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Her skirts were barely arranged when the curtain at the back of the box parted.

"Sutton, you bastard," the man's voice boomed as he entered. He was a tall man, with raven-black hair and piercing green eyes. The woman on his arm was a beautiful young lady with a fierce gaze and a soft smile. "Your wife arrived two weeks ago and you are only now making the introductions?"

"I wanted to keep her to myself for a while," Sutton said loudly, so that people in the corridor and the neighboring boxes could hear. He turned to Temperance and helped her out of her chair. "Temperance, may I present my friends, the Duke and Duchess of Tyrone."

The infamous Mad Duke.

"A pleasure." Temperance offered her hand, and the duke bowed over it.

"The pleasure is all ours," Tyrone said, studying her intently. "I have heard a great deal about you, though not from Sutton, as the man is tight-lipped when it comes to the treasures he guards... apparently."

That only confirmed that Sutton had barely mentioned her to his friends. Her stomach twisted.

"I hope some of what you heard is good," Temperance said with a tight smile.

"Not particularly," Tyrone said.

His wife gave him a stern look. "Alec, behave."

"I am behaving," he sputtered, but his wife had already turned away.

The Duchess of Tyrone sidled closer to Temperance. "Do not pay him any heed. He is just envious that you stole his notoriety for a season."

"You wound me, mo tíogar," Tyrone said, helping her into the chair next to Temperance's.

"It is very nice to meet you," the duchess said, ignoring her husband.

"You as well, Your Grace."

"Oh, please." The duchess waved a dismissive hand. "Call me Emily."

"Temperance." A small smile crept across her face.

"I see all eyes are turned to our box once again," Emily said.

Temperance raised a brow. "Once again?"

"I lived through it, trust me. Alec and I were once one of the most scandalous couples of the ton. The attention shifts, and life goes on. If anything, the fluttering fans of the gossips keep the skin cool."

Temperance laughed.

The curtain parted again, and the Duke and Duchess of Hardwicke swept in. They greeted the Tyrones warmly, and then the duchess looked around the box and frowned.

"What are ye all sitting here for? The performance doesnae begin for another ten minutes. This is the perfect time tae show yerselves and speak tae others. Come. Emily, ye too."

The men drifted off toward the stairs, while the duchess steered Temperance and Emily the other way.

"Let's pay a call on the ladies Somerville and Crosby," the duchess murmured.

The Marchioness of Somerville and Lady Crosby, the two most notorious gossips of the ton, shared a box on the opposite curve of the tier.

Lady Crosby held a fan that stopped moving when the curtain parted and Temperance, flanked by two duchesses, made her way inside.

"Lady Crosby," the Duchess of Hardwicke said warmly after the introductions were made. "How glad I am tae see ye looking so well. When yer regrets arrived at our evening party, I feared ye were gravely ill."

"Oh no, oh absolutely not," the old crow stammered. "I am setting off to a house party far, far north, and the travel takes such a toll on me that I must leave early."

"What a mercy and what a pity, for we had so hoped for ye. One o' the most influential matrons o' the ton absent from an evening hosted by the Countess o' Sutton and the Duchess o' Hardwicke? Why, the ton will be abuzz."