‘How dare you.’ Lady Lillian spat the words at the Earl of Mallory and gave him her fiercest glare. ‘You shouldn’t have interfered like that. If those gentlemen recognize you, they might work out who I am, which is exactly what you wanted to avoid.’ She huffed. ‘Besides, I instigated that kiss.’

‘Why would you do such a brazen thing? Risk your good name and your life in such an impulsive manner.’

She sighed, all her anger deflating. ‘My good name evaporated when Geoffrey’s sexual preferences became known after his death. The men he mixed with kept his secrets when he was alive, and possibly even liked whips and ropes as much as Geoffrey, but dead men can’t reveal their secrets so they felt safe to expose him, while distancing themselves from those activities.’

‘But why would they risk incriminating themselves?’

‘I learned later that two girls had died, a day apart and in different areas of London, but both had been physically tormented and their bodies were left in parks in Mayfair. Government officials were sent to investigate after a minister’s wife and children stumbled upon one of them, and there was a push to find the culprit and to close down any houses of ill repute in respectable neighborhoods.’

‘I read about the murders, but surely they don’t think Geoffrey had anything to do with that. He wasn’t the most respected man and nor was he a decent husband, but I cannot imagine him killing women.’

‘The enquiry cleared Geoffrey, but as those houses were places that Geoffrey and his cohorts visited, his so-called friends decided to toss out Geoffrey’s name and draw the scrutiny away from them.’

Brent took her hands and shook them lightly. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

She shrugged. ‘Geoffrey was dead and I simply wanted to forget all the sordidness and start afresh.’ She waved a hand at the guests, whose conversations had become bawdier and louder the more punch was consumed and, as inhibitions were drowned in liquor, both women and men had stripped away clothing and were well on their way to public sex. ‘Here, I can reclaim myself, because everyone indulges in excesses and they don’t judge each other badly because they’ve let down their guards for an evening.

Pleasure House ball Book 3 Irresistible Aristocrats books2read.com/suzilovePHB.