Beatrice Brent is now one of those people.”
Jess looked stunned at the obvious. “She is not falling in love with me, is she?”
Michael laughed, so sincerely that it took him a minute to control himself. “I have no idea, but the real question is whether you are falling in love with her.”
“My life is satisfying as it is. I am not going to complicate it with a chit who is endlessly curious and discontented with anything but the truth. The whole truth.” He knew he was warning himself as much as Garrett. Yes, he was wildly attracted to her, but he had enough experience to control his baser urges, and even hers, if necessary.
“Yes, her curiosity could be a trial if it were not offset by the joys of that curiosity in other parts of your life.”
It was Jess’s turn to laugh. “You sound like the madam in a whorehouse trying to convince me to bed an ugly girl.”
Garrett waved away the analogy. “Believe me, the love of a good woman can change your life. I know.”
“Yes, I know you know, Michael. But I do not want to change my life.”
“Yes, I see that,” Michael acknowledged. “How did you ever happen on a life of pleasure for its own sake?” he asked bluntly. “I came on the scene long after that was in play.”
“I have no special skills. That was obvious early. Not like the rest of the family. David went into the navy at fifteen and seemed set on a career there. Gabriel became a man of science before he was ten. Even Olivia discovered her love of cooking at an early age, and God knows Lynford behaved like a duke before he was breeched.”
“No such clear calling for you, eh? That’s something I can understand. You know how far and fast I ran from the priesthood. Odd, that. It eventually caught up with me and here I am.”
“And here I am as well. I am good at gaming and even better at whoring. One could say that I am true to the Pennistan idea that one pursues what one excels in.”
“I grant you the gaming, Jess. But no one ever hears about your women.”
“They call it discretion, Michael. And some charm. I have both. I will not bore you with the details of my conquests. They, in fact, all bore me eventually. Except for the two women whose amazing agility kept me entertained for days.”
Michael smiled and shook his head. “You are not going to shock me. I could tell you about a French whore who would have sex with her clients behind a transparent screen so that the men who were waiting would be ready for her.”
Jess laughed.
“But this is not a contest, Jess, over which of us has lived a more dissolute life. You would undoubtedly win, I grant you that. But is it not time for a change? To turn your life in a new direction?”
“Spare me the sermon.”
“All right, but I will have you consider this one fact. David left the navy and found a new place among the mill owners in Birmingham. Gabriel now works closely with an artist developing a form of instruction for physicians and biologists. Olivia is now more a mother than a cook. I grant you Lynford is every bit a duke, but softened by his marriage.”
“And your point is?”
“The point is that they all took one road and found another that suited them once they matured. Could that not be in the cards,” he smiled at the pun and continued, “in the cards for you?”
“And Beatrice Brent is the key?”
Garrett laughed. “That would be too easy. Let’s call her a signal that change is possible. I am looking beyond this house party. You have a whole life to live, more than one day at a time one would hope.”
“Is this how you convert people from a life of sin? By nagging them into surrender?”
“I’m not speaking as a priest, but as a happily married man who would wish the same for you.”
“Again, spare me,” Jess said, suddenly annoyed with Garrett’s endless equanimity and supposed wisdom.
“Very well.” With a cordial nod, Garrett made his way to the bedchamber door. He paused to share one more thought. “Live in the moment for as long as you can stand it, Jess. And since we are both in this moment and since Beatrice Brent is here with us as well, let me warn you that if you are truly not interested in