Page 11 of A Scottish Bride for the Duke
“Cousin!” the peach-clad lady said, coming to a graceful stop by his side.
That answers that question,Isobel thought.
“What are you doing scowling this early in the morning? If the wind changes, your expression will set, and then won’t that be a shame?”
His brow quirked. “Would it?”
“Why, yes. All my friends tell me how handsome you are, and yet you hide it away behind your bad temper.” She giggled. “And you are having breakfast early again, I see. Mama always tells me not to call on you early, because most young gentlemen are not up before eleven, but you’ve proven me right once again.”
“More fool me,” he muttered, turning the full weight of his displeasure on the girl. She only laughed in the face of it. “Whyareyou here, Eliza?”
The lady—Eliza—glanced down the table at Isobel, and a knowing smile curved her mouth.
“Adrian,” she said in a teasing rebuke. “You ought to have told me you entertained overnight company. I see my presence is very unwelcome. Please go back to enjoying yourselves in my absence.”
The duke spat his tea across the table, and Isobel dropped her knife with a clatter.
“Oh no,” Isobel said just as the duke speared Eliza with a glare.
“This is not a—acompanion,” he said through gritted teeth. “She arrived late yesterday and the storm necessitated her staying here with me. But you shouldnotbe considering such things, Eliza. What would your mother say?”
“Oh, no doubt that I am a disappointment, and I should be more refined,” Eliza said with a shrug, picking a few cake crumbs from the plate and nibbling on them. “But forgive me. I didn’t mean to offend you, Adrian. Truly I didn’t.” She turned to Isobel. “I am Lady Eliza. Poor, long-suffering cousin to Adrian.”
“Lady Isobel,” Isobel said.
Eliza’s eyes widened. “You’re Scottish?Bu toil… leam tadhal air Alba.” She said the words somewhat clumsily, though they were perfectly understandable. “My governess was Scottish, you see,”she said, laughing at Isobel’s expression of surprise. “She taught me all I know.”
For the first time since she arrived, Isobel laughed. The duke looked at her strangely. “Ye are the first Englishwoman I’ve met who speaks any Gaelic. And aye, I would recommend visiting Scotland.”
“I only speak a little,” Eliza said. “Only what she would teach me. Oh, do say you will teach me more. It is great fun to be able to say things that no one else can understand.Allyoung ladies learn French and Italian. It’s tedious, and you can hardly gossip about someone in front of their face if they understand every word you’re saying.”
Isobel laughed again. “I can see why that would be hard.”
“But now you’re here, I will have someone to gossip with.” She blinked as though coming into herself for the first time. “Whyareyou here? I know for certain I would have known you if we’d met before.”
“No, this is my first time in London,” Isobel said. “As it happens, I’ve come to see the Duchess of Somerset. I thought I would find her here, but it seems I was mistaken.”
Eliza’s eyes rounded. “What for? Is she to sponsor your Season?”
“Yes, that is the hope. Me maither knows her, and she was assured the duchess would help me. But—” She sucked her teeth. “She appears to be away, so I must find her.”
“Oh,a bhobain, she’s far from London. Visiting family in Cornwall.”
“Eliza!” the duke said sharply from the other end of the table.
“Peace, Adrian. She may as well know now. What, were you intending to keep the truth from her?” Eliza leaned in closer, patting Isobel’s hand. “It is awful bad luck you came now of all times, otherwise she would have invited you to stay with her, I am certain. But there is no point traveling to Cornwall now when you need to be in London to find a husband.”
“Certainly not,” the duke said, a chill to his words.
“So of course you must stay with us,” Eliza said.
“Your mother would not welcome it.” The duke rose. “And she is not a stray for you to pick off the street and bring into your mother’s house. Lady Isobel is my responsibility, as she came to see my mother.”
“Stay here?” Isobel raised her brows. “With ye?”
“Who else’s charity do you intend to throw yourself on?” He tossed his napkin on the table. “Eliza’s mother has enough onher plate with Eliza’s debut. She doesn’t need another mouth to feed and clothe.”
At Isobel’s outraged gasp, he raised a brow.
