Page 58 of Seducing the Marquess (Lords and Ladies in Love 1)

Within seconds she jolted and jumped up. Just because there was no sound in Lady Abernathy’s room did not mean she and Devon were not together.

In fact, she still had not resolved the issue of exactly where Devon had hied off to. How could she be so stupid as to forget that little fact? Just then a sound came from Devon’s room. Her eyes grew wide and her heart began to pound once more.

Would he be so bold as to entertain the strumpet in his own room, with his wife right next door?

He might if he thought I was still downstairs drinking another gallon of tea and listening to mind-numbing gossip.

Anger flooded her, and she marched over to the door, then stopped with her hand on the latch. As much as she wanted to discover if her thoughts were true, she certainly did not want to burst into the room while they were in flagrante.

She lowered her hand and pressed her ear against the door.

…

Devon counted his steps as he paced once more in his chamber and ran his fingers through his hair. God, for two cents he would grab Eugenia from the harpies gossiping downstairs and leave for home now. The few glasses of brandy he’d consumed as he waited for this interminable evening to end had done nothing to dull his irritation. Lady Abernathy had been beyond persistent and had even accosted him in the billiard room, pretending to need his assistance for some surreptitious reason. The only way he’d been able to escape her was to feign a headache like some swooning debutante and retire to his chamber.

After Jake had helped him remove his clothes, Devon had shrugged into a green and yellow striped silk banyan and had begun wearing out the carpet in the room, his thoughts in disarray.

In addition to the annoyance he’d suffered throughout the entire house party, he still wrestled with his feelings toward Eugenia and the issue of a mistress. If he could get past his concerns with how a wife should be treated in the bedroom, there was still that niggling doubt in his mind about the change in Eugenia and the possibility of her paramour.

The party members were all leaving the next morning. It could not be soon enough for him. Although, truth be known, returning to London held no appeal either. He feared he was turning into a crotchety old man, for all he wanted to do was return to his country estate with his wife at his side and look forward to perhaps a child or two.

He’d even become disenchanted with the Parliamentary bill he’d been so enthused to present. Eugenia had been right. Making life more difficult for those who already suffered was not gentlemanly. Should only the wealthy be considered worthy of the government’s regard?

Confused and frustrated, he returned to the small table near the window to pour himself another drink. He paused when a noise coming from Eugenia’s chamber caught his attention. Slowly, he placed the brandy container back on the table. He turned slightly and tilted his head, listening. It had, indeed, sounded like someone was in her room.

Of course, it could be Sally, but if the maid was in Eugenia’s room, then perhaps she was there as well. It would be nice to have her all to himself for a while. Perhaps they could share a brandy. He strode to the door and turned the latch, pulling the door toward him.

“Oh!” Eugenia gasped as she tumbled to the floor at his feet in a heap of blue muslin, causing him to stumble backward as her body hit his knees.

“Eugenia, are you all right, dear?” Devon recovered his stance and bent to help her up. “What were you doing?”

Her face a bright red, she accepted his assistance, shook out her skirts, smoothed her hair before speaking. “I was…” She hesitated and glanced over his shoulder. “I was…oh, is that brandy? May I join you?”

A bit taken aback, since once again his very unflappable wife appeared unsettled, and he could not remember ever having to help her up from the floor, he glanced quickly at the brandy decanter. It hit him then that he had helped her up from the ground when Jennie had thrown her a couple of weeks ago. He shook his head in confusion.

“Yes, I would love for you to join me.” Still unsure if she was truly recovered from her fall, he took her by the elbow and escorted her to one of the two chairs.

“I thought perhaps you would still be downstairs with the other ladies.” He grinned as he handed her a glass and took the seat next to her. “Or are you as ready to be done with the party as I am?”

“I believe I am.” She raised the brandy to her lips and took a delicate sip, her body shuddering as she swallowed.

“There is sherry, if you prefer?”

“No. This is fine.” She smiled and set his heart to thumping. “It does take some getting used to, does it not?”

“Indeed.”

The silence that fell was rife with tension, as compelling as a thunderstorm. With the bed so near, and her usual perfect appearance rumpled from her fall, his thoughts continued to wander toward places they should not go. It would not be the done thing to grab one’s wife and toss her onto the bed like a bit o’muslin.

Although Eugenia seemed to have settled down from her inelegant entrance, her cheeks were flushed and her breathing erratic. He noticed with a start that she’d finished the small amount of brandy he’d poured her. Besides the rosy cheeks, her body relaxed in the chair, unlike her usual rigid stance.

“Would you care for another brandy?” Fully expecting her to decline, once again she took him by surprise when she held her glass out to him. Would she continue to surprise him? Or had she always been so different but had hidden her true self so well? Had The Ice Queen truly been a misnomer?

“Yes, please.” He swore s

he giggled.

He finished his in a gulp and took her glass. “As much as I am ready to leave tomorrow, I find myself somewhat reluctant to return to London,” he admitted. He handed her the glass and once again settled in his chair.