Their Wicked Ways Read Free

when
she was a child.  Moreland would have no way of knowing that, but he could hardly
fail to know that we knew her well.  Why, I wonder, would he consider it a
challenge for either of us to seduce her?”
     
    Darcy thought it over,
frowning.  “You think, maybe, she considers us somehow responsible for Isaac’s
death?” he demanded, outraged at the injustice of it.
     
    Nick shrugged, taking the
reins of his horse as the groom brought it up to him and hoisting himself into
the saddle.  “On the surface, it would not seem likely.  On the other hand, she
was not there at the time, and I can think of no other reason why Bronte might
avoid us--she was indisposed when I went to pay my respects, as well--and yet
Moreland must have some reason to suppose she would not welcome us, don’t you
think?” he said when Darcy had mounted his own horse.
     
    The two fell silent as they
negotiated their way through London’s streets.  Once they’d arrived at Nick’s
lodgings, however, Darcy dismounted and followed him inside.  “You are not
seriously contemplating taking that bet?”
     
    Nick gave him a look. 
“Sleeping over?”
     
    Darcy looked around in
momentary confusion.  “I might as well borrow your couch for a few hours.”
     
    “Take the guest room, by all
means.  The bed will accommodate that frame of yours far better, and it will
spare the springs of my couch.  I’ll send my man round to you in a bit.”
     
    “I couldn’t help but notice
you didn’t answer my question,” Darcy said wryly, following him down the
hallway.
     
    Nick paused at his door and
glanced back at his long-time friend.  “As you pointed out, it would hardly be
sporting of me, would it?”
     
    Darcy frowned, remembering
the dirty faced child of their youth, and the skinny, freckled bride she’d
become.  “No,” he said slowly.
     
    Nick turned the door knob and
opened his door.  “In any case, what would be the point?”
     
    Darcy shrugged.
     
    “We both know I’m the
greatest,” Nick said, throwing his friend a laughing look as he entered his
room and closed the door soundly behind him.
     
    Darcy chuckled.  “Says you?”
he growled to the vibrating panel.  He waited a moment, but he hadn’t really
expected Nick to rise to the bait.  After a moment, he strode down the hall to
the ‘guest’ room he generally used when he was too tired, or too drunk, to find
his way back to his own apartments.
     
    He was not nearly as amused
when he rose late that afternoon to discover that Nick had risen several hours
earlier and, according to his notably astonished butler, departed for his
brother’s estate.
     
    Chagrined to realize Nick had
at least an hour’s head start on him, he departed for his own quarters only
long enough to clean up and order his manservant to pack his bags for an
indeterminate stay in the country and follow him as quickly as possible in the
traveling coach.
     
    Nick was traveling by coach,
and although it was not the sort of clumsy conveyance that could be counted on
to bog down somewhere along the road, and Darcy’s horses were of the finest
blood, he figured riding horseback would give him an advantage and that he
could catch up to Nick long before he reached his destination.
     
    In any case, Nick was bound
to stop at the inn in Haversham for the night.
     
    He was almost put out when he
discovered Nick waiting for him in the common room.
     
    “Trouble on the road?” Nick
inquired with interest.
     
    “Nothing more than slogging
through the damnable mire of the road,” Darcy retorted irritably.
     
    Amusement flared briefly in
Nick’s eyes.  “I thought as much. You seem to be wearing a great deal of it.”
     
    Nick, of course, was
immaculate as usual and not one hair out of place.  Darcy surveyed him with
some dudgeon, envisioning his own untamed locks.  Wavy at the best of times, it
took no more than a little damp to twist it into unmanageable ringlets.  “I was
not