Son of a rogue and a gypsy, Hero Fiennes Tiffin was a notorious rake until a shattering betrayal left him alone and embittered in the Welsh countryside. Desperation drives quiet schoolteacher Josephine Langford to ask Hero Fiennes Tiffin to help sav...
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As they waited in a short receiving line at Candover House, Josephine said, "Have you seen the duke since returning to London?"
"I paid a call, but he wasn't in, so I left a card." Hero smiled. "Rafe sent back a note inviting me to the ball, with a threat to drag me here by the scruff of the neck if I didn't come voluntarily."
"You'll probably be unable to do much except say hello to each other," she remarked. "I've always heard that a London ball has to be a great crush to be considered fashionable."
"Rafe doesn't follow fashion, he sets it. Since he doesn't enjoy unruly crowds, his gatherings are a more comfortable size. Makes them more exclusive, as well."
She gave him a teasing glance. "Does he not bother to invite unmarried girls since they aren't allowed to come?"
"Rafe has no interest in wellbred virgins," Hero said dryly. Gesturing to the woman standing by the host, he added, "That's Lady Welcott, his current mistress, according to Lucien."
"A married woman?"
Hero nodded. "The only kind of female Rafe has any interest in. They know the rules and don't cause trouble by falling in love with him."
Sounding very much like a preacher's daughter, Josephine said, "Is adultery a way of life in fashionable society?"
He shrugged. "Since many aristocratic marriages are made for reasons of family and property, it's hardly surprising when people look elsewhere for pleasure."
Was that why Hero had been unfaithful to his wife? Even Josephine's glorious gown didn't give her the courage to ask that question. Instead, she said, "Surely the duke is in a position to marry a woman of his choice rather than for dynastic reasons."
"He came close once—fell head over heels for a girl when he was just down from Oxford. I never met her, since I was still at university, but he wrote me some incoherent drivel to the effect that she was a goddess come to earth and they would become officially betrothed when the Season was over. It was the only time I've ever known Rafe to sound unbalanced."
"Did the girl die and he's never met another woman who was her equal?" Josephine asked sympathetically.
A hard glitter in his eyes, Hero replied, "No, she betrayed him. Isn't that what love means?"
Josephine felt as if all the air had been knocked out of her lungs. Then she sputtered, "That is, without a doubt, the most cynical remark I have ever heard in my life."
"Is it? My experience says otherwise. Everyone who has ever claimed to love me—" His voice cut off abruptly.
Realizing that he had accidentally exposed one of the painful truths that made him what he was, she took his unresponsive hand in hers. "I suppose that some people claim to love when the real motive is neediness, or a desire for control, or something equally selfish," she said thoughtfully. "Yet there are also people like Owen and Marged Morris, and Emily and Robert Holcroft. Do you think their love involves betrayal?"
