Page 64 of How to Ruin a Duke
“Lies that reflect poorly not only on me, but also on my brother?Jeremiah is hardly a pattern card of probity, but he is my heir.If both of us are sunk in scandal, where does that leave the succession?”
Elsmore poured a dash of plum cordial over his dessert.“Perhaps that’s a fruitful line of inquiry?Have you cousins lurking in the hedges that would like to see you and Lord Jeremiah disgraced past all redemption?”
For a duke and his heir that would take a deal of disgracing.Thaddeus rose, because again, he’d like to have the benefit of Lady Edith’s thoughts on this possibility.
“You will excuse me.I apologize for leaving you without a companion, but…”What to say?I am drawn to the company of a woman who no longer owns even a decent tea service?
Elsmore took up his spoon.“Away with you.Do you know how rarely I am permitted to enjoy a meal to myself?How unique a pleasure it is for me to be free of the burden of polite conversation when all I want is to partake of my food in peace?You have but the one immediate heir, while I have a dozen first cousins all clamoring for my favor and influence.The aunties and their endless progression of god-daughters line up behind the cousins, until I sometimes feel like a waltzing, bowing, smiling automaton.”
For Elsmore, who was at all times gracious, mannerly, and pleasant, that amounted to a tantrum.
“Try a bit of scandal,” Thaddeus said.“Clears a man’s schedule handily.”
“Are you complaining?”
“No, actually.”The lunch and dinner invitations had all but stopped, leaving only the courtesy invitations which Thaddeus was free to decline.Jeremiah had been happy to do some of the obligatory socializing, proving that fraternal loyalty was not yet dead in Merry Olde England.“I will wish you the joy of your trifle.”
While the day wasn’t gorgeous, it was at least dry.Rather than summon his coach, Thaddeus walked the distance to Lady Edith’s door, stopping only to procure sustenance at the inn where they’d eaten the previous week.
Will she be home to me?
Did that kiss mean anything to her, and if so, what?
What do I want it to have meant?
Thaddeus’s imagination took the answers to that last question to all manner of inappropriate places, such that by the time he arrived at Lady Edith’s house, he felt like an adolescent standing up at his first tea dance.
“Your Grace.”She curtseyed and stepped back.“Won’t you come in?”
Was it progress, that her ladyship wasn’t warning him to keep the visit short?If so, progress toward what exactly?And what was wrong with civilization that the daughter of an earl had to answer her own door?
“You will think me presuming in the extreme,” he said, passing over his parcel, “but I stopped to enjoy a meal at the establishment down the street, and realized that I need not eat in solitude when excellent company was available not far away.”Forgive me, Elsmore.
“You are being charitable,” she said, gesturing him into her house.“I am just hungry enough to pretend I’m delighted to be the object of your kindness.”
“My kindness is being held in low regard these days.I have been sent to Coventry by several of the charities to which I’ve been a staunch contributor.”Lady Edith took his coat and hung it on a peg, then accepted his hat and walking stick.She smoothed the wool of his coat, so the sleeves hung straight, a gesture Thaddeus found…wifely.
She turned a curious gaze on him.“Why would any charity…?Oh.They don’t want to be tainted by your notoriety?”
“They aren’t that honest.The hypocrites want proximity to the ducal purse and the family name, but not to the Flying Demon of the Brighton Road.”
“He is a rather colorful fellow,” Lady Edith said.“Let’s eat on the back terrace, shall we?”
The back terrace was a euphemism for an uneven patch of slates at the rear of the house.Grass intruded between the stones, and the garden walls were encrusted with lichens, but irises apparently found the space congenial.A bed of purple flowers along each side wall was just beginning to bloom.Two venerable maples cast the little yard in dappled shade, which also meant that Lady Edith would have privacy when she sat out here.
The wrought iron chairs were sturdy, if ancient, and Thaddeus had no sooner unwrapped his sandwich than an impertinent pigeon came around begging for crumbs.Lady Edith tossed the bird a crust, so of course three more of the damned beggars appeared, strutting about and making pigeon noises.
“How are you?”Thaddeus asked, when the lady had consumed half a sandwich.
“I am well, and you?”
She was not well.She was quiet and troubled, even more than she’d been the last time he’d imposed his company on her.
“I am vexed past all bearing by this damnable book, and I’ve had a few ideas I’d like to put before you.First, though, might you kiss me again?”
Shortly after putting off mourning,Edith had begun keeping company with a local squire who had owned a patch of property near her aunt’s cottage.They’d walked out together, and matters had progressed along the predictable lines of a rural courtship.
Within weeks, she’d developed an understanding with her swain, and her prospective groom had developed the ability to charm his way under her skirts, as often happened with engaged couples.When it became apparent that he’d had a fine time with the vicar’s daughter as well, and that the vicar was soon to become a grandpapa, Edith had joined the household of a relative in the next county.She did not want a husband she couldn’t trust, no matter how skilled he was in the hay mow.
