she been too afraid?
Did he care?
What he ought to do was discreetly send the list back to her and forget he had ever seen it.
Not bloody likely. It was secreted inside a pocket in his jacket even now.
“Brandy?”
Sin interrupted Decker’s tumultuous thoughts, bringing him back to the present where he belonged. He had decided to pay a call on his old friend today, needing some distraction. Not because of her, naturally. He was merely restless.
Lady Jo had nothing to do with his affliction.
He blinked, focusing upon the earl. “No brandy today, old chap. I have a manuscript to read this afternoon for the press.”
Sin poured a brandy for himself from the sideboard in his study. “Deadly dull these days, Decker.”
“I am a man of business,” he pointed out sans heat. “I must earn my keep. And I may as well say the same of you, now that you are a happily domesticated beast.”
Sin grinned. “Domesticity is bliss. Perhaps you ought to try it yourself.”
Decker shuddered. “Blasphemy.”
He was pleased to see Sin in a marriage that—in spite of its dubious beginnings—contented him. But marriage was not for everyone. And it most certainly was not for Decker. After Nora, the notion of cleaving to one woman made him bilious. He would sooner dip his prick in a pot of hot tar.
Since he was deuced fond of his prick, that was not about to happen.
“Marriage with the wrong woman is hell on earth,” Sin agreed, taking a sip of his brandy. “But marriage with the right woman is—”
“Spare me the gory details, will you?” he interrupted.
Little wonder he had drifted into his own musings. What was it about a happily married man that made him think all his friends needed to shackle themselves as well? Thank God Nora had revealed herself for what and who she truly was and jilted him. She had done him a favor.
“I was going to say paradise,” Sin groused. “Mark my words, Decker. The day will come for you.”
Decker grimaced. “When I allow a woman to lead me around by the ballocks? No bloody thank you.”
“Here now.” Sin frowned. “My wife does not lead me around by the ballocks.”
“You hosted a ball,” he pointed out.
“I wanted an excuse to dance with my beautiful countess,” Sin countered.
“You have only been to the club once since you married,” Decker added.
He owned the Black Souls Club, but it had long been one of their mutual haunts.
His friend shrugged. “I have no need for diversion any longer, now that my wife keeps me otherwise distracted. Besides, I was scarcely there before, whilst I was attempting to court Miss Vandenberg.”
True, but Decker had still rather had enough of this blasted conversation. He did have a manuscript to read—that much had not been a lie. To say nothing of countless other tasks awaiting him. Being a man with diverse business interests meant he was also often a man with too little time.
“Damn it, I told you to spare me the gory details, not expound upon them,” he grumbled at his friend. “That will be my cue to flee, before you start waxing poetic over the color of Lady Sinclair’s hair or the shape of her eyebrows.”
“She does have beautiful eyebrows.” Sin grinned, unrepentant. “And the color of her hair is—”
“Enough,” Decker bit out on a strangled laugh. “Thank you for the company, but I must leave you to your sonnets and lovesick whatnots.”
“Not very sporting of you, old chap,” his friend complained. “Lady Sinclair is occupied with a meeting of the Lady’s Suffrage Society in the library, and I expect her to be similarly engaged for at least the next hour or so. Who will keep me entertained until I can once more have her all to myself?”
“Get a dog,” Decker suggested nicely.
Secretly, he was no better than a hound himself, his proverbial ears perking at the mentioning of the Lady’s Suffrage Society. There was a certain member who was not far from his mind. Whose list was burning in his pocket.
Lady Jo was here.
Beneath the same roof.
All he had to do was find her.
“Lady Sinclair has requested the addition of a household cat,” Sin was saying, stroking his jaw. “Mayhap we should find a feline. I rather fancy the idea of a soft little beast curled up on my lap.”
“You see?” Decker raised a brow. “Thoroughly domesticated and utterly ruined. I despair of you, my friend. But as much as I would like to linger and give you the opportunity to provide me