Page 28 of Duke of Wickedness
“Um, Ariadne?” Ariadne jerked around to see Helen, a confused look on her face, standing in the doorway. “Are you all right?”
Ariadne put on a smile and thanked God that it was Helen, who had only known her for a handful of years, and not Xander, who would have immediately called her out on her behavior.
“Yes, of course,” she said. “I was just…re-evaluating a conversation I had with a young lady the other night. You know how these Society conversations can be so…barbed.”
It was something of a dirty trick; Ariadne knew that Helen had been treated wretchedly by the Society prigs, who had criticized her for everything from her accent to her figure.
It was aneffectivetrick, however, as Helen’s face immediately creased in sympathy.
“Don’t pay those jackals any mind, Ariadne Lightholder,” she commanded. “Especially don’t pay them any mind right this minute, as you are still in your nightclothes and visiting hours have started. And you, my dear, have a visitor.”
Ariadne glanced down at herself in alarm, almost surprised to find that, yes, she was still wearing her lightweight spring nightdress.
“My goodness,” she said. “Right. I’ll—I will be right there.”
“I will keep your guest distracted,” Helen said, looking delighted at the prospect.
Ariadne rushed through her toilette, absolutely horrified at the idea of what Helen might say to the Duke of Wilds. This meant that, when she went downstairs with the simplest hairstyle that she could get away with wearing, dressed in the frock that was the quickest to put on, Ariadne was extremely surprised to see Helen seated calmly side by side with George Stunton, Lord Hershire.
“Oh,” Ariadne said, her quick steps drawing her up short. “I—good morning, my lord.”
If the viscount noticed anything of her surprise, it wasn’t evident in his face. Helen, for her part, looked rather stunned, as though something about the exchange had left her reconsidering many of the choices of her life.
Ariadne would have bet the entirety of her dowry that this had not been because the viscount had said anything particularly intriguing.
As if determined to live up to her assumption, he got to his feet, gave her a bland, polite smile, then executed a polite bow.
“Good morning, Lady Ariadne,” he said cheerfully. “I hope I find you well on this fine day.”
It was raining. Rivulets snaked down the windowpanes of the front parlor.
But there was a script, and Ariadne knew how to stick to it.
“I am, indeed, my lord,” she said. “I apologize for keeping you waiting. You caught me at a distracted moment.”
The viscount gave her a kind, dismissive gesture.
“No apology necessary at all, my lady,” he said. “I myself was not blessed with sisters, but I did grow up close to my female cousins, so I know that ladies can get distracted at their primping. It is, to me at least, merely a sign of your fine feminine sensibilities.”
There was a quiet clink as one of the hairpins that Ariadne had shoved into her coiffure gave up the game. It was frankly brilliant, as far as comedic timing went.
The viscount didn’t laugh.
Ariadne didn’t dare.
Helen looked as though, mentally, she was on another continent.
And suddenly, because there was something deeply, intensely wrong with Ariadne, she had a flash of the Duke of Wilds’ crooked smile.Hewould have seen the humor in it.
“I appreciate your understanding,” she said kindly.
“One must have understanding in a marriage,” he said. “If you will forgive me for making such blunt reference to a potential relationship between us, of course. I do not mean to make any assumptions.”
“Of course,” Ariadne murmured.
She was sailing off to join Helen on that far-off continent. Had the viscount actually grown more tiresome, or did he merely seem that way because her body was still buzzing with the energy of the Duke of Wilds’ kisses?
“But I must reiterate,” the viscount droned on, “how much I admire you. I find you to be replete with the best virtues of the fairer sex, and I cannot overstate how important that is to me. You are the kind of woman who would do credit to any man, my lady. The very best kind of lady that there is, in my humble opinion.”
