Page 62

“Any more fortification and you will not be able to move!” She wrinkled her nose. “Or stand.”

He flashed her a grin and pressed a perfunctory kiss to her cheek. “Nowthatis a plan.”

Hudson was in the midst of his second—or was it the third?—glass, and it was barely half past nine.

“And here I thought that I would be given the honor of being greeted by the master of Wolverton Estate himself at the door,” a dry voice commented.

“Alice will be extremely disappointed to find that we have left our baby just to watch the Duke of Wolverton drink himself to a stupor,” another sighed in mock disappointment. “Ethan had us fairly convinced that the Wolf had finally found his match in a certain redhead.”

“Well, I assure you that you all will get to see him tied in knots before the night is done,” Ethan chimed in laughingly. “It is both a most amusing and horrifying sight.”

Hudson turned around to find all three of his friends standing before him. Ethan, with that grin he would just love to wipe the ballroom floor with. Daniel was regarding him with a raised eyebrow and an expression akin to amusement. Colin simply looked at him with sympathy, which Hudson would have appreciated, had it not been for the smugness in his smile.

And he called these men his friends? Scarlett seemed to inspire more loyalty from her Duchess friends than he did from their husbands, and he knew them for much longer than they did her.

“I could hardly believe it when Ethan told us you were pining after Scarlett.” Colin shook his head. “But here you are.”

Piningwas not exactly the word Hudson would use for the malady that had overcome him.Lustwould be more apt, although it still paled in comparison to the fierceness of his desire for her.

Perhapssoul-consuming lustwould do, but… it was still not enough.

“There! See? I was right!”

Hudson glared at Ethan, whose shoulders were shaking with laughter.

“I hope your Duchess would not mind me sending you back to her in a splint,” he growled threateningly. “Or two. Or three.”

The promise of broken bones hardly seemed to deter his friend, who merelychuckledat the blatant warning.

“That threat might have carried more weight if it had been Phoebe who issued it,” Colin remarked with a shake of his head. “Or my darling wife.” He smiled proudly.

Bloody hell, were all his friends so fearful of their wives? Hudson was going to need a drink if all they were going to talk about was married life.

Or you could get a wife of your own, a sly voice whispered in his ear.Your little cat would not only make a fine duchess, but she would also be perfect in your bed. And everywhere else that counts.

Hudson nearly crushed the fragile glass in his hand.

“Do not be rash.”

He glanced sideways to find Daniel looking knowingly at his hand. The man did not miss anything, damn him.

“Hudson, you are being too obvious,” he told him softly.

As if Hudson did not already know that. Holding onto what little control he had was like grasping a rope with his hands slick with grease. Ethan and Colin were not making it any better with their provocations.

Hudson plucked another glass off the tray of a passing footman while another called out the names of guests as they arrived.

“The Earl of Salzburg and the Dowager Countess of Salzburg!”

Daniel narrowed his eyes at him. “This is not like you. Get hold of yourself.”

Hudson was vaguely aware of Ethan and Colin looking at him with concern. As if he was losing his grasp on his sanity.

He did not blame them either. There were many times when he was left wondering if Scarlett had indeed stolen his wits.

“The Viscount Marbrooke and the Viscountess Marbrooke!”

“I. Am. Perfectly. Fine,” he muttered through gritted teeth.