Was it a particular shade of blue? he felt like asking. Instead, he turned back to Elora, who had interrupted her explanation to look at him in surprise. “I’ve never seen you behave this way,” she said, removing her other glove. “You’ve become a stranger, but then I suppose that’s the children’s influence. I could strangle Curtis’s worthless baggage of a wife.”
James frowned. “How do you know about this?”
“It’s all over London. Poor Curtis. I hope you’re arranging for a divorce.”
“When the time comes, of course, I’ll help him with the proceedings. It isn’t a matter of merely closing a door. I imagine he’ll have a say in the matter.”
Her eyes flashed. “You aren’t going to encourage him to keep her?”
He realized then what it was that he had sensed was missing between them and could not name. Elora had attended every one of his family’s functions since he could remember. Conceited donkey that he was, he’d assumed she loved him and had been willing to settle for being his mistress when she secretly wanted to be his wife. “Does this mean that you have loved Curtis all this time and demeaned yourself with me because he was married, and you couldn’t have him?”
She sat up, sighing, and pushing a comb back into her hair. “He wouldn’t have married me, even if he’d never met Cassandra.”
James grunted. “It would have been a blessing had they never met.”
“Except for Mary and Walker. She did give Curtis beautiful children.”
James mulled this over. In his opinion the children had become little hellions, but he didn’t wonder why. Unsupervised, left to their own devices. It was a wonder that they hadn’t caused an accident before today. Or perhaps they had. The servants who’d cared for them wouldn’t tell. Even Ivy had begged him to spare them punishment.
“I don’t understand anything, Elora.” He forced himself not to look into his bedchamber again. “Why didn’t you at least give me a hint of your feelings for Curtis? I might have furthered your cause.”
“You might be the finest lover in London. You might be the duke of every woman’s dreams, but you’re selfish and see only what affects you. My reputation was ruined years ago, James. If you weren’t so self-absorbed, you might have noticed.”
“Well, if I didn’t know about it, then I’m sure Curtis didn’t, either. We were at war, Elora. Who in the ton was hopping from one bed to another like frogs on so many lily pads was the last thing on our minds.”
She heaved another sigh. “Then it would only be a matter of time. How did you think that a lady of my background fell into the half-world? One day I was a debutante, the next I was consorting with rogues and actresses. Didn’t you ever wonder what happened to me?”
“I suppose I did, once or twice. But the war changed everything, and I wasn’t sure it was polite to probe into what might have been a distressful subject.”
“But it is polite to sleep with me?” she asked, rising from the chaise to approach him. She reached out her hand.
He shook his head. “Don’t do that now.”
She smiled and lifted her fingers to his disheveled jacket. “Do what?”
“Touch me,” he said in an undertone, turning from her hand. “What do you suppose is taking that physician so long?”
She lowered her hand. “There could be a hundred reasons,” she said, smiling tightly. “But it won’t matter when he arrives if your patient has run away.”
“What?”
He brushed past her to the door in time to hear the precise click of heels echoing through the outer hallway. Ivy had made his bed. And abandoned it. He should have guessed by that mutinous look on her face that she wasn’t going to obey him. Neither was she about to sit there listening to him and Elora discuss the death or resurrection of their arrangement.
“I was only trying to restore your appearance before anyone else sees you,” Elora said, breaking into the bedchamber after him. “Really, James, I think you’re overreacting. She’s injured. She was embarrassed by what happened. I don’t suppose my turning up helped. Where could she have gone? To the kitchen, or the garden?”
“Home,” he said, afraid he’d driven her away. “She could have misinterpreted the conversation you and I had and taken offense.”
Elora laughed. “Aren’t I the one who should be offended by finding a woman in your bed?”
He disappeared into the hall, scowling, and stared down the empty staircase. “You’re the one who admitted being in love with my brother and using me as second-best,” he said without looking around. “This isn’t a good time to talk about it.”