Page 14 of Duke of Destruction
It wasn’t the most courageous approach, admittedly, nor the most honest. But sometimes, one had to just make do with the hand one was dealt.
And this trip was about Ariadne. It wasn’t about Catherine. It certainly wasn’t about certain argumentative men about whom she wasnotthinking.
Not even if they had made her feel things she’d never felt before.
Not even if they had caused her to press her hands to her swollen lips dozens of times over the long hours of the night.
Not even if a part of her—a small part, a very, very,verysmall part—wondered what it would be like to kiss him again.
Instead, she shoved all of those thoughts away. Ariadne. This party was about Ariadne.
Thus, with a significant force of effort, she smiled at her sister.
“Even so, sweetheart, I apologize for leaving you so abruptly. I must have just been tired from the journey; I found myself taking right to my room.”
Ariadne did not seem to believe a word of this, so Catherine plunged on. Perhaps if she just kept going, eventually her little sister—whom Catherine had practically raised, mind!—would stop looking at her like she was a blatant liar.
“But let’s think about today, shall we? Should we make a turn about the room? See who we meet?”
This seemed to, if not convince Ariadne, at least distract her. It did not seem to be wholly a positive distraction, but Catherine would take what she could.
As it happened, they didn’t need to go far before a distraction presented itself in the form of the Earl of Compton.
“Lady Ariadne,” he said, sidling into their path wearing a smile that was far too practiced to be genuine. “Are you taking a stroll?”
Ariadne, who had been mid-step, paused and glanced down at her feet. “Ah, yes?”
Catherine kept her expression vague as she watched Ariadne struggle against a wince. The Earl of Compton, to his credit, also ignored this momentary awkwardness.
“Splendid,” he said smoothly. “Might I accompany you?” The pause before he glanced in Catherine’s direction was notable. “And your lovely sister, of course.”
Ariadne looked very much as though she wished a convenient fainting spell would hit her.
“Of course,” she said, almost managing to sound happy about it.
The earl fell into step beside them, standing, in Catherine’s opinion, just atouchcloser to Ariadne than he ought.
“How kind of you, my lady,” he said politely.
They strolled a bit, the earl deftly maneuvering things so that Catherine wasn’tobviouslyexcluded, unless one was looking for the signs, but was very clearly notincluded, either.
When Ariadne briefly caught her sister’s eye, a flicker of a frown crossing her expression at this, Catherine shook her head slightly. It was a dual signal:no need to make a fuss over itandno, this is not the man for you.
“I take it you are enjoying the party,” the earl began with the air of a man preparing to pontificate at length. “I myself, I must admit, am not one for parties. Terribly frivolous things, most ofthe time. But I simply could not disregard an invitation from the likes of the Duke of Wilds, and indeed, I find myself more than pleased that I followed such an impulse, as it has allowed me to spend time with ladies as lovely as yourself…”
On and on he went.
No, Catherine thought, this was no match for Ariadne. It wasn’t just the man’s age, though the earl seemed to be in the latter half of his thirties—a bit too old, in her opinion, for nineteen-year-old Ariadne.
But if his polished, suave air hadn’t convinced Catherine that he was no partner for her sister, then his little speech would have done the job. The man hadn’t even bothered toaskAriadne if she was enjoying her time here; he’d simply decided that she was and continued accordingly. It was managerial and high-handed.
Catherine’s sweet, often shy sister needed someone who would meet her as she was. Not necessarily someone as demure as Ariadne was herself, though Catherine would not immediately discount a quiet, reserved man.
But Ariadne needed someone authentic. Not a mask posing as a man.
“The gardens are quite lovely,” Ariadne ventured when she managed to get in a word edgewise.
“I myself have beautiful gardens, too, if you like gardens,” the Earl of Crompton said. “I employ only the best gardeners…”
