Page 19 of A Scottish Bride for the Duke
“Exactly! And she thinks I am a hoyden. She loves me,” Eliza added with a giggle, “and Adrian thinks she indulges me too much. But she also scolds me for my behavior. She thinks I will never secure myself a husband.”
“Do ye not want to?”
“Oh yes, I suppose it is inevitable, is it not? But there are other things that intrigue me about life. Mama gives me everything I could want, and I have Adrian, who is good enough to drive me in his curricle sometimes. I want for nothing, and a husband might ruin that. If I fall in love…” She shrugged elegantly. “Of course, then it would be a different story. But so far, I have not been disposed to love any young gentleman who has flirted with me—and in my opinion, they are not after marriage, anyway.”
“Anyone would think ye had been on the marriage mart for years,” Isobel said admiringly.
She had tasted a little society in Scotland, but she had little enough experience, particularly because her first Season had resulted in her being shipped down to London to find an English husband at the first available moment.
And currently, she was not feeling especially successful.
“Ye are twenty,” she said to Eliza. “Do ye not feel as though it is time.”
“Miss Arabella Wentworth is one-and-twenty and quite doted on by all the gentlemen. I have heard she has had four offers of marriage this year alone. I think I have nothing to worry about.”
Isobel looked over at the lady in question. She was a tall, plump lady with rosy cheeks and flashing dark eyes. She looked a little like a Spanish bride, a trifle exotic, and with that deep beauty that Isobel knew attracted gentlemen. Very different from her freckles and red hair.
As though summoned, Miss Wentworth glanced over at them. One perfectly arched brow rose, and she detached herself from her group and glided over to them.
“Lady Eliza,” she said, inclining her head regally. “And who is your friend?”
“Lady Isobel MacAlister.”
“Ah, a Scot.” The other brow arched to join the first, and this lady, this paragon of English Society, looked at Isobel as though she was mud on her shoe. “I’d heard rumors.”
“It seems everyone has,” Isobel said tartly.
“A sharp tongue, too,” Miss Wentworth mused. “That is not becoming.”
“And it is your place to dictate such things?”
“I like to keep an eye on the young ladies, yes.” Miss Wentworth gave a sweet, poisonous smile. “You have caused quite a stir.”
“I hardly see how,” Isobel said. “I have barely spoken to anyone here.”
“It’s not that alone. I have heard that you are staying with the Duke of Somerset without a chaperone.” She clicked her tongue. “Positivelyshocking.”
“What are you saying about my cousin?” Eliza demanded, her expressive eyes flashing. “I can assure you there is nothing untoward going on there. She is merely awaiting the duchess’s return. Where else is she supposed to stay, pray? It is not her fault she arrived at precisely the worst time.”
“No unmarried young lady ought to be staying in an unmarried gentleman’s house without a chaperone,” Miss Wentworth said. “Regardless of the gentleman in question.”
“My maid is here.”
“Well, the ton hardly knows that, do they? And do you think they’ll believe that you do have one?”
“I suppose you had rather he tossed me out on the streets, then?” Isobel said.
“That sounds ratherdrastic. I am sure there was another solution.”
“I came to his house to look for his maither,” Isobel said, remembering the words the duke himself had said.
Although he had made it abundantly obvious that he mistrusted her, he also felt a level of responsibility.
She refused to think about why that sent a bolt of warmth through her.Shedid not trust him, either. A man with such an iron grip on control except when he was confronting her about her purpose was not one she could wholly trust.
But she would never admit that to either Eliza or Miss Wentworth. For her sake, as well as theirs, she had to pretend as though the duke was everything she could have hoped for in a host.
“I am perfectly contented with my living situation,” she said, daring the other lady to contradict her. “And I do not feel as though my reputation has been compromised.”
