“That self-aware.” He had no illusions about his own character.
Knox nodded. “There is no arguing against that. You must be the most self-aware man I know. But the question needs to be asked. Do you think Lady Leonora is infatuated with you?”
Dare snorted. “Infatuated with me? No. Infatuated with my reputation? Delightfully so.”
Knox chuckled. “A lady living on the edge of danger.”
“She delights in the thrill,” Drake remarked.
No denying that.
“Don’t we all?” Knox said.
Dare pushed at his mug. “I don’t.”
Both Drake and Knox stared at him. Not a single twitch in their brows.
“Fine, I love the thrill, too.” Dare gave them a moody look. “Why are we talking about this anyway?”
“Perhaps because you’ve been giving the chit more attention than any other,” Knox said simply.
“Like when you huddle together in the bushes and whisper in each other’s ears.”
Dare snapped upright. The rustle he’d heard in the park. His eyes narrowed on his cousin. “You’re the mouse.”
“What mouse?” Knox asked, confused.
Drake smirked. “Mouse? I don’t know about that, but I’ve been following the widow like a shadow.”
“Never mind, I’m sure I don’t need to know what you’re talking about,” Knox muttered.
Dare shook his head. “Lord, you’ve got moreshadowsthan me, Fury.”
“Shadows? My reputation has always been shrouded in supreme darkness, not mere shadows, cousin.”
Dare snorted. “They are all self-inflicted one way or another.”
“Christ, you both are equally morbid.” Knox let out a disgusted grunt. “More likely your dark shadows are the result in simple over-indulgence in your vices.”
Dare lifted a shoulder in a shrug. Not wrong. Which was probably why he was over the indulgence. If his friends knew how long it had been since he’d bedded a woman, they’d fall on their backs in shock. Evenhefell on his back each night wondering what the hell was going on.
He just had no . . .interest.
He glanced down at his cock. Flaccid traitor. He’d fled the last woman’s bedroom, not because her young son had knocked on her bedchamber after hearing her cries, but on account of Little Dare refusing to play. He hadn’t bothered since.
What did a man do when even pleasure held no more pleasure?
Not only was it humiliating, it was damn disturbing. How else did a man vent? Drinking? Gambling? Horse racing? Carriage racing? What stimulation was better than a woman’s embrace?
He dragged in a deep breath of air and scowled. The stench of this damn place.
Knox whistled. “What’s with that sudden troubled look?”
“I am troubled. You—you both—are troubling me.”
“Come now, we are merely trying to make sense of this new obsession of yours,” Drake drawled.
New obsession? He hadn’t been flirting with Lady Leonora for all that long, but he supposed he had been flirting rather obsessively,exclusivelywith her. Was ithercausing this strange, frustrating dry spell? Was she not only an heiress but a witch as well?
