Taming an Impossible Rogue ( by Suzanne Enoch

Author:Suzanne Enoch [Enoch, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Regency, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780312534523
Publisher: Macmillan
Published: 2012-03-27T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Camille didn’t need to see Sophia attempting to catch her eye every three minutes to know that her friend wanted to speak with her. Since their return from luncheon Sophia had been attempting to arrange a moment in private, and Camille had spent the same amount of effort to avoid being anywhere alone with her dearest friend.

She wanted to think. And conversely for her, standing at her podium and seating gentlemen in the Demeter Room was the best time for her to take a minute for herself. After all, she need only smile and say something mildly flattering, and no one required anything more. And after Lord Haybury had ordered the two brawlers of earlier off the club’s grounds, no one was likely to overtly insult her—or any of her friends—this evening.

“That’s two fights you’ve witnessed since I’ve been here,” Lucille whispered during a momentary lull. “Both involving your new friend. Does he scrap often?”

“Evidently,” Camille replied, wishing Lucille hadn’t made the same arrangement to trade with the evening greeter’s assistant that Camille had with Patricia Cooper. The other girls might engage in chitchat, but Lucy’s naïveté continued to rankle.

“I heard that during the last Ladies’ Night here, they opened a new page in the wagering book over who would bed him first. They have to supply proof of some sort. A ring of his, I think. Some of the ladies were writing down their own names. And then they started a second wager about who would be the one to shoot him. Now they’ll have to change the odds on Lord Rendale, because he was only at eight-to-one before. I don’t know if Bloody Blackwood would have to be killed or merely be wounded for anyone to win the wager.”

“Lucille, do shut up,” Camille snapped. Waving a hand at Jenny Martine standing toward the rear of the large dining room, she started in the coproprietress’s direction.

“Is something amiss?” Genevieve asked in a quiet voice, her French accent somehow making her sound older than Camille knew her to be.

“I need a breath of air.”

Jenny frowned, her light-colored brows dipping. “No.”

“No?”

“We are a scandalous place, you have a scandalous reputation, and you have befriended a very scandalous man. Either change one—or all—of those things, or … make yourself a thicker skin, Cammy.”

Camille blinked. In the past both Jenny and Diane had been so patient and understanding with her. What had happened? Or was it rather a question of who had happened? She’d become friends with Keating Blackwood, and now they’d decided she was simply asking for trouble. She gave a tight nod. “I understand.”

Evidently even her new, more tolerant friends had limits to their patience and understanding. The realization was like another blow to her heart. And abruptly the idea of leaving The Tantalus Club and returning to Society didn’t seem such a far-fetched or unreasonable one.

Before Camille reached her podium again, Sophia swooped in to grab her arm and drag her through one of the private doorways. “I want to talk to you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.