Last Dance in London (Rakes on the Run #1) - Sydney Jane Baily Page 0,45

eyes, he implored her. “Would you punish us for a mere kiss? One that never actually happened?”

They engaged in a silent battle. He wondered if she would take a night with him as payment to be silent and let this go as if it never happened. To hint at that, he dropped his glance to the exposed tops of her breasts, then back to her eyes, seeing her pupils dilate.

“Just a kiss,” he added on a whisper, as if they were the ones who would share it.

After a moment in which she raised a delicate eyebrow at him and then a confounded glance toward Miss Sudbury, Lady Daphne did the unexpected. She laughed at him.

“Please, Marshfield. Don’t try to turn your charms upon me. I think of you like a brother.” She guffawed with hilarity and, to his consternation, clutched her stomach.

While relieved at her levity, Jasper was also insulted. He was most definitely not her brother. Moreover, he thought he had a chance with every woman, and a good one at that. It was galling to realize such wasn’t the case, despite having no real interest in her.

Eventually, their hostess gathered herself.

“For the gift of that delightfully uplifting hilarity, I’ll let you both stay for the remainder of the evening. Marshfield, you go downstairs first. I’ll escort Miss Sudbury back into the ballroom after I give her a stern talking to about staying away from the likes of you.”

“But—” he began.

“But me no buts,” Lady Daphne insisted. “Or you’ll be tossed out.”

He closed his mouth. The damage had, at least, been mitigated, and Miss Sudbury wouldn’t end up in Newgate, not that evening at any rate.

With a nod to the ladies, he departed.

The notion that people were talking about him didn’t bother him in the least. As a libertine, he was used to his name in the paper as Lord M__ or the E__ of M__, usually with the words “behaved dreadfully” somewhere close by. However, to his knowledge, no one had ever besmirched his family’s fortune. He wasn’t prone to profligacy, nor to wasteful extravagance or uncontrollable gambling. His finances were as sound as ever.

Perhaps Lady Daphne had simply got the wrong end of the walking stick and misheard the gossip. But the idea that one of his Jockey Club fellows was saying such a thing pricked his ire, and it must certainly be one of those who’d stood beside him at Tattersalls.

Also, he dearly hoped Lady Daphne wouldn’t actually have any sway over Julia about keeping company with him. For he still intended...

What did he intend?

To enjoy her, at least, because she wanted that as well. That much was obvious. He wasn’t trying to coerce an unwilling female, but satisfy a willing one. However, there was something more brewing besides desire, or he wouldn’t be so furious over her ridiculous compulsion to thievery.

If she were an earl’s wife, she would have to curb any such—

An earl’s wife?

He yanked his brandy flask from his pocket and drank heartily before reentering the ballroom.

Chapter Fourteen

“Lord M__ was seen riding in the Park today with Miss S__. We cannot tell if he has taken a liking to Lady W__ or her country sister. Perhaps both, dear reader?”

-The Sun

As soon as Lord Marshfield left, Lady Daphne turned on Julia.

“I don’t know you, nor your sister except for her good fortune in marrying an old man.”

Julia opened her mouth to defend Sarah for, as usual, the lady made it sound as though her sister had done something premeditated to secure a fortune and a title.

“No,” Lady Daphne said, “don’t speak. I am not judging, nor condemning. Not her, at any rate. But you are going down a dangerous route, Miss Sudbury. I have been in London all my life, and I’ve seen Marshfield and his ilk destroy, albeit sometimes unintentionally, too many hopeful young women. Rakehells to a man, they are driven by their desire to the detriment of all else, including common decency.”

Julia swallowed. “I understand.” It pinched her pride to think how much she wanted to toss her decency to the far winds where Jasper was concerned.

“Do you truly?” Lady Daphne demanded. “It’s not only your future that would be squashed during a moment of passion, no matter how pleasurable. Your sister would be dragged down with you. Her position is already slightly precarious as among the bon ton, her quick marriage and widowhood begs the question as to whether they even consummated. She has an air of illegitimacy to her