Page 27 of Secrets of the Heart

“I just wondered, you know, if you knew anything about something he might have done or—”

Overhill was staring at her now in alarm. “Michael has no secrets. Who has been telling you any differently?” He glanced at Sylvia.

She held up her hands in an expression of innocence, saying, “It was not I. Don’t look so fiercely at me.”

“But, well, it’s absurd to speak of Michael having secrets, especially from you, my dear. Everyone knows of his high regard for you. Who told you this?”

“No one,” Rachel admitted. She had been watching Perry’s face closely as he answered her, and it seemed to her that there was a slight relaxation of his face when she said that no one had told her anything. And had there been something just a trifle nervous in his eyes as he denied Michael’s secrets?

Quietly, she told him about the visit she had received from the highwayman, and he listened with rapt attention.

“Danger?” he said when she had finished. “Really, my dear, it’s nonsense. How could Michael be in danger? I am sure the fellow just wanted money.”

“But how did he know who Michael was?” Rachel pressed him.

Overhill blinked. “Well, ah…”

“You see?”

“I see that you have some unanswered questions,” Perry began carefully. “But I don’t think that they necessarily lead to the conclusion that Michael has kept secrets from you.”

“Secrets?” a woman’s voice drawled behind them. “The saintly Lord Westhampton? I am appalled.”

Perry grimaced at the sound of the voice. “Lady Vesey.”

Rachel turned around to look at the woman who stood behind her. She was a small woman with a voluptuous figure, which was tonight rather scantily clad in a gown of green voile. Her ample bosom swelled above the low neckline of the gown, and it was clear from the way the garment clung that Lady Vesey was wearing few, if any, petticoats beneath the evening dress. It was a style of dress adopted by the faster set of the Ton; some women even went so far as to dampen their gowns to make them cling even more provocatively, a practice Rachel viewed as unhealthy, as well as immodest. Few women, however, were able to fill their gowns out as well as Lady Leona Vesey did.

Lady Vesey’s wild ways had earned her the censure of most of the leading ladies of London Society. She was not received at many houses, and Rachel felt sure that Lady Tarleton would receive a blistering scolding from several of the more prominent women for inviting her to the party tonight. But, despite the disapprobation of the Ton, there were few who would deny that she was one of the great Beauties of the last two decades. Though she was nearing forty, age and dissipation had not yet scored their lines into her face—at least not in here in the glow of the candlelight. Her strawberries-and-cream complexion was soft, her lips full and pouting, her golden eyes large and dark lashed, and though Rachel suspected that her face owed much to the skillful application of cosmetics, the result was admittedly stunning.

Rachel thoroughly disliked the woman for her years of wicked influence over Dev, and it was clear that Leona Vesey returned the feeling in full measure. Rachel had been present last summer during a scene at Darkwater where Miranda successfully demonstrated to Lady Vesey that she had lost control over Dev, and since then, Leona had seemed to regard Rachel with even more venom than she had before.

“Rachel…” she purred now in a falsely sympathetic voice. “You should know better than to ask someone like Perry for your husband’s secrets. You should have come to me. I would have been happy to have told you all about his indiscretions.”

Rachel gave Leona a level look. “Had I thought you had any knowledge or any capacity for telling the truth, perhaps I would have.”

She turned back to Perry and Sylvia, regretting the fact that she had said anything to the woman. Her mother would have given Leona the cut direct, sending an icy glance right through her, then turning away as if Leona were not there. Rachel, however, had never been able to deliver such a cutting gesture, even to Lady Vesey.

But Leona was not to be denied. She plowed ahead, saying, “Oh, I know your husband’s secrets, Lady Westhampton. A great deal of London does. Perhaps you should ask Lord Westhampton about his visits to Mrs. Neeley. I am sure you would find his answers quite informative.”

Rachel was startled by Leona’s words. She had assumed that Leona was simply being annoying; she had not really considered that Leona actually had a tale about Michael to tell her. Even so, she would not have been alarmed had it not been for the fact that Perry stiffened, his eyes suddenly looking as if they were about to pop out of his head.

A chill rippled through Rachel. Obviously the name Leona had just used meant something to Perry. She turned back to Leona.

A smile curved Leona’s mouth, and there was a smug set to her face that irritated Rachel beyond measure. “Ah, I see I have your attention now.”

“I don’t know who you are talking about, but I am sure it is all nonsense. Vicious nonsense.”

“Really?” Leona gave a throaty little laugh. “If you were so certain as all that, I suspect you would not be standing there, waiting for me to tell you more. Mrs. Neeley—I give her the title, you see, but I am sure it is one purely of courtesy—is the owner of a rather popular gaming establishment. She has been for some years now—about the same amount of time that she has been granting Lord Westhampton her favors.”

Rachel sucked in her breath sharply, as if Lady Vesey had landed her a blow to the stomach.

Beside her, Sylvia said hotly, “How dare you say something like that!”

“I dare because it is the truth. Lilith Neeley has been Lord Westhampton’s mistress for years. He has been seen any number of times going in and out of her house—at all hours of the day and night. His comings and goings bespeak a great deal of famliarity with the woman.”

Perry moved between Lady Vesey and Rachel, saying, “Lady Vesey, I think it is time that you were going.”

“Oh, yes,” Leona’s voice dripped scorn. “We must not say anything to sully Lady Westhampton’s ears. What does it matter if all London knows about her husband’s dalliance with Lilith Neeley as long as Rachel can retain her naive ignorance?” She stepped neatly around Perry’s bulk to look directly at Rachel and say, “Perhaps if you were not so ignorant, my dear, your husband would not have strayed.”