Devil's Mistress by Georgeanne Hayes

Author:Georgeanne Hayes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New Concepts Publishing

Chapter Five

Damien helped Emma into the carriage and stayed to converse a few moments with Smithfield.

“What’s the plan for Marable?” Smithfield asked as soon as he had rejoined him.

The question gave Damien a start. “I have no particular plan,” he said coolly enough that, if Smithfield had been any more perceptive, it would have been sufficient to make it clear he did not welcome a discussion.

Smithfield looked surprised. He frowned. “Does that mean you will cut her loose? Or not?”

That was the one thing about Smithfield that Damien found annoying enough he frequently wondered why he kept him as a friend. He did not have a subtle bone in his body and no filter and no perception of anything that wasn’t laid out plainly for him. “You perceive a difficulty in a man having two mistresses? Is there … some rule I have not been informed of?”

Smithfield gaped at him. “Well, that’s damned infamous, old chap! The two most beautiful women in London?”

Damien’s lips tightened. “Nevertheless—I have no intention, currently, of showing Marabel the door any time soon.”

“You’ve taken another townhouse?”

Damien shook his head. “I have to be off. Shall I see you in the club later?”

Smithfield shrugged. “Not certain. Maybe.”

Emma, he discovered when he climbed into the carriage a few moments later, had dozed off. Mildly annoyed, he studied her for a moment and finally slipped an arm around her and dragged her onto his lap to hold her so that he could keep her from landing in the floor. Then he gave his driver the order to return to the townhouse.

Emma muttered a complaint.

“Poor infant. All worn out from all the excitement. Yes, darling, I know, but it could not do my dignity or reputation any good to have you sprawled in the floor. And then, too, where would I put my feet?”

Since she was still asleep when they arrived, he told the driver to pull around to the back and carried her in.

The servants sent him startled looks again, but he ignored them and carried her to the front hall and up the stairs.

“I thought we were shopping?” she murmured when he settled her on her bed and slipped her shoes off.

“I decided to spread the joy around a bit,” he said sardonically, tossing the spare coverlet over her before he left.

* * * *

It was just as well, Damien reflected ruefully, that he had not really anticipated that he could head off any rumors flying in Marabel’s direction regarding his new ‘acquisition’, because it didn’t happen. When he arrived she gave the appearance of total ignorance, but it wasn’t long before cracks began to show and he began to get the impression of an angry cat with twitching tail of displeasure.

It wasn’t that she faced off with him head on about Emma. She was far too smart for that, but there were just enough subtle hints for reassurance that she wasn’t showing signs of aging that led him to believe those references all had to do with the younger woman she no doubt saw as her rival—for his pocketbook.

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