Page 47 of Anything But a Duke
“I’ve barely spoken to her. Too soon to know.” In truth, he had formed a few opinions about the lady. She seemed pleasant and eager to be so. Almost to an irritating degree. She was lovely and jolly, but perhaps too much for a man who considered attending lectures on electrical devices an enjoyable pastime.
“What more do you wish to know?” Miss Ashby turned on him, a hand perched on her hip. “I did provide you with a helpful list.”
“I never trust lists. They’re too simple and rarely detailed enough. I need to know a great deal about any prospective bride.”
“Did you know a good deal about the Lady Alice Ponsonby before you pursued her at the opera?” she asked archly.
“Scandal sheets don’t seem your style, Miss Ashby, and yet you’re quite stuck on that tale.” He pressed his lips together to hold back another grin. “I assure you the story was entirely overblown. You mustn’t believe everything you read.”
Taking two steps, Miss Ashby turned to face him, her brow scrunched as she glowered at him. “I do not make a habit of reading drivel, Mr. Iverson, I assure you. And unlike you, my name has never appeared among such pages.”
She sipped her lemonade, and Aidan noted a quiver at the edge of her mouth. She lifted a hand to pat at her coiffure, and he could think of nothing but how the glossy, artful waves would look if he could give in to his urge to remove every pin and take them down.
Steady, man.
Diana Ashby was not why he was here. He scanned the room for Lady Sophronia, but she’d slipped away. There was no one to distract him from the tall, irritated, rose-scented beauty in front of him.
He reached for another glass from the nearest servant’s tray and gulped down a mouthful of lemony sweetness. “What else have you read about me?”
“There isn’t much.” She seemed annoyed by that fact. “Details are scarce. Almost as if you’re hiding something, Mr. Iverson.”
The lady was coming far too close to the mark. Aidan deposited his empty glass on an obliging table and crossed his arms.
“We all hide something.” Over the years, he’d learned a dozen techniques for assessing others. Physical tics, little oddities of movement, the way the black of an eye contracts and expands. He’d needed those skills to survive on London’s streets. They’d been useful when he’d entered the world of commerce too. It was good to know who could be trusted and who planned to take him for a fool.
In eight and twenty years, he’d never met a single man who wasn’t hiding something.
He desperately wanted to know Miss Ashby’s secrets.
“I don’t hide anything,” she retorted a bit too quickly.
“Truly?” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Not a single fear or wish or memory that you keep tucked away deep inside?”
She touched her hair again, patting at one perfectly pinned coil, and said quietly, “Nothing that would interest you, Mr. Iverson.”
“I doubt that very much, Miss Ashby. I’d like to know your secrets.”
“Why?”
“I’m a curious man.” And because she fascinated him as much now as when she’d been a stranger who had kissed him in the dark. More.
Without any parting words, she headed toward the settee where Lady Sophronia had taken up a spot after returning to the cluttered drawing room.
As if she somehow sensed his wayward thoughts, Miss Ashby offered him one questioning glance over her shoulder before Lady Caldwell called to her, urging her to answer a question from Lord Abernethy.
A sigh escaped before Aidan squared his shoulders and made his way over to the lady who’d invited him to her home. Lady Sophie veritably bounced with anticipation as he approached, and she tittered like an overexcited bird when he reached her side.
“Thank you so much for coming, Mr. Iverson.” Gesturing to the expanse of blue damask settee beside her, she asked, “Would you like to have a seat?”
“Of course.” But rather than claim the space beside her, Aidan dropped into a nearby chair. He didn’t wish to seem too eager or too familiar. “Thank you for the invitation, my lady.”
“Please do call me Sophie, and tell me about the next grand project you’ll invest in, Mr. Iverson.” Lady Sophie leaned so far forward that he feared she’d topple onto the carpet. No one could accuse the lady of appearing disinterested.
“Some projects are quite secret.” He lifted a finger to his lips and drew the expected giggle from the noblewoman. “But I’ll leave it to Miss Ashby to tell you of her device. I’ve agreed to offer my support.”
“Oh no.” Her heart-shaped face collapsed into a moue of disappointment before she glanced in Miss Ashby’s direction and whispered, “We’re all hoping Diana agrees to join us this Season. She has never had one, you see. We all wish for her to be settled.”
Aidan tugged at his ear and worked to stifle a flash of irritation. “You don’t approve of Miss Ashby’s engineering pursuits, I take it.”
