Free Wedding Night Revenge by MARY BRENDAN Page B

take a lot of brains to work out that the throng of coaches lining the street, the idle servants, and the blazing windows in one big house meant that Quality was having a ball.
    On a crazy whim he'd decided to stop; for he had nothing left to lose, and his little sister, Annie, had so very much to lose if he didn't look after her. So now he was waiting, for how long he knew not. It seemed as though he'd already skulked in the shadows for an hour or more. But he was prepared to wait; till dawn if need be. He must keep his nerve and speak to the man.
    What could Lord Devane say? Only 'no'...

Chapter Five
    Jason Davenport glanced up from his cards and his eyes glittered contempt at the foppish newcomers.
    'Come...sit down, Harley,' Connor drawled amiably.
    Benjamin Harley sauntered closer to the baize- topped table, mean eyes narrowed, fleshy lips curled sullenly. He flipped open a bejewelled snuff box, nipped himself a snort, then after a cough and a cosy with his chums sniggered, 'You surely don't think I'd indulge in a hand with you, do you?
    Last I heard, you'd thrashed the whole regiment at faro.'
    Connor casually shuffled the cards in his hands. 'And that worries you does it? That I'll win?'
    'No. It worries me that you'll make sure I lose...'
    The ensuing silence seemed interminable. There were several gentlemen loitering in the room, close to the wide, open doors that led onto the terrace, indulging in a little discreet smoking, or tippling out of sight of their wives'
    critical vigilance.
    'Are you saying that I cheat?'
    'It's hard to credit you never lose...'
    'Be more specific...' Connor insisted in his silky Irish way.
    'What is this talk of cheating?' a woman's accented voice purred into the tense atmosphere. Maria Laviola swished forward like a fresh breeze in her wintry white gown with berry-red adornment. A languid hand sheathed in a scarlet glove flopped onto Connor's broad shoulder.
    'You sang like an angel, my dear,' Harley enthused on cue, keen to distract interest from his resentful outburst.

    The compliment was immediately added to by other men in the room, eager to jolly the atmosphere and also show the soprano their appreciation.
    'Are you to perform again this evening?' Harley demanded.
    'Not here... perhaps else where... later...' A sultry glance slid Connor's way and he reacted with a privately amused smile.
    Fanning her pretty face with lacy fingers, she moaned, 'It is so terribly warm this evening.'
    'Poor old Devane, doesn't deem it so.' Harley smirked. 'I'll wager he's still feeling a chill.'
    'How so?'
    'We must blame Miss Meredith; I believe that lady has quite froze him out...once again,'
    Peter Waverley, a good drinking chum of Benjamin Harley's, unwisely let go of the chair back he was using as a prop, to stifle a guffaw with a feeble hand. Immediately, Jason's chair was scraped backwards from the table as though he would physically remonstrate with the reeling popinjay.
    Connor shrugged an apathetic response, while curling hard fingers over bunched muscle below his brothers sleeve.
    'Is there room for a few more?'
    Edgar Meredith entered the room, smiling, with his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Chamberlain a circumspect yard or two behind him. Nathaniel took a cautious peer about for his wife, Phyllis, in case she spied him and chided him later over consorting with undesirables as she classed the whole Meredith clan.
    'Dammit!' Nathaniel muttered beneath his breath. Edgar seemed on reasonable terms with the Earl of Devane: they were about to sit and have a drink and a game of cards together! If Connor Flinte bore no grudges, and he was the injured party, he saw no reason why his wife still should feel indignant over it all, simply because she'd once set up the match between Connor and Rachel.
    'Here, take my place,' Connor coolly offered Edgar Meredith on standing up.
    A tanned hand brushed baize, scooping his winnings and idly pocketing them. With a lethal stare at Benjamin Harley, Jason