Three Nights with a Scoundrel (Stud Club #3)

Chapter Six


“A louse!”

The ginger-haired lieutenant shook his head and tried again, dragging his fingers through his hair in affected swoops and every so often tossing his head.

“A milkmaid!” the youngest shouted, leaping to his feet.

In response to this, the lieutenant shot a death glare toward his young compatriot. He adopted a new strategy now, tucking his thumbs into his armpits, puffing out his chest, and beginning to strut about the room. As he walked, his head jerked forward and back.

Michael raised his hand to guess. “A bantam?”

The lieutenant gestured his encouragement. Not quite right, his motions said, but getting closer. He thrust his fingers into his hair again, ruffling it with vigor until it stood straight up in the middle. He pointed to his smart ripple of carrot-colored hair. It could not escape anyone’s notice that he resembled a cross between Julian Bellamy and a rooster.

Ah. But of course.

Lily called out the obvious. “A coxcomb.”

With a wide grin, the ginger-haired lieutenant touched a finger to his nose, then bowed and left the circle. Everyone laughed—but the three young lieutenants laughed most gleefully. Lily supposed it must be some balm to their pride, to have a hearty chortle at the expense of the man who’d given them such a rude and literal setdown at dinner. Had Julian been out of circulation so long that his polished charm had lost its luster? Or did he simply not care anymore?

From his seat beside hers, the commander touched her wrist again. “Well done, my lady. Will you favor us with a turn?”

She shook her head. “To be truthful, charades really aren’t my forte.”

“Then name your amusement.”

She hedged. Honestly, she’d never been much for parlor games of any sort. “Cards?”

The commander stood and immediately ordered the younger officers to set the room for cards.

Lily rose from her chair and moved to the window seat, taking a moment’s amusement from the heated discussion a simple rearrangement of furniture could cause, where five men were involved. And then, in the next moment, she wondered—again—about Julian. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. Ever since this morning, her heart seemed to alternate pulses between her own life and his. If only he’d stay in the same room for a while, she might be saved from developing palpitations.

A sober-faced Michael joined her at the window. “I can’t stop thinking of him.”

“Truly?” she answered, briefly wondering what cause Michael would have to be obsessively thinking of Julian.

“It’s just … so hard to believe he’s gone.”

Leo. He means Leo, you fool. Strange. For the first time in months, Lily hadn’t been thinking of her brother.

“I wish I’d been able to attend the burial,” Michael said. “I hadn’t seen him in above two years.”

“Didn’t you see him the summer before last? Oh, but perhaps you were at sea that July.”

“Two summers ago?” Michael shook his head. “I wasn’t at sea. I was in Plymouth. But no, I didn’t have a chance to see Leo. Wasn’t he with you in Gloucestershire?”

“Not for July. He went …” Lily bit her tongue. “Oh, I’m sorry. I must be remembering it wrong.”

That July, Leo had spent the month at a reunion of his old Eton friends. She didn’t want to make Michael feel poorly for having been excluded. But then, why should Michael have been excluded? He’d been Leo’s closest friend at school. It made no sense, unless …

Unless Leo hadn’t attended a reunion with his old Eton friends. Unless he’d spent a month somewhere else.

The room went fuzzy around her. Fragments of those letters floated to the surface of her memory.

When I close my eyes at night, I imagine we’re there again. We lie still in the tall grass. A clear sky hangs over us. The sun’s warmth bakes the dew from our skin. Your fingers lace with mine. Like children, we laugh at the skylarks mating overhead.

Then you turn to me slowly, brush a lock of hair from my brow.

We kiss, and childish thoughts are put away.

Lily jolted back into the present. The commander stood before her.

“Shall we?” He extended a hand and tilted his head toward the card tables.

“Oh!” She rose to her feet. “Yes, of course.”

They sat down to whist. She, Amelia, Michael, and the commander occupied the first table, whilst the three younger lieutenants were left to play shorthanded at the other, with the empty fourth seat designated “dummy.”