Free Deliciously Debauched by the Rake by Ann Lethbridge Page B

stared into his glass of brandy. “I still can’t believe it.”
    Lord Robert Mountford, sitting opposite shook his head. “How long is it you have been together?”
    John thought back to the first time he met her. A beautiful young widow, with golden hair and the joy of life in her bright blue eyes. She’d rented a box at the opera. As good as put a sign over her head. Destitute widow available to the right man. Word had rippled through the ranks of the male members of the ton , bachelors and husbands alike. But he’d won her. They’d liked each other on sight. He’d seduced her not with riches, for he was by no means the wealthiest male knocking at her door, but with the respect she’d so clearly deserved. Despite her being three years older than him, he’d wooed her into his bed. She’d been his goddess.
    Was she right? Had he really become dull and boring? “Five years.” He remembered the day as if it was yesterday when he’d taken her to that small house on the edge of town and made his offer of a carte blanche . She’d flung her arms around his neck and kissed him. You would have thought he’d offered her the moon.
    “It is probably time you married and got yourself an heir, anyway,” Robert said, staring moodily into his glass.
    “Since when did you concern yourself with family duties?” he said pointedly. “What are your plans now? Not returning to the family fold, I assume?”
    Robert’s expression turned grim. “Not a chance. I thought I’d go to America.”
    “You mother won’t like that.”
    His dark eyes flashed fire. “What are you going to do about Elizabeth?”
    John let Robert change the subject, because that was what friends did. And Robert had been tormented enough for one day. “What can I do? She wants more excitement. I’ve sent around a bank draft as promised in our contract.” He took a deep breath as a vision danced in his head. “And I’ll kill any man who goes anywhere near her.” But he wouldn’t, not if that was what she wanted.
    Robert gave a crack of a laugh. “It is going to be odd seeing one of you without the other.”
    “In other words, we were as dull as an old married couple.” His chest tightened as he echoed Elizabeth’s words. He never imagined she could hurt him quite so much. Or that she would ever leave.
    Robert grimaced.
    “Damn it all, Robert, it was good. Or I thought it was. Years ago, when we first met, she said she would never marry again. Now I know why. She clearly prefers variety.”
    Robert downed a huge swallow of brandy. “So she’s ready to move on. To find someone new to light her fires.” He shrugged. “I guess you let the flames go out.”
    John shot to his feet. “Damn you, Robert. I did not let—” Had he? Wasn’t that what Lizzie had said? The spark is gone. Then why did he care? Why did he, every time he thought of her with another man, want to choke the life out of someone?
    Robert peered up at him. “Never take a woman for granted, John,” he said glumly. “Don’t forget to send her diamonds or pearls or she’ll be calling you a skinflint behind your back.”
    If he didn’t leave soon, it might be his best friend he murdered. “Thanks for the advice. Will I see you tomorrow?”
    Robert downed the last of his brandy. “Likely not. There is nothing for me here. I’ve an interview with my mother in the morning, then I’m gone.”
    “So having debauched an innocent, you are just going to walk away. I thought better of you.”
    Robert glared at him. “Look to your own house before you poke your nose in mine.”
    Not one to be easily aroused to temper, John was shocked at the ire burning in his chest. The fury running though his veins. He glared at his best friend. “Then I wish you the best of luck. If you can ever bend that stiff neck of yours enough to ask for help, you will always find it at my door.”
    He threw a few coins on the table and stomped out of the disreputable inn where Robert had taken