Page 17 of Marrying a Marquess (Widows of Mayfair #3)

P riscilla arrived back home after Gunter’s just in time to prepare for afternoon visitors.

David and Nick would arrive soon if today were like any other in the past two weeks.

Eugenia helped her change into a medium-pink day dress with matching slippers.

She combed out her hair, teasing it to fluff out the flatness on top from wearing a hat most of the day.

Leaving it loose, she went down the stairs to the drawing room, where she found her mother chatting with Lady Hollingsworth.

Priscilla curtsied. “Lady Hollingsworth. It is a pleasure to see you.”

Lady Hollingsworth laughed. “Sit down, Priscilla, no need to be so formal with me. After all, you are like a daughter to me.”

“Thank you.” She sat in a relatively comfortable chair facing the settee where her mother and Lady Hollingsworth ate small sandwiches and grapes. Priscilla studied Lady Hollingsworth and, for the first time, saw a resemblance to Nick.

Priscilla picked up a clean plate and placed two sandwiches and several grapes on it. All she had had since breakfast was the ice at Gunter’s. She nibbled on a sandwich, sans the crust, while listening to the ladies gossip about one thing and another.

“Did you hear that Viscount Norton passed in his sleep last night?” Mother said. “I think his viscountess poisoned him. She has a rather mysterious past. ”

Priscilla nearly choked on her food. “Mother. Be kind. Perhaps she loved the man and is devastated by his death.”

“Oh, pish-posh,” her mother said as she waved her arm out. “He was ancient, and she is rather young. Perhaps only in her twenties. They wed some years ago. Perhaps she was tired of waiting for him to keel over, so she helped him a bit.”

“Once again, Mother, don’t be spreading rumors.”

“I didn’t start them; they are already spreading throughout the drawing rooms of London.”

“Still. You don’t need to repeat it.”

“She has ties to my son,” Lady Hollingsworth said.

“And I would love to know how. She states she saw him drugged and dragged from that awful masquerade party that ruined his reputation. Why did she only speak about it and come to my son’s aid now?

What does she want from him? Most likely, she wishes to be the next Marchioness of Hollingsworth.

Over my dead body will she marry my son. ”

“Be careful,” her mother said. “If she poisoned her husband, no telling what she will do if you get in her way.”

“Oh, dear,” Lady Hollingsworth clutched her chest.

Priscilla’s heart seized up. What if she managed to marry Nick and she poisoned him?

She disliked this conversation and her wayward thoughts.

As she forced the image of Nick with Viscountess Norton out of her mind, he was announced.

It was laughable because when he saw his mother, his eyes widened, and for a second, she thought he would turn around and exit the room.

If he’d been smart, he would have done that.

Both their mothers in the same drawing room should frighten anyone.

“Mother,” he bent and kissed her cheek. “What a pleasant surprise to find you here.”

“And why should it be a surprise?” his mother huffed. “The duchess and I are very good friends going back to our childhood.”

He bristled. “I didn’t mean it that way. It was just something to say when I saw you here, that is all.”

“Please have a seat,” Priscilla’s mother said, freeing everyone from the uncomfortable moment.

“Thank you, Your Grace,” he said as he sat in the chair beside Priscilla. “Hello, Priscilla.”

“Hello, Nicholas.”

“I’m rather shocked Baron Latham is not already present,” he said. “Do you suppose he is skipping a day to seek out other... avenues... of entertainment?”

She glared daggers at him and lowered her voice. “You are a vile man.”

“Thank you.” He grinned. “I try hard.”

“Did you hear that Viscount Norton died?” Oh dear, she sounded like her mother.

He turned somber. “Yes. Unfortunately for him. He was rather old, though. And keeping up with a young wife couldn’t have been easy.”

“It would appear so since he is dead.”

“Are you mentioning this because you want to recruit her into the Ladies’ Society of Mayfair?”

“Hardly. And not all the members are widows. I also don’t believe she’s up to the Duchess of Greenville’s standard.”

“Careful,” he said as he toyed with his hat. “Your horns are showing.”

“My what?”

“Never mind me.” He frowned. “I’m in a dreadful mood today. Forgive me for taking it out on you.” He turned, looked at her, and hit her with his beautiful smile and mischievous eyes. “How would you like to take a walk in the park? The weather is quite nice.”

“Yes, I know. I went shopping with Emmeline and Lilly this morning and only just arrived home before you showed up.”

“Well, would you? ”

“Mother, could you please make my excuses to Baron Latham if he calls? Nicholas and I are going for a stroll in the park.”

Priscilla should have known the look their mothers would share at this announcement.

They were forever hoping for the fairytale ending, the one where Nick rode off into the sunset with her sitting on his horse before him, his arms wrapped around her.

They would travel through magical forests with animals that could speak until they arrived at their castle in the clouds. If only fairytales came true.

She excused herself to hurry up the stairs to retrieve the pelisse and hat that matched her dress and change into half boots. If she kept her slippers on, she would feel every pebble she stepped on through the thin soles.

Once they were out the door, she wrapped her arm around his elbow, and they began to walk toward Hyde Park.

“I would imagine the park is a crush with this weather.” Her insides flinched at her silly words about the weather.

For some reason, Nick was making her nervous today.

She’d never truly had competition for his affections before.

Even if she’d never truly had his affections, at least no one else had, either, except for his longtime mistress.

Priscilla used to be envious of his mistress. She had Nick all to herself. But when Priscilla considered their relationship, she felt sad for the woman who would never be more than his mistress. He would never marry her. Did she love him? “Can I ask you a very intimate question?”

His entire body tensed, she felt it. And his breath hitched inside his chest. “You may ask. It doesn’t mean I’ll answer it.”

“Do you still have your mistress?” There, she said it. She hadn’t thought about his mistress in forever; however, the conversation about the viscount had her wondering.

He coughed. “Christ, what the hell made you ask such a thing And how did you even know about her?”

“I don’t know why I asked.” She sighed. “I overheard our mothers speaking about her once. And you didn’t answer me.”

“It’s none of your business, but the answer is no. I called it off months ago. Six months to be exact.”

She couldn’t think of a thing to say in response.

“No comment on my answer?” Nick continued when she didn’t. “You know I wouldn’t waste my breath by answering anyone else who dared ask such a personal question. But I thought being honest was wise because you mean something to me.”

The low timbre of Nick’s voice during that last—and what he said—sent pleasant chills throughout her entire body. It reminded her of the way he sounded when he kissed her in the gardens at the Trowbridge musicale.

“Forgive me. It was rude of me for wanting to know.” She pulled her arm from his, then wrapped it back through and sighed once again.

When or if they ever kissed again, she had wanted to know if his lips had recently been on another’s.

Not that she had the right to think that way.

They did not belong to each other. And hadn’t she kissed David?

What right did she have to want Nick all to herself?

He turned his head, his features softened as he gave her a crooked grin. “There is nothing to forgive, and I could tell something was bothering you so I’m glad you were brave enough to ask.”

“How did you know something was bothering me? I hardly knew it myself.”

Why did he have to be so handsome, charming, annoying, and so many other things?

If only she could lock up her heart again against him.

But their private time in the Trowbridge gardens had shattered the locks encasing her heart, and she was so very susceptible to having it broken into smithereens, never to be whole or beat correctly again.

She needed to keep reminding herself her courtship with Nick was fake and the courtship with David real.

“You forget I’ve known you since you were a wee babe. I notice all your tells,” he said with that silly half grin still on his face .

“My tells? Please enlighten me!”

“When annoyed with someone or something, you narrow your eyes and wrinkle your nose. Quite cutely, I might add.”

Well, she’d asked for it. “I do not wrinkle my nose.”

“You do. And when you are happy, you smile, and your eyes sparkle. The hazel color turns more green.”

“I’ll agree with that. What else?” Oh, lord, did she ask for more tells?

“When you are truly exasperated, your body trembles and you look down your nose at whoever is the cause.”

“I tremble—I hope you are the only one who notices that. Looking down my nose at people is easy since I’m taller than most ladies and even some gentlemen. Seriously, though, I don’t think others notice any of these tells.”

“There are other tells. Intimate tells I noticed for the first time the other night in the garden when you...”

She smacked his shoulder with her free arm. “Don’t you dare say it!”

“I won’t. But when you... you know, your face became flushed, your eyelids closed, and your lips pursed as you moaned.”

“Enough of my tells or bringing up the other night,” she warned as she hit him again. “Are you trying to make me die of embarrassment? Because that is what will happen if you continue.”