To Tame a Dangerous Lord (Courtship Wars 5)

Realizing how high-pitched and flustered her own voice sounded, Tess took a calming breath and forced a cool smile. “I truly cannot believe your gall, Rotham. How someone of your wicked character can deride another man for rakish behavior—or criticize me for something so innocent as a mere kiss—is the height of irony. Do you even recognize your hypocrisy?”

A hint of sardonic amusement tugged at his lips. “I acknowledge your point, Miss Blanchard. But I am not the only one concerned about your relationship with Hennessy. Lady Wingate is worried that you have become overly attached to him. In fact, she sent me to find you.”

That gave Tess pause, as doubtless Rotham knew it would. Lady Wingate was not just Tess’s godmother but chief patron for her various charities. She could not afford to offend the woman whose generosity impacted so many lives for the better.

“I have not become attached to Hennessy in the least,” Tess finally replied. “He is a valued employee, nothing more.”

“Do you go around kissing all your employees?” Rotham taunted. Before she could reply, he shook his head in reproach. “Lady Wingate will be severely disappointed in you. She arranged a lavish house party solely for your sake, so you could dun her guests for your various charities. And this is how you repay her?”

Unable to refute the charge, Tess regarded Rotham in frustration. Her godmother had long disapproved of her endeavors to promote her charitable organizations and had only recently relented and invited some four dozen wealthy guests to a week-long house party, thereby providing Tess with a captive audience. She’d spent the past week attempting to persuade each one of them to contribute to her causes.

“Do you mean to tattle to her?” she asked Rotham.

His answer, rife with mocking humor, disturbed her. “That depends.”

“On what?”

“On whether or not you intend to continue your liaison with Hennessy.”

“I tell you, I am not having a liaison with him! You have completely misconstrued the matter.”

“Who initiated the kiss?”

“What does that matter?”

“If Hennessy took advantage of you, I will have to call him out.”

“You cannot be serious!” Tess stared at him, appalled to think he might not be jesting. The last Duke of Rotham, Laurence Sutherland, had ended his licentious career when he was killed in a duel over a married woman by her jealous husband. His son Ian had followed a similar reckless path all through his youth, generating wild tales of gambling and womanizing. Ian Sutherland’s scandalous endeavors had earned him the nickname “the devil duke” when he came into the title eight years ago. But surely he would not actually shoot Hennessy for the mere act of kissing her.

“You know very well that dueling is illegal,” Tess objected, “in addition to being dangerous and possibly even lethal.”

Rotham’s mouth tightened again, as if he too had recalled his sire’s ignominious end. “Indeed.”

When he said nothing further, Tess suddenly recalled the confusing remark he’d made before ordering the actor from the ballroom. “What did you mean when you said Mr. Hennessy should have been ‘protecting’ me?”

Rotham waved a careless hand in dismissal. “It is of no import.”

“I should like to know.” Tess fixed him with a stubborn gaze, determined not to back down.

He must have sensed her resolve, for he gave a shrug of his broad shoulders. “When you began spending so much time at the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden in preparation for your last charity event, I charged Hennessy with keeping an eye on you. The theater district is a dangerous area, especially for an unescorted young lady.”

Her eyebrows lifted in puzzlement. “So you asked him to look after me?”

“Yes. I paid him a significant sum, in fact.”

So that explained why Hennessy always insisted on escorting her to and from her carriage, Tess realized, and why he had hovered around her whenever she attended rehearsals. She had thought it was because the actor was growing enamored of her company. Irrationally, she coul

dn’t help feeling a prick to her self-esteem.

“My companion usually accompanies me to the theater,” she pointed out to Rotham.

“Your companion is an aging spinster with all the substance of a butterfly. She would be no help whatsoever if you were confronted by trouble.”

That much was true, Tess conceded. Mrs. Dorothy Croft was tiny and gentle and soft-spoken, as well as being a bit scatterbrained. The impoverished friend of Tess’s late mother, Dorothy had needed somewhere to live after being widowed, so Tess had opened her home in Chiswick to her. The relationship had also benefitted Tess. With a genteel, elderly lady to lend her single state respectability, she had much more freedom to conduct her charitable endeavors.

“I have a sturdy coachman and footmen to provide me protection should I require it,” Tess argued.

Rotham’s gray gaze never faltered. “Even so, I thought it wise to ensure your safety. And you would not readily have accepted any edicts from me.”