Married to the Rogue (Season of Scandal #3) - Mary Lancaster Page 0,70

letter from Gates, which gave him an early list of four bright boys whom he had earmarked for the school and whose parents were willing to allow the opportunity.

He glanced up to tell Deborah and found her reading her own letter. Her face was transfixed, but she did not look happy. On the contrary, a flat, stricken look in her eyes wiped the excited words from his lips.

Instead, he said, “What is it?”

Her gaze flew up to his, but almost at once, she blinked, hiding her expression beneath her lashes. She smiled brightly, folding the letter and stuffing it into the folds of her gown.

“Oh, nothing. Just trivial gossip from an old friend. What does Mr. Gates say?”

He told her and let the conversation flow from there. But he knew she was lying.

*

It was not a complete lie. It was gossip, although hardly trivial to herself, and never in a thousand years would she have called Lord Barden her friend.

His letter stunned her. It referred openly to the scandal of Connaught Place, implying without saying so, that he had caused it. This, she already knew from Hazel. But he also went on to say that it was in his power to have the newspaper recant and claim to be mistaken in listing her presence. To this end, he would meet her at the Coggleton Arms on Monday the fifteenth of August at eleven of the clock. He advised her strongly, for her own wellbeing and that of her family and friends, to come alone and to tell no one.

To read this at all was bad enough. To discover it in company, in Christopher’s company, was unbearable. To keep this from him went against all her instincts as well as the promise she had only just made him. But Barden had already hurt her and three other innocent, decent women, for no good reason. Lucy had already suffered in the wake of that. She could not allow him to hurt Christopher or her family any further. She had to speak to Barden before she could make such a decision.

And so, she pretended all was well and felt her soul shrivel because Christopher knew she was lying.

Somehow, she got through the ritual of tea, went to inspect the work that had gone on without her, and finally escaped to her own bedchamber, where she ordered the luxury of a hot bath.

There, soaking in the warm, scented water, she felt the aches of two day’s riding ease. As she began to relax, she accepted there was nothing she could do about the Barden matter until Monday, so there was no point in worrying. On the other hand, she also had to keep it from Christopher until then, and the knot of that refused to unwind in the steam.

When she had left Gosmere yesterday, she had never expected to return with such happiness. She did not know if Christopher loved her as she loved him, but he did care, and she had the chance to win him completely. Keeping things from him was hardly the way to his heart or to her own comfort. However, she could not risk his wellbeing or anyone else’s for her own comfort. Until Monday, she would have to maintain a certain distance while still assuring him of her affection…

Of course, she had not said the words. She had not told him she loved him. To tell him now seemed wrong, like pulling the wool over his eyes so that she could meet Barden in secret. Everything else depended on Barden.

As the water began to cool, she climbed out of the tub and wrapped herself in the large towel Anne had left on the nearby chair. Rubbing her hair with the smaller one, she wandered into the bedchamber. A sound in the outer sitting room took her to the door.

“Anne, you may tell—”

She broke off abruptly, for it was not Anne the maid walking across the sitting room toward her. It was Christopher, fresh and handsome in his evening clothes. Desire sparked in his eyes and showed clearly in the suddenly predatory nature of his approach.

“Christopher!” she croaked. “I am not dressed.”

“I can see that,” he said gravely. “I came to see if I could help.”

She stepped back, stumbling against the door, and dropped her hair towel as she steadied herself. His knowing smile and his glittering eyes made him dangerously attractive, and she was too distracted to notice his hand until it plucked the large towel from her