hopeful look. ‘Perhaps we can proceed anyway? I will not hold it against you if you do not—do not get pleasure from it.’
‘Monsieur Legrand!’ She pretended to be horrified. ‘You wish me to bed you without feeling on my part?’
‘Well...’
She shook her head. ‘No. That is not what I do. Remember the bargain?’ The rules set forth for a night with Madame Coquette were very specific. ‘I must want to couple with you and now, I simply cannot. I will have another coughing fit and I know you would not wish me to have another coughing fit.’
‘No...’ He rubbed his face. ‘I told all my friends.’
‘You told your friends that you had arranged a night with me?’ she asked.
He nodded, looking horror-struck.
She reached over and patted his hand. ‘It is not your fault. It is entirely mine.’ She always tried to take the blame. She had no wish to humiliate the men, although with some of the more unpleasant ones, it was tempting.
‘No one will believe that.’ His lower lip jutted out like a hurt child. ‘Some of them are here tonight. In the card room. If they see me leave early—’
‘You must not leave early, then!’ she reassured him. ‘We will stay the whole night, until just before dawn. Will that do?’
He seemed to be considering it. ‘Just before dawn. That might work. My wife will expect me home about then.’
The men always had a poor wife waiting at home.
‘And you must tell your friends whatever will impress them,’ she added. ‘I will never say anything but that my time with you was incredibly passionate. I will say I was impressed by your skill—because I am sure I would be, if it were not for my awful cough. Because of the smell.’
‘You would be, that is very true.’
She patted his hand again. ‘I am very sure I would be.’
He flushed with pride, as if he really had given her incredible passion.
Cecilia was always surprised how easy it was to talk these gentlemen out of bedding her by complimenting their supposed prowess. What the man’s friends thought of his night with her was always more important to them than the act itself.
‘What will we do all night?’ he asked.
She opened a drawer and pulled out a deck of cards. ‘We can play piquet!’
November 1818, three months later
Oliver leaned against the wall in the billiard room of Vitium et Virtus, watching Frederick and Jacob knock the balls in the pockets of the green baize table. The day’s weather was cold and drizzling, but the fire in the fireplace kept the room comfortably warm. Frederick was meticulously lining up his next shot, taking long enough that Oliver began tapping his foot.
‘Just take the shot, Fred,’ he said impatiently. ‘This fuss does you no good.’
Frederick ignored him and continued to study the ball some more before placing his cue and executing a perfect shot, sending Jacob’s cue ball and the red ball into the pockets.
‘That’s the game,’ groaned Jacob.
Frederick looked up and grinned. ‘Does me no good, Oliver?’
‘You would have made it without all that fuss.’ Oliver picked up his cue and stepped up to the table while Frederick retrieved the balls from the pockets.
Jacob flopped in a chair. ‘That is the second game you’ve won over me.’
‘You were distracted.’ Frederick turned his grin on the new duke. ‘Thinking of your bride, no doubt.’
Jacob laughed.
It was gratifying to see Jacob happy. Oliver had often caught Jacob spending the night hours at Vitium et Virtus, drinking and looking more haggard by the day.
Jacob had been reeling with grief over the accident that killed his father and brother, and lamenting that he was not up to the enormous responsibility of a dukedom.
But then Jacob met his Rose.
Oliver wished them well. He really did.
He wished Frederick and Georgiana well, too.
Both Oliver’s friends were obviously besotted with their wives. When Oliver saw them with the women, the loving looks and tender touches between them reminded him of the many gestures of affection he’d long ago witnessed between his mother and father.
But his father had still left his mother behind in India.
Obviously love fled in the wake of expediency. Once gone, love could destroy.
Oliver sincerely hoped the love shared by Frederick, Jacob and their wives would not be so easily shattered. But he would not wager any money on it.
And he was known to wager on almost anything.
Oliver stood next to Frederick and they hit their respective cue balls simultaneously to see who would have the first shot. Oliver’s ball stopped closest to the baulk cushion. He went first, hitting both Frederick’s cue ball and the red ball.
Oliver concentrated on the billiards. That was what he liked about games or any competition. He could focus on winning and push all other thoughts out of his mind. Unfortunately, Frederick’s careful approach to billiards gave Oliver too much time to think.
He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.
‘Back to discussing my wife,’ Jacob said in good humour. ‘I highly recommend marriage.’
‘As do I.’ Frederick continued to eye the ball. ‘You should try it, Oliver.’
‘Not likely.’ Oliver’s reply came quickly.
‘You will change your tune.’ Frederick continued to consider the placement of his cue. ‘Once you meet the right lady.’ He finally hit the red ball and sent it into a pocket.
Did Frederick not see how easily his marriage to Georgiana might have turned to misery? Oliver held his tongue, though.
He took his shot and this time sent Fred’s cue ball into a pocket.
‘Maybe he already has.’ Jacob rose to pour himself some brandy. He turned to Oliver. ‘The mysterious Parisian lady.’
Cecilia.
‘Nonsense.’ He regretted telling them of her, not that he’d said much, and it had taken him some time to divulge even that meagre information. He never discussed the more private elements of his time with women.
‘You cannot tell us you do not think of
