“But she is our mother.”
“You want me to vouch for your changed behavior.”
“Yes. It would move things along much more rapidly if people saw that we had your trust.” He handed her the two pages he had brought. “I’ve made a list of events that we will be at with Beth. I’ve also made a list of potential brides for introductions, as well as places you and I could meet that would be private but without risk for your reputation, in order to exchange information.”
Rose put aside the papers without looking at them and leaned back in her chair. “I’m on the shelf. Rules are slightly different for me.”
“It would be a detriment to both of us, however, for anything to be seen as improper.”
“So it would. Has your behavior indeed changed?”
“Mine. Yes. Robert’s is a work in progress. Michael is...” His words trailed off.
“Is what?”
Thomas looked down at his teacup. “Michael is not well.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Thomas shrugged one shoulder, then looked back at her. “He will recover but he is less involved with this. My main concern is for Robert and myself.”
“What about your mistresses?”
“No longer involved. They have both moved on to other men.”
“Gambling?”
“I have stopped. Robert is still involved with Bill Campion’s hell, but neither of us have debts.”
Rose’s mind flipped back to the previous night, and Robert’s words to Broxley resonated.“Do you want to test how close we all are to Bill Campion?”Robert.Robbie?No.Was it possible—
“Will you consider this?” Thomas set aside his teacup and waited.
Rose forced aside any speculation about Robert—and the fact that earlier that morning, she had fantasized about the man sitting in front of her to the point she had touched herself. At least part of her didn’t trulywantThomas Ashton to be a staid, upstanding—and celibate—member of Society. But that wasn’t the proposal on the table.
And never would be.
But he could be her friend. He could help her protect the more vulnerable among them.
She took a deep breath. “Send a note to Lady Cecily, asking to call on her. Both of you.”
Thomas drew back in surprise.“Bothof us?”
Rose nodded. “She is currently inundated with callers. We will make sure that you are here at different times but in the presence of several of her other possible suitors—most of whom have sisters on the hunt. Word will start to spread there. You both will dance with her—not the waltz, mind you—but visibly an acceptable partner for her. If you continue to prove your changed behavior and provide the additional information, the introductions will increase with every event. Will that be satisfactory?”
Thomas’s expression brightened. “More than satisfactory.”
Rose stood and held out her hand, an offer to shake his. “Then we have an acceptable plan. I will go over your lists and send you my thoughts tomorrow.”
Thomas stood and took her hand, shaking it once, then bending over it to kiss the back of it with a brush of his lips.
The heat that surged through Rose from that barest touch reminded her starkly of why gloves were, indeed, a necessity in the interactions between men and women. She eased her hand from his. “Good afternoon, Lord Newbury.”
“Good afternoon, La—Good afternoon, Rose.” He gathered his case and cane. “I’ll see my way out.”
“Oh, I assure you that Davis is standing right outside the door. He’ll show you out.”
Thomas’s grin was broad and contagious, lighting his eyes and revealing the dimple on the left side of his face. He turned and strode from the room as if he were a man with a newfound purpose.
