The Courtesan. Julia Justiss

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СКАЧАТЬ at last arrived at White’s. Once Lady Belle’s carriage—containing the lady’s companion but not the lady herself—finally departed, there was such a mob of gentlemen seeking vehicles that Jack had to use his most commanding cavalry officer’s voice to snag a hackney.

      Having commandeered one of the first vehicles to appear, the friends found the club relatively deserted. After ordering breakfast, they took their seats.

      “Well,” Aubrey demanded, smiling broadly, “are you not pleased I insisted you accompany me?”

      A vision of vivid blue eyes and a restless, almost feral gaze invaded Jack’s mind, sent a reminiscent shiver over his skin.

      He shrugged it off. “Not that I can or will do anything about it but…yes, I suppose I am.”

      “You ‘suppose,’” Aubrey echoed. “You only suppose you are happy to have discovered the most unusual and exquisite woman in London—and quite possibly the world! Damn, Jack, what an odd fellow the war’s turned you into!”

      “Sorry to be so disappointingly dull,” Jack replied with a grin. “I grant you, Lady Belle is everything you claim. Were I disposed to indulge myself in carnal delights—and had I a bankload of guineas to bolster that aim—I might be tempted to enter the lists. But as I told you earlier, I’m of a mind to settle down.”

      Aubrey made a disgusted noise and rolled his eyes.

      Chuckling, Jack continued, “Even if I weren’t, there’s Dorrie’s Season to be considered. She’d never forgive me for embarrassing her during the most important time of her life by dangling after a notorious lightskirt.”

      “There is that,” Aubrey agreed, somewhat mollified. “You could be discreet, though. Men do it all the time—pay court to the ladies at Almack’s, then stop by the Green Room to meet their favorite actress. Besides, what about calling on her for the benefit of your best, most loyal friend? You can’t convince me you are indifferent, despite that hen-hearted drivel about getting leg-shackled!”

      Jack took a sip of his ale. He really did mean to look for a wife. And he really couldn’t afford to contend for the favors of the intriguing Lady Belle. Still…the powerful attraction of that compelling blue gaze called out to him, in defiance of logic, prudence and good sense.

      “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to call,” he conceded.

      Aubrey slammed his mug down and gave a crow of triumph. “I knew no man could resist her!”

      “Lady Belle?” asked one of a group of gentlemen just entering the room. “Indeed not! You saw her fence, didn’t you? Magnificent! Totally flummoxed poor Wexley.”

      “Jack, you’ll remember Montclare,” Aubrey said as they rose to greet the newcomers. “Farnsworth, Higgins—and this young cub is Ansley—too far behind us at Oxford for you to know him.”

      After an exchange of greetings, Aubrey said, “Come, gentlemen, help me toast my good friend’s safe return.”

      “With pleasure,” Montclare replied. “Far too many of our Oxford mates didn’t come back after Waterloo.”

      After drinks all around, Aubrey turned back to Montclare. “Will Wexley make an appearance, or did he slink home after that disgraceful performance?”

      “Oh, I expect he’ll turn up to drown his sorrows. Hamhanded clothhead actually thought he had a chance of winning a kiss,” Montclare said with a wry grimace.

      “Taking on Lady Belle, he’s lucky he didn’t end up skewered, trussed and ready to roast like a Christmas goose,” Farnsworth observed.

      “You’d not seen her before, had you, Carrington?” Higgins asked.

      “No, he couldn’t have,” Montclare answered for him. “Went out to the army in—’08, wasn’t it, Jack?”

      “Yes. I took leave after Corunna and then between Toulouse and Waterloo, but spent my limited time at Carrington Grove, not in London,” Jack confirmed.

      “As I recall, it wasn’t until 1811 that Bellingham brought Belle to town,” Farnsworth said.

      “Spring of 1811,” Aubrey said reverently. “The Cyprian’s Ball. Dressed all in virginal white, she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever beheld. Still is.”

      “Beautiful, yes, but hardly ‘virginal,’” Farnsworth said with a laugh. “She’s got an avaricious heart as hard as the guineas that golden hair rivals in brightness.”

      “You only say that because she’s just turned down your offer,” Ansley responded hotly. “She’s as kind as she is lovely. Knowing I could never afford to possess her, when I begged her to allow us to challenge her for the chance of winning a kiss, she graciously granted my request.”

      “Probably because she knew you’d never fence well enough to claim one,” Farnsworth answered. “Although you certainly could never afford her. The fortune Bellingham spent on her over the years! Gowns fit for a queen, jewels as impressive as the collection in the Tower, horses, carriages, a house in town as well as a country manor.” Farnsworth shook his head. “The man was besotted.”

      “Given the funds and attention he lavished on her, you’d think she would have been content,” Montclare observed. “Yet what must she do two years ago but coax Bellingham to live openly with her! There had long been enmity between Bellingham and his wife, but he owed his family better than so humiliating and public a slight.”

      “Can’t expect a creature like Belle to know or care about proper conduct,” Higgins responded. “Besides, we’ve all felt the force that kept Bellingham with her so many years.” With a lascivious look, he added, “You’ve heard about that interlude in Vauxhall, haven’t you?”

      At that moment, the waiter arrived with their orders, halting the conversation and giving Jack time to reflect.

      Though he knew better than to put much credence in common gossip, he’d felt an irrational disappointment in having his supposition of Belle’s expensive, grasping nature confirmed by Farnsworth. Ansley’s spirited defense of her had inexplicably lightened his heart. Though he was an idiot to expend any emotion on a woman who would never be more to him than a dazzling, seldom-glimpsed stranger.

      Before he’d finished berating himself for a fool, his attention was drawn to an approaching figure and he jumped up with a smile. “Edmund! How good to see you!”

      Edmund, Lord Darnley, one of Jack’s closest friends from Eton and Oxford, reached out to clasp his hand. “Jack. Praise God, it’s good to have you home.”

      “Ah, Darnley, what a magnificent match you missed this morning!” Montclare said. “After actually disarming Armaldi—hard to imagine anyone accomplishing that feat, I know—Belle had poor Wexley facedown on the floor before a cat could lick its ear. Where were you, by the by?”

      “While the rest of you fribbles may have nothing better to do than hang about watching Wexley create the newest on-dit, some of us actually work,” Darnley said with a grin, taking the chair Aubrey fetched for him.

      “Work—bah!” Higgins dismissed Edmund’s reply with a disdainful wave. “Ever since Lord Riverton appointed him as Cabinet assistant, he’s been promenading СКАЧАТЬ