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He briefly glanced toward her and smiled before returning to relaxing in the tub.

Victoria decided to leave him to his own devices. It was evident he needed this time to himself.

She collected his dirty clothing from the floor in a heap, taking in the musty scent of sweat and dirt clinging to the fabric. She lifted the pile and carried it to a hamper, dumping it with the rest of the clothing in need of washing.

She turned to leave when her eyes were drawn to something out of place. A crisp-white piece of a handkerchief peeked out of his coat pocket, in stark contrast to the sweaty and dirt-stricken clothes she had just handled. Curiosity piqued, Victoria retrieved it carefully.

Her fingers explored the soft texture, and she couldn’t help but bring it to her nose. It was perfumed. And it smelled of roses.

Chapter 22

Victoria arrived at Caroline’s house quite early. William insisted he had to take care of the business from the other night, so he dropped her off at the Kensington townhouse and went on his way.

Victoria spent her morning worrying about William, the handkerchief, and all the events of the night before.

Had he truly been abducted? Was he lying? Where did he get the perfumed handkerchief? And most importantly, why didn’t he kiss her?

He hadn’t even let her kiss him last night. He hadn’t demanded his good night kiss and hadn’t even kissed her this morning!

She didn’t want to believe he had a mistress. She didn’t want to believe that he was lying to her. But doubts screamed in her mind.

Not only because of the few nights he had spent away from home but mostly because he refused to tell her everything about himself. What was he hiding? Even if it wasn’t a mistress, it was something else. And Victoria wasn’t certain she would be happy with any answer.

Suspicions whirling in her mind, Victoria paced around the Kensington house while Caroline was busy with her chores.

She was preparing a ball to welcome the Earl of Pembroke as the heir to the Duke of Wolverstone. Since Wolverstone had fallen ill, Pembroke was now officially taking over all of his duties in the House of Lords and on his estates.

Victoria worried that celebrating while the duke was on his deathbed was in bad taste, but Caroline insisted that it was Wolverstone’s idea.

Since Pembroke had spent most of his life as a recluse, he wanted to make sure that everyone knew of Wolverstone’s approval of his heir.

When the clock struck noon, slowly but surely, all their friends started gathering in the parlor for nuncheon.

Olivia, Viscountess St. John, and her sister-in-law Helen arrived first. Annalise, the Countess of Payne, was next. And the last one to grace their presence was Lavinia.

After brief greetings, everyone settled in a circle and started chatting about their children. Since all the women in the group except for Victoria were mothers, most of their conversations revolved around that. This meant that Victoria rarely, if ever, participated in those conversations, occasionally making subtle remarks about Amelia, Lavinia’s daughter.

Victoria had never really had a passion for children. She’d always thought she wanted them because that’s what everyone said, but as her friends became mothers, she never felt the tug at her heart of wishing for a babe of her own.

The conversation drifted and morphed until Lavinia turned to Victoria. “What about you? I am always eagerly waiting for Thursday to hear more news about your husband’s escapades.”

Escapades, yes. That was exactly the word. “Last night he was abducted,” Victoria said simply, and the women gasped.

Victoria briefly recounted the entire story starting with Porter and their shared kiss, William’s dislike for the man, and now this abduction. And then she told everyone how she was afraid this wasn’t the entire story because she’d found a crisp, white, perfumed handkerchief in his pocket.

“Let me see if I understand this correctly,” Caroline said. “He knows every step you take and everywhere you go. Yet he leaves sometimes for nights on end without telling you anything other than he has business to attend to?”

Put like that, Victoria did sound incredibly naive. “Yes?” she asked uncertainly.

“And now you fished a perfumed handkerchief from his pocket after he’s been absent the entire night?” Olivia chimed in.

“Do you think he has a mistress?” Annalise asked, with a wrinkle between her brows.

“No!” Victoria dismissed it out of hand, although her cup shook a little in her hand as she brought it to her lips.

“No.”

“Of course not!”