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‘It’s bound to have got out,’ Alex interrupted harshly. Your brother knows, after all, and so does Lord Mornington.’ Alex dragged himself upright. ‘You got yourself into the confounded mess so you’ll have to suffer the consequences of being so blasted noble...’
‘Drink?’ Hugh invited acidly. A thumb pointing over his shoulder indicated his study, situated along the corridor. He knew they were both feeling foolish for having swung first and asked questions second.
Hugh knew he was wrong for wanting Beatrice in his bed, but if necessary he’d fight his best friend to have her—because just a single memory of her silky lips slipping beneath his, and her moaning response to his ardour, was enough to send tormenting heat to his loins.
‘Promise me you’ll stay away from my sister-in-law and I’ll take a drink with you.’ Alex feared his terms and his olive branch would be rejected.
‘I can’t do that.’ Hugh turned away from his best friend, calling over his shoulder to a footman, who’d remained stoically seated in a shadowy alcove during the fracas, ‘The viscount’s leaving; show him out.’
Chapter Eleven (#uf1865651-26c4-5264-befc-4525a57dd051)
Elise had hoped that the hostility between her husband and his friend might ease in a day or two, but she was disappointed on that score.
Raising herself up on an elbow and resting her rumpled blonde head into a cupped palm, she watched Alex pulling on his clothes. He’d welcomed her back to his side as he always did, by taking her to bed to make love to her at the earliest opportunity. As soon as his son had been settled in the nursery and his in-laws were safely occupied in unpacking and resting in their chambers Elise had been scooped into his arms and the stairs mounted two at a time.
Following their leisurely pleasure Elise had tried to question Alex about recent upsets, but he’d refused to have Hugh Kendrick’s name mentioned and had stopped her words with a hungry kiss before springing out of bed.
‘I’m off to see Adam in the nursery before going out. What will you and Bea get up to for the rest of the day while I pore over dusty old files with my solicitor?’
‘Mischief...’ Elise rolled onto her back, feeling languid, a smile tilting her mouth as she twirled a finger into the dangling golden fringe of the bed canopy.
‘That I can believe...’ Alex approached the enormous four-poster and leaned over his wife, planting a fist either side of her lissom body. ‘And your intended victim, sweet?’
‘Hugh Kend—’
A finger was placed on her lips, silencing her.
‘We must speak of him, Alex,’ Elise said crossly, sliding free. ‘Papa likes him and is bound to ask after him. How are we to explain away your argument with him?’ She sat up, using both arms to draw her knees beneath her chin. ‘Also, Papa is going after Colin Burnett for the money he owes him.’
Alex sat down on the edge of the bed, sensing his wife’s anxiety. ‘I was unaware of any shortfall. Walter’s not mentioned the debt or asked me to help in the matter.’
Elise sighed. ‘He probably did not want his son-in-law to think him incapable of sorting out his own affairs. You know how independent he is.’ She frowned. ‘I know it wasn’t long ago that my father could not abide Hugh because of the way he’d treated Beatrice. But Papa has his whims, and he thinks that Burnett is now the foe and Kendrick, as he calls him, is his knight errant.’
‘If Walter knew what that gentleman had planned for Beatrice he’d call him out—and me too, for introducing Hugh to his daughters in the first place.’
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