Wife Errant by Joan Smith Read Free Book Online

pleasure gazed back at him.
    Tess called Crimshaw and told him she was going out with Lord Revel. He need not inform Miss Dulcie unless she asked.
    “By then it will be too late for her to do anything about it,”she explained to Lord Revel.
    Crimshaw returned with the pelisse, and Lord Revel placed it over Tess’s shoulders. He stood behind her. His head leaned forward and he said softly in her ear, “All set for a night of wild debauchery, Tess?”
    A shiver scuttled up her spine at the sound of his voice reverberating in her ear. She cast a frightened peep over her shoulder. “You called me Tess. You never did that before.”
    “I always call my flirts by their first names. You may call me Revel.”
    When Revel placed her hand on his arm and led her out, Crimshaw looked stiff with disapproval. Tess feared she had chosen her flirt unwisely. She also felt a giddy tingle of excitement to be misbehaving for the first time in her life.
     

Chapter Five
     
    The Lower Rooms were bulging with company by the time Lord Revel and Tess arrived at the assembly. Heads turned to ogle Revel’s new flirt. As Tess had made so few forays into society, she was not recognized by many, but the few who knew her were busy to spread all the scandal.
    “Her mama is no better than she should be. No doubt the daughter is the same.”
    “That would suit young Lord Revel right down to the heels.”
    “Nonsense, a man does not dirty his own backyard. The Marchants are close neighbors of the Revels in the country. And the girl has a good dowry.”
    "Amatch, then?”
    Tess’s fingers clutched at Revel’s arm as at a lifeline. “Everyone is whispering!”she said in a low voice.
    “Excellent! Word is bound to get back to your mama. A pity they don’t play any waltzes at these do's. There is something so very respectable about the cotillion. But I promise to do my poor best to raise eyebrows, Tess.”
    “You will not have to try. I see you raise eyebrows by just entering a room.”
    They joined a square, and for the length of the dance, Revel flirted admirably. Languishing glances and soft smiles were bestowed on Tess when the steps of the dance took them apart, and when they were together, he spoke softly, to give the idea their conversation was too intimate for other ears.
    “Evans is planning to ask you for the next set,”he whispered.
    “How do you know?”
    “By the calculating way he is looking at you. I shall play the jealous lover and carry you off for tea.”
    “Good! I should love a cup of tea. I ought to have taken that headache powder after all. My temples are pinching again. I feel like a filly tip at auction, with everyone staring at me. I don’t know how you can stand it, Revel.”
    “And here you thought my life was a bed of roses.”
    “Liberally sprinkled with thorns,”she added. “I am not so foolish as to imagine a high flyer has an easeful life.”
    “You’ll get used to the altitude. When I made my maiden speech in the House, I received some excellent advice from the Duke of Devonshire. Pretend all the people staring at you are stark naked, and they will soon lose their power to intimidate. I still practice the trick from time to time.”
    “On the ladies, I wager!”she scolded.
    “You read me like a book, Tess.”
    As he had prophesied, Evans appeared beside them at the cotillion’s end. “Miss Marchant, may I have the honor?”
    Revel put a possessive arm around Tess’s waist and said, “Miss Marchant is not feeling very well, Evans. We are going to take tea.”
    Evans said what was expected. “I am very sorry to hear it, Miss Marchant. Perhaps later?”
    “Perhaps,”Revel said jealously, and led her off to the tearoom, where he avoided all the company beckoning to him and chose a table for two.
    “There were two very handsome bachelors at that table, Revel,”she pointed out.
    “You have already chosen your rake, madam. We are like horses; dangerous to change in midstream.”
    “A pity all