The few times Mary got close to Hartford after the first time when he had looked at her so intently, he had not given her a second glance, had never introduced himself. While part of her had understood it was because proper young virgins like herself were not supposed to make the acquaintance of wicked rakes, it had still been a lowering experience—especially since she couldn’t even think of the man without her skin tingling.
“Mary?” Evie’s voice interrupted her daydreaming, and Mary blushed a hot red at being caught out. “Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, yes, of course, I will help again.” Mary nodded, doing her best to pretend she had been paying attention.
“Good. Your cousin’s wife, Arabella, by all accounts, is still friends with Hartford, despite her throwing him over for your cousin, Lord Hood. I want you to use that connection to learn more about him and his friendships this Season. Anything we can use to uncover this club and its members.” Evie frowned. “More about him as well. I do not think he is connected to the assassination attempt, but I want to cover all possibilities.”
Right. Of course. Wonderful.
Learn everything she could about the Marquess while trying to keep her reputation intact. Arabella would likely be happy to help, but given how impetuous she was, Mary was not sure her cousin’s wife could be trusted with secrets. Especially if she decided to spend more time with Hartford as a result. Thomas would have kittens.
But…
Treason.
Mary was not the type of person who could sit back and ignore a call to duty. She would just have to gird her loins and do her best.
Chapter 2
Rex
Another season, another search for a bride. Being a Marquess was a damned burden. Probably why he preferred to be called by the nickname his best friend Lucas had given him years ago, Rex, rather than his title. Hartford was his responsibility, but Rex was who hewas.
Staring broodily out the window, Rex scowled. Perhaps he should bow to the inevitable and pick one out of the petticoat line.
Everything in him recoiled at the idea.
Although he did want the usualtonmarriage—in that he did not expect to curb his excesses or his bedroom pleasures once he was wed—he did not want the usualtonbride. Being saddled for life with a dull cipher or prude sounded awful. There were many ways couples could avoid each other, even when both were active in Society, but why go to the effort when he did not have to? Putting forth the effortnowfor a short period of time to find a suitable spouse rather than having to do the pretty with someone he disliked for the rest of his life seemed like the wiser course.
Last year, he thought he’d had his bride locked up and well on the way to the parson’s mousetrap. Lady Arabella Windham had been perfect for his purposes—attractive, passionate, adventurous, and not at all emotionally engaged beyond a comfortable friendship. They could have had a great deal of fun together, but she had ended up with Lord Thomas Hood instead. She seemed to truly love the man, so perhaps it was for the best.
Rex would not have begrudged her lovers, once he had his heir, but Thomas Hood was a stuffed shirt, too prim and proper for the bedroom games half thetonplayed. If Arabella had married Rex, Hood would likely have had nothing to do with her. He was the type who would take wedding vows seriously, no matter the many who did not.
“Are you auditioning?”
The familiar voice of his boyhood friend, Lucas Beckett, the Earl of Devon, interrupted Rex’s contemplations. Frowning, he turned his head to see the earl coming up beside him, shirt untucked and half-laced, dark hair rumpled, and his customary charming smile on his face. Used to his friend’s antics, Rex was unmoved by that unassuming grin.
“Auditioning for what?”
“A play, perhaps?” Lucas’ grin widened, and he swept his hand in front of him, indicating the window. “A maudlin one, for sure. The brooding Marquess glares out at the moor from his lonely window…”
Snorting, Rex tilted his head. With the goings-on of the house party clearly audible, even here in the refuge of his office, he would hardly consider himself lonely. Catching his meaning, Lucas shrugged.
“Lonely in that you’ve hidden away in here instead of enjoying the delights to be had just down the hall.” A feminine shriek of pleasure echoed down that hall, punctuating Lucas’ words.
The Society of Sin’s annual gathering, always held at Hartford Manor the week before the Season proper began, was in full swing. Normally, Rex would be in the center of the activities, but Lucas was right. This year, hewasfeeling maudlin, introspective, and thwarted.
If only he could find a bride among the Society… but the ladies involved were either already married, had no interest in marrying, or were widows with no intention of wedding again. Occasionally, an agreement would be reached between eligible parties, but not often. None of the currently available ladies appealed to him, anyway. Not for marriage.
“How can I be lonely when you will not leave me alone?” Rex asked, slapping his hand on the other man’s shoulder.
Lucas chuckled and leaned closer, batting his eyes in a fair approximation of a smitten lady. “Say the word, and we can be alone together.”
Shaking his head, Rex used his hand on Lucas’ shoulder to turn his friend around and gave him a hefty whack on his buttocks. Lucas hissed and rubbed the spot, stepping away. While he enjoyed the company of both sexes, a masochist he wasnot.
“You could not handle me,” Rex teased, but he felt his mood lightening, which had no doubt been Lucas’ purpose. “Very well, let us join the festivities.”
The Society of Sin was for those whose proclivities were deemedperverseby the rest of theton. They did not cater to any one perversion, but rather delighted in them all. While Rex had no interest in Lucas or any other of the men, he was not daunted by their inclinations.