Pride & Passion by Charlotte Featherstone Read Free Book Online

being poisoned, but I assure you it’s far too late for that.”
    “All right, but I warn you, it’s positively indecent, and I only know about it because I happened to witness it when I came out of the ladies’ retiring room. So it’s not really gossip, more like an eyewitness account.”
    “Oh, better and better!”
    “As you will recall, I was forced out of the house last night.”
    “Oh, that is right—you went to the Moorelands’ soiree last night. How was it?”
    “Dreadfully dull, but Mooreland is one of Papa’s closest friends, so I was somewhat obligated to endure it. But it was made all the more delightful by what I saw.”
    “And that was?” Isabella purred as she finished off the last of the pink square.
    “The Marquis of Alynwick caught red-handed kissing Lord Larabie’s new wife. And his hands… Well, I can tell you, his hands were really quite busy—one was beneath the lady’s skirt, and the other was wandering quite wildly over the bodice of Lady Larabie’s pink frock.”
    “No!” Isabella gasped. “I cannot believe it. Themarquis…” She swept a glance between Elizabeth and Lucy. “Why, I thought him a gentleman.”
    The excitement that seemed to glow in Elizabeth’s gaze dimmed. She tried to hide it, Lucy saw, by sitting forward and gently reaching for her teacup.
    “I’ve never known Alynwick to be anything but an egotistical rake,” Elizabeth answered. “I see his shocking way of living his life has not changed.”
    Elizabeth’s face was pale, the pink of her lips all but drained away. Lucy had done it now. She had shocked poor Lizzy with the gossip. It was rather scandalous for a man to be caught with any woman in such a way at a ball, but a married woman—one who was not his wife. Well, it was rather unseemly and to repeat it at tea, really was very common. And Elizabeth was the daughter of a duke, after all, whose manners were quite above reproach.
    “And Lord Larabie?” Isabella asked, cutting into Lucy’s worries.
    “Oh, he came charging down the hall and they fought. Fists flying, tailcoats waving in the tussle. Lord Pickett and Mr. Downing had a devil of a time separating them, and Lady Larabie stood there screeching like a cat that had its tail caught in a mousetrap.”
    “My word, I had no idea that Alynwick was such a rake!” Isabella gasped.
    “Believe it,” Elizabeth whispered, her voice so soft, her gaze distant, and perhaps a touch unfocused. “He is a disreputable heartbreaker.”
    There was pain and sadness in Elizabeth’s eyes, and even though she could not see, she raised her chin highand gazed straight ahead of her, right where Isabella and Lucy sat.
    “If there is anyone who knows how much of a rake the Marquis of Alynwick is, it is me.”
    “Tell us!” Lucy demanded as she set her teacup and saucer down onto the table. “All of it, Lizzy, every sordid detail!”
    Elizabeth smiled, and Lucy could not help but feel that something strange had shifted between them. “The day is dull and dreary, so let us make the most of it by playing a game, hmm?”
    “What kind of game?” Isabella inquired.
    “Truth or dare, shall we? Now then, for the price of my story, I shall extract either truth or a dare from…” Elizabeth paused for a moment as her fingers raked through Rosie’s soft white fur. “Yes, I think I shall require that from…Lucy.”
    Nothing good would come out of this game. Lucy could sense that much, and what was more, she was certain that Elizabeth knew she was hiding something. She didn’t want to play, but knew that to disagree to it would cast more speculations. Besides, she dearly wanted to know how the very proper Elizabeth knew the Marquis of Alynwick was a wicked rogue.
    “Very well,” she agreed. “I will accept your truth or dare.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    S USSEX FOUND B LAKE’S C LUB to be, thankfully, empty at this time of the afternoon. Servants buzzed about, preparing tables in anticipation for the crowd that would