Page 66 of In the Prince's Bed

He shook off his niggling unease. It didn’t matter what she thought. By the time she discovered all his secrets, it would be too late for her to do anything but resign herself to the marriage.

The thought of a resigned Katherine going through the motions as his wife chilled his blood, but he refused to let it bother him. She wouldn’t sulk for long—he’d make sure of that. He’d simply use Katherine’s wanton nature against her, pleasure her so often and so well in bed that she’d eventually forgive his deception.

A smile touched his lips. That certainly gave him something to look forward to.

But he had to get there first. That meant he’d have to keep her too busy to look closely into his finances.

When Mrs. Merivale paused for breath, he seized the opportunity to speak to Katherine. “We never did have that ride in the park. Perhaps we should attempt it again tomorrow.”

Her smile faded. “I can’t. I have a prior engagement, remember?”

Ah, yes, Lovelace. She was going to see Lovelace’s mother. Damn that poet and his hold on her. “Sorry, I forgot. What about tomorrow evening, the fete at Holland House?”

Katherine sighed. “We weren’t invited. Mama and I don’t exactly move in the same circles as you do.”

Mrs. Merivale scowled at her daughter. “Wewereinvited. You don’t see all the invitations we receive, you know.” When Katherine raised an eyebrow, her mother grew suddenly absorbed in straightening her skirts. “I turned it down, is all. That Lady Holland is too scandalous a woman for my daughter to associate with. A divorcée, imagine!”

“That divorcée is the toast of London except among the high sticklers, Mama. You would never have turned down her invitation.” Katherine shot Alec a rueful smile. “Mama simply doesn’t want you to know that we are so low on the social ladder that even a ‘scandalous’ woman like Lady Holland wouldn’t invite us to a party.”

“Katherine, really!”

“It’s all right, Mrs. Merivale,” Alec said, suppressing a chuckle. “I’m not courting your daughter for her connections, I assure you.”

Katherine rewarded him for that truthful statement with a warm smile that sent the blood rushing right to his head.

“If you aren’t invited,” he continued, “I won’t go, either.” He winked at Katherine. “It sounds like too shocking a party for a respectable man like me.”

Her mother’s face lit up. “Do you hear that, my angel? Isn’t his lordship the very model of propriety?”

Katherine’s lips twitched. “Yes, Mama. We should all follow his sterling example.”

“And here you were worried that he was a wild sort,” her mother said.

“Surely not,” Alec retorted in mock outrage. “Miss Merivale, have you been thinking unjustly of me?”

“I don’t believe so, my lord,” Katherine said sweetly. “But then, I’m still trying to determine your true character.”

That worried him. She’d agreed to marry him…but she didn’t quite trust him even now. He would have to stay on his guard.

“If you have no other engagement for tomorrow night,” her mother said, “you must dine with us.”

“It would be an honor,” he replied. “The night after, I’d like to accompany you to Lady Purefoy’s birthday supper. And if you have no invitation—”

“Wewereinvited to that,” Katherine said with a relieved smile. “Lady Purefoy and Mama came out together—they’ve been friends ever since.”

“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Merivale gushed. “We were like three peas in a pod before we married, me and Lady Purefoy and Lady Lovelace—” She broke off. “Of course, Lady Lovelace and I no longer see each other. I don’t even know if she will attend, and—”

“It’s all right, Mama,” Katherine interjected. “His lordship is a gentleman. He understands these things.”

Alec grimaced. In other words, her former suitor might be there and she would expect them both to behave like gentlemen. What a damned annoying prospect. “Then it’s settled. Evening after next, I’ll come for you at eight o’clock.”

“And you’ll come for dinner tomorrow night,” Mrs. Merivale prodded.

“Yes. Tomorrow night.”

But even the prospect of two evenings in Katherine’s company couldn’t revive his lowered spirits. The very thought of her anywhere near Sydney Lovelace dampened all his pleasure.

What if the pompous ass tried to change her mind? Or worse yet, tried to kiss her again? The possibility sickened him.