(Malloren #12) A Scandalous Countess by Jo Beverley

Author:Jo Beverley [Beverley, Jo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary, Historical, General, Romance, Fiction
ISBN: 9781101574867
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2012-02-06T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

He’d visited the Nag a number of times because it was popular with racing men and so he’d generally find an acquaintance. Today he spotted Lord Yately, a spare man in his thirties who owned a few thoroughbreds for amusement, and Sir George Mann, a swarthy Welshman of the same stamp. Sir Brock Billerton of the massive belly was interested only in the gambling aspect. He hailed Dracy warmly. He’d been one of the few to have bet on Cartagena, so he’d won a splendid amount and considered Dracy a friend.

Dracy called for ale and joined their table. He was introduced to two other men, one of whom had the brash honesty to ask the cause of his scars. Having explained and endured the usual praise of his bravery, he settled to mostly listening, curious as to whether any of these men had heard of the new scandal.

It wasn’t mentioned, nor was the supposed betrothal. No surprise there, for these men spun in a different orbit, and there were as many of those in London as there were planets and stars. The conversation was all about racing and horses, but then a newcomer brought Georgia’s name.

“Lady May’s back!” Jimmy Cricklade announced as he joined them. “Saw her alight from her chair not more than two hours since.”

“Tallyho!” hooted Mann, making Dracy clench his fist.

“You’d have no chance with her,” sneered Billerton “Likes a court beau the like of Sellerby.”

“Wonder if she’ll set up her court again,” a young man asked with an eager eye.

The man next to him shoved him. “What would you want with dallying in a lady’s boudoir telling her what pin to wear in her gown?”

Clearly the young man might want that sort of thing a great deal, but he had the sense to keep his mouth shut.

The men joked about Lady Maybury’s court, and Dracy decided to risk raising Vance’s name himself.

“Was Sir Charnley Vance part of her court?”

All the men laughed.

“Not one for boudoirs, Charnley Vance!” said Yately. “His fine ladies visited his lair, not he theirs.”

“Fine ladies?” Dracy asked, surprised. What little he’d been able to learn about Vance didn’t fit that picture.

“Any number of ’em,” said Billerton. “For all their silks and airs, many a duchess—or a countess,” he said with a wink, “likes a low adventure. And I heard Vance was particularly well-endowed.”

“Gads yes,” said Mann. “Saw him take out the snake once and wave it. I suppose some women like a monster.”

He sneered and a murmur of disgust ran around the table, but Dracy knew that Vance’s action had been a boast that touched men where it mattered.

Hung like a horse and women chasing him because of it, even fine ladies.

Not Georgia, he was sure, but he now saw why the story had been so easily believed. If ladies of the beau monde were known to have adventured with Vance, why not the flighty Lady Maybury?

That made his task even harder.

“Remember another like that,” Yately said.

“Like what?” Billerton asked.

“Well hung. Friend of Vance’s, as it happens.

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.