Free Lord Scoundrel Dies by Kate Harper Page A

determined to make the most of
this one.
    ‘I do know. Most… unfortunate.’
    ‘Well yes, but he was quite an unpleasant
man,’ Celeste said with her usual candor, ‘so while it is quite
shocking, I really cannot regret his death and it does get me out
of an awful pickle. Now I’m sorry I told you about him threatening
me. I feel quite silly about it.’
    ‘You were justifiably concerned,’ he said
glumly. He, too, wished that his sister-in-law had not confided in
him. He would never have turned up at Sutton’s if she hadn’t. ‘You
weren’t to know the scoundrel would die.’
    ‘Exactly right,’ she agreed. Yesterday’s
clouds had quite blown away, allowing Celeste to default back to
her usual position of sunny good humor. ‘I confess, I thought you
were going to do something drastic to his lordship, you looked so
angry. I’m dreadfully sorry I bothered you with my troubles.
Honestly Aubrey, you are very good to me.’
    As Celeste regularly
bothered him with her troubles – he being rather less judgmental
than his younger brother – this didn’t really merit a response. He
had no doubt that, when the next crisis loomed, he would be the
first to hear of it. He had reflected more than once that it was a
pity that Edward was not a little more easygoing, or that he
himself was a little less easygoing. It would make his life so much more
trouble free.
    ‘Just promise me that you won’t return to
the card tables,’ he begged. ‘You’ve no head for it and have the
most abysmal luck.’
    ‘Oh I do promise,’ she assured him
earnestly, coming around to give him a quick peck on the cheek. ‘I
have been a ninny but I assure you, I have mended my ways.’
    He patted her shoulder and watched her head
towards the door, not entirely reassured. His sister-in-law liked
card games, that was the problem. She did not mean to gamble
excessively, she just became carried away, too caught up in the
moment to realise that the time had come to walk away. He had seen
it all before, of course. The problem was by no means exclusively a
female one as just as many men were addicted to the sport of
gambling. He himself wagered occasionally but he had no real
interest in it and neither did his brother. Actually, that was part
of the problem. Edward had so few vices that he could not
understand the occasional one in others. It would be better when
Celeste started breeding for it would give her something else to
think about.
    Celeste was half way out the door when she
stopped, turning back to face him. ‘You haven’t forgotten about
that dance tonight, have you?’
    ‘What dance?’ he repeated blankly.
    ‘At the Bradshaw’s. Remember, you promised
Felicity.’ This was uttered with an arched eyebrow and Aubrey
groaned inwardly. Felicity Beauchamp was Celeste’s great good
friend. She was also aspiring to the role of his wife as both
females had decided it would be an excellent idea if Aubrey married
the lady. He liked Miss Beauchamp well enough; she was beautiful,
refined, witty and charming. Many men courted Miss Beauchamp’s
affections and she was generally considered to be quite the catch
for, added to her other manifest virtues, she had a fortune of her
own. While Aubrey was sensible to all the lady’s qualities he
didn’t actually want to marry her – or anybody else, for that
matter – which was unfortunate as she had indicated that she might
wish to marry him. And there was nothing more dangerous, in
Aubrey’s opinion, than a female who had decided she wished to marry
you.
    ‘I promised I would be at a dance at the
Bradshaw’s?’
    ‘You did. Three days ago in the park. You
promised her faithfully.’
    He was tempted to ask her
if he’d been drunk at the time but that didn’t seem likely. He
didn’t usually promenade around Hyde Park while in his cups, well
not for several years anyway. He remembered meeting Celeste and
Miss Beauchamp, of course and had stopped to pass the time (as
they’d spotted him