Rose turned back to him. “Only the degenerate rogues. And it was just my finger. Weakling.”
“Ouch,” he muttered, as he picked up the cup of lemonade again. He drained it in two long swallows and set the cup aside.
“Oh, please,” she said. “You both know what your reputations are. You’ve spent years courting ruination. What happened to you?” She looked around. “Where’s Michael?”
Robert shrugged. “Too ill to come tonight. I should have followed his example.”
Rose focused on Newbury again. “Why in the world are you here anyway?”
Robert put his hand over his heart, his charming smile returning. “We are here to make amends. And to watch out for our baby sister.”
A flicker of silver caught Rose’s eye, and she leaned around Newbury to follow a couple’s progress off the dance floor and toward the tall French doors near the sphinx, which led out onto the terrace. Her lips pursed as the twinge of anger in her gut was reborn. “Well, on that score, you’re failing miserably.” She picked up a cup of lemonade and headed for the terrace.
Chapter Three
Thomas watched Rosestride away. “What wasthatabout?”
“Oh, dear God,” Robert muttered.
Thomas looked at his brother, but Robert’s gaze was trained on the back wall. Thomas followed his focus to see Beth near one of the terrace doors. The man next to her was caressing her upper arm with the back of his hand, a too familiar and most inappropriate gesture for this type of event, even though both wore gloves. The man’s silver brocade, gray, and black evening kit was sharp, almost gaudy.Peacock.“Who is—”
“Denis Northey.” Robert’s snarl made the meaning clear.
“Is he—”
“One of the two.”
Thomas moved first, long strides mimicking Rose’s path, with Robert right behind him.
Rose reached the couple first, calling out Beth’s name just as the couple turned to head outside.
Beth looked back, her eyes wide with pleasure. “Rose?” Then she spotted her brothers, their movement like an oncoming train, and scowled. “What—?”
Thomas watched, his breath caught in his throat as he realized what was about to happen.She can’t do this.“Go to Beth,” he said to Robert. “Get her back to Mother.”
Robert moved faster, reaching Beth’s side, taking her arm, and pulling her aside. Thomas increased his stride, coming alongside Rose and slipping his hand inside her elbow. Her steps faltered, and she snapped her head toward him with an expression of pure fury.
Thomas’s words were gravelly and low but insistent. “No need to dowse the man. See to Beth.”
She looked from him to Northey, her eyes bright with rage. But at the last moment, she veered and went to his sister’s side, just as Thomas stepped between the three of them and Northey, facing the man in question.
Northey, startled at the sudden influx of people into his evening, seemed uncertain as to whom to focus on. His eyes clouded in confusion as they darted from Beth, Robert, and Rose, then back to Thomas. He straightened and cleared his throat. “Newbury. I did not realize you would be here tonight.”
Thomas held his face carefully still, his words dry. “Evidently. And Lord Robert and I will be in attendance every time Lady Elizabeth is at an event this season. I will also take your word as a gentleman that you were not intending to escort my sister out onto the terrace, into the dark, and away from the watchful eyes of her family. Yes?”
The red splotch that started on Northey’s nose and spread rapidly across his face and down his neck was the only confirmation that Thomas needed. Northey snarled. “I would never dare to impugn the reputation of your lovely sister.”
“Excellent. Then we understand each other.”
“Indeed.” Northey turned on his heel and strode away.
As he did, Thomas felt Rose move in beside him. “That man could use a good dowsing. The colder the better.”
Thomas choked back a laugh. “Yes, but it’s only the first ball of the season. You may have your chance later. Northey is a man very much set in his ways.”
“And you did not want me creating a sensation of your sister.”
Thomas looked down at Rose, his annoyance at being prodded by her finger fading into an intense curiosity.What are you about, Rose Timmons?Because her own sister apparently was not the only one she was protecting. “Thank you for merely poking me.”
