“I see Colton hasn’t heard the rumor,” Medford sneered. “That blackguard would go anywhere he smelled the scent of money. Even to your sister. Just proves what a reprehensible rake he is.”
“He’s dancing with Annie when Annie needed a partner,” Lily replied softly. “I find myself in Lord Colton’s debt right now.”
Medford eyed her askance. He straightened his cravat and cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. You should know there’s a rumor floating around tonight about Colton too.”
Lily nodded absently. “Really.”
“Yes. I’ve yet to hear the details, but I intend to find out. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Medford bowed to her and blended back into the crowd. Lily let him go, barely noticing his departure. Instead, she watched Annie dance with a smile on her face.
The strains of the waltz soon came to an end, and Devon guided Annie back toward Lily. Annie stared up at him like a lovelorn puppy and giggled as he deposited her next to Lily.
“Thank you for the dance, Miss Andrews,” he said, bowing to her again. He bent over the hand she extended.
“No, thank
you,
Lord Colton,” Annie said, with a curtsy. “I do not know
what
I would have done without you. You quite came to my rescue.”
Lily curtsied to Devon too. “Yes, thank you, my lord. My sister and I both are greatly appreciative.”
“The pleasure was entirely mine, I assure you.” He bowed over Lily’s hand and a current of fire ran up her arm. She longed to take him into one of the salons and kiss him until neither one of them could breathe. She snapped her fan open.
Annie placed a hand on Devon’s sleeve and looked up at him with her big, brown eyes. “Oh, and I almost forgot. Thank you very much for rescuing Bandit too. I’m sure if she could speak, she’d be most grateful.”
Devon smiled at that.
Annie drifted into the crowd where a line of young men quickly gathered around her skirts as the third dance of the evening began. Arthur Eggleston pushed past the other swains and elbowed his way up to Annie.
“Annie—Miss Andrews—you promised me a dance, do you remember?”
Annie looked for a minute as if she might deliver the crushing set-down the lad so obviously deserved, but to Lily’s chagrin, Annie turned and offered her hand to him. “Yes, Mr. Eggleston. I remember.” She allowed him to escort her to the floor.
“I cannot believe it,” Lily said to Devon, resisting the urge to stamp her foot in frustration. “That young man completely abandoned her and now she’s dancing with him.”
Devon slid his hands into his pockets. “Don’t think too harshly of young Mr. Eggleston. Sometimes these swains don’t recognize the prettiest and best of the lot without someone a bit older and more experienced, say, pointing her out to him.”
Devon’s eyes devoured Lily, making her feel warm all over.
She scanned the dance floor for Annie one more time. “Oh, she does look happy, doesn’t she?”
Devon nodded. “That she does. And I can remember only one other young lady with such beauty and grace.” He smiled at her. “Now, may I interest
you
in a dance?”
A warm blush spread across Lily’s cheeks. “Careful,” she whispered. “You’re wasting your considerable talents trying to charm me.”
He grinned at her. “Dance with me then, and put me out of my misery.”
Lily agreed. They danced. And, for a time, she was catapulted back to the splendor and excitement of her own debut. When there had been only Devon. Yes, she must have danced with the Earl of Merrill that evening too, though she didn’t remember it. But her dances with Devon, especially the one alone with him in the garden, were etched in her brain never to be erased.
Feeling suddenly reckless, Lily glanced up at him and said, “Don’t feel too bad about your failure to seduce me, Colton. You’re not the first to have tried and failed.”
His smile lit up the room. He leaned down and his warm breath whispered in her ear. “Failure? I’d hardly call it a failure given what we did last night.”
A rush of excitement flashed through Lily’s insides. The man had a point. A delicious point. She closed her eyes and let Devon sweep her around and around. The dancing wiped out everything else in her mind. She’d have this moment to remember forever during the long, cold nights of her future.
Lily spent the remainder of the evening overseeing the many requests for Annie’s dances and ensuring her sister rested properly and received enough refreshment in between her multiple trips to the dance floor. It was quite a chore, being a chaperone. No doubt her mother had had her hands full at Lily’s debut. But she couldn’t have wished a more perfect night for Annie. It had been a smashing success, thanks to Devon Morgan. Lily couldn’t help but smile at that thought. The man continued to surprise her. Well, she just might surprise him.
Suddenly, the idea of allowing him to completely seduce her didn’t seem so dangerous after all. Ooh, perhaps she’d seduce
him
! She shivered at that thought. Well, perhaps that was a bit too much, but she would be sure to thank him. That much was certain. Just
how
she thanked him remained to be seen.
Long after midnight when all the dances had been danced and all the refreshments had been removed, Lily led her sister to the foyer where they waited for a footman to bring them their cloaks. She’d thanked Medford’s butler prettily and even winked back at Devon Morgan when he raised his glass in a silent salute to her sister’s success. Lily tried to ignore the gaggle of women who flitted about him, but relished the fact that the two of them had their own secret.
The butler ushered Lily and Annie outside and they made their way to Medford’s coach. He’d put the conveyance at their disposal for the evening. Just as they were about to enter the vehicle, Lord Medford himself jogged up.
“Medford, there you are. I wondered where you’d got off to. I looked for you to say good-bye and to thank you again.” Lily allowed her sister to enter the coach ahead of her.
Medford was nearly out of breath. “I found out the details of the rumor about Colton, Lily.” He pressed a letter into her hand. “I insist you read this at your earliest convenience. I’ll call on you tomorrow.”
A frown formed between Lily’s brows. She’d forgotten Medford had even mentioned a rumor about Devon and now he was delivering her a letter about the matter? How odd.
“Very well. Thank you,” she stammered. She pushed the paper into her coat pocket and allowed the coachman to help her into the carriage.
“What was that about?” Annie asked, reclining against the seat cushions. “Oh, I’m all but exhausted.”
Lily glanced out the window to see Medford making his way back into the house. “Not sure, really. Now tell me, darling, what was your very favorite part of the evening?”
CHAPTER 17
Lily saw Annie tucked in comfortably before she retreated to her own bedchamber.
“Thank you, Lily,” Annie had whispered, a smile still playing on her lips. “It was a wonderful evening, thanks to you and Lord Medford and of course, Lord Colton. Thank you for everything.”
Lily smoothed her sister’s hair and leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’m glad it made you happy, Annie, truly I am. Mama would have been so proud.” She watched her sister drift into a peaceful slumber before she backed out of the room quietly, closing the door behind her.
It was true she had not necessarily wanted Annie to have a debut, but now that she’d had it and it had been a smashing success, Lily smiled to herself, humming a strain of one of the waltzes she’d heard earlier. She made her way into her bedchamber, then her dressing room. God only knew what the future would hold for the two of them, but tonight, Annie would sleep soundly with dreams of her debut floating through her head. As it should be.
Lily stretched and stared out the darkened window. Her thoughts turned to Devon Morgan. Her thoughts tended to do that of late. She smiled to herself. He’d certainly surprised her. She bit her knuckle to keep from a full-blown grin. Regardless of what had happened between them years ago, Devon was a gentleman. And she would never, never be able to repay him for his kindness to Annie tonight. She’d forever be in his debt. Lily sighed. It really was too bad that Colton was completely unsuitable. But oh my, he was handsome, his broad shoulders, his dark hair, his irresistible smile, his deep, dark eyes. And the way he’d looked at her tonight. Why, it nearly singed her eyelashes to think of it.
Lily pulled off her cloak and hung it on a peg on a wall. She was about to call for Mary to help her with her stays when she spotted the bit of parchment sticking from her cloak pocket. The letter from Viscount Medford.
She pulled it out and hastily unfolded it.
My Dear Lady Merrill,
I regret to inform you I have learned about a bet at Brooks’s. The bet, placed by the Marquis of Colton, involves you, yourself. The bet is entitled How to Seduce the Woman who Wrote SECRETS OF A WEDDING NIGHT. I further regret to inform you the odds are in favor of Colton.
I am your servant and shall call on you at your first convenience tomorrow to discuss how you would like me to handle this distressing news. My apologies for being the bearer of what is sure to be such unwelcome information.
Yours,
L. Medford
Lily reread the words quickly. They didn’t make sense at first. Question after question popped into her mind like ghastly fireworks. There was a bet? At the club’s? Between herself and Colton? And she didn’t know about it? How was that possible?
Colton had turned his seduction plot into a moneymaking venture? Lily cupped her hand over her mouth, afraid she would retch. Oh, God. He was still the same awful gambler he’d always been. His seduction plan had always been in place. And that’s all it had been to him. A bet. He had no feelings, didn’t truly care about her at all. She bit the back of her hand.
Oh, God, it was mortifying. She’d let him do things to her, such intimate things, when it was all about money. All he’d planned to do was lure her into bed, and fool that she was, she’d nearly allowed it! She shuddered. She’d been so close to succumbing to him, had even contemplated seducing him! She doubled over, disbelief and disgust roiling through her.
Oh, that cad had fooled her, but damn it, she would not, would
not
be the laughingstock all over again. She crumpled the letter in her fist and threw it to the floor.
Lily clenched her fists. She had been right about Devon Morgan after all. And she’d never let another man hurt her again. If it was the very last thing she did, she’d find a way to ensure Colton never saw a farthing of that money and she’d make him hurt as much as he’d hurt her.
* * *
When Evans ushered Viscount Medford into the white salon the next morning, Lily sat with a ramrod-straight back and a pinched smile on her face. There was no more tea. Even the reused leaves had run out. She sipped a medley of hot water and a bit of lemon that Mary had been given by a neighbor’s cook. Leopold was curled in a ball in the corner. Bandit lay at her feet.
“Good morning, Medford,” she called in a jovial voice.
Medford hurried forward and bent over her hands before taking a seat in the chair next to her. “I came as soon as I could. Did you read my letter?”
“I read it,” she answered serenely, proud of herself for how calm she managed to remain. “And as you have guessed, I found it most distressing.”
“Tell me, what can I do?” He straightened his already-straight cravat.
Lily set her cup aside before pinning Medford with her most serious stare. “I would like you to tell me the details. When exactly is this bet supposed to be carried out? What are the time frames, et cetera?”
Medford’s brows furrowed. “Why? What does any of that matter, Lily? It’s a completely inappropriate bet. I should call the blackguard out. I am fully prepared to defend your honor.”
Lily slid her hand across the space between them and rested it on Medford’s sleeve. “You know you cannot do that without revealing my identity. Humor me, Medford, please. What of the details?”
Medford took a deep breath. “There was mention of the Atkinsons’ house party.”
Lily nodded. The affair was a grand tradition of the Season. “Yes,” she prodded. “Go on.”
“This is most inappropriate to be discussing with you, Lily.”
She refrained from reminding him that he had brought it up. “Come now. What’s inappropriate between the two conspirators who brought London
Secrets of a Wedding Night
?”
Medford smiled. “You have a point. Very well. The bet was for him to, ahem, seduce you by the end of the house party next weekend. One may only presume he expects both of you to be there.”
Lily nodded. “Yes, and what was the bet for exactly? How much money does Colton stand to win?” She plucked a piece of parchment and a quill from the table next to her and held the writing instrument poised to capture the figure.
“I hate to say.” Medford turned his head away.
“Please,” she cajoled. “I must know.”
Medford scrunched his forehead, clearly not immune to her pleading. “Very well.” He sighed heavily. “Two hundred pounds, once all of the bets have been totaled. Something close to it.”
Lily sat up straight and blinked, the quill and parchment forgotten in her hands. “Two hundred pounds! What are the odds?” She discarded the quill and paper.
“Five to four, at present.”
“In Colton’s favor?”
Medford looked appropriately chagrined. “I’m afraid so. Unfortunately, it seems the entire male population of the
ton
has got in on this particular bet. It’s quite out of control. Disgusting if you ask me.”
Lily thought for a moment, dragging her tapered fingernail across her chin.
“Medford,” she said slyly. “I have decided what I shall write the next pamphlet about.”
Medford shook his head. “What does your next pamphlet have to do with Colton’s bet?”
Lily smiled. “Ah, but that is the very best part. My next pamphlet shall be entitled
Secrets of a Seduction: How to Deny a Rake
. It shall be an unwitting woman’s guide to knowing how to spot a rake’s telltale signs and avoid falling for his lies. Yet another public service. And that’s why I shall be attending the Atkinsons’ house party.”