Some Like It Wicked

She frowned. ‘Would I be correct in supposing that you have also been invited to share that same box this evening?’

He gave a haughty inclination of his head. ‘It is intended that I will make up one of the party, yes.’

‘And this party will consist of …?’

‘The Earl and Countess of Heyborough. You. And myself.’

‘Why?’

His brows rose even further into his golden locks. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Why do you wish to act as my escort to the opera?’

Those sculptured lips thinned. ‘I have my reasons.’

As Pandora had suspected … ‘And are you about to share those with me?’

‘No.’

Again Pandora was beset with the thought ‘devil by name and devil by nature’ … ‘Are you so determined to once again witness my public humiliation that you are even willing to enrol the assistance of one of your relatives in order to achieve it?’

The Duke’s jaw tightened ominously. ‘Would you care to explain in what way my escorting you to the opera could in any way be considered a humiliation?’

She sighed her impatience. ‘When other members of the ton present this evening not only ignore me, but choose to deliberately cut me. Snubs that perhaps might include even yourself and your aunt and uncle.’

Rupert now looked at her down the length of his impressive nose. ‘I assure you, madam, that no member of the ton would dare to ignore you, let alone deliberately cut you, when you are in the company of the Duke of Stratton.’

He may be right in that conclusion, Pandora acknowledged ruefully; he was certainly a man to be reckoned with, both socially and politically, and as such he was unlikely to receive an insult from anyone. ‘And what of your relatives—is their social standing also to be threatened because of what can only be considered an amusement, a whim, on your part?’

He was every inch the aristocratic Duke of Stratton as he gave Pandora a pityingly look. ‘My aunt and uncle have no more interest in society’s approval than I.’

‘Even so—’

‘Cease this interminable arguing, Pandora!’ Rupert lost all patience with the conversation. ‘We are both going to the opera this evening, in the company of the Earl and Countess of Heyborough, and let that be an end to it.’

Tears once again glistened in those beautiful violet-coloured eyes. ‘What possible reason can you have for putting me through such an ordeal? Did I, or my husband, cause you some unintended slight in the past of which I am unaware? A slight that now requires my deliberate humiliation as atonement?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Pandora.’

‘I’m not the one who is being ridiculous, Rupert—’ She broke off, an expression of confusion on her delicately beautiful face at the realisation that in her distress she had lapsed into the familiar way of addressing him, after all. ‘I’m sorry, but the very idea of accompanying you to the opera this evening is completely out of the question,’ she continued evenly. ‘I only attended Sophia’s ball yesterday evening out of a desire to please her and because she has been so supportive and kind to me this past month. But, I assure you, I feel under no such obligation where you are concerned.’

Rupert felt a return of his previous admiration for this young woman’s dignity and calm. It might be a complete fabrication on her part, but nevertheless it was still impressive to behold. Also, he found her concern for others, namely her two female friends, and now Rupert and his aunt and uncle, not quite in keeping with the reputation she had amongst the ton as having been consistently unfaithful in her marriage, an infidelity which had eventually resulted in her husband’s death …

‘Did I not come to your rescue against Sugdon yesterday evening?’

She eyed him uncertainly. ‘Yes …’

He nodded tersely. ‘Resulting in his having taken my advice, in that he is, as we speak, preparing to depart for cooler and windier climes?’

She smiled slightly at the use of his word ‘advice’. ‘Yes.’

‘Then surely that means you are now obligated to me.’

‘But—’

‘I will call for you here in my carriage at seven-thirty this evening,’ Rupert spoke firmly over her continued arguments.

Pandora gave a slightly dazed shake of her head. ‘You have to be the most stubborn gentleman I have ever met.’

He gave her a confident and wholly unapologetic smile. ‘I believe it has been mentioned before as being one of my character traits.’

Pandora eyed him quizzically. Rupert Stirling was arrogant, dictatorial, sarcastic, even ruthless—as well as being exceedingly stubborn, as she had just accused him. But he also possessed a sense of honour where even a disgraced lady’s reputation was concerned, a mocking sense of humour that often included laughing at himself and a physical presence she was finding it increasingly difficult to ignore.

Rupert’s looks and character were so completely different to those of her husband with his imposing presence, that arrestingly handsome face, impressive height and muscular build. Barnaby had been three or four years older than Rupert, but had looked younger with his boyish good looks and slight build. For all that Rupert was so determined to have his own way, he also filled Pandora with a sense of feeling protected and that no harm should befall her whilst she was in his presence, in a way which Barnaby never had despite his having been her husband for three years.

Except harm from Rupert himself, of course …

Pandora was not foolish enough to ever believe that he was offering her his public support out of the goodness of his heart! ‘I would still like to know what it is you hope to gain from such a—a public acquaintance with me?’

Rupert raised his brows. ‘Why should you assume I have anything to gain by it?’

Her eyes flashed deeply violet. ‘I may be several years younger than you, your Grace, and be considered something of a pariah by society, but I advise you not to assume for one moment that my lack of years or social standing in any way renders me a fool.’

‘I was not aware I had treated you as such.’

She shook her head. ‘We had never even met properly before yesterday evening, and when we did it was certainly not under pleasant or flattering circumstances. Therefore, there must now be another reason for your seeming act of generosity in having persuaded your relatives to invite me to the opera. Perhaps it is that I am expected to act as a diversion of sorts, from attention being drawn to … to another relationship, which currently exists in your life?’

Rupert had already known this woman to be beautiful and equally as stubborn as he, and in possession of an impressive intelligence of mind. He now knew she was astute in a way that would no doubt have reduced a lesser man than he to squirming discomfort! If, that is, that gentleman had been ignorant of the fact that Pandora had been privy to a certain private conversation between himself and one of his two closest friends … Although Rupert somehow doubted that the conversation Pandora had overheard had revealed all of the complexities of the relationship which currently existed between himself and the woman who was now his father’s widow.

He gave a hard and humourless smile. ‘You, my dear Pandora, are expected to be here, ready and waiting, and suitably attired for attending the opera, when I call for you at seven-thirty this evening.’

A reply which did nothing to answer Pandora’s question, as was no doubt deliberate; Rupert appeared to feel no qualms whatsoever in intruding and commenting on the privacy of other people’s lives, whilst at the same time refusing to reveal anything about his own.