Page 45 of My Secret Duke
Well, times had changed, and he wouldn’t forget it next time. In fact, there wouldn’t be a next time. Enough was enough. He had sworn to keep his distance, and so he would, and eventually these ridiculous emotions would begin to subside.
“You like her,” Adelina said quietly.
Ivo was startled out of his thoughts. “Her?”
“Lady Olivia Ashton. Don’t pretend you don’t knowwho I mean. It’s obvious you are in lo… that you like her. Lexy and Mother have both commented on it. Mother is not particularly happy about such a connection, but I think if you are happy, then so will she be.”
Ivo shook his head. “As pleasant as your fairy tale sounds, Adelina, I am not about to propose to Olivia Ashton.”Certainly not again.“She has an entirely different future in mind, with a prince of our acquaintance.”
“The prince left Grantham after Annette blurted out her secret. I don’t think he was very pleased by yet another scandal brewing.”
This was news to Ivo, and he wondered for a moment whether the chance of an engagement between Olivia and the prince was at an end. Not that it would make any difference to how he was feeling now. She would no doubt find some other wealthy gentleman to set her sights on, cheered along by her bloody grandmother. When he put this idea to his sister, she pooh-poohed it.
“Girls change their minds all the time, Ivo! You should know that; you have two sisters. I don’t think you should give up on Olivia just yet. Maybe you should invite her to Whitmont.”
Ivo said nothing—he didn’t want to encourage Adelina—but he remembered very well the conversation with Olivia about Whitmont. He had found himself carried away, partly because she was listening with such rapt attention. It had seemed more than mere politeness on her part. Perhaps the wild aspect of his home appealed to her? In that moment, he’d had a desperate desire to take her there and show her his favorite places. To stand with her while the salty wind tossed their hair, and wax lyrical about his boyhood. Ridiculous, really.
Besides, what would Olivia think if she knewWhitmont had been searched by revenue officers looking for contraband? She already believed him a lost cause. She would rightly put even more distance between them in case it damaged her prospects.
No, despite what Adelina believed, he was not going to languish over a girl who did not want him.
The Season continued, still in full swing, and in his role as bachelor about town, Ivo accepted the more interesting invitations. One of them was Justina Ashton’s coming-out, which he only agreed to because his mother and sisters insisted. It would be a test, Ivo told himself, to see if he was finally over Olivia. He was rather pleased that he hadn’t dreamed about her for at least a fortnight.
In the meantime, he put himself at the disposal of his mother, whenever she ventured out into the fashionable world. There were a number of balls where partners were always gratefully received, as well as visits to the theater and late-night suppers. In the past, he would have been busy carousing at his club, but what had once seemed exciting to him no longer appealed. He hadn’t made a reckless wager in quite some time, and he found he didn’t miss them. In the meantime, the formal purchase of Cadieux’s had gone ahead, with papers signed and bank drafts arranged. Gabriel had been more than happy to hand his club over to his best friend, Charles, with Ivo as his partner. And Cadieux’s kept Ivo engaged. He had meant to be a silent partner, but Charles seemed to need his input more than expected, and the nightly antics at the gaming club fulfilled any yearning he had for excitement.
He saw Olivia Ashton at a great many entertainments, smiling and being charming—a far cry from the girl who had struggled to take her rightful place in society. If her grandmother had had any concerns about her granddaughter being openly ostracized when they returned to London, then they should by now have been laid to rest. There were still whispers, there always would be, but Olivia appeared to take them in her stride. Sometimes, at the less formal events, Justina was present, and once he even saw Roberta frolicking at a picnic with some younger girls.
Ivo kept his distance from Olivia Ashton. It was easier, despite what Adelina had said; he had no intention of resurrecting whatever had been between them. And he truly believed that, until one evening.
Olivia was dancing with a young gentleman, who was blushing and stammering out his words—at least Ivo guessed he was stammering from the look of him. Olivia was smiling, but her expression seemed uncomfortable. As the dance went on, Ivo found himself turning to watch them again and again, so distracted from the conversation he had been having with a very pretty lady that she must have thought him a bore.
The dance finished, Olivia curtsied, and the gentleman bowed, but before he could lead her back to her place beside her grandmother, another woman came to take his arm. She smiled at Olivia, but it was so obviously false that it raised Ivo’s hackles. Then she caught hold of the man’s sleeve and tugged him away. Ivo could see the red flags in her cheeks and her mouth moving as she spoke close to the fellow’s ear. It was a disturbing display of bad manners.
Olivia had been left standing in the middle of theroom, and there were some curious glances sent her way. She seemed deep in her own thoughts, and Ivo knew he shouldn’t, he really shouldn’t, but he couldn’t help himself. He was already strolling toward her.
Just as he reached her, Olivia abruptly turned and almost ran into him. “Oh!” Briefly, he grasped her upper arms to steady her as she blinked up at him. “Ivo?”
He made himself smile politely as he bowed. “Lady Olivia.” The music was beginning again, and the dancers were taking their places. “I think we should move out of the way before we get trampled. Who is your next partner?”
“I…” She fumbled with her dance card. “I don’t have one.”
“How surprising,” he said evenly, “and how fortunate for me. Come and sit with me for a moment.”
She hesitated and then gave a wry smile and a little nod before tucking her gloved hand into the crook of his elbow.
Ivo had meant to take her back to her grandmother, but instead, he found himself leading her past the dowager duchess—who appeared to be dozing anyway—and found one of those semi-secluded alcoves that seemed to abound at social gatherings. The flimsy curtains were fastened to the sides so that it was open to public scrutiny, but it also gave them a measure of privacy. Olivia sat down without a word, and he joined her on the cushioned sofa that was tucked into the space.
“What was that about?” he asked bluntly.
She frowned at him, and then her expression grew haughty. “You mean Lord Hollingsworth? I doubt it is any of your business, Your Grace, but he was asking my permission to call upon me at Ashton House. I don’t thinkit was a proposal, but he was rather incoherent.”
Ivo’s surprise must have shown, because her frown returned.
“You seem shocked that an eligible gentleman should want to call upon me.”
There was something in her statement that made him want to dig deeper into her feelings and his, but he resisted. “No, not at all. I just…” He cleared his throat. “Was that his mother who dragged him away? It looked as if she was rescuing him from peril.”
She gave an unwilling laugh. “Something like that. I overheard a little of what she said. I am, evidently, an unacceptable prospect for him, and she wanted him to keep his distance in case I ‘ensnared’ him with my ‘wiles.’”
