Read A Lady's Guide to Improper Behavior for Free Online

the Society.”
    “Good.” Sommerset finished off his tea and stood. “And while I don’t give a damn what our club members choose to attire themselves in, you’re getting blood on my Persian carpet.”
    With a curse, Tolly straightened. His bare left foot was spattered with blood, while more of the stuff soaked his trouser leg up to the knee. “Apologies.”
    “Don’t bother with that. I’ve sent for Dr. Prentiss. And it’s been better than eight months since you were wounded, has it not? Shouldn’t you have healed by now?”
    There were a great many things that should have been, and weren’t. “Infection,” he said stiffly. “Mostly gone now, but it wouldn’t knit. And I fell on it last night.”
    “Speak to Prentiss about that. He’s saved the lives of at least two other club members since their return to London.”
    Ah, the do-this-and-be-cured conversation. He’d had them before, but hadn’t expected to hear such nonsense from the Duke of Sommerset. “Thank goodness. I’d wondered when the miracle would occur. I should be dancing by midnight, don’t you think?”
    The club door opened, and Lucas Crestley, Lord Piper, walked in. The duke nodded at the morning’s first arrival, then returned his gaze to Bartholomew. “What I think, Tolly,” he drawled, “is that yesterday you would have been skeptical about walking by midnight.” He tapped the Haramund invitation with one finger. “Someone’s got you thinking about dancing.”
    As the duke walked back toward the private door leading to Ainsley House, Tolly silently reminded himself that the Duke of Sommerset, even at the relatively young age of two and thirty, was one of the most brilliant men he’d ever encountered. Clearly Tolly was going to have to work harder if he wanted to keep his affairs to himself.
    On the other hand, what did he care if Sommerset discovered that some chit had teased him aboutdancing? The answer was that he didn’t give a damn, of course. Clenching the Haramund invitation in his fist, he pushed upright. Grabbing the cane with his other hand, he stood for a moment until he was sure of his balance, then headed through the back door to his small, borrowed room to shave and dress, and to wait for the miraculous Dr. Prentiss.
    And yes, damn it all, he was thinking about dancing.
     
    Theresa looked from the black cat on her lap to the black cat curled into the one sunny spot on the window sill. “If that one is Blackie, then who is this on my lap?”
    Grandmama Agnes, Lady Weller, chortled as she spooned another lump of sugar into her morning tea. As she told it, in her day she’d been a diamond of the first water, while today she’d faded to a mere emerald. With her bright green eyes and vivacious smile, she looked like one. Her wit, however, remained diamond-sharp, if a bit eccentric. “He’s Midnight,” the family’s matron said.
    “How do you tell them apart?”
    “Blackie has one white back paw, and Midnight has one white front paw. I do believe that Millicent had her eye on Midnight, but I was far too clever.”
    “Of course you were. I’ve yet to see Lady Selgrave best you in a cat negotiation.” With a grin, Theresa finished off her own tea and put Midnight off her lap. Then she had to stand quickly; she’d discovered that if she remained seated in her grandmama’s part of the house for longer than a heartbeat, she would havea cat on her lap. “Are you certain you don’t wish to go walking with Leelee and me this morning?”
    “Oh, no. Mrs. Smith-Warner and I are going to visit Lady Dorchester. She has a terrible case of the gout, you know. I’ve told her to take the waters at Bath, but she refuses to miss any of the Season even for the sake of her health.”
    “Give her my best wishes, then,” Theresa said, leaning down to kiss her grandmother on the cheek.
    “You are a dear heart, Tess.”
    “As are you, Grandmama.” Halfway to the door, she paused. “You are still attending the Haramund