Dealing With Discipline (31 page)

Goodness... that would explain so
much. 

"True... although I can't imagine you
enjoy seeing him," Eleanor hedged.  She didn't want to
dissuade her friend from the activities that she loved, but
Eleanor's life would be so much easier if Grace agreed to go to
Bath with her.

"No."  Those dark
blue eyes suddenly got a very faraway look as she answered softly.
 "No I don't."

"Are you still thinking about leaving
London?"

Grace hesitated, brushing
a strand of raven-wing hair off of her face.  Pink lips
pursed.  "I don't know.  I don't feel quite as... trapped
as I did before."  A slight blush suffused her cheeks.
 "Knowing that Rupert is willing to escort me about, whether
or not Alex is there, is a great help, especially as he can find
events where I can enjoy myself without worrying that Alex will
suddenly appear."

"I see."

Something in Eleanor's voice must have
given her away because Grace looked at her curiously.  "Is
everything alright?"

"I've been considering a visit to my
mother in Bath," Eleanor said. 

"Before the end of the
Season?"  Grace's eyebrows rose in true surprise.  "I
thought your highest ambition was a Season in London."

"That's also when I thought I would be
spending that Season being courted," said Eleanor a little
sourly.

But Grace only laughed at
her.  "You're the envy of half the ladies of the
ton
, Eleanor.  Both
married and unmarried.  You have a husband who spurns the
invitations of any number of women, indulges you with jewelry and
dances attendance on you at whatever event you decide to attend.
 The goal of any Season is to procure a marriage, and yours is
a particularly successful one.  What on earth do you have to
complain about?"

"I don't know," Eleanor
said a bit waspishly.  Having Grace point out all the things
that Eleanor should be grateful for in her marriage only made her
more irritable.  The problem was that she truly
wasn't
 satisfied
with all those things.  She wanted Edwin to treat her the way
he had been, of course, but she also wanted to know that she had
his heart.  But it seemed like the wrong topic to bring up
with Grace, who, unlike Eleanor, had always wanted to marry for
love and whose own marriage was such a travesty.  After
hearing her friend's story, Eleanor wasn't going to rub bitter salt
in the wound. 

To her surprise, Grace placed a gentle
hand upon Eleanor's.  "Don't mind me dear," she said with a
trilling little laugh that belied her own hurt.  "Alex did all
those things before I discovered that he had married to make a deal
with my father.  I, more than anyone, know that sometimes what
looks like perfection is hollow on the inside."

When Eleanor left Grace's
she felt more turmoil than ever.  Her friend's marriage was a
perfect example of a woman assuming one thing only to find out that
she was wrong.  Which is exactly why Eleanor didn't want to
assume Edwin's feelings towards her, she wanted to know.  The
dratted man didn't seem inclined to just declare himself and while
his actions were certainly indicative, they were not
conclusive. 

So she would just keep
testing.  The sooner she could get out of the city and away
from him for a bit, to see what he would do, the better. Perhaps he
would remain faithful… perhaps she would discover that his
expressed desire for her and only her was nothing more than
locational.  Since Grace was no longer an option she would
just have to find someone else.

Chapter 14

The dinner celebrating Hugh
and Irene's return from their honeymoon was a wild success. 
Everyone agreed that the food was delicious, the decorations
elegant and sumptuous, and the conversation was surprisingly
lively.  This was due, in part, to the number of Hugh's
friends who were unmarried rakes and Eleanor's preferred female
friends amongst the
ton
who were not at all shy about voicing their
opinions.  Since the older generations were all absent from
the city, Eleanor had invited only the younger sets and so the
dinner had a very youthful vibrancy about the
tableside. 

Even Irene was able to shed some of
her coldness towards Hugh, the shyness she'd retained while she was
an unmarried miss, and engaged in a lively debate about
horseflesh with him and some of his compatriots at one end of
the table.  Needless to say, his friends were more than
impressed with her knowledge of their beloved horses and more than
one of them silently cursed Hugh for finding her first.  Then
again, Irene had never been so bold as to express such unladylike
opinions on such an unladylike subject before her honeymoon with
Hugh.

 
Unfortunately for
her, Alex was an entire table length away, because Eleanor had kept
Grace's warnings in mind.  Of course if Irene had known what
he was thinking she would not have been encouraged.  Seeing
how vibrant and almost outspoken his childhood friend was
behaving, Alex was entirely reassured that Hugh was a good
match for her. It was obvious that she’d gained in confidence
already.

For himself, Hugh was relieved to be
able to pick up some of the easy banter that he and Irene had
originally had. He hoped that it was a sign of things to come. She
was obviously having trouble keeping up her cold shoulder in a
group setting, especially on a topic that she was well versed in
and that they had discussed many times together in the past weeks
when they were on the estates.

After the dinner Edwin took Eleanor up
to their bedroom and showed her just how very much he appreciated
having a dinner tailored to him rather than against him.

******

Lady Cowper’s ball was the definition
of a crush.  Dressed in a deep green organza to highlight her
hair and creamy skin, Irene fanned herself with a matching green
and gold fan, knowing that her fair skin was probably growing
increasingly red and blotchy due to the heat.  Her mother had
warned her of the effect often enough that she could actually feel
when it was beginning to happen, her skin overheating and reacting.
 

Eleanor and she were
traversing the crowd together, fortunately for Irene since her
sister-in-law was much better acquainted with the members of
the
haut ton
than
Irene was.  She was able to keep Irene on track and prevent
her from embarrassing herself.  Now that she was Hugh's wife,
suddenly quite a few more people wanted to speak with her, many of
whom she'd only met once and barely remembered.  When she had
been a plain, nearly destitute Baron's daughter they hadn't had any
interest in her.

The men had disappeared to the card
room almost an hour after they had arrived.  Hugh had asked
Irene if she wanted him to stay with her, but she'd practically
pushed him in the direction of the room.  It was too difficult
to maintain her mien of ill-will towards him.  The man acted
as if he'd decided he'd done nothing wrong!  And he was far
too adept at the little touches and caresses that roused her body,
making it impossible for her to be entirely icy with him once
they'd retired for the night.  Passion awakened and claimed
her all too easily under her husband's influence.  

Spotting Alex leaving the card room,
Irene's heart leapt.  At Eleanor's dinner she'd never had the
chance to speak with him alone, only a few words when he'd arrived
and left and with Hugh by her side the entire time.  It had
been impossible to discover whether or not Alex had a new lady love
since she'd been on her honeymoon.

Strangely the thought didn't bother
her as much as it had in the past.  She dismissed the lack of
jealousy as being completely reasonable, considering that she had
been engaging in the marital act with her husband during that time.
 Since she had been in another man's bed it would have been
completely illogical for her to be jealous that Alex had someone in
his. 

"I'm feeling a need for some fresh
air, I'm going to ask Lord Brooke to take me out," she murmured in
Eleanor's ear.

As she eagerly stepped away, heading
for the tall and rather forbidding figure, she missed the sharp
look her sister-in-law gave her retreating back.

The crowd around Alex swirled, as if
the people near him were trying to retreat from his hooded gaze but
didn't have the room to actually do so.  A few women had edged
closer, but it was a rare person who would approach Lord Brooke in
a social setting unless he met their eyes and gave a clear
indication of whether or not he'd welcome their conversation.
 Irene was one of those rare people of course.

She was so excited to be
able to speak with him that she didn't even notice the whispers
that sprang up as soon as Alex smiled at her.  One woman
fanned herself as if feeling faint.  There were very few among
the
ton
 who
had ever seen Lord Brooke smile and the effect was dazzling.
 Of course, the women who noticed were immediately shooting
dagger looks at Irene, but she didn't see them. 

"Irene, how are you this evening?
 Hugh mentioned you were out here with Eleanor."  Alex's
dark eyes tracked above her head as if looking for her
chaperone.

Irene frowned.  She wasn't a
young miss who needed a chaperone anymore and she certainly didn't
want Alex to see her that way.  "Yes, but it's become such a
crush... I was hoping to get some fresh air if I could find someone
to accompany me?"

"As my lady wishes," he said, holding
out his arm in an conciliatory manner.

As they swept away through the
ballroom, Eleanor watched them, the faintest hint of a frown on her
brow.  

"Childhood friends, aren't they?"
asked Lady Windham, noticing Eleanor's distraction.  She
patted Eleanor's arm reassuringly.  "Lord Brooke never dallies
with married ladies, no matter how much they importune him."
 The easy smile that spread across her beautiful face had only
a trace of regret in it.  "I have ample reason to
know."

Eleanor's eyes widened as
she turned her attention to the beauty.  In her early
thirties, the woman had been married for more than ten years and
born her husband three children.  She supposed she shouldn't
be surprised that the woman was sampling the rakes of the
ton
 but she hadn't
expected her to speak so plainly. Then again, now that Eleanor had
joined the ranks of the wedded and bedded she found that women were
much more forthcoming with all sorts of information that she hadn't
been party to as a young miss. 

"Your husband's friend,
Spencer, on the other hand," Lady Windham's smile changed, becoming
more seductive and she was practically purring.  "I hear he's
much less discriminating.  I don't suppose you could give me
an introduction?"

As if Wesley needed help with
assignations.  Besides which, he had a strange tendency to
cleave to one mistress at a time and as far as she knew he was
still wrapped up in his affair with Lady Lilienfield.  On the
other hand, it was up to him to deny or accept Lady Windham's
proposition and she could build up some good will from the Countess
by providing an introduction. 

"If you wish," Eleanor
said, turning her attention back to the conversation going on
around them.  "Although I can't guarantee anything more than
that."

"No need," said Lady Windham smugly,
obviously secure in the power of her charms, which were admittedly
considerable. 

Although Eleanor's attention seemed as
though it had returned to the inside of the ballroom, she was
keeping an eye on the door to the terrace, Grace's words about
Irene and Alex echoing in her mind.  Alex's preferences
notwithstanding, if they hadn't returned to the ballroom within ten
minutes, Eleanor was going to go looking for her
brother. 

******

"What a beautiful night it
is," Irene said, sighing with relief as they stepped out on the
terrace.  It was indeed cooler outside, although not nearly as
private as she'd hoped.  More than one couple was strolling
about the terrace and lit pathways down into the garden, and more
than one was secreted away in the shadows.  

"For the city," Alex replied, giving
the obvious comparison as he began to lead her down the stairs to
the lit pathways below.

Smiling, Irene couldn't
help but wonder at the warmth she felt when she was with Alex.
 Soft, comforting warmth... nothing like the tingling
jumpiness she felt around Hugh.  If it were Hugh leading her
down into a garden with many darkened nooks her stomach would have
been bouncing with anticipation.  With Alex she just felt
comfortable.  Safe.  She felt those things with Hugh as
well, but it was different.

If only she could put her
finger on exactly how and why. 

"I was surprised to see you still
here," she confessed.  "I thought by the time we returned from
our honeymoon you might have retreated back to the
countryside."

"I have no current plans to return to
my estate," he said amiably enough.  "Not until I finish what
I came to the city to do."

"What did you come to the
city to do?"

Smiling again, his head
tipped down towards hers in the moonlight, he tapped the fingers of
his free hand under her chin.  The way he used to when they
were children and he was teasing her.  "Well, pet, one thing
was to see my childhood friend married and get to know her
husband."