Page 13 of Season of the Scoundrel
“Are you well acquainted with Lord Penrose?” Ivy asked, focusing on her soup and keeping her tone light.
“Not particularly well, no. But perhaps Blackbourne is.” Griffin’s tone indicated the matter didn’t interest him in the least.
Ivy had to pretend she wasn’t dying to know what the two men were discussing.
“You do know him a bit,” Lily corrected. “We went to that soiree he hosted last month.”
“We did indeed.” Griffin smiled. “Too many soirees to keep track of.”
“Has he extended any other invitations of late?” Ivy asked.
“Fewer invitations are coming now that many have left the city.” Lily tipped her head as if considering the matter. “I believe there was one to a dinner party for tomorrow evening where a portrait of Penrose’s wife is to be unveiled. She’s been sitting for Giovani Boldoni for weeks.”
Lily caught her gaze, and Ivy tried her best to reveal nothing. But, of course, Lily knew her better than most.
“Shall we attend together?” Lily’s offered her the slightest of smiles. “Ivy could come too.”
“I thought we’d decided not to accept more invitations as we prepare to depart,” Griffin said, his gaze on Lily, completely missing Ivy’s sudden interest in a social event.
“We could make this a final foray.” Lily gave Griffin one of those smiles that always seemed to melt his resistance.
“As you wish, my love.”
They got lost in whispering to each other for a moment. As the twins argued over whether the soup was delicious or passable, Ivy snuck glances toward the Duke of Blackbourne’stable. He laughed at something Penrose had said. The sound was so deep, Ivy could hear it from across the room.
She had to know what they were conversing about.
As soon as one course was cleared away and the next came, Ivy took her chance.
“Pardon me for a moment,” she said with a nod toward Lily. “The washroom,” she mouthed.
Lily nodded.
Ivy laid her napkin aside, stood, and wove her way around the tables nearby. She chose a path that would allow her to pass behind Blackbourne, as she did not want him to see her lurking about.
As she drew near, she slowed a bit, trying not to be too obvious, yet desperate to hear a bit of their exchange.
“The risks may seem great,” Penrose said in a voice that was excitable and high-pitched, “but I assure you the rewards are colossal.” She’d only ever seen a sketch of the nobleman in a newspaper article about one of his charitable endeavors. He was barrel-chested, perhaps a decade older than Blackbourne, and with pale skin, eyes, and hair.
“Quite a claim,” Blackbourne said, his voice a bit more clipped than the way he’d spoken to her in his office today.
“It is more than a claim. It is a promise, my friend. Come tonight, and you can see for yourself.”
“I’ll consider it.” Blackbourne chuckled after his words.
Ivy realized she’d almost slowed to a stop and immediately picked up her pace, beelining toward the public washrooms. Inside, she went straight to a sink and ran her fingertips under the water, then dabbed a bit on her neck. Whenever she was in Blackbourne’s vicinity, it was as if a furnace flamed to life inside her.
You must stop behaving like a dim-witted ninny, she told herself as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.
“Soap, miss?” the young woman washroom attendant offered her a pretty perfumed soap on a delicate gilded dish.
“No, thank you.” She gave the girl a half-smile. “Just needed to catch my breath.”Because I turn into a fool for a man I’ve known all of two days.
The young woman gave her a nod, as if understanding.
Ivy drew in a couple of steadying breaths and stepped out of the washroom into the hotel’s spacious, high-ceilinged lobby to make her way back to the dining room.
“Shall we call this another coincidence?” The duke lounged in one of lobby’s plush chairs, his gaze fixed on her as if he’d been waiting for her to emerge from the washroom.
