The Naked Prince by Sally Mackenzie Page B

alone he was going to let her know she should have stayed out of sight.
    She was rather looking forward to that argument.
    â€œMiss Atworthy.” Mr. Parker-Roth’s grin widened; he bowed.
    â€œMiss Atworthy.” Lady Noughton almost spat the words. “I don’t believe you’ll be in a position to say a thing after everyone learns you were here with Lord Kenderly.”
    Jo shrugged. “Since—as you know—I’ve never been to London and probably never will, I can’t imagine anyone will care what I was doing.”
    â€œAh, there you are wrong, my love,” Damian said, putting his arm around her and pulling her scandalously close. “Society will be very anxious to hear everything about the new Countess of Kenderly.”
    Jo’s gasp was drowned out by Lady Noughton’s screech—and that was drowned out, quite literally, by the Lupercalia celebrants as they stampeded into the bathhouse and into the pool in all their naked glory.

Chapter 9
    â€œI fear I will go to my grave with the image of fat, balding Sir Humphrey running naked into that damn bathhouse,” Damian said, hurrying Jo up the path to the house. Her teeth were chattering. He was damn cold, too, but there’d been no time to collect their coats. With all the naked revelers, a hasty departure had clearly been called for.
    â€œAh, but then think of Maria’s expression as he barreled into her and took her into the pool with a mighty splash.” Stephen looked down at Jo. “Miss Atworthy, are you certain you won’t take my coat,” he said for the third time.
    â€œN-no, th-thank you.” Poor Jo was so cold she could barely speak. “W-we are al-almost th-there.”
    Thank God they were. Damian hustled Jo over the last few yards, through the servants’ entrance, and up the flight of stairs. They stopped at Damian’s door.
    Stephen clapped him on the back. “My heartfelt thanks for all your efforts, my friend. As I said in the bathhouse, you were right about Maria. I shouldn’t have come to this infernal gathering.” He grinned. “But if I hadn’t, you would have stayed sequestered in your study and never met the lovely Miss Atworthy, so I can’t repine too much.”
    Zeus, Stephen was right. Jo felt like such an important part of his life now, but he’d only known her a handful of hours.
    No, that wasn’t true. He’d known her for months through her letters.
    â€œI warn you, Miss Atworthy,” Stephen was saying, “Damian has the highly annoying habit of being correct in his advice nine times out of ten.”
    â€œI d-don’t know about th-that.”
    Jo’s teeth were chattering again, damn it. “I need to get Miss Atworthy warm,” Damian said, an edge creeping into his voice.
    â€œAnd here I am, jawing on and on. I will take myself off immediately.” Stephen frowned. “I don’t put it past Maria to find a way into my room tonight, so I’m going to borrow one of Greyham’s horses and decamp to a neighboring inn. Would you take anything I must leave behind with you when you leave, Damian?”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œThank you.” Stephen took Jo’s hand in his. “I look forward to dancing at your wedding, Miss Atworthy.”
    â€œOh, I—” Jo shook her head. “There’s no w-wedding. L-Lord K-Kenderly just said that to avoid a s-scandal.”
    Stephen laughed. “Trust me, an earl doesn’t ‘just say’ such an interesting thing to Lady Noughton unless he is willing to have the information spread far and wide.”
    â€œOh.” Jo chewed on her bottom lip and shivered some more.
    Damian glared at Stephen. Why wouldn’t the man move along and let him get to his wooing before he and his bride-to-be turned into icicles? “Didn’t you say you were leaving, Stephen? Immediately? ”
    Stephen grinned. “I did. I