LITMIR.BIZ

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      The whole impression was most fetching, if a bit disconcerting. As he looked at her, he found himself comparing her with the few ladies remaining in the room. He found the others wanting. She would never be known as a great beauty, but she was certainly handsome. Tonight, she was displaying a strength of character and a confidence that had been lacking in the early days of their marriage. She glanced back at him from her spot beside Tim, and her smile was spontaneous and infectious.

      And he had got the distinct impression, when she’d greeted him just now, that she had been flirting with him.

      He scanned what was left of the crowd to see if any had noticed, or if there might be some explanation for the change in behaviour. His eye caught his brother, and he signalled him with a nod of his head.

      Will crossed the room to his side, smiling and relaxed. It appeared he had also enjoyed the party. ‘The evening went well.’

      ‘That is good to know.’ Adam indicated his retreating wife with an inclination of his head. ‘Penelope did well, I think.’

      Will smiled after her. ‘So it seems. She is looking most fine this evening.’

      Adam nodded agreement. ‘What put such colour in her cheeks, I wonder? I spent much of the evening in the card room, and too little time with her.’ That his absence might have contributed to her good mood was more than a little irritating.

      ‘Perhaps it was the dancing. I had opportunity to stand up with her on several occasions. She is most adept for one who spends so much time amongst her books. And an intelligent conversationalist, once she overcomes her shyness. It was why I was so opposed to your match. You are a gad, not much for sitting home of an evening, while she would like nothing better. It is not the recipe for a happy union, when two partners are so dissimilar.’

      ‘As you know, with your vast experience as a married man.’

      His brother ignored the gibe. ‘But I rescind my former feelings on the subject. She seems to be warming to her job as hostess. And once she began to open up to me, I found her views on scholarship to be most refreshing.’

      ‘She opened up to you.’

      ‘Yes. As the evening wore on, she was most chatty. We had several opportunities to speak, as we danced.’

      ‘Oh.’ He remembered seeing her, clasping his brother’s hand, and the look she had given him, as though she wished him to see. Did she mean to make him jealous? She had succeeded.

      Will continued. ‘It is good that you plan to allow her to continue with her work. She is correct: her views have value. I most look forward to reading her translation when she completes it.’

      Adam searched his heart for a desire to read Homer, in any form, and found it wanting. He could still remember the sting of the ruler on the back of his hand, for all the times he had neglected his studies to go riding, or attempted them, only to miss a conjugation. And now, Will would be there to appreciate the work, once Penny had completed it.

      Damn him. But that was ridiculous. He had nothing to fear from his brother. Will would rather die than come between him and his new wife. He should be happy that Penny would have someone to talk to.

      Then why did he feel so irritated that she was talking to him tonight? Adam had left her alone to fend for herself. And she had done it, admirably. By the end of the evening, he’d heard murmurs about what a fine hostess she had been, and the people wishing him well had sounded sincere and not sarcastic. The evening had been a success.

      And now, his brother could not stop prattling on about his wife’s finer qualities, as though they were any business of his. ‘… and a lot in common with Tim as well. Perhaps when you go home, she will have opportunity to see his research, for I think she would find it fascinating. He was a dab hand at languages when you were in school, was he not?’

      ‘Tim.’ Oh, dear God. Not him as well.

      ‘Yes. They went off together, just now, while we were speaking? Probably looking for a quiet corner where they can conjugate verbs together.’ Will laughed.

      ‘Not if I can help it.’ And Adam left his brother to search out his wife.

       Chapter Fifteen

      ‘Fair Penelope.’ Lord Timothy was being most effusive in his praise, and she wondered if he were the worse for drink. ‘I have sent my wife home, and she will bother you no further.’

      ‘You wished to speak to me?’

      He caught her hand, and slipped it through the crook of his arm, then led her away from the ballroom. ‘In your sitting room, if that is all right. Somewhere we can be alone.’

      ‘What do you wish to say that requires privacy?’

      ‘Things I do not wish others to hear.’ He led her past her husband, who was deep in conversation with his brother, and hardly aware of his surroundings. ‘Perhaps I wish to be the first man of the ton to attempt a flirtation with you. I expect there shall be many, and do not wish to lose my chance, for lack of courage.’

      She tried a laugh, and failed. ‘If that was meant as a joke, I fear it was not very funny. I do not wish you to flirt with me, now or ever, if that is truly your intent.’

      ‘A pity.’ He sighed. ‘We would likely do well together, just as our spouses suit each other. For we are studious and bookish, and not at ease in society. Just as they are mercurial and charismatic.’

      ‘It was true what she said, then. You know about them.’ Then Penny stopped to look around, afraid that a guest might have heard her speak.

      Tim hurried down the last flight of steps and pulled her down the hall and into her own room, shutting the door behind them. ‘I am many things, Penelope, but I am neither blind, nor foolish. I was well aware of what happened. Clarissa made certain of it.’

      ‘It does not bother you that your wife is so flagrant in her attentions to other men?’

      He sighed. ‘Many of the couples in my set have such agreements. We married for reasons other than love. She was rich, as well as beautiful. I have been able to finance my studies.’ He grimaced. ‘Although she makes me pay dearly for them.’

      ‘And you all look politely the other way when there is something you do not wish to see?’

      ‘Precisely.’

      ‘But if I make the slightest social faux pas?’

      ‘Then you will be the talk of the town. You are already notorious for aspiring to a better class than you were born to. People like Clarissa wish to see you fail, to prove that you do not belong. Then they may continue to feel superior.’

      ‘Timothy, this is grossly unfair.’

      He nodded. ‘But do not believe what she told you. You did well tonight.’

      She ignored the compliment. ‘It is not particularly moral of you all to allow such chaos and infidelity in your midst.’

      ‘You must have a very limited understanding of society to think so, my dear.’

      ‘I never claimed to have one. Not your idea of society, at least. In the circles I moved in, people did not work so at playing false. My mother loved my father, and my father loved her. They were a most happy couple, until she died. And I would swear they were faithful; even after she was gone, my father did not seek the company of women, or wish to remarry. He threw himself wholeheartedly into his work.’

      Timothy laughed. ‘Perhaps that is the problem, for we have no work to throw ourselves into. Idle hands, as they say, my dear. Clarissa is proof of that, for she has never done a moment’s real labour, but is the devil’s handmaiden if there is mischief to be made.’

      Penny did not wish to speak ill of the man’s wife, and attempted, ‘I am sure that she has many qualities that I will consider admirable, once I know her better.’

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