Free Margaret Moore by Scoundrels Kiss Page B

slight bow. “Good day to you all,” he said. He turned and proceeded into the theater with his coquettish courtesan, causing Arabella to breathe a sigh of relief, but then the aggravating Neville swiveled on his booted heel and faced them, smiling with complete composure. “We shall miss the beginning of the play if we do not enter soon. I shall be most delighted to offer you the hospitality of my regular box.”
    “Your regular box,” his father sneered. “I should have known. We will sit where I say we will sit.”
    “It will have to be the pit then, for I think there will be no other available seats.”
    “Not the pit!” Lady Lippet cried, as if the pit would be filled with snakes instead of those who could not afford box seats.
    “No, you ought not sit in the pit,” Neville seconded. “Lady Arabella’s gown might be damaged. Or her fine cloak. Or her splendid little shoes.”
    “I think the pit will be acceptable,” Arabella replied with a hint of defiance.
    “Amongst the rabble? Surely not! How will you find a husband there?”
    Arabella flushed and did not answer.
    “It would have been quite a coup to be invited to the Duke of Buckingham’s box,” Lady Lippet noted in a whine, giving Neville a peevish look.
    “Since he made no effort to do so, you will have to wait for another time.”
    “He might invite us to sup with him after the play,” Lady Lippet proposed hopefully.
    “I should remind your ladyship that the duke already has a wife.”
    “He is an influential man,” Lady Lippet declared defensively.
    “He was, until even Charles could not overlook certain … how shall I put this so that it is fit for women’s delicate ears? Until the king could not overlook Buckingham’s proclivities.”
    “That whole family is a disgrace,” the earl announced. “His father was the most disgusting sodomite—”
    “Now there is one sin that has never been laid at my door,” Neville interjected, “but really, Father, I believe discussing the late duke is upsetting Lady Arabella.”
    In truth, Arabella was finding the entire situation distressing.
    “I should point out that if you intend to seethis play today,” Neville continued, “we should go inside without further ado.”
    “If it’s so late, perhaps we should return home,” Arabella murmured, trying to decide what would be worse: missing the play or sitting near Neville Farrington.
    “After going to all the trouble to get here?” the earl demanded, his goatee quivering. “I should think not!”
    Neville suddenly stepped close to Arabella. “Come along, then, my dear.”
    Before she could protest, he took her hand in his strong grasp and placed it over his arm; then he pulled her along beside him through the doors and into the theater itself, leaving the earl and Lady Lippet to follow behind.
    As he led Arabella into the building, Neville told himself he had had little choice but to intercept his father, Lady Lippet and Arabella as they spoke with George Villiers.
    The duke hadn’t gotten where he was because he was completely without some attractive points. He was handsome, he was rich and he could be charming, especially to women.
    Yet it was Villiers, it was said, who had instructed the king in various vices during the long years of exile. It was also rumored that the duke was familiar with more decadent practices than most men knew existed.
    Now this infamous debaucher of women,notorious libertine and reputed royal pander had discovered Arabella.
    Neville realized that if his goal was merely to engineer Arabella’s fall from her virtuous pedestal, an intimate relationship with Villiers would accomplish that. But Villiers was a disgusting lecher, and Neville would see no woman, not even his rival, sacrificed to that man’s depravity.
    And besides, he would lose the bet with Richard and Foz if Buckingham seduced her.
    As they moved toward the boxes on the second level of the theater, they were crowded on all sides, the pressure of