Page 47 of The Duke's Return
Nodding, Lady Penbury clasped her hands together. “Oh, we should like very much to hear about your travels.”
He gave a rough chuckle. “I should like to very much regale you with every tall tale I know, but…”
And then he heard the sweetest sound. Better than the rushing of the sea at night. Better than the nightingale. He heard his wife’s laughter not half across the room from him, readily stringing him along.
“My wife beckons,” Julian announced and lifted his glasses as a reminder. “I must see to her. Perhaps another time, my friends.”
Everyone’s expectant smiles faded slightly as he took his leave. They would surely forget him in the next moment, of course. All he hoped was they would remember his jests and how normal he was as a duke. How he was not mad or irresponsible.
The latter, however, came into question when Julian spotted his wife.
Laughter was one matter. But laughing alongside a fair-looking youth who most likely didn’t even shave yet was another matter, and one he did not care to see.
His grip tightened on the filled glasses, and he started toward the two of them, wondering what his wife was doing alone with another man and what could have made her laugh for even a second.
I don’t think I’ve seen her smile that wide in some time. How did he do it?
Something snapped within him when he saw that on Genevieve. The smile complimented her radiant looks. Tonight she wore a pale blue gown that accented her soft light skin and thick dark hair. She was indeed dressed better than anyone else here, and he found he liked that. He wanted her to stand out just as she deserved to be seen and admired.
Except something about this wasn’t right. Julian didn’t like it. As she stood a few inches taller than the young man, she appeared at ease and calm. What had the young man done to her?
She shouldn’t look at him like that; people will make assumptions. They’ll start fresh gossip we cannot have. I cannot have it. Besides, I’ve made her laugh, and she hasn’t looked at me like that before, has she?
It took every bit of Julian’s strength not to tear across the distance, but to move languidly as though he had not a care in the world. As though he didn’t imagine a dozen ways to do away with the young man who was too witty and too charming for his own good.
“You are too kind,” Genevieve was saying when he was near enough to hear their quiet conversation. He wondered if it appeared as intimate to him as to everyone else. “But the countryside is an entirely other world here.”
“Don’t we all have years of learning when we are in the city? Give it another week and you’ll reign here like you never did before. There is less competition out here in the country, after all,” the young man added cheerfully.
“A week? I think I should need two years at least!”
“Absolutely unnecessary. Your gown is proof enough you know exactly what you are doing. You’ll outshine us all by tomorrow morning.”
Julian couldn’t stand this for another minute.
He shifted both glasses neatly to one hand, a clever trick that never failed in its usefulness. And in the next step, he made it to them.
To her, specifically. His hand glided around his wife’s waist to bring them close together. With a forced smile, he glanced at her before settling a heavy and pointed gaze on the young miscreant.
“Darling,” Julian said as he moved smoothly to act as casual as possible, “You must introduce me to your new friend. I’m afraid we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting, and I find I’m absolutely dying of curiosity here.”
Though he might have hoped that Genevieve might not react much upon his arrival, he was further impressed when she gave no reaction beyond stiffening under his touch.
Her smile twitched but she nodded and neatly obeyed, introducing him to the young Mr. Eston Kantbury. He carried not even an honorary title now but would potentially inherit this very house someday.
“A young man of leisure, are you?” Julian inquired with a raised eyebrow all while the young man glanced between them with a curious gaze.
Mr. Kantbury cleared his throat and gave a sharp nod. “You could say something like that. The country offers me very little, for I spend most of my time since university in London.”
“You are young yet. There is much of the world to see. What keeps you in London? Surely not the women.”
“Julian,” Genevieve hissed quietly in his ear.
The young man didn’t hear her. He blinked several times and focused on Julian. As he straightened his shoulders, he gave a short nod. “I’m afraid you’re right. While I do love my races and balls, most of my time is spent at the Royal Society of London. I’m a mathematician,” he added cheerfully.
“The sciences?”
“Well, yes. Numbers and whatnot.”
