It was almost a relief to be at Leighton Court, away from the vicarage’s simmering tensions. At least tonight he was sure that Genevieve and her family were safe. Thanks to Cam, half a dozen armed footmen watched the place.
He was worried sick about Genevieve. Lord Neville wasn’t finished, he just knew it. After orchestrating two unsuccessful burglaries to find the jewel, threatening her would be the logical next step. The problem was convincing her that she was in danger. The second problem. The first was getting her to listen to him instead of treating him like Satan incarnate.
“Does it matter that much?” Jonas Merrick, Viscount Hillbrook, slouched in his chair, contemplating his brandy. Jonas had reluctantly abandoned his beloved wife Sidonie and baby daughter to dine with Cam and Richard.
“Damn it, yes, it does,” Richard snapped, irritated at his friend’s bored tone.
He wondered if he could explain how he felt without revealing how he felt really. All his life, he’d struggled to hide his vulnerabilities beneath a careless façade. Although he had a grim perception that his friends knew him well enough to guess that more occurred here than a flirtation gone to the dogs.
As if to protest that description, Sirius opened one eye from where he snoozed on the hearth rug. Richard bent to fondle the dog’s ears. “I know I’ve made a deuced mess of it, old fellow. No need to scowl at me as though I’m a bottle short of a dozen.”
“I’ve never known you unable to charm your way into a woman’s good graces—and more.” Cam, ever the perfect host, rose to refill his friends’ glasses.
Three armchairs ranged before the flames. Jonas sat on the left, his scarred face masklike. Cam subsided into the center chair, watching Richard with an annoyingly knowing expression.
Enduring friendship and the loosening effects of liquor meant that Richard could no longer pretend an impersonal interest in Genevieve’s safety. Especially as he’d dearly love to enlist Jonas’s help.
“For you, one woman is much the same as the next,” Jonas said easily. “If this one resists, however lowering to your vanity, you’ll find another quickly enough.”
Cam understood him better than anyone, even Jonas. “I believe in this case, Richard has discovered that no other woman will do.”
Good God, he was blushing. What the hell was wrong with him? “Putting it too strongly, chum.”
Cam’s eyebrows rose eloquently although he merely said, “No doubt.”
Richard’s fist clenched against the marble. “I’m sure she blames me for this last break-in.” Either that or she felt devilish guilty about what they’d done at Oxford. “When she must know that I’d never place her family at risk.”
Cam’s brows remained elevated. “Must she?”
“Hell, yes.” Richard prowled across to stare out the window. The night was stormy, the wind rattling the sash windows, not at all like the idyll when he’d kissed Genevieve by the pond.
Jonas, who had heard a condensed version of Richard’s adventures in Little Derrick, spoke. “Perhaps she’s guessed that you’re an imposter.”
Richard shook his head. “If she had, she’d have me tossed out on my arse.”
“Maybe she merely discourages your interest,” Cam said from his chair. “She was a virtuous woman.”
“She is a virtuous woman,” Richard said shortly, wheeling restlessly to survey his friends.
“Good. I never approved of you ruining a girl who has to hold her head high in a small village.”
Richard felt his cheeks heat, like a naughty schoolboy brought before the headmaster. Cam always did the right thing. The fellow was no monk, but he confined himself to women who suffered no harm from his attentions, and like everything the duke did, he pursued his sexual interests in moderation.
Richard would lay money Cam had never been as hungry for a woman as he was for Genevieve. Lucky sod.
“So where is the jewel?” Jonas asked. Until his legitimacy had been confirmed, he’d lived outside high society, amassing a fortune that wouldn’t disgrace an emperor. He still thought like a man of business instead of a louche aristocrat.
Richard shrugged. “She wouldn’t tell me. Damn it, she won’t give me the time of day. I’m guessing from the lack of panic that it’s still stashed somewhere. If I were wagering on Genevieve outwitting a band of sneak thieves, Genevieve would win hands down. Her brainbox puts even yours to shame, Jonas.”
His childhood friend laughed softly. “I never thought the day would come when I’d hear you praising a female’s intelligence.”
Richard sighed. His friends’ mockery grew tiresome. They acted as if he’d bedded anything in skirts, whereas he’d always had high standards of beauty if not wits in his amours.
Cam stood and strolled forward. “Don’t you think it’s time you gave this up?”
“Gave what up?” His friends should know to take that dangerous tone seriously.
Of course Cam didn’t quail. “This whole misbegotten scheme. You set your heart on the jewel in a fit of temper. What difference will possessing it make? It can’t undo your bastardy.”