HE drawing room was quite crowded, Miriam’s twenty people having turned into thirty. The music room was open and sounds of someone tinkering with the harp drifted from it. The dining room was open, the long table set up for a buffet. Guests drifted from room to room.

Selena Eddington had changed little in the year since Reggie had seen her. Dressed in a frilly pink lace creation that made Reggie feel matronly in her dark blue gown, Selena had all the men hanging on her every word. From time to time, she turned toward Reggie with a satisfied smirk.

“Cheer up, my dear. It was bound to happen one day.”

Reggie turned to Lady Whately, an acquaintance from years past. She was sitting beside Reggie on the sofa. “What was bound to happen?” Reggie inquired.

“You meeting up with the women from your husband’s past, there being so many of them. ”

“If you mean Lady Selena—”

“Not just her, my dear. There’s the Duchess there, and that Ritchie tart, and Mrs. Henslowe, though Anne Henslowe was just a fling, or so I’m told.”

Reggie’s eyes flew to each woman the old tabby named, widening when they fell on Caroline Symonds, Duchess of Windfield, a stunningly beautiful blond only a few years older than Reggie. The Duchess sat demurely next to a man in his late seventies. He had to be the Duke of Windfield. How utterly miserable the young woman must be with that old husband, thought Reggie.

Pamela Ritchie, Anne Henslowe, Caroline Symonds, and Selena Eddington. Four of Nicholas’ past mistresses in the same room with his wife! This was asking too much. Was she supposed to converse with them? Act the gracious hostess?

Nicholas made an appearance just then, and she wished she could glower at him, but that was out of the question. While she watched, Lady Selena took Nicholas’ arm and held on tightly.

“That doesn’t upset you, does it, my dear?”

Reggie turned to find Lady Whately gone and Anne Henslowe in her place. Was she now to be comforted by one of his mistresses? “Why should it upset me?” Reggie answered stiffly.

Mrs. Henslowe smiled. “It shouldn’t. After all, she lost him and you have him. She was upset about it.”

“And you?”

“Oh, dear. Someone has been whispering in your ear. I was afraid of that.”

Reggie simply could not remain vexed. The woman was genuinely sympathetic, her brown eyes compassionate. She wasn’t a bad sort. And her affair with Nicholas had happened long before Reggie met him.

“Don’t give it another thought.” Reggie smiled.

“I won’t. I just hope you don’t. Be assured, my dear, that Nicholas never goes back for second helpings.”

Reggie giggled, shocked. “Nicely put.”

“And true, to the lamentation of the women in his past. Many have tried to get him back, and all without luck.”

“Did you?” Reggie asked bluntly.

“Heavens, no. He wasn’t for me and I knew it. I was thankful for my one night with him. It occurred soon after I lost my husband, I was close to losing my sanity as well and Nicholas helped me see that my life wasn’t over after all. I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”

Reggie nodded and Anne Henslowe patted her arm. “Don’t let it get to you, my dear. He is yours now, forever.”

But he wasn’t hers, and he hadn’t been hers after that one night nearly a year ago.

She thanked Mrs. Henslowe and looked around for Nicholas. He wasn’t there, and he wasn’t in the dining room or the music room. That left the conservatory, and she retraced her steps back through the dining room and quietly slipped into the glass-walled sun room. It was warm and dark, the only light coming through the far windows of the dining room. It was just light enough to see as far as the fountain, to see the pink lacy gown and short black curls of Selena Eddington, whose arms were wrapped around Nicholas’ neck.

“Are you enjoying your tour of the house, Lady Selena?” Reggie called out, approaching them.

Her voice drew them apart. Selena had the grace to look embarrassed. But Nicholas didn’t seem at all contrite. In fact, he turned dark with anger. Seeing his anger, Reggie’s outrage turned to throat-tightening pain. Ninny! He hadn’t wanted to stop holding Selena.

She turned and left as quickly as she could. Nicholas called after her, but she only hurried her step. The philandering libertine! How could she have been so stupid—so foolish—as to hope?

When she reached the antechamber, Reggie stopped short. No, she would not run and hide as if her heart were breaking. Malorys were made of sterner stuff. They did not make the mistake of falling in love with the same person twice. Love wasn’t why she had this tight knot in her throat. No, indeed, she was choking on anger, that was all.

She stepped into the drawing room again, the smile she had worn most of the day right back in place. Calmly, she took a seat and plunged into conversation with Faith and Lady Whately.

Nicholas entered the drawing room the moment after Reggie sat down. He took one look at her tranquil expression and his heart sank. What had he expected? Tears? In order to be jealous, a person had to care. The devil take Selena straight to hell for throwing her arms around him and catching him off guard like that. Had she known Reggie was nearby? He hadn’t wanted to escort Selena through the house in the first place, but she had challenged him, hinting that he was afraid to be seen with her, whispering that he was no longer his own man. Like a bloody fool, he dragged her from room to room, giving her the tour. Idiot!

She wanted to see what was behind the closed doors of the conservatory, and once inside, a single flower on a twisting vine caught her eye. Nothing would do but she must have it. After two attempts to reach it herself, she had pleaded sweetly for him to get it. He went for the bloody bloom, and no sooner had he plucked it and turned to hand it to her than she had her arms locked behind his neck. Two seconds had passed, and then Regina spoke. It was unbelievable, the worst piece of luck imaginable.

He looked at Regina again and her eyes met his. In that moment before she turned away, her eyes shot blue flames at him.

Nicholas’ hopes soared. He grinned. She didn’t care? Then why was she so furious with him? Determined now, he approached the three women on the sofa. “May I join you, ladies? What with all the duties of the host, I haven’t had a moment to spare for my lovely wife.”

“There isn’t room, Nicholas,” Reggie said flatly.

And there wasn’t, not with the ample posterior of Lady Whately taking up half of the sofa. But he was not deterred by that or by Reggie’s stiff tone.

He caught her wrist, tugging her up to stand, then sat down and pulled her down onto his lap.

“Nicholas!” she gasped.

“Don’t be embarrassed, love.” He grinned, holding her firmly in place.

“Scandalous, Lord Montieth!” Lady Whately was even more embarrassed then Regina. “If you are so eager to be near your wife, you may have my seat.”

She left, and then Faith moved away as well, pretending a sudden interest in a painting across the room. Reggie slipped off her husband’s lap and sat beside him. She wanted to move away from him entirely, but his arm over her shoulder kept her on the sofa.

“That was—”

“Shush,” he whispered. “And smile, love. We are being observed.” She smiled up at him tightly but her eyes cursed him anyway. He chuckled. “Is that the best you can do?” Then he said softly, “It was nothing, you know.”

She didn’t have to ask what he meant. “Of course not,” she retorted ironically.

“It really wasn’t. She made an attempt to seduce me and she failed. It was no more than that.”

“Oh, I believe you, my lord,” she said flatly, her voice icy. “I believe you because I have twice been told tonight that your ex-mistresses do not interest you once they fall into the ex-category. One of your former ladies assured me that you ‘never return for seconds.’ So I must believe it even when my eyes tell me differently.”

“You’re jealous.”

“Stuff!”

He grinned devilishly. “Your informant wasn’t totally correct, love. Were you the meal, I would return for seconds and thirds and gorge myself to death.”

“Oh!” she gasped. “I am in no mood to be quizzed, sir! Good night to you.”

She shot to her feet before he could grab her and left the room. He let her go, smiling to himself. He was beginning to think Miriam’s gathering was going to be just what was needed to get his wife back. Wouldn’t the old bird die to know she had helped him! His grin widened. His mood was becoming positively buoyant.