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“I never felt more grateful in my life than when you said ‘I do’ at the altar. Sir William had had time to convince you otherwise, and I was handicapped by my promise not to pay him off.”

“So you paid off the duke instead.”

He nodded.

“Actually, my father isn’t very concerned either way,” Torie said, still fussing with the sheet.

“Were you aware of the betting books?”

Torie looked up.

“Your father bet fifty-to-one that you would leave me at the altar. I’m afraid he’s considerably poorer this evening.”

“Extraordinarily offensive,” she muttered, feeling her gut twist. None of the men around her gave a damn about how much they embarrassed her.

“Other wagers followed that pattern, but at least they weren’t made by family members.”

“Did those wagers agree with my father?”

“The odds were in favor of your flight, which made sense since gossip has been focusing on my temper as the reason for Leonora’s marriage to Bufford.”

“How do you know?” She couldn’t imagine him sharing a cozy chin-wag with friends in his club.

“I told my valet to round up all the relative newspapers and summarize what was said of us.”

“When?”

“When what?”

“When did you order your valet to collect the gossip sheets?” Torie asked.

“Three weeks ago.”

So he had to have known that reporters would cover his outing with Gianna.

He shook his head at her angry look. “I was a fool. The fact that they would report my appearance at Vauxhall never occurred to me. How close did you come to leaving me at the altar?”

“Not close. I had made a promise.”

“So did your sister.”

“Not to you, to the twins,” she said miserably. “I couldn’t bear to let them down.”

She picked up the glass he’d given her, but after years of smelling brandy on her father’s breath and clothing, the smoky, spicy scent nauseated her. She put it back down. “I would never have left you at the altar. I would have informed you in person so that you could send a notice to the paper.”

He nodded, his stubborn jaw relaxing, apparently happy to hear that she avoided publicly humiliating the people in her life. “Thank you. Did Florence tell you that she would like to pay Leonora a visit? One of the servants told her that all three of Bufford’s former wives haunt his castle.”

“I received a kind letter from my sister this morning,” Torie said.

“What does my former fiancée think of our wedding?” His voice was so derisive that if Torie hadn’t known better, she would have assumed that Leonora had broken his heart. But no, she had just wounded his pride by choosing an elderly peer and a castle crowded with ghosts over his magnificent person.

“Leonora was surprised to learn that I had received a proposal from a duke.”

Dominic’s eyes took on a sardonic gleam. “I hope you told her that you took her nursery lessons to heart and refused the duke for the better title.”

“Of course I didn’t!”

“Is she happy up there in Scotland?”