Free The Stanhope Challenge - Regency Quartet - Four Regency Romances by Cerise DeLand Page A

politics in scurrilous asides.
    Felice objected to Howell’s actions vociferously but had no power to make his employee, the kindly old typesetter, remove the defamatory words. Though the man who had once been her father’s right arm gazed at her sympathetically, Bill Bundy would not argue with his current employer. “A man has to eat, don’t he, sweet Fee?”
    Determined to save what she could of Adam’s reputation, she had gone to the Fleet Street offices yesterday in high dudgeon. Bundy looked on as she faced Howell.
    “Only two more.” She held her chin high, summoning the actress in her and coupling it with her anger. “Then we are done.”
    She had vowed she would forever after cut him cold. Ruin him somehow as he was ruining Adam. Never would she forgive him for how he had abused her and her husband. Taking the premise of a private loan and making a wife betray her husband. For what? To ruin a man’s political ambitions? To win a political point or two?
    But at the root of this problem was her own disloyalty to Adam. And she had not the courage to reveal it. From their wedding day, he had emphasized truth in their relationship—and she had violated it. Though she had discounted the Stanhope family curse as a hoax, she had only contributed to the possibility that her own happy marriage was headed for disaster.
    ****
    “Shall I help you with that?” she asked Adam the night of their party. “You are all thumbs with this cravat.”
    “Style!” he complained and let her fiddle with the damned thing. His gaze travelled her chemise and stockings, a twinkle bringing a smile to her lips. “Do you have a new gown for this evening?”
    “I do. I wanted to feel very special for my first dinner party as the wife of the MP from Bayton.”
    He drew her close. His lips brushed the shell of her ear, causing her a delicious shiver. “You are special to me. More so each day.”
    She cupped his cheek and he dropped a kiss into the center of her palm. “The feeling is mutual.”
    “Georgie comes ‘round, too.” He winked at her. “You charm him as you do me.”
    She grinned, gratified the boy had begun to accept her. “He’s a sweet child, easy to love. We’ll do well together, darling. You wait and see.”
    “Wes liked you. Said so before he returned to Spain. And Jack tells me he admires you immensely. Always did.”
    “Ha! Really? Lift your chin. There. So, ‘Difficult’ can accept me as a Stanhope wife,” she joked about his oldest brother. “Extraordinary!”
    “He especially likes your figure!” Adam ogled her décolleté. “If only he could see you now!”
    She rolled her eyes at him. “You both are scandalous men to discuss my form.”
    “I like your voluptuous curves!” Adam took a fast hard kiss. “Hurry with this tie, madam, or I fear our guests will find us unforgivably late!”
    “A tempting idea.” She eyed him, a naughty idea in her mind. “For later! Let’s get your coat.”
    As she presented it for him, he turned his back. “About tonight, do me a favor?”
    “Anything.”
    No discussion tonight of salt and flour supplies for the troops in the Peninsula. Help me steer them from that, will you?”
    “Of course. What seems to be the issue?”
    “On the floor yesterday, Howell accused me of miscalculating what we need.”
    Howell. The scoundrel. “Too little?”
    “Too soon,” he told her.
    “Do any of our guests tonight feel the same?”
    “I am not certain yet. I want to listen and learn.” Adam pulled at his coat cuffs and brushed away a speck of lint. “I worry about the increasing virulence of my opponents.”
    Felice grew solemn. Howell’s views were a mystery. “You would think that a man with a merchant fleet and a spice company here in London would be supporting a ready and adequate supply of foodstuffs for our army in Spain.”
    “True. But I would swear Howell has some ulterior motive.”
    Fear stabbed at her heart. “Do you think he built this scandal sheet