Page 31 of So Wild A Heart

“Of course. I told you, she says anything that comes into her head. She would send my mother into a swoon, no doubt.” He grinned. “Although it might be worth it just to see that.”

“Hmm. You might want to latch on to this girl. Think of the dustup she could cause at Almack’s.”

Devin chuckled, and they were silent for a moment, drinking, absorbed in their own thoughts.

“You know, Dev,” Cleybourne said finally, “marriage might not be such a terrible thing, even to Miss Upshaw.”

“Are you hoping it will make a decent man of me? That is what Rachel thinks—though she tries to express it more tactfully, of course.”

“No,” Richard replied quietly. “I think you are a decent man, no matter how much you try to convince people otherwise. But you might find that life would be more…interesting with a wife like Miss Upshaw.”

“Then you think I should marry her, too?”

“I think you should do what is best for you.” Richard shrugged. “Of course, in this situation, I don’t see that you really have any choice in the matter. She turned you down, after all.”

Devin shot him a sideways glance. “I could change that any time I wanted.”

Richard let out a short burst of laughter. “Damme, you probably could.”

“Enough of such somber things,” Devin said, downing the remainder of his glass. “Drink up, and I shall challenge you to a game of Ecarte.”

“Ah, you will soon be out of debt, then, as you will doubtless beggar me. Let us remove ourselves to the game room.” Cleybourne stood, wrapping his hand around the bottle, and they left the room to settle down to a long night of drinking and card playing.

To her surprise, Miranda found that her stepsister was curled up in a chair in Miranda’s room, sound asleep, when Miranda returned from the opera that night.

“What are you doing here at this hour?” she asked playfully, touching Veronica’s shoulder to bring her awake.

Veronica jumped a little, startled, and looked up at Miranda, blinking. “Oh! I was waiting up for you. I wanted to hear all about the opera.” She stretched, rubbing her neck. “I don’t get to do anything fun! Mama says I cannot go to the opera until I make my coming out.”

“I am sure your mother knows all about such things better than I.”

“But I didn’t get to go to the ball, either. Do you know that I’ve never even seen this Ravenscar fellow? And you didn’t tell me about the ball. So I decided I would wait up for you and get all the latest information. Only I fell asleep.”

“All right,” Miranda said with a smile. “You be my maid, and then we won’t have to awaken Rosie. And I’ll tell you all about the opera.”

“And the ball.”

“And the ball.”

Veronica jumped up to undo the long row of buttons down the back of Miranda’s dress. Miranda described the opera house and the music, the glittering array of jewels and dresses on all the women attending. She also did her best to recall the details of the ball—the arrangements of flowers, the dresses, the lights blazing from every possible place, the music that had played. Veronica listened avidly, her eyes lighting up as she imagined all that Miranda described.

“What about the Earl?” she asked when Miranda paused, seemingly done. “Don’t stop there. Tell me about the Earl of Ravenscar. Did you see him tonight? Did you dance with him at the ball?”

“Yes, and yes.”

“Don’t stop there!” Veronica cried.

“What do you want to know? He’s a passably handsome man.”

“You can do better than that.”

“All right. He has eyes as green as glass in the sunlight, and his hair is black as coal. There is a little scar here on his cheekbone, close to his eye. He’s tall and broad-shouldered and wickedly handsome, and not at all the sort of person young girls like you should be daydreaming about.”

“But are you going to marry him?” Veronica pressed.

Miranda paused, looking off into space for a moment, then back to her stepsister. “You know…I think I just might.”

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