The Viscount's Wicked Wager (The Tempting Tycoons Book 2) by Collette Perri

Author:Collette Perri [Perri, Collette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

11

Lucian took the next day off from work. He decided his time would be better spent with his wife, showing her some of London as he promised. A new art museum in Trafalgar Square called The National Gallery had just opened to the public, and Lucian knew it was the perfect place to bring Olivia. Though he wasn’t particularly interested in art, he couldn’t think of a more pleasant way to spend the day than strolling around a museum with her. He knew he would be content just to watch her enjoy herself.

It turned out that his instincts were spot on—Olivia loved art. He’d known she enjoyed creating it, but he hadn’t realized before how much pleasure she got from looking at it. She was enthralled with every painting in the museum, studying each one with a critical eye. He watched her carefully, eager to learn what excited her.

“What is it you like about this one?” he asked. She had stopped in front of a painting of four figures in a sitting room and was staring at it with interest. He leaned closer to look at the engraved plaque sharing the painting’s details. The Tête à Tête by William Hogarth.

“It tells a story without words,” Olivia replied, her eyes narrowed. “This appears to be a particularly naughty story.”

“How so?” The framed oil painting pictured a seated man and woman and two servants. The style of the room they were in indicated they were wealthy members of the ton, but the room was a mess, with items haphazardly strewn about.

“There must have been a party here,” Olivia mused. “And look at the husband’s face. He looks disheveled. Bored, maybe? Certainly unhappy. Is that a sore on his neck?”

“Is it?” He never would have noticed that small detail.

“See the wife? She is smiling like she has done something she shouldn’t have.”

“Like what?” he asked, curious.

Olivia shrugged. “I have no idea. But this doesn’t look like a happy marriage, does it?”

It did not. The couple did not appear to like each other at all. They strolled slowly and looked at the remaining paintings in Hogarth’s series. Lucian didn’t need to know much about art to know that Olivia was correct—this was the story of a marriage gone sour. The husband and wife contracted a venereal disease that left sores on their bodies, the husband then discovered the wife with her lover and was fatally wounded in a scruple with him, and, finally, the distressed wife committed suicide, leaving behind a disease-stricken baby. Lucian and Olivia watched the scenes progress in silence, which she finally broke with a sigh when they reached the last piece.

“This is what I feared our marriage would be like,” she confessed.

He blinked, startled. “Did you really?”

“Well, no, my imagination was not quite this colorful. But I did imagine that we would be miserable together and that you would be out at parties all the time, carrying on affairs.” She strolled onward, and he followed her, unsure of what to say.

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