Page 99 of Anything But a Duke
The letter was from Lord Archibald Lockwood, and Aidan didn’t feel an ounce of the interest he expected to feel upon seeing the old man’s name embossed on the missive’s letterhead. Aidan had followed news of the burgeoning industrial exhibition with interest and even privately advised several inventors to submit their designs for inclusion in the exhibition. He’d encouraged Diana to do the same. A few of the men whose devices he’d invested in had been selected, and Aidan had contented himself with being involved in the project in that small way.
Now Lord Lockwood had invited the Iversons to dine at his Sussex country house. What a difference a few months had wrought.
“He says he wishes to speak to you about the exhibition and discuss my newest invention,” Diana said as she came to stand beside him, her backside resting next to his against the desk. “Someone must have spoken to him about me. And you.”
Lockwood’s letter was almost opposite in tone from the one Aidan had received in response to his inquiry long ago. In that reply, Lockwood had been arrogant, insulting, dismissive. The letter Aidan held in his hand now was almost fawning. The question was, who’d taken it upon himself to turn the old man in their favor?
Aidan let his mind sift the possibilities, then cast the letter aside to move and stand in front of his wife.
“Shall we accept his invitation?”
“You’d consider refusing?” She sounded shocked.
He understood her confusion. This exhibition had once mattered to him so much that he was willing to marry a woman for the blood in her veins and how far back she could trace her family history inDebrett’s. He winced to think of how mercenary he’d been, how he’d let ambition cloud everything else.
But his heart was full now. Love had changed him. Diana had changed him. And loving her made everything he’d sought, everything he’d achieved, worthwhile. He had a home. He had belonging. The hunger had abated.
Except when it came to his wife, and she was the reason he wished to accept. “I think we should go,” he said decisively.
Lockwood’s letter implied not just an opportunity for Aidan, but for Diana too. Perhaps one of her inventions would be featured in the exhibition. That would make him happier than sitting on a committee and enduring a series of mind-numbing meetings with pompous noblemen.
“This is a cause to celebrate,” she told him, “so I’ve asked the servants to prepare a table for us in the conservatory.”
He was hungry, but it wasn’t for an elegantly arranged four-course meal in the conservatory.
“How long until dinner?” Aidan slipped a finger inside the square neckline of her day dress and pulled Diana closer. She laced her arms around his neck and smiled.
“Long enough, I think.”
“Excellent.” He stroked low inside her bodice, reaching his fingers down until he found the peak of her nipple.
She let out a delicious gasp and reached down to ruck up the skirt of her gown, spreading her legs so that he could step between. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d taken her on his study desk, but he was more than happy to add to the number this evening.
When she reached for the opening of his trousers, it was his turn to gasp. She stroked him eagerly through the fabric, and he bent to take her mouth.
Someone rapped on his study door and Aidan groaned miserably against Diana’s lips.
“Ignore them,” he begged her.
“It’s probably one of the workmen. They promised to come and report on their progress before they finished up this evening.” She pushed gently at his chest and then lowered herself from the desk, her body sliding enticingly against his.
Aidan sucked in a deep breath and tried to stifle his urges while he helped her settle her dress.
She fussed with a few strands of loose hair as she made her way to the door. Aidan took his eyes off her long enough to notice that some of the post had fallen onto the carpet. He bent to retrieve the letters and noticed one small, neatly constructed envelope with an address written in an elegant looping script.
The name Josephine stood out, and he grabbed at the envelope, tearing eagerly at the seams.
Aidan,
I hope you don’t mind me addressing you as such. If we ever meet again, please do call me Josephine. We are family, after all.
I believe you will already have received a note from Lord Archibald Lockwood. I understand through various sources that you were quite keen on participating in the industrial exhibition being planned by Prince Albert in the coming year. Based on your experience and knowledge of industrial devices, you seem a perfect fit to advise in such a matter, but I understand that Lord Lockwood was not initially receptive to that proposition.
He is now. A few words were little enough to offer on your behalf, and I am glad if I have assisted you in any way.
Our father has passed on. If you would ever wish to call at Wyndham House, you will be welcomed.
Your sister,
