Page 62 of How to Start a Scandal

She laughed and surreptitiously glanced about as if she was worried someone might have overheard. A flush covered her fair cheeks and her eyes sparkled.

The memory was clearly a pleasant one for her as well. Good. He’d certainly spent a considerable amount of time savouring their moments in the garden together.

Her kisses had been as hungry as his own, her body so lush and alluring under his hands.

Whatever layer of ice he’d let frost over his confidence finally cracked with her sweet laughter and the conversation resumed between them with a more natural flow. Without the subject of the Lady Observer coming up again. Thank God.

What was more, the walk accomplished exactly what he had wanted. As they strolled through Hyde Park, led by an odd little feline and trailed by a precocious girl and doe-eyed maid, every man and woman took notice.

Violet seemed oblivious as she reminisced over hilarious moments from their youth together. But Seth was quite aware of every eye that swept over them. And he especially noted the ones that lingered. He squared his shoulders with pride. Lady Violet Lavell was his to court, his to wed. And he wanted everyone to know.

Prior to the moment he saw Violet with her scandal sheet, he’d never considered reading one on his own. He’d done so only to see what it was she found so fascinating. Aside from making him hungry with the detail in which the food had been described, he’d found them tedious and bordering on intrusive.

Seeing how gossip swarmed around them right now, however, left him craving the need to purchase every one printed about this day. Ladies and Notions, the Society Journal and anything else he could get his hands on. He wanted to be well aware how many people had acknowledged his courtship of Violet.

When the fashionable hour drew to an unfortunate close, Seth saw Violet, as well as her entourage, home. He could only imagine what the scandal sheets might say about Hedgehog. The idea of it nearly made him laugh.

Seth let the smile of his restrained mirth linger on his lips. ‘I’ve enjoyed myself immensely.’ In truth, if he’d known what a pleasurable experience it was to court Violet, he would have done it six years ago. If he hadn’t been such a cad then.

Violet slanted her eyes coyly at him. ‘As have I.’

Her maid and Felicity stood off to the side as they awaited Violet.

He lingered despite needing to let her go. ‘I want to see you again.’

‘I’m going to see Lottie tonight.’ Though she said the words softly, they plunged into his chest like a dagger.

Why would she need to continue to see Lottie if she was already being courted?

She licked her lips, nervous in a way that suddenly set him on edge. ‘I need to speak with her,’ Violet said. ‘At least one final time.’

Seth nodded slowly.

‘Will you meet me in the garden after I return home?’ Violet asked with a breathlessness that piqued his arousal.

‘I shall be watching for your return.’ He offered her a cordial bow, then tipped his hat to her maid, Felicity and finally Hedgehog before departing to his town house next door.

Gibbons welcomed Seth home and advised him that a parcel and note had arrived from a Mr Nash. The quirk of his eyebrow as he said Nash’s name implied how the stodgy butler felt about the man.

Excitement shot through Seth. The parcel was no doubt the ruby bracelet. He grinned at Gibbons and patted his shoulder. ‘I’ve paid someone to seek out the solicitor who stole the jewellery from us,’ he confided in the older man.

Gibbons opened his mouth, then closed it. ‘I’m glad to hear it, my lord.’

Seth narrowed his gaze. ‘But...?’

‘But nothing, my lord.’ The man snapped his lips shut and lifted his head, hands stubbornly tucked behind his back as though he could physically hide the words he clearly wasn’t saying.

What the deuce was amiss with the household at Dalton Place?

Seth suppressed a sigh. No doubt the servant was doing what he thought best. Seth couldn’t fault him for that. Instead, he left instructions with Gibbons to notify Lady Dalton that Seth wished to speak with her upon her arrival home, then went to his study.

As the butler had said, a small box and note were left on the centre of the desk.

Seth lifted the box to reveal a bracelet of fat rubies arranged like the petals of a summer rose, its centre winking with diamonds. The piece was set in a dainty gold bangle. There was no mistaking the item. Not when he’d seen it so many times in his childhood on his grandmother’s wrist and had even seen it on many occasions on Lady Dalton’s. It had been one of her favourites as it always reminded her of her mother when she wore it.

She would be pleased to see it returned.

Seth unfolded the note and the elation in his chest dimmed at the words.