“I should warn you, our husbands are off cornering Mr. Dashwood right now,” said Sophie.
“Why?” Charlotte had restrained herself, avidly studying Lady Hastings’s gorgeous sapphire gown and the duchess’s hairstyle, but now she looked intrigued by the conversation. “Everyone we’ve met tonight says they owe Nick a favor. Did he teach them all how to cheat?”
“No,” said Lady Hastings at once, and Georgiana laughed.
“Perhaps,” murmured the duchess with a smile and a wink at Charlotte.
“Is he very good at cheating?” asked Georgiana with interest.
“So good no one can ever catch him at it.” Charlotte grinned. “Not that he would cheat Lord Westmorland!”
Georgiana laughed merrily. “Oh my, West would be very intrigued to see him try...”
“He’s not teaching anyone how to cheat,” said Emilia, flushing. “No one is cheating. Stop speaking of cheating, Charlotte.”
“Until later, that is,” whispered Georgiana. “Then you must tell me all about it. But you may trust me when I say we all owe Mr. Dashwood a great deal.”
Emilia looked at them, three beautiful, elegant women married to wealthy, powerful men. “What sort of debt?” she asked nervously.
The three of them exchanged glances. “We all met our husbands because of the Vega Club,” said Eliza.
“There may have been some scandalous wagers involved,” murmured Sophie.
Emilia thought back to the night she’d drunk too much wine and brandy and brazenly dared Nick to make a wager. She said nothing.
“But Mr. Dashwood was tremendously forbearing and helpful when we needed it most,” put in Georgiana hastily. “And voilà! We all ended up married, partly thanks to him.”
“Oh, I see! Then they aredesperatelyindebted to him,” declared Charlotte.
Sophie laughed. Eliza blushed. Georgiana linked her arm through Charlotte’s. “Have they talked to you of schools yet?”
Charlotte’s eyes grew round. “No.”
Georgiana lowered her voice confidentially. “If you want to go to the best school for young ladies in England, you shall have three references from us.”
“And Lucy?” asked Charlotte eagerly. “My little sister?”
“Of course,” declared Georgiana. “We are always expanding our sisterhood.”
The four others fell into an easy conversation—Charlotte was asking more questions than was polite, but Emilia didn’t have to heart to stop her. Sophie, Eliza, and Georgiana were openly encouraging the girl, and it couldn’t hurt for Charlotte to make friends of them.
She looked across the room to where Nick was, indeed, cornered by the duke, the marquess, and the earl. He was listening intently to whatever they were saying, but he caught her eye. Lord Hastings said something that made the rest of them laugh, and in that moment Nick gave her a sly wink.
Emilia couldn’t keep from smiling in reply. How she loved that man. He captivated her, heart and soul.
She told him so when he found her a short time later. He grinned. “The most valuable thing I’ve ever won in my life!”
She faced him, somber for a moment. “You have,” she said in a low voice. “When I think how we began—”
He nodded. “With you telling me I would be an idiot not to agree to your proposition.”
“And how cold-hearted I thought you were—”
“An uncouth cardsharp, yes.”
“Which was allwrong—let me finish,” she protested, laughing in spite of herself. “I was entirely wrong about you!”
He slid one arm around her waist as he drew her behind one of the planters, into the cover of the climbing vines. “I was entirelyrightabout you,” he murmured, touching one fingertip to her chin. “I knew the moment I laid eyes on you, I was in trouble. ‘Nick old man,’ I told myself, ‘that woman is too intelligent and determined for you to resist, and so beautiful and passionate that you’re going to make a damned fool of yourself over her.’”
