Forbidden by Susan Johnson (good books to read for teens .TXT) 📕

Hazard offered, although he knew his carriage was back at the Rutherfords'. He didn't think the Duc would mind walking.

With heartfelt relief, Etienne took Hazard up on his offer.

Nadine pouted prettily for a moment, but the French team would be playing in the tournament another week; she had time. "Tomorrow then, Etienne," she softly said, "at the lighthouse."

Since he knew Daisy would be there, he said, "Sometime later… after Hector's visit."

Nadine's smile was complaisant, satisfied. "Pleasant dreams," she archly murmured, and with a coquettish tap of her fan on his cheek, she left.

When Hazard and the Duc reentered the billiard room a few moments later, Trey and Kit momentarily paused in their game.

Guards at the door? Etienne mused. Their presence, however casual, had that look, although Trey and Kit both were smiling and friendly when they reached them a moment later.

"Nadine tells us Oliver will schedule us a day of rest before our return match," Hazard said, as if his conversation with Etienne had been inconsequential. "Who's winning?"

"Kit."

"Trey."

They hadn't been keeping score, more intent on the events in the smoking room. They were, as Etienne had suspected, there as backup.

"We're tied, actually," Kit said, his expression bland. "Care to join us?"

"I'm giving the Duc a ride over to his daughter's."

Which comment raised interesting possibilities, Trey thought, considering their carriage was at the Rutherfords'. "I'll come with you," he said. "I can beat Kit anytime." The grin he directed at his uncle was teasing.

"You don't mind walking, do you?" Hazard looked at Etienne. "Blaze took the carriage but you looked like you needed an excuse for Nadine."

"I'd walk a hundred miles to avoid arguing with Nadine at my bedroom door tonight. Thanks."

"If you're leaving," Kit said, "I'll find Valerie, provided she hasn't left with someone else by now."

"A distinct possibility," Hazard dryly said.

"If she has, then I'll walk home with you." Kit didn't give the appearance of being profoundly concerned.

"I'm happy to see your heart isn't involved," Hazard lazily said.

"Valerie isn't interested precisely in… hearts." Kit's grin creased the deep tan of his cheeks.

And when he returned a few moments later to report she'd been seen leaving with a younger son of the Duke of Beresford, Trey sardonically drawled, "Apparently Comers has a few more dollars in the bank than you do."

"Actually he doesn't, poor fellow. He's a younger son. But he does have several titles, and since Valerie already has a great deal of money—thanks to your generosity," he added with a grin, "she's probably in the market for a coronet."

"Poor wretch."

"Not necessarily, Hazard. He may be in the market for a healthy bank account. A common interest, as it were, for their relationship. Besides sex," Kit added with a wolfish smile.

"Always the basis for any of Valerie's relationships."

"But as you well know, Trey," Kit's arched his brow suggesting roguish memory, "not at all common."

Trey couldn't help but smile. "True."

Moments later they were being ushered out into the foggy night by Nadine's liveried footmen. Standing under the huge lit portico before stepping out into the fog, Hazard apologized for their candid discussion of Valerie. "In her own way, she's an interesting and um energetic woman. And were it not for her extreme selfishness, well…"

"You wouldn't be raising her child," Kit said.

"Or be one gold mine poorer than before," Trey curtly added. "Don't forget that."

"The Duc and I were discussing the expenses of divorcing earlier. Certain expenditures are necessary."

"Mine has currently reached an impasse," Etienne declared.

"A permanent impasse, Daisy seems to think," Hazard ex-plained. "The Duc has asked my permission to press his suit with Daisy."

"So you're the reason she's been moping since she returned from France. Good luck and welcome to the family, as long as it's not my wife you're interested in," Trey added, his smile pale in the gray foggy night. In Trey and Empress's estrangement before their marriage, the Duc de Vec had been one of Empress's closer friends.

All the palatial cottages on Bellevue Avenue faced the ocean, and having strolled several doors down from the Belmonts', the men paused at Hatfield Keene's, where Jolie and Henri were guests. "Jolie isn't actually expecting me," Etienne explained when they stopped to say good-night. "I'm going on to the polo club. I thought I'd stay with my ponies. A pleasant alternative to Nadine."

"Come to Rutherford's instead," Hazard offered. "The club is bare-bones sleeping arrangements and probably full up anyway."

"I don't want to impose," the Duc courteously replied. "I can sleep with my groom if need be."

"Nonsense. No need to sleep with your ponies when there're palaces up and down this block. Frank built Idle Hour to satisfy his tastes anyway, not his wife's. His annex was built to accommodate his bachelor guests. There's plenty of room there. If you stay, you can see Daisy in the morning."

A simple decision suddenly. "You've got yourself an overnight guest. Although I'd better stop at the club first for a change of clothes, so I don't have to go to the beach with Hector in evening dress."

The men accompanied him to the small veranda-framed clubhouse at the end of Bellevue Avenue and waited while he picked up the clothes he'd left there as replacement clothing between matches. Retracing their steps, the four tall men conversed in companionable fashion about polo and ponies, the fog shrouding them from all but each other, their voices drifting off into the wispy damp atmosphere. They separated at the main house, Kit and the Duc turning toward the bachelors' wing.

"If you're rising early, breakfast is set up in the main floor dining room at seven," Hazard said. "Although hardly anyone wakes before eleven," he added in mild condemnation.

"Including me," Kit cheerfully said. "Do not wake me for breakfast."

"He was raised in the city," Hazard said, his grin indulgent, "which accounts for his society ways."

"Hector's too young for society ways, yet, so I'll be up early. I'm seeing him at eight."

The Duc wanted to ask if Daisy still rose earlier than the fashionable eleven o'clock, as she had