Heiress in Red Silk, Hunter, Madeline [good beach reads TXT] 📗

Nicholas proceeded to dress. “The first thing you need to know is that discretion is something of a joke. You need to go through the inconvenience of being discreet, but everyone will still know what is going on. They will pretend they don’t if you make the effort, however.”

“Why bother if there will still be gossip?”

“It buys you quiet gossip, instead of insults-at-your-club and doors-closing-in-your-face gossip. As for the lady, efforts at discretion will protect her reputation in a public sense, but there will still be talk. Just not getting-called-out-and-killed talk.” Nicholas checked his cravat. “Come with me if you expect more.”

Kevin joined Nicholas in wandering the streets until they found a tavern near the river.

“You have grown fond of democratic drinking establishments,” Kevin said, joining him at a rough table. The men around them bore the garments and speech of workers from the docks.

Nicholas called for two pints. “The ale is good and there isn’t a single member of the ton present to eye me like a chicken to be had for dinner.”

“The Season isn’t going well?”

“The fathers are as bad as the mothers. I lately embarked on a very indiscreet liaison in the hopes of discouraging them all, to no avail.” He shook his head.

“You were about to tell me about the discreet kinds, however.”

“You would see the steps if you turned that mind of yours to it. You go to her house, not she to yours. You arrive very late and leave before the street has risen.”

“I have figured out that much.”

“Even in the house, you avoid being seen by the servants, although they will all know you are there. If you arrive by coach, you get out two streets away and walk the rest. If you ride your horse, you use a stable in a distant mews. If you truly want to be discreet, you do not enter by the front door, but through the garden.”

“Must I climb up to her window?”

“I’m glad you find this amusing. No need to climb in windows because, as I said, no one really is being fooled.”

“Thank you. I’m sure this will help—”

“There is more. This part involves society, so you are sure to get it wrong without help. You—”

“I think I’m insulted.”

Nicholas ignored him. “You are allowed to encounter each other in the park on occasion and walk a short while, but you do not arrive together, least of all in a closed carriage. You are permitted one dance, no more, at a ball or party. You do not attend the theater together, or any other entertainment, and if you meet at a dinner party you bore each other when you converse. If you give her a gift, have the shopkeeper bring a selection to your home and choose there, so no one else can identify the gift as coming from you.” Nicholas drank some of the ale.

“Is that all, or are you only taking a breath?”

“There is more if she is married.”

“She isn’t, of course.”

“Not yet.”

“Nor will she be. If she declines me, it is because she wants to control her inheritance.”

“She may fall in love. There is no telling what a woman will do when that happens. Not only men become stupid when they fall in love.”

Kevin wanted to say Rosamund would still want to preserve her independence then, but he couldn’t count on it. She had waited years for that scoundrel in the name of love, hadn’t she? It had been one notable exception to her clear thinking and practical nature.

“In the least you need to remember this. If she does marry, it is over as soon as she is engaged. Done. Any revival of the affair after her marriage is completely up to her. Should there be such a revival, come to me and I’ll tell you how to manage that.”

“I had no idea you had such expertise. I’m glad I asked you instead of Chase.”

“You go to Chase if you ever need to know how to be utterly sly. He uncovers such subterfuge all the time. The kind you need to use if a husband is unaccepting, suspicious, and keeps his dueling pistols clean. Although only a besotted fool would continue an affair then, and I assume you will never be one of those.”

“It is probably very complicated if it requires someone like Chase to uncover the deceptions. Your lesson alone comes close to making the entire idea of a liaison boring.”

“Eventually, it is. You know it is over when the notion of arranging the assignation and stealing in like a thief makes you choose gambling at your club instead.”

Kevin left soon after. Nicholas had described a situation that held little appeal. Visiting a brothel was much simpler. Not that a woman in a brothel could replace Rosamund.

It was a peculiar thought to have jump into his head. He pondered its emergence while he crossed the river and aimed toward Southwark.

* * *

Rosamund climbed out of the hackney cab. What she wanted to do required she be on foot. She asked the man to wait for her return, then paced down the street.

It had taken some doing to find these factories south of the river. This was not an area frequented by women much. In fact, she saw not a one for a block. Men entered and left the buildings, though. Laborers from the looks of them. A few others merely lounged against the outside walls. Noise came from one of the taverns she passed.

Most of the factories had been built of brick. None of them were very large. She plucked a piece of paper out of her reticule. The hackney driver said this was the street. Now she only had to find the correct establishment.

She had wanted to do this ever since she saw all those automatons. It seemed to her that they were simply large, elaborate toys for grown men. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a small, less elaborate one that was for a child? She had an idea of the