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The truth was, his aged valet and Minette’s hired companion were fond of each other, and had precious little tiether in the other coach Warren was sensitive to such things, to longing and hope and attraction, though he was not a particularly romantic man He’d been ten when he becao about life in a very particular way
And that particular way did not involve fawning over women
He wasMinette happily married His sister had never known their parents, who had died in a carriage accident soon after she was born He wanted Minette to have a faive her—which, despite his best efforts, was not very ht her to parties like this to increase her chances of finding a coustine and the Duke of Arlington had been supposed to come too, but absconded at the last moment to Bath, to chase after some actress’s skirts
“Warren,” she said, stifling a yawn “Will you sit over here so I can lean on your shoulder?”
“Ready to rest now, are you?”
“Don’t tease!” she whined “Will you?”
“Of course, mopsy”
She scooted over and he switched to the front-facing bench, slouching down and propping his feet on the opposite cushion When he’d slouched enough for her head to reach his shoulder, she settled against him in the same fashion she had since she o or three years old As a child, Minette had often wandered about in the throes of slu years, she had slept beside him a lot
“All right?” he asked
“Yes” A brief pause “I feel nervous about this party”
“Why?”
“I don’t know I suppose I’ cos and everyone will come to hate me, and issue me the cut direct next time I’m around”
He chuckled “Everyone loves you, silly And even if everyone hated you, I would still love you and let you live at Warren Manor for the rest of your days”
“Would you?”
“Well, in your own secluded wing”
Minette batted him on the arm “I hope you’re sweeter to your lady friends than you are to your sister”
“I’m not, unfortunately I’m only ever sweet to you”
She thought he was joking, but he wasn’t
Unfortunately
“Go to sleep, will you?” he said, patting her curls “I’ll wake you e’re there”
The Baxters’ house party was even grander and uests, he understood why they’d only been invited for a week, as opposed to the typical fortnight There was the usualfor prospects Since the latter outweighed the former, the party took on an air of flirtation from the start
Of course, his sister was in heaven Since she was beautiful, sweet, and naturally cheerful, men flocked to her and competed for the smallest scrap of her attention And because she attracted somisses also surrounded her to benefit from her social success
Warren watched all of this with a jaded eye He was eight years older than his sister but he felt two decades older row sillier every year
The second evening, the Baxters set up a great revelry in their ballrooationelse He danced with three of the unattached woation The first chattered on nearly as effortlessly as Minette The second two he chose for their wallflower qualities, so they were much quieter
At the end of the third dance he considered his social duties discharged and headed to the card rooathered to play, drink, and slass of port when he heard his name
“Warren? Why, it is you What have you been up to, you filthy beast?”
Warren frowned at the Earl of Stafford “Do youdown? I have a reputation to preserve”
“We know your reputation, Wild Warren,” the o joined Warren’s hated first naot how much it irritated him until now
Stafford, who loved to irritate people, sat beside hi for a by-your-leave The earl was an Oxford class run in the same debauched circles as Warren and his friends, but none of theht degenerate at his worst He waved a be-ringed hand toward the ballroo a sparkle in the eyes of the unuests?”
“There’s enough sparkle on your fingers already, old chap”
Now Stafford was the one whose lips twisted in irritation “Ha, you’re a funny fello is your sister? What’s her name? Winnie? Minnie?”
“Minette,” Warren said, looking about for some avenue of departure
“Pretty thing Such a se now, yes?” The man’s handso her, young as she is She’s got the famous Bernard breasts”
With that outrageous reed to insult both Warren’s sister and his late mother It wouldn’t do to brawl in his host’s hoht lose his composure and plant
a fist in the man’s face “If you so much as look at my sister, I’ll kill you,” he said in a low voice “I’ll kill you slowly and painfully, with great amounts of torture That is a promise, Stafford, not a threat”
The earl threw back his head and laughed “I’, dear boy Deliver ot my eye on so party, you know”
“Dah, aren’t you?” Warren liked Baxter, and thought Stafford a preening, self-concerned arse
“Oh, Baxter’s a grand sort,” the s “At least, I’ll let hi my addresses to that daft chit he wants to marry off”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” Warren said “Are you drunk?”
“I’ of Baxter’s ward,for a husband, and I’d be as happy as anyone else to get my hands on her fortune”
Ah, the pale and tragic Lady Maitland Even ic, to be courted by Stafford “I’”
“Oh, I ah when I need to be Even char as you, Lord Warren, and I’ve not e”
“If she’s strange, why do you want to marry her?”
“Money, of course And she’s titled too, a baroness in her own right Her father passed down everything—fortune and title, and a parcel of property not so far from yours”
“Maybe he thought her too homely to find a husband”
“Hoot beautiful auburn hair, a sli, bountiful—”
Warren pushed down the man’s hands as he sketched curves in the air “Be that as ityour children?” The Stafford line was already h Warren didn’t say so aloud