Read Online The Wrong Woman by Kimberly Truesdale - Free Book Online

Miles' friends was the engagement that had kept him away from the musicale. Miles wondered how the boy was doing. Tremain, Blume, and Riley could be ruthless when it came to cards. Miles was sure they would not go easy on Jack just because he was related to Miles.
    The smiles that greeted Miles when he walked in the door of the club made him sigh with relief.
    “Where have you been, Revere, while your brother was here winning the shirts off our backs?” Tremain yelled jovially at him as he approached the card table where his brother and friends were playing.
    “He went to Mrs. Starr's evening musicale.” Miles could hear a slight slur as Jack spoke the words. Drunk. But still winning, by the looks of the large pile of coins on the table in front of him.
    “Mrs. Starr's?” Blume slurred his words even more than Jack had. “Why would you go there instead of being here winning money off of us? You have left it all up to Jack!”
    “I was escorting someone.” Miles responded. He did not feel like explaining himself to his friends.
    “Who?” Blume asked.
    Miles hesitated but knew their ridicule would be worse if he appeared to be hiding something.
    “Isobel and Catherine Masters.”
    “The Misses Masters?” Riley, who made up the fourth at the card table, slurred. Miles was glad he was on the other side of the table from him or he might have gotten a good shower of spittle from his friend.
    “Isobel Masters? You mean, Dizzy Izzy?” Blume seemed unable to grasp the idea that Miles had been with the woman all evening.
    “Dizzy Izzy?” Riley and Tremain chimed in.
    “Yes,” Miles nodded, “and her sister, Catherine.”
    “ That's who you were with this evening?” Riley asked.
    Miles was growing impatient of the repetitive questioning. Maybe if he was drunk, too, the conversation would seem more productive, but as it was, he was only growing frustrated.
    “Yes,” he hissed and then spoke slowly. “I was with Isobel and Catherine Masters at Mrs. Starr's musicale. We have established this fact. Let us move on.”
    “Why would you spend time with Dizzy Izzy?” Blume asked him, contempt in his voice.
    Before Miles could offer an explanation, Jack piped up, “Because Miles is going to marry her sister.”
    The other three sat stunned.
    “Finally getting leg-shackled, old boy?” Tremain raised his glass. “Welcome to our miserable club!” Miles decided not to mention his exchange with Mrs. Tremain.
    Riley leaned over the table. “Good on you. It's about time.”
    “This from a man not yet married himself!” Blume protested.
    “Gentlemen,” Miles pulled up a chair from one of the other tables as he spoke. “Let us forget about my marriage prospects and play some cards.”
    “No,” Riley said, leaning back heavily in his chair. “I refuse to play cards with you until you are as foxed as I am.”
    “I could never aspire to that level of drunkenness,” Miles rejoined, sending the table off into loud guffaws.
    Even Riley laughed at the joke. “You might try to aspire to it, especially if you are about to have such a fat cow as Dizzy Izzy for a sister-in-law. You'll need all the alcohol you can get.”
    “Here, here!” Blume and Tremain raised their glasses at that.
    The words hit him like a blow to the chest. The anger forced all the breath out of his body. He'd just listened to Mrs. Tremain insult his bride-to-be and her sister. And now this.
    Before Miles could act, Jack stood up angrily at his place. “Hey, that is no way to talk about my friend! Take it back now!”
    “Your friend?” Blume was puzzled.
    “Yes, Miss Masters is my friend. So I'll thank you to take back your disgusting comment about her.”
    “But, dear chappie, it's entirely true! Why would I take it back?” Riley asked, sobered and a little bit astonished by the sudden anger.
    “Because I'll beat your face in if you don't,” Jack growled.
    Miles rose out of his chair, he did not know whether it was to defend his brother