Page 45 of To Pleasure a Prince

And she was rewarding him with coolness. He’d foolishly let Regina know how badly he desired her, and now she thought to make him pay dearly for it.

The hell she would. “Tomorrow night, we’ll go to the theater with Foxmoor and Louisa,” he told her firmly. “That new fellow Edmund Kean is at Drury Lane.”

His sister, who sat beside him in the carriage, perked up. “That would be lovely. Don’t you think so, Regina?”

“I’m sorry.” Regina kept her gaze fixed out the window. “I’m attending the Hungate ball tomorrow night. But Simon and I will look for you and Louisa there.”

A burning anger settled in the pit of his stomach. “I wasn’t invited.” And she damned well had to know it. “That means Louisa won’t be going, either.”

“But Marcus—” Louisa began.

“We can go riding the next day, however,” he went on.

“If Foxmoor is free.”

“He might be free, but I am not,” she said in such an excruciatingly correct tone it infuriated him. “I have already agreed to attend a friend’s party that day. But I’m sure Louisa and Simon would be delighted to join you.”

“Oh yes—” Louisa began.

“What about the day after that?” he growled, his temper rising.

“That’s Sunday.” Regina leveled a hard glance on him. “I go to church.”

“How very pious of you,” he snapped.

“I pray for the souls of those who delight in their wickedness,” she said sweetly.

“Like your cousins, perhaps?”

Her lips tightened. “Like certain gentlemen I know, yes.”

Louisa laid a hand on his arm. Marcus shrugged it off, his temper soaring. “What about Monday night, then? Kean will still be at Drury Lane.” Damn it, he had not meant to make it a request. He refused to beg her. She’d had him on his knees once tonight—she would not get him there again.

“Monday night I am otherwise engaged. And also on Tuesday.” When he opened his mouth, she added in her most sugary tone, “Wednesday night I’m attending the assembly at Almack’s. I don’t suppose you have a voucher?”

He snorted. “I would sooner cut off my right hand than solicit a voucher from that lot of vultures.”

“What a pity, then, that you need your right hand for strangling gentlemen.”

“Damn it, Regina—” he began, coming to the end of his patience.

“Indeed, my social schedule is so crowded this time of year, I don’t know when the four of us shall be able to meet again. You three must go on without me. But I shall check my schedule when I get home to see if I can fit you in sometime the week after next.” Her brittle smile made him want to shake her.

She meant to punish him for not behaving like a gentleman. But was she also trying to get out of their bargain? The instant punch to his gut made his temper flame higher. She’d better not be. Regina had agreed to a courtship, and she was damned well going to hold up her end of it or reject him in front of his sister, where it might do him some good.

The coach shuddered to a halt. As the footman scurried to open the door, Marcus said, “Stay here, Louisa, while I see the ladies inside. I won’t be long.” Then he leaped from the carriage before Regina could protest.

After handing down the two females, he escorted them up the long stairs. Regina’s overlight hold on his arm irritated him. She could hardly stand to touch him now, but only an hour ago she’d been melting beneath his kisses and caresses. Damn the woman.

As soon as they were inside, he turned to Regina’s cousin. “I’d like a word with Lady Regina alone, Miss Tremaine.”

That sent Miss Tremaine into a dither. “Oh, I don’t know, I—”

“It’s all right, Cicely,” Regina put in. “I’d like a word with his lordship myself. It will only take a moment.”

After that clipped statement, she marched off down the hall with all the regal grace of a true aristocrat. He stalked after her, painfully aware of his ungainly size and heavy gait.

Why the devil had he inherited Prinny’s bulky frame instead of the man’s princely manners? It was damned inconvenient.