One Night Scandal

“I know.” He separated her hair and started braiding the locks. “I believe I have remembered.”

“Thank you, Papa.”

As soon as he finished, he kissed the top of her head. “I am off to the Tilsons’ party. I shall see you in the morning for breakfast.”

“Assuming you don’t stay out too lat

e.”

“And miss our breakfast together? Never.”

“Good, because I must hear about all the beautiful gowns the ladies wore.”

He rolled his eyes deliberately. “You are going to force me to remember what everyone wore?”

“Yes.” She smiled at him. “But only the ladies.”

“Very well, then.”

She stood up and hugged him before he left. “I love you, Papa.”

“I love you too, Emma.”

He instructed his driver to take a detour down Clifford Street before heading to the Tilsons’ party. No matter how much he tried to tell himself he should attempt to put her out of his mind, he could not do it. Truthfully, he didn’t want to erase her from his mind. Passing her house slowly, he noticed a number of candles lit in her receiving salon and two carriages near her home.

He knocked on the carriage to stop the driver for a moment. As he pulled up a few houses away, he saw another coach halt before her home. Selby and his wife clamored down and walked inside the inviting home. Nicholas smiled slowly.

“I am getting out here,” he announced.

The carriage door opened and a groomsman was there to assist him. He walked down the street whistling softly. As he approached the house, Hendricks opened the door in his usual stoic manner.

“Good evening, Lord Ancroft.”

“Good evening, Hendricks. Is she at home?”

Hendricks’s mouth gaped slightly before he recovered. “Please wait in the receiving salon and I will see if she is at home.”

Nicholas sauntered into the room with a smile. He heard Hendricks open the door and the familiar voice of his cousin Elizabeth sounded. Nicholas turned as Elizabeth and Kendal walked into the entryway.

“Nicholas!” Elizabeth walked into the room and hugged him. “What are you doing in there? Come with us to the upstairs parlor.”

“As you wish,” he replied. “Good evening, Your Grace.”

“And you, Ancroft. But you know I would prefer you call me Kendal.”

“Of course.” Nicholas still cringed at the strange accent Elizabeth’s husband had picked up in America. He followed his cousin and Kendal up the steps. As they reached the hall, Elizabeth waited for him. She held out her arm for him.

“Now what could be better than walking into a room with two handsome men?”

Nicholas chuckled. They stepped over the threshold and everyone in the room went silent.

“Look who I found in your receiving salon, Sophie. You should have told him you don’t stand on formalities when it’s just your friends.”

He could have sworn Elizabeth held back a laugh. When his cousin had first seen him, he believed she must have thought he’d been invited, too. But seeing the slight smirk on her lips, he knew what she was about now.

He glanced at Sophie’s bemused face and almost laughed himself. Her eyes turned to slate as her shock turned to anger.

“Good evening, Miss Reynard. Thank you for inviting me this evening.”