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“I’ll say you are worrying too soon about that. By the time Millie makes a come-out, half the currenttonwill be dead.”
Rhys let out a huff of laughter. “Those old dragons will live on forever, I am convinced.”
“Well, you are in the good graces of the Duchess of Somerset. Who else do you truly need?”
Rhys heaved a sigh. “Someone with heirs of suitable age to my Millie. And even if the duchess birthed a son at this very moment, he’d be slightly young for Millie. Therefore, I need to make more connections.”
“Don’t say you want to arrange a marriage for her!”
“No, of course not.” Rhys waved a careless hand. “But I want her to have options. I do not want her to be a wallflower because of my sins. I do not want her to be unmarriageable because of my mistakes. I want her to have choices. I want her to be able to marry anyone she wishes without society matrons calling her unsuitable. It is enough that she will forever be embarrassed by her mother.” He paused and shook his head. “No, I shall not allow her to suffer because of my poor choices.”
Gabriel grimaced. “Tumbling over Miss Lewis in the corridor was not exactly a choice. I’d say it was fate if anything.”
“Well then, I’ll have to fight fate if that’s the case.”
“Fighting fate… Doesn’t seem to work out in most circumstances.”
Rhys leaned heavily in his chair. Just this conversation made his insides tighten unpleasantly. “You do not understand. Being the biggest libertine in the world will not affect your children. People forgive men their indiscretions. But having a strumpet for a mother? That’s different.”
St. Clare shifted uncomfortably. “That isn’t the only rumor going around. People still whisper the lies she spread about you.”
Rhys waved a careless hand. “And yet people were eager to introduce their marriage-minded daughters to me this season. Thetonforgives men. I am a walking example of that.”
St. Clare scratched his jaw. “I don’t know about others, but Gage is not too pleased with the prospect of giving his sister away.”
“Give her away? She was the one who insisted we marry!”
“Yes, well, apparently her brothers were not thrilled with the idea,” St. Clare said, stretching in his chair lazily.
“As long as they don’t create another scandal, I shall be glad. It took me years to crawl out of my self-imposed banishment. And now that I have, I managed to entangle myself with another scandalous lady of theton.”
“You really should cease calling her that. Before you, she did not have a single scandal attached to her name,” Gabriel protested.
“Well, that comes at a surprise considering—” Rhys clamped his lips shut. He wasn’t about to air her dirty linen.
“Considering?”
“Let’s just say I know a slightly more scandalous side of her than you do.”
Gabriel let out a chuckle. “And isn’t it the most perfect state of affairs? Nobody but me knows how scandalousmywife truly is. And I prefer to keep it that way.”
Rhys raised his eyes heavenward. “I have no desire to tolerate her scandalous behavior.”
“Perhaps not. But you might be able to keep that behavior inside the walls of your bedroom.” With a wink, the viscount stood. “Well, I have to go. I need to keep my wife’s scandalous impulses occupied. Call on us if you need anything. But you do not have to worry. If Evie is involved with the planning of the wedding, everything will go without a hitch.”
