Your Wicked Ways (Duchess Quartet Book 4) by Eloisa James

Author:Eloisa James [James, Eloisa]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty

Inebriation Is Sometimes a Wise Choice

Helene sobered up slightly during the meal. But only slightly. At some point she realized that even another sip of red wine was going to leave her with a pounding headache in the morning, but she ignored the thought. Best to get through the evening, and let the morning worry about itself.

Rees sat at the top of the table, scowling at a score he had carried into the room. The conversation, such as it was, was carried by Lina, Tom, and Helene. After Leke had removed the pudding, even that chatter seemed to finally wilt. Helene took a deep breath and turned to Lina.

“If you will excuse us,” she said politely, “I shall return him in five minutes.”

“Please, take seven,” Lina said with a twinkle.

A little smile wobbled on Helene’s lips. Was it too, too odd to feel respect for her husband’s mistress?

“Rees!” she said, standing up.

He stuffed the paper into his pocket. “Right,” he replied. He showed no sign whatsoever of giving a damn about Lina’s and Helene’s remarks about the brevity of his bedroom activities.

But instead of heading up the stairs, he walked across the hall into the music room—well, the room that used to be their sitting room and was now occupied by three pianos.

“Rees,” Helene said, trailing after him, “what on earth are you doing?”

“I need to show you this score,” he said impatiently, running a hand through his hair. “We’ll get to the rest of it in a few minutes.”

“I would rather do the rest, as you put it, now,” Helene insisted. She certainly didn’t want to lose the little curtain of inebriation that was making the whole evening seem rather funny. And she particularly wanted to blunt the experience of bedding Rees, even if it was only a matter of seven minutes.

But Rees had strode to the piano and was leafing through sheets of paper. Helene walked cautiously into the room. Paper swirled around her feet with the same dancing motion as the hem of her skirt. She tried kicking a few in the air. “How do you live with all this mess?” she asked.

“It only appears messy,” Rees said with an obvious disregard for the truth.

Helene laughed. “There’s no method in this madness.” She kicked a few more papers into the air.

“Don’t do that!” he said sharply. “And it is organized. Drafts are on the floor. The various acts of the opera are arranged on the sofa.”

“Sofa?” Helene wandered over and discovered that the hideous sofa given to them by her Aunt Margaret was actually still in the room, although buried under high stacks of paper. “You must have most of the opera here, Rees. I don’t know why you can’t be ready on time.”

“Namby-pamby stuff,” he said, hunching his shoulder. “I haven’t written a decent line in the last year.” He played a few bars. “What do you think of this?” he said.

Even tipsy, Helene retained full musical capability. “I can’t say I like it over much,” she said, wandering over and putting her elbows inelegantly on the top of the piano.

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