Seducing the Single Lady Read Free Page B

taken tea together b efore, Miss Grey.”
    “Upon that occasion I do recall yo u smashing my tea set to bits,” she replied. “My lovely white china tea set, painted with the daintiest pink roses. It had been a gift from my mother on my sixth birthday.”
    “I’ll try to restrain myself this time,” he remarked with a grin and her cursed guests tittered with amusement.
    “Do . Though now I am now in a position to afford a replacement, I’m rather fond of this set. Is it not lovely?”
    Murmurs all around on the loveli ness of her tea set, this one a pale buttercup yellow with gold leaf trim. Another gift from her mother, though one she had inherited upon the occasion of the lovely woman’s passing on. 
    “ Lord Bedford, we are all eager to hear of your adventures, for adventures they must be!” Lord Sommerly declared, to the hearty assent of everyone.
    “ It’s not everyday one returns from the dead.”
    “ Last we heard, you were having more fun on your Grand Tour than anyone ought to, then we heard you had died, tragically, and now here you are.”
    “ To our delight,” Lady Crowden added.
    “Speak for yourself,” Susannah muttered.
    “Do tell us what has transpired,” Lady Bellande cooed.
    “ I had been enjoying my Grand Tour,” Damien began.
    “A journey that usually takes one year and which you had stretched into a remarkable nine-year endeavor,” Susannah clarified. Nine years in which he had avoided and abandoned her.
    Damien turned, locked his gaze with hers and said in a low, rough voice, “I like to be thorough in my pleasures and explorations.”
    “Do go on,” she muttered, her cheeks warm and probably very pink.
    “After stops in Paris, Florence, Venice and other great cities, I found myself in Greece where I amused myself with the local sights while becoming acquainted with the local inhabitants and avoiding the worst of the war.”
    No one in the room had any illusions as to what he meant by acquainted. His emphasis on the word left only one salacious conclusion to be drawn.
    “After a particularly lively evening, full of excellent wines, charming company, and high-stakes games of cards, I was persuaded that it was tragic that a collection of British officers stationed nearby were unable to participate in such revelry, as they served under a particularly strict commanding officer.”
    An attentive silence reigned over the drawing room as Damien told his story. Even Susannah caught herself leaning forward, captivated by his tale and his voice.
    “ We got a tad carried away, as one does during that hour just before dawn,” Damien said and the men nodded knowingly while most of the women looked desperately curious. “Just before the sun rose we had concocted an inspired plan to switch places with the officers for one evening, when their commanding officer was required elsewhere. We’d don their uniforms and have a sober night in whilst they could don our civilian attire and amuse themselves in town.”
    “What a risky endeavor! You might have been hurt!”
    “Unfortunately, the officer impersonating me was gravely wounded. The enraged husband of a local woman with whom I’d enjoyed a particular friendship had decided that night to seek his revenge. He and I had never met, so he knew not to hold his fire until he found the right man, deserving his vengeance.”
    The men’s expressions turned grim whilst the ladies gasped and shuddered.
    “I had sought only to provide an evening of entertainment for the unfortunate soldier. Instead, I feel I have cost him his life for he will certainly never walk again.”
    Damien seemed to have something in his eyes. As did Susannah. Others wept openly. She glanced at him, and there was no denying the damage that had been done to him. There was no doubting the intensity of his resolve to reform and live a good, honorable life. He had to, if he were to have a prayer of redeeming himself after this awful, awful accident.
    “Our scheme was then