The Scandalously Bad Mr. Milroy by Alexandra Hawkins

Author:Alexandra Hawkins [Hawkins, Alexandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 2014-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Where was she?

Keanan stalked down Bond Street, ignoring the exclusive shops and their impressive inventories meant to entice the fashionable. His gaze skimmed over each approaching female, immediately dismissing them from his mind when they turned out not to be the lady he planned to encounter accidentally.

A fortnight had passed since Keanan had brought Wynne to his house. Aunt Moll’s matchmaking had given them both a chance to explore their mutual attraction. Never had he dared contemplate that the lady would freely offer what he secretly coveted: affection as well as her luscious body.

Weeks later, he was still reeling from the aftermath. She had professed that she loved him, but he had tried not to allow the words to creep into his heart. Women had whispered those words to him before, more aware of their power than he, when he was younger and craved such devotion.

Perhaps, speaking them aloud had given Wynne an excuse to throw away her virginity on a man who could never be her equal. A lady, a real lady, would need a justification to bolster her courage when she faced her proper aristocratic husband on their wedding night. He did not blame her. Like all things in his life, Keanan knew Wynne’s presence was transitory. If she did not end their affair, then her family would.

“Milroy!”

Dutch ambled toward him; his size and less-than-fashionable attire earned him a few rude stares from the people he pushed past.

“Where have you been hiding? For weeks there hasn’t been a glimpse of you at the Court, nor any of your old haunts. Blanche Chabbert has asked after you. She said you have been avoiding the Silver Serpent.” They stepped into the opening of a deserted alley, out of the way of the pedestrian traffic.

Keanan leaned against a brick wall, stifling the guilt he felt at abandoning an old friend. With each step he took toward the new life he had planned out, the further removed he seemed to be from his boxing past. “I have been working on my house,” he said rather defensively, hoping Dutch would take the hint and quit pushing at him.

Dutch’s grayish-blue eyes narrowed. Smelling weakness, he ruthlessly pressed onward. “You’ve been dallying with that fancy mort your brother pants after, haven’t you?” His despairing groan echoed between the brick walls. He jammed his hand through his unruly patch of salted black hair. “Tell me any prigging done was limited to your nocturnal whimsies?”

“I do not consider it any business of yours,” he coolly replied.

The older man seemed oblivious to the dangerous edge he traversed. “Oh, you brainless merry-begotten fool!” he roared. “This is no well-ridden quim you can plow and then walk away, a few coins less for your trouble.”

Blind anger rose, blotting out his civilized veneer. He charged, seizing the edges of his friend’s brown waistcoat. Despite the fact that Dutch outweighed him by several stone, he managed to lift him off his feet and slam him into the opposing brick wall. “It isn’t like that.

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