Page 89 of In the Prince's Bed

Mama scowled at him. “Do be sure to tell your mother exactly whom my girl is marrying. Katherine may be beneath a baronet, but apparently she’s quite high enough for an earl.”

Sydney flushed a dark red.

“Mama, please—” Katherine began.

“No, my dear,” her mother interrupted, “it needs to be said. Lady Lovelace is too high in the instep, if you ask me. And it’s time she knew it. Furthermore—”

“Excuse me, Mama, but I need a word with Sydney alone.” Ignoring propriety, Katherine tugged Sydney off with her.

As soon as they were out of earshot, she murmured, “I’m sorry about that. You know Mama—she speaks any thought that comes into her head.”

“And yet Iversley doesn’t seem to mind it.”

Oddly enough, that was true. “I think Lord Iversley finds Mama amusing.”

“Ah. He seems to find a great many things amusing, doesn’t he?”

She smiled, ignoring the insult implicit in his words. “Perhaps it’s time I had some amusement in my life.”

Sydney cast her an earnest glance. “I meant what I said about wanting you to be happy. I hope you’ll still consider me your friend.”

“Of course.” But the nature of their friendship would change. Even if she weren’t moving halfway across England, a respectable woman couldn’t spend hours with a male friend discussing poetry. Not if she wanted to avoid gossip.

She sighed. She would miss their talks. Still, there would be other compensations—her own home, a husband who made her laugh, children.

Children! She hadn’t even thought about that. Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to have Alec’s children?

Sydney was watching her with a frown. “You love him, don’t you?”

“What? No! I-I mean…I don’t know…I—”

“I know you, Kit—you’d never marry a man you didn’t love.”

“Right,” she mumbled. Shewasn’tmarrying Alec for love. She’d never be that foolish. It was a simple matter of enjoying his company and seeing the advantages to such a match.

And of desiring him beyond all endurance.

She blushed. If love was a foolish reason for marrying, desire was an idiotic one. This was merely the sensible way to deal with her need for a husband. And it was purely coincidental that it was also the most appealing.

“Promise me one thing.” Sydney gazed down at her tenderly. “If you ever need me, if Iversley ever mistreats you, either before or after you marry, promise you’ll come to me.”

Aftershe married? She eyed him closely. “I mean to be faithful to my husband.”

His look of outrage set her straight. “I should hope so! I didn’t mean…why, I’d never come between a man and his wife, even if the manisa…a—”

“A scoundrel?” She laughed. This Sydney she wouldn’t miss at all, the one who disapproved of people who didn’t share his serious outlook or his love of poetry. “I’ll be all right with him, you know. You needn’t worry. Besides, you won’t even be around. You’re headed to Greece with Lord Napier.”

He stared off across the ballroom. “Actually, I’m not. I…we argued. I told him I wouldn’t go.”

“Oh, but youshouldgo.” Now that she was happy, she wanted to see Sydney happy, too, and surely a trip to an exotic place with his close friend would accomplish that. “You would enjoy yourself.”

“That’s precisely why I mustn’t go.” Before she could question that enigmatic statement, he changed the subject. “So when is the wedding?” he asked a bit too cheerily, as if trying to put a good face on things.

“As soon as possible, I hope,” Alec answered from behind them.

Startled, she whirled around so fast she nearly overset the glass of punch he held. Mama stood beside him, scowling her disapproval, but Alec’s expression betrayed nothing.

His eyes, however, glittered a brilliant blue in the candlelight, alive with some emotion she couldn’t read. Anger? Jealousy? Perhaps a little. But there was something else there, too. It looked oddly like fear.