Page 3 of The Duke of a Thousand Desires

“Happy hunting,” Heath said after a thoughtful pause. “Send a footman to me if you need a hand. Until then I’ll be dancing attendance on Julia. Oh, Ravenna is staying with us, as you might have heard. The house is crawling with callers and mantua-makers. I’ll be relieved when her wedding is over.”

So would Simon.

“When is it again?” he asked.

“Three weeks from now,” Heath said. “Are you attending?”

He made a face. “No way out of it, is there? I feel obligated. Especially with Griff likely to miss the joyful event.” Griffin Boscastle, the Duke of Glamorgan, was Ravenna’s eldest living brother and guardian. Griff’s infant son and his wife Harriet had contracted a case of measles en route to the wedding. Both mother and child were recovering from their fever, but travel had been delayed.

Heath hesitated. “Do you approve of Ravenna’s fiancé?”

Simon loathed the bastard on principle. “I don’t know enough about him to have an opinion. I’ve been away, spending time with my brother and nieces. Rhys and I keep in touch, but Ravenna hasn’t talked to me in years.”

“Have you offended her?”

“I know I’m not the most tactful man in the kingdom, but I can’t see how. I’ll ask Rhys when I see him alone.”

“She’s sneaking outside,” Heath said in an undertone. “I wonder if she’s meeting her baronet.”

“I’ve no idea. One wouldn’t think they’d have to go to that much bother this close to the wedding.”

“You aren’t planning a liaison with her, are you, Simon?”

He almost choked. “Would I survive the rest of the night if I were?”

“Just remember that a tryst can turn into a marriage trap.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.” In truth, Simon would prefer that the summons in his pocket had less to do with kisses in the dark than it did with information about his sister’s alleged suicide over a year ago. He wanted answers.

He had been visiting his younger brother in Austria at the time of Susannah’s death. He hadn’t believed her fatal fall to be an accident when he’d received the devastating news from her husband, Matthew Egerton, the Earl of Bruxton. His suspicions had not been allayed upon his return to England to grieve. And to make inquiries.

Meet me outside at the statue of Achilles after the last dance.

What did he have to lose by meeting an unidentified lady in the garden? There was a remote chance she might offer some insight into Susannah’s last days. The invitation insinuated nothing of that nature.

It wouldn’t be a sin to allow a woman to amuse him for a few hours. He could refuse her pursuit if they did not appeal to each other.

But he couldn’t chance a run-in with Ravenna and risk stirring up the embers of their past. As far as he knew, she had no idea that he had cared for her. Why disclose his unrequited longing on the eve of her marriage to someone else?

Could he resist her if she admitted affection for him?

As Heath said, one expected an indiscretion or two to occur at the popular Marquess of Sedgecroft’s parties. Simon doubted a liaison at such a frivolous event would change his life in the least.

At an age where he should be searching for a wife and starting a family, he was shadowing a predator. Ravenna was safer seeking misadventure than becoming involved in his life.