Page 29 of The Dueling Duchess

“I’ve read about you in the society pages and seen countless illustrations and satires in print shop windows.”

“And both those are such a reliable source of information.”

“Are you denying that the stories printed about you are true?”

“I don’t know—which one do you mean?”

“Oh, there are so many!”

“Then it should be easy for you to pick one.”

“How about one of the more well-known stories—the one about you and the Duchess of Leicester?” she blurted, goaded by his blasé attitude.

His lips curved into a wicked smile. “Ah, yes, the most famous—or perhaps infamous—image of me.”

Cecile’s heart pounded faster just thinking about the drawing in question, which depicted Guy and the duchess naked in a well-appointed bedchamber, sprawled out on a canopy-covered bed.

An older man peeked in through a window, the cartoon drawn from a clever perspective that made it look as if the man was clinging to a ledge outside the building.

The cartoon had attracted such a huge crowd that the Watch had read the Riot Act outside Mr. Humphrey’s print shop, where over three hundred people had gathered to view the new satire, jostling and pushing until a massive brawl had erupted.

The Darling slid a step closer to her, his big body dwarfing hers. “You must have hurried to see that particular drawing, Miss Tremblay because it wasn’t in the window long.”

Indeed, it had been removed the same day it had gone up. Because in addition to a riot, it had also triggered a morals inquiry.

Cecile cleared her throat, refusing to step away from him and demonstrate how much his proximity was making her perspire. “So, my lord, was it an accurate depiction?”

* * *

Her pert question surprised another laugh out of Guy. “Actually, the artist rather understated my attributes.”

Her brow furrowed, as if she were trying to discern his meaning.

Guy knew the instant she did because her cheeks were tinted a delightful pink and she huffed. “That wasn’t what I meant.”

“Oh? It wasn’t? What did you mean then?” He actually knew very well what she’d meant.

“I meant is it true that the duke caught you in bed with his wife?”

Guy was familiar with this sort of question, although usually only men were brave enough to ask it so directly. Normally, it irritated him to talk about all the stories that circulated about his exploits. But he found that he was most eager to satisfy Miss Tremblay’s curiosity. After all, it was the only interest she’d shown in him after almost five weeks. She’d become something of an anomaly in his experience: a woman to whom he appeared practically invisible. Which was ironic given that she had all those newspapers tucked away in the dressing room.

Guy was sorely tempted to tell her the truth—which was far more deviant than the cartoon—that the duke had watched them, but through a peephole rather than a window. And that Guy hadn’t cuckolded the man—at least not without his express invitation.

Indeed, the duke and duchess together had invited Guy into His Grace’s bedchambers to participate in one of their erotic games, apparently a favorite, in which the duke observed while another man pleasured his wife.

His Grace had never become angry or made a scene. In fact, Guy hadn’t even seen the duke that night as the older man had been behind the wall viewing from a priest hole the entire time.

It had been a first for Guy and had, strangely, left him feeling like a prostitute as the duke and duchess were very much in love and obviously using his presence to titillate themselves. It had been an interesting feeling, and quite singular in his experience.

One of the duke’s disgruntled servants had sold the lascivious story to a newspaperman, and Guy’s reputation as a cuckolder of dukes had been born.

One look at Cecile’s lovely face made it obvious that she was panting to hear all the filthy details.

Guy smiled. “A gentleman never kisses and tells, Miss Tremblay.”

She gave an unladylike snort. “From what I’ve read, my lord, you have never allowed your behavior to be proscribed by what gentlemen do.”

“You sound like quite a specialist where I am concerned.”