Page 60

She’s so beautiful.

More than beautiful, though. Anna’s neckline was daringly low, revealing the creamy swell of her breasts, the tops pushing against the lace and beads. He imagined himself leaning forward, pressing his lips to that flesh, feeling her heart rate quicken under his cheek.

She’d looked at him with those large eyes, curious and a little heated, dark in the carriage, and he’d wanted nothing more than to take her face in his hands and kiss her until she was too red and disheveled to climb demurely out of the carriage.

This, he thought furiously,is not helping matters. Not one bit.

In the end, he conjured up the memories of a conversation he’d had with an old, moderately senile gentleman at a previous party, who had collected coins for his entire life and carried the cream of his collection around to show to unsuspecting dinner partners. He had talked to Theo for an hour and a half about one single coin, hardly stopping to catch his breath.

It worked. Theo’s arousal subsided, as did his erection, until he was finally able to straighten his waistcoat and climb out of the carriage, the cool air fanning his flushed cheeks.

“Wait a moment,” he called, jogging to catch up with Anna, who was a little way down the row of carriages.

Sliding his arm through hers and forcing himself to recount the details of Mr. Dapple’s coin collection, they entered the party as a duke and duchess ought to do.

The Duchess of Fairhaven, Anna soon learned, was newly married. She was a bright and bubbly girl of about twenty, with glossy, tight black curls and a round pink face that made her lookeven younger. She had unfortunately chosen a ruffled pink dress that made her look a little like a ham, but Anna could not have cared less. The Duchess—she had insisted on Anna calling her Lady Tether as an informality, as they were of the same rank—had a knack for making people feel welcome.

The long-faced Duke of Fairhaven did not seem particularly interested in Anna, preferring instead to stand in the corner with Theo, sipping brandy and eyeing the guests as if he could not wait to leave. Already, the vast ballroom was full to the brim, and guests were still arriving.

Beatrice was there, and Anna felt a little better upon seeing her friend. She wished that her mother was there, or her sisters. But this was not a party to which the widowed Viscountess, brought so very low, would be invited.

Not until Anna turned her mother’s fortune around, of course.

“Everybody is staring at me,” she murmured, giving an awkward little laugh.

Lady Tether tittered. “Of course, they are, my dear! You’re a new duchess, withsuchan interesting scandal behind you. Everybody is going to want to talk to you, to see if half the rumors are true.”

“Oh,” Anna murmured, a little downcast.

The evening stretched out before her, long and full of opportunities for her to make a fool of herself.

Lady Tether paused, tilting her head and looking hard at her. “I think perhaps you need a little respite before the evening starts in earnest. A little fun, perhaps. Do you play cards?”

“Cards? I, uh, not particularly, no.”

“Never mind, neither do I. I propose a different sort of game with them. Miss Haversham, why don’t you take our new duchess to the card room, and I shall round up some likely young ladies… and a pack of cards.”

On this mysterious note, Lady Tether flashed them both a wide grin and dashed into the crowd.

“Do you have any idea what she means?” Anna asked, following her friend out of the crush and into narrower, cooler hallways.

There were hardly any people back here, only a few footmen stationed at intervals.

“I think she is talking about a new game all the ladies of Society are playing,” Beatrice said a little acidly. “One withdraws three cards from a pack, and it is meant to tell you what sort of man you will marry. Three cards, three things about him. It might be a quality, or something he will do, or something like that.”

“Oh, I see. Do you remember when we peeled apples and threw them over our shoulders to spell out the first initial of the men we would marry?”

Beatrice gave a hoot of laughter. “And neither of us could get the peel off in one go, and we cried ourselves to sleep thinking that we would die old maids? I remember.”

Anna chuckled, shaking her head. “And in the morning, Mama was furious because we’d peeled all the apples and they’d gone brown! What fools we were. Is this game like that, do you think?”

Beatrice shrugged. “Of course. It’s a craze, and all the young ladies are playing it—and some of the gentlemen too, I wager—but soon, everybody will have forgotten about it.”

She led the way to a neat little card room with green baize tables set up and ready to be used. Lady Tether wasn’t far behind, bringing with her a little gaggle of young ladies, twittering and laughing. Introductions were made, and then Lady Tether produced a pack of cards, shuffling it meaningfully.

“I think we should let single ladies go first. What do you say, ladies?”

“No, thank you,” Beatrice said, laughing. “One game has already condemned me to spinsterhood, I think I shall sit this one out.”