Avis looked over to see Jennette’s highly annoying older brother Banning standing at the threshold. She pressed a hand to her stomach at the sight of the Earl of Selby. His black hair gleamed from the drops of rain he hadn’t yet wiped away.
He was wet, dripping water all over her marble floor. Now was her chance. She had waited weeks to get back at his last spiteful comments to her.
“You look like a drowned rat, Selby.”
His lips twitched slightly. “Hardly a rat, Miss Copley. Much more like the legendary selkies of Scotland.”
A selkie! The arrogance of the man astounded her. “Oh but I think the human form of the selkies is supposed to be irresistible.”
“And most women would say that was true of me,” he said with a wink and a smug smile.
“Not all women,” Avis replied tartly.
“I understand you recently had a birthday. So just how old are you now?”
“Still younger than you,” she bit out.
“Also true. But an aging man is seldom looked upon in the same light as an aging, unmarried woman.”
“Banning,” Jennette exclaimed. “That is enough.”
Avis turned her back on him for a moment. She hated how his comments always struck so deep with her and once more, he’d responded only to her waspish tongue. She should have bit her tongue rather than behave like such a shrew. Why after eight years couldn’t she put their animosity behind her?
“So where is the rest of the Spinster Club?” he drawled, leaning a broad shoulder against the door-frame.
The Spinster Club. The name he coined for the five of them years ago, before they were even considered on the shelf. Now most of the ton thought of Avis and her four friends as spinsters.
“Victoria and Elizabeth could not join us today,” Avis replied.
“Banning, I think we should take our leave now,” Jennette said.
“But I would be remiss in not wishing Miss Copley a belated happy birthday,” Selby retorted. “Happy birthday, Miss Copley.” He took her bare hand and gently kissed the top of it.
Sparks leapt up her arm from the brief contact. She tugged her hand back and looked away from him.
He moved back toward the doorway near Sophie but didn’t leave the room.
“I forgot to show you what Mr. Billingsworth gave me for my birthday,” Avis said to her friends. She held out the small pearl chain.
Selby muttered something, which made Sophie’s eyes widen but Avis couldn’t make out his comment. Most likely another derogatory remark about her age.
“It’s lovely, Avis,” Jennette said.
“Yes, lovely,” Sophie concurred, and then sent another strange glance toward Selby.
“Happy birthday, Miss Copley,” he said. “We really must take our leave now.”
“Good day, Lord Selby,” Avis said. She breathed a sigh of relief as his footsteps echoed down the hall.
Banning climbed into the carriage after Sophie and Jennette. The two women seemed unusually quiet after their visit with Avis. But after calling on Lady Ledbury’s daughter, Anne, and listening to her endless prattle about the musicale she attended last night, the silence of the carriage was more than welcome. There wasn’t one young woman currently out that made him want to consider marriage. His father had always spoken of the importance of finding the right woman for a wife. She must come from a good family, no scandals attached to her name, and wealth would only be a plus.
Lady Anne had all those qualifications, but the idea of spending the rest of his life with her set his stomach roiling. He had promised his mother he would seriously pursue marriage this Season. At one and thirty, he knew it was long past time to settle down and have children. The idea of children made him smile. The idea of a wife set his lips in a downward position.
Sophie’s light cough drew him out of his musing. Banning glanced at both women and knew something was going on between them today. Instead of talking, they kept giving odd looks to each other, which they appeared to understand, but he certainly did not. He wondered if he should ask them about their lack of conversation and then decided it was best to let the normally chatty ladies stay quiet.
Until Sophie could no longer hold her tongue and blurted out, “We can’t let her do this.”
“This is not the time,” Jennette warned, with a quick nod toward Banning.
“This may be the perfect time. Your brother might just be able to help us.”
Help them? With what? Instead of asking, he decided to wait to see what they would do. He leaned back against the velvet squabs of the carriage and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Sophie, she needs our help. Banning could never help her.”
Sophie raised an eyebrow. “Tell me, Lord Selby. What do you know of Emory Billingsworth?”
Warning signals flared throughout his brain. Was there more to Billingsworth and Avis’s relationship than friendship? “He is not a man I would want a friend of mine associating with.”
Sophie gave Jennette a smug smile.
“Why not?” Jennette asked.
“He’s not a man to be trusted,” Banning said.
“Could you give us a little more information?” Jennette complained. “Why can he not be trusted? What has he ever done to you that leads you to believe he is not a good man?”
Banning grimaced. Dreadful memories flashed through his mind. He couldn’t tell them everything he knew about Billingsworth, but he could give the women a reason to warn Avis if she was indeed the reason they were worried.
“Emory Billingsworth has a sordid past. His last three books have not sold. He is living on handouts and not just from Miss Copley.”
Sophie played with the folds of her gown. “So Mr. Billingsworth is using Avis for his own gains,” she concluded.
“I believe you understand me.”
The carriage pulled to a stop in front of Selby House in Grosvenor Square. Banning climbed down and held out his hand to assist both women from the carriage while a footman attempted to cover them all with an umbrella. Assuming their conversation finished, he walked inside his home, handed his wet greatcoat to Battenford and headed straight for his study. He didn’t need to know any more about what Avis Copley had in her head. In fact the less he knew, the better…at least for him.
Banning flexed his fists in frustration as he paced in his study. The woman made him insane.
What was she about? And how was Billingsworth involved?
Bloody hell. Avis Copley meant nothing to him.
Instead of thinking about her any further, he walked to the decanter on the corner cabinet and poured a brandy to chase away the chill from the cool June rain. The smooth liquid eased his irritation and warmed him. He dropped into the leather chair behind his mahogany desk, determined to put the infinitely frustrating woman out of his mind.
He stared at the papers in front of him. Only a few more weeks of Parliament then he could leave London and Avis behind for a few months. He shuffled through the missives and invitations until he heard a delicate cough. Glancing up, he saw Sophie standing there but looking behind her as if she wanted to make sure no one saw her.
“Miss Reynard?” He stood up, waiting for her to say something.
She turned her head back toward him. “Lord Selby, I must speak with you in private.”
“Where is Jennette?”
Sophie