there by a gentleman.”
“I wouldn’t call the Earl of Roddenbury a gentleman, no matter what bloody title he’s dragging behind him,” Robert growled. “He’s a drunk and a cad, and that’s coming from me.”
Nicholas staggered slightly at that shocking statement. “The Cat’s Companion. You mean the brothel?”
“The worst brothel in London,” Robert corrected with a grimace. “And that has stiff competition. There are places for fun, but that hellhole is certainly not one of them. The women are treated badly, the men are less than savory. It’s…dangerous.”
“Then Aurora would never go to such a place,” Nicholas said, somehow desperate to defend her honor.
“She did, though,” Selina insisted. “And as you said on the drive, perhaps you never really knew her at all.”
His own words repeated back to him found their mark, and Nicholas bent his head. “Perhaps not. If it were Donville Masquerade or Vivien Manning’s place, I would say her visiting there was about pleasure. As a widow, I suppose one might…understand her seeking it out.”
He hesitated because those words made him think such wicked thoughts. All those years ago, they had only kissed. Yes, there had been passion, a desire that bubbled beneath the surface, but it had never gone too far. He’d denied himself because he wanted to do the right thing. He’d wanted to wait to call her lover until he could also call her wife.
That hadn’t stopped wicked, heated, desperate thoughts from haunting him all these years, of course. Imaginings of all those soft curves naked beneath him, above him, all around him.
He pushed the thoughts aside and refocused on matters at hand. “But the Cat’s Companion?”
“I tend to agree,” Robert said. “But the rumors are rampant. And considering Katherine’s own history with those kinds of cruel whispers, my wife felt compelled to offer her assistance.”
“Didn’t Lady Lovell give her some kind of story?” Morgan said. “About a missing friend or some such thing?”
Nicholas’s head was spinning with all this new information and he held up a hand. “It isn’t right for us to stand around talking about her.”
Selina cocked her head. “You are too good, Nicholas. Are we certain he is our father’s son?”
He smiled despite the fraught topic. “More often than I wish to be. Today on the drive is a good example. I behaved…badly. Perhaps I should just leave. It sounds like Aurora…Lady Lovell…needs to be here more than I do if she is indeed being dragged through the mud. A connection with Katherine and the friends you have in attendance could buffer Aurora from the worst of it.”
“No,” Robert said, stepping forward. “That isn’t fair to you. Please don’t go.”
It was the please that hit him, curling into him. Making him stare at his older brother for what felt like a lifetime and see…well, a connection he’d long tried to avoid. Did he really want to walk away? From Robert and his siblings? From the potential support he could find here amongst them and Robert’s friends?
Away from Aurora after he had just found her?
He didn’t even try to push the thought away this time. It was undeniable, after all. No matter his other thoughts on the drive, when he’d seen her, he wanted her. He understood that a great deal more now that he’d had more experience in the world. He had a far more vivid imagination about what he could do about it. So if he stayed, if she stayed, he would have to find a way to manage those ever-present desires. A way that didn’t involve burying his cock in her like a libertine.
The cock that twitched with that thought.
“I should…speak to her,” he said softly, and tried not to groan at how difficult that would be. “It’s been a very long time, and despite my outburst made in surprise, perhaps there’s a way for us to be at peace with each other so neither of us has to walk away from the opportunities this party offers us.”
Selina worried her lip, and Morgan and Derrick exchanged a look, but Robert stepped forward and clapped a hand on his upper arm. “It’s a good idea. At least if you speak to her, you’ll know better where you stand. You can decide what to do based on fact, not some emotional reaction because of an unexpected reunion.
Nicholas shot him a look. “Are you being…wise?”
Robert pulled a face as the others laughed. “God help me if I am.”
“God help us all,” Nicholas said, and was shocked by how much it warmed his