Candice Hern by Once a Gentleman

she was not playacting—to find her cousin Eunice at her side. She was not looking at Pru, but was staring with open admiration at Nicholas. Eunice was very beautiful and terribly vain. Pru ought to have known she would seek out the newest handsome face in the crowd.
    “Hello, Eunice. May I present Nicholas Parrish. My husband.” She despised the hint of possessiveness she heard in those words. What was wrong with her? The warm, longing look Nicholas had just given her was not real. She must not forget that. “Nicholas, this is my cousin, Mrs. Shelbourne.”
    Eunice held out a hand, but Nicholas did not kiss the air above her fingers, as he had done so many times this afternoon, charming all the ladies. He simply took her hand and bowed over it. “Your servant, madam.”
    Eunice gave him a provocative smile and never took her eyes from him. “Goodness, Prudence, what a coup. Such an attractive husband you have snared.”
    Nicholas pulled Pru closer to his side and said, “If there was a snare, madam, I assure you I stepped into it willingly.”
    Eunice’s eyes held more than a hint of mockery when she glanced briefly at Pru. “Indeed? Well, they always say it is the quiet ones who will surprise you, and you have certainly done that, Prudence. I trust we will be seeing more of you this Season, Mr. Parrish. Will you be at Arabella’s come-out ball next week?”
    “We are hoping for some time alone, are we not, my dear? But I am sure we will make an appearance now and then. I shall let my bride decide which invitations to accept.”
    “Well, she will certainly want to attend her niece’s ball,” Eunice said, “so I will hope for a dance, Mr. Parrish.”
    “May I interrupt?”
    Pru’s father had stepped up to join them. “Of course, Papa.”
    “May I take Parrish away for a short while? I promise not to keep him long.”
    “Of course, my lord,” Nicholas said, and then turned to Pru. “I shall find you later, my dear.” Once again, no doubt for the benefit of Eunice, he placed a fulsome kiss upon her hand. He shot her one more look of mock longing, then he and her father walked away together.
    “I confess, you have astonished me, cousin,” Eunice said. “What a splendid-looking man he is. If one is to be compromised, he is certainly the man one would choose to do it.” She went on tochide Pru about trapping the poor man, as though it would have been less objectionable had it been any other woman, someone more equal to him in beauty.
    Eunice had not been the first one to suggest Pru must have deliberately set up a compromising situation to trap Nicholas. Several of her female relations had implied as much. Her cousin Susan, Lady Lambrooke, had stated outright, in a loud, ringing voice, that there was no other possible way Prudence could have attracted such a man.
    It ought to have been very lowering. However, in the deepest, most secret corner of her soul, Pru felt rather proud of herself for having the handsomest, most charming husband of any of her cousins.
    “I sincerely hope you do not expect to keep him to yourself,” Eunice said. “A man like that will not be content to sit quietly by the home fire each night, faithful as a hound. And I trust you will not be so foolish as to fall in love with him. That would be unwise, my girl. Ah, there is Roland. I must have a word with him.”
    Pru was left standing alone on the garden path, with Eunice’s words jangling in her head. She had not yet had time to consider how this marriage would proceed. Had she expected Nicholas to be a faithful husband? Faithful to a wife he never wanted? She supposed that was indeed an impossible dream. She only hoped he would keep silent about any other women in his life. She did not wish to know about them.
    And she prayed none of them was one of her numerous cousins. Almost every woman today below the age of ninety had cast eyes in his direction. Several had gazed with open admiration. Nicholas had been charming, but had