Page 39 of Dangerous

“Indeed we are, Octavia. None more so. Just consider how we kept to ourselves Gaius’s unfortunate tendre for that young opera dancer his first year at Oxford. Can you recall the reams of appalling poetry he generated in her honor?” She laughed, ignoring her brother’s scandalized squawk.

“Yes, especially the one in which he rhymed sighs with thighs.”

Adam shook his head at his friend’s red, agonized face and turned to his wife. “You may as well divulge all you know now, Mia. They will extract your deepest secrets regardless.”

She looked surprised and Adam wondered if the friendly invitation to use her pet name had not extended to him?

Livia smacked him on the arm with the oversize fan she clutched in one chartreuse-gloved hand. “Oh Adam, you would make her afraid of us.”

“You don’t need any help with that,” her brother said sotto voce.

* * *

Mia enjoyed the company even more than she enjoyed the play, which they hardly watched. Viscount Danforth and the two Miss Mantons were magnets for interesting people. Those who crowded the box were not content to merely watch the play, but insisted on interpreting and dissecting it.

Mia laughed until her sides ached at the acerbic observations coming from Livia and the supercilious blond poet who sat beside her. She could see by the number of quizzing glasses turned in their direction that they were drawing attention. Exley, who was seated beside Octavia, threw back his head and laughed more than once during the first half of the play. Gone was the bored, contemptuous sneer he habitually wore. His face, usually a mask of indifference, was relaxed and almost happy. She could not believe it was the same man. He submitted to the relentless teasing of Livia and Octavia with a good humor she never would have thought he possessed.

During the long break between the first and second half of the play even more friends of the Mantons’ flooded into the box, none of them too shy to enjoy the champagne and wine that flowed freely. Mia found herself crowded into the back corner with Livia after they both had glasses.

Livia examined the small baize-covered table that was inexplicably in the corner of the box. “I’d heard Lady Jeffries was partial to cards during all but the arias.”

Mia’s eyebrows shot up. “Cards? During a play?”

“Oh come, my dear. Surely the behavior of our ill-bred pack of associates tonight has shown you one does not come to the theater to watch, but to be watched.” She tapped Mia’s arm with her fan and peered at her through her opera glass in mock demonstration.

Mia laughed.

“Octavia and I were very happy to learn Adam was to be married.” Livia’s expression became more serious. “He is a man desperately in need of a woman’s touch. The right woman, of course.” Her gray eyes became rather piercing as they roamed Mia’s face. Mia was not sure what to say to such an odd statement, but luckily Livia needed no response. “His first wife, Veronica, was a monster, albeit an extremely lovely one. She came out the same year I did.” She took a small sip of wine and gave a bitter laugh. “With Veronica around nobody looked at anyone else. Not that they would have looked at me without her, I assure you. I have never been able to claim more than a decent figure. But there was no one to compare to Veronica. It was most disheartening to see the men throwing themselves at her. This may sound like the benefit of hindsight, my dear, but I could see her for what she was even then.” She shrugged. “But men will be men. Which is to say, they will be tragically stupid when it comes to a pretty face.”

She glanced across the room. “I recall Adam from that time, too, although we were not acquainted back then. I still remember the first time I saw him.” She opened her fan and plied it rapidly, as though the room had heated. “I had never seen such a handsome man in my life.” She tapped Mia with her fan. “But you mustn’t tell Gaius that. Octavia and I have convinced him that he is quite the handsomest man of our acquaintance.

“Adam could have had his pick that Season, but he had to have Veronica.” Livia paused and they both looked across the room at the subject of their conversation. Adam was engaged in what looked like a lively argument with Danforth while two very attractive women watched, clearly rapt at such a display of male beauty. Mia experienced an odd feeling in her stomach as she watched her handsome husband captivate his audience. She turned away and encountered Livia’s shrewd stare. The other woman wore a tiny smile on her expressive face and nodded, as if Mia had just answered a question to her satisfaction.

“There were tales of Veronica’s appalling behavior long before Adam took steps. Most people wondered why he put up with her shocking conduct for as long as he did. She took up with a crowd that could never get enough of anything—spirits, gambling, racing ... sex.”

Mia started at the unusually plain speaking and Livia leaned forward, an odd gleam in her eyes.

“Adam finally caught her with two men, in their own house. He called them out, something that should have meant certain death for both of them. One of the men escaped town, choosing his life over his honor. The younger man met Adam. I am very glad to say Adam showed mercy.” Livia noticed Mia’s puzzled look. “My dear, surely you’re aware your husband is one of the most accomplished blades in the entire country? Has nobody told you?”

Mia recalled something Ramsay had said at their wedding—about her husband’s skills with swords and pistols. She’d been too angry to consider the big privateer’s words at the time.

“He could have easily killed both men, probably even if he’d fought them at the same time.”

“I had no idea.”

Livia gave her a sympathetic look. “You have been back in England only a few months, I think?”

Mia nodded, embarrassed by the other woman’s pity. Even though the marriage was in name only, it did not make her happy to realize just how little she knew about her new husband.

Livia covered Mia’s hand with her own. “You must be wretchedly lonely, my dear. I daresay your father is the reason you married so quickly.” Her clear gray eyes had become hard, and she did not wait for a response. “And Adam, too, for all that he might have meant well marrying you. Men.” She shook her head. The kindness in her eyes caused a sudden lump to form in Mia’s throat.

“My sister and I have faced the obstacles unwed and unwanted women must endure and are determined to help our sisters whenever we can. Only an idiot couldn’t see that you are a stranger in a strange land.” Again she looked at Adam.

Mia followed her gaze. Exley was now the sole audience, rather than entertainer, of one of the women he’d been talking to earlier. The woman was standing too close for polite conversation, her elegantly gloved hand clutching his dark sleeve. She was speaking intently, undeterred by the look of scorching disdain he bent down on her, all trace of his earlier good humor gone.

Mia looked at the hand clutching his sleeve and felt the sharp claws of jealousy. Who was this woman taking liberties with her husband right in front of her?

“You care for him.” Livia’s statement slowed the jealous rage building within her but she still could not pull her eyes away from the riveting scene. Adam lifted the woman’s hand from his arm, gently, but with a look that should have left the woman a smoking pile of rubble, and walked away.