. Then he turned on his heel and strode out of the room, ignoring the protesting look shot him by his sister.

Rachel turned and went to Miranda, saying in a low voice, “I am so sorry. I don’t know what’s the matter with Devin tonight. He has been excessively sour from the moment he came into Mother’s box this evening. He was the one who suggested he escort me to your box. I didn’t even think about it, because he was looking so glum and glowery. Then he comes here and acts perfectly rudely.”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me,” Miranda responded with absolute candor.

The truth was, the exchange with Ravenscar had left her feeling rather invigorated, and Rachel’s revelation that it was he who had wanted to come visit their box was even more encouraging. There had been something in his eye when he turned to face Hiram that in anyone else Miranda would have identified as jealousy, and it made her smile inside to think that perhaps Ravenscar had wanted to come to their box to discover exactly who the man was who was sitting beside her.

“I was wanting to talk to you, Lady Westhampton,” she said, linking her arm through Rachel’s.

“Rachel.”

“All right, Rachel. Why don’t we take a stroll out in the gallery?”

“Of course.”

Rachel went with her readily, her curiosity obviously aroused. Once out in the grand hallway, Miranda glanced around and led Rachel toward the least populated area she could find, lowering her voice and bringing her head close to Rachel’s.

“Now,” Miranda said, “tell me about the woman who came to the opera with Ravenscar.”

7

The face Rachel turned to Miranda was almost comical in its dismay. “Who?”

“The woman with whom your brother came, the blond beauty.”

“Oh. Oh, well, she’s no one really. Lady Vesey is her name.”

“Is she Ravenscar’s mistress?”

Rachel drew in her breath in a gasp. “Miranda!”

“Well?” Miranda fixed the other woman with a pleasant but determined gaze. “You don’t know me well, so I will tell you that I will eventually worm out of you everything you know about her. So you might as well go ahead and tell me all about her now.”

Rachel looked at her uneasily. “I really—you shouldn’t—”

“If you think that telling me about her will ruin the possibility of my marrying your brother, let me assure you that it will make absolutely no difference. Well, no, that is not true. You see, I believe in knowing everything I possibly can about a venture before I enter into it, whether it is buying a piece of real estate or having a dress made—or getting married. I want to know everything—good, bad and all the variations in between. Without all the details, I cannot make an informed decision. So I think that it is highly unlikely that I could marry your brother until I have discovered precisely what his relationship to Lady Vesey is.”

Rachel let out a groan.

“I promise you, I am not naive,” Miranda went on. “I know that people here like to think of Americans as unsophisticated, and perhaps in some things we are. But when it comes to matters of scandal, I will wager that we are as up-to-date as Europeans. I know that men frequently have mistresses. I would not expect a man, especially one such as your brother, not to have had, well, shall we say, affairs of the heart? But I have to know what I’m dealing with. What is Lady Vesey to him? Does he love her? It is scarcely fair to me, you must admit, to expect me to go into something like marriage blindfolded.”

Her companion cast her an agonized look. “No, you are right. It is terribly unfair of me to not want you to know. But I am afraid—oh, please, do not hold it against Dev. He was very young when he met her, and—and the woman is a witch! A harpy! She sank her claws into him, and she’s never let go.”

Rachel stopped and sighed, then began again, her voice calmer. “Her name is Leona, and she has been considered one of the greatest beauties of the Ton since she came to London—many, many years ago,” she added cattily. Rachel smiled self-deprecatingly. “Well, I don’t know how old she is, exactly, but I am sure she is several years older than Dev. She was already an established beauty and Lord Vesey’s wife before Dev came to London. When he came here, he associated with artists and other young men of whom my father disapproved, young men whose lifestyle was very free and easy. He did gamble and drink and womanize, I’m sure. He had done the same sort of things even at home, and every time it brought about a major battle with Father. I almost think that is why Dev did them—to antagonize our father. I think I told you that in London he became even wilder, but, still, I think he was not much worse than most young men.”

“They are apt to sow their wild oats,” Miranda said encouragingly.

“Yes, you know how it is,” Rachel said, grateful for her understanding. “He had actually met Leona at home at Darkwater. Her husband’s estate is not far from ours, and he saw her there. Of course, nothing would have come of it, because Leona rarely visits Vesey Park. But then Devin came to London. And he saw Leona again. Well, you know what she looks like. You can imagine how pretty she was then, in her youth. Dev fell in love with her—hopelessly, helplessly in love. A better woman would have discouraged him. A kinder one would have sent him on his way after a brief affair. But Leona is neither good nor kind. She is wicked, and she led Dev into all the same wicked pursuits she followed.”

“Was it over Leona that your father disowned him?”