Viscount of Vice (Lords of Scandal 4)

“I don’t know what you mean?” He sought out Ada on the dance floor. Conroy was swinging her effortlessly about, looking supremely confident. Vice scowled again, his chest constricting. He didn’t have the energy for this conversation.

“You know what I mean. You’re a rake. You think too highly of yourself. You don’t want to marry and you’re far too handsy with my cousin. Am I right?”

Bad had stepped in just behind Grace and he heard his friend chuckle. Vice looked away from Ada to stare at Bad. “You stay out of it,” he called over Grace’s shoulder. Bad only laughed harder. He focused his attention back on Ada’s cousin. “If you think all that about me, why are we talking?”

“You like her,” Grace said. “And when she is with you…” Grace scrunched up her nose, shifting her weight. “She…well, she is her most vivacious self.” She raised one shoulder. “She doesn’t even trip about when she’s near you, which when I think about it, is very interesting indeed.”

Vice’s mouth fell open. Could that be true? “You think I am good for her?”

Grace shrugged. “Better than him. Did you see how he never even lets her speak? With you, she fights, she laughs, she pushes. I like seeing her like that. But,” then Grace poked him, hard, “if you ruin her then I shall be forced to have Daring and Bad—”

“Bad is going to side with you over me?” Vice looked back at his friend who had stopped laughing.

Grace looked back at the baron as well. “Bad?” She gave him a sweet smile, the sort that lit her entire face.

Bad blinked several times, his face filled with a longing that Vice had never seen. Bad had kept quiet about Grace but in this moment, Vice wondered if his friend was falling in love. “I’ll see that Vice behaves.”

It was Vice’s turn to laugh. Partially because Bad was being led around by the nose, but mostly at himself. “I’ve no intention of doing anything that would compromise Ada.” He meant every word, which shocked him to no end.

“Do you plan to marry her then?” Grace crossed her arms. “Because you’re paying her a great deal of attention and my family is beginning to notice.”

Vice grimaced, looking down at the floor. “Ada would make a fine wife. I, however, for several reasons, lack the merits to be a good husband.”

Grace paused and Bad stepped closer. “I understand that completely,” his friend answered quietly.

Vice shook his head. “But if you say he isn’t good for her then I can help her with this.” In fact, he’d take great pleasure in getting rid of Walter Conroy.

Chapter Nine

Ada spun about the floor, trying to catch Vice’s eye. Walter had been talking without pause. “We’ll marry, of course, and then you could travel to Africa with me. We’ll have to be careful not to conceive until we return to London, but at least we’ll be together.”

Part of her liked his words and she found herself softening underneath his touch. She’d felt so rejected and his plans soothed her ego. “You’ve thought it all out.”

“I have, Ada. Time on a ship can do that to you.” He pulled her closer and she stiffened in his arms. “I can take care of you. I can love you.”

It was lovely to hear but it wasn’t in her nature to allow him to continue just to feel better about herself. He could love her, but how could she reciprocate when someone else had captured her heart? “Walter.” The single word was quiet but firm.

He hesitated for a moment, his eyes growing weary, before he continued. “With this last trip, I could spend years working here in London, publishing journals, giving lectures. We could build a life, Ada. I know I left you once but I’ve come back to prove to you that I can be the man you need. Come to Africa with me. Just for a few years. We can—”

She shook her head. “No.” The word came out harsher than she’d intended but if she wasn’t direct, he might run away with the conversation again. Which was one of the reasons he’d never be the man she wanted.

“Don’t say that.” He held her waist tighter. “It took me months to come back here. At least give me a chance.”

She winced. “Try to understand. Without you here, I did a great deal of thinking and—”

“It’s that viscount, isn’t it?” His lip curled. “I saw the way you leaned into him. You’re in public and you’re not promised to him. How could you act like that?”

Ada cleared her throat. “It isn’t Blake.”

“Blake?” They were turning faster. “It’s Blake now? How long have you known him? Did you begin courting the moment I left?”

Ada tried to pull away, but Walter held her firm. “I think you should release me.”

His face hardened, his neck bulging with tendons and muscles. “I’ve been on a ship for six months to get back to you and now—”

“That isn’t true,” she snapped. “You spent at least half of it leaving me here to wonder why you didn’t care enough about me to stay. You never wrote me a letter or sent me a postcard.”

Walter pulled his chin back, his features going slack. “That’s fair. But I see the error in my ways now.”