Page 23 of Ne'er Duke Well
“By antiquities?” he repeated.
“Yes. Etruscan art. Roman coins, classical sculpture.” Her gaze sharpened on him. “You don’t approve of Elgin’s acquisition of the Parthenon marbles, do you? If so, better keep it to yourself.”
“I… er. No. I can’t say that I do.”
Good Lord, he needed a study guide for the interests of his matrimonial prospects. Why on earth had Selina not prepared a textual aid for all of this?
“And Lady Georgiana? What topics do you suggest I discuss with her ladyship?”
Selina nibbled her lower lip consideringly. Peter tried not to think about it.
“Perhaps the weather?”
Theweather? Well, at least he wouldn’t need a crib sheet for that.
“In truth,” said Selina, “you might want to just talk to Lady Georgiana.”
“Pardon?”
“Just… talk. Avoid, um, asking her things.”
For some reason, this advice struck him as the most alarming of all. He chanced a glance over at the silver-haired Lady Judith, who was looking distinctly amused. Peter didn’t think that boded well.
Once the carriages stopped, they reunited with Thomasin and his siblings. Freddie was tucked under Thomasin’s arm, dreamy and a bit sticky-faced.
“Sweetmeats,” murmured Selina. “Thomasin is always prepared with sweetmeats.”
Even Lu looked rather taken with the woman. She flitted in between Selina and Thomasin, asking questions about card games and fencing.
“Have you ever seen a boxing match?” she asked Selina.
Selina looked around surreptitiously, and then leaned down to whisper something in Lu’s ear. Lu’s face lit up, and she dashed off to catch up to Thomasin again, who was now walking beside Lady Judith. Lady Judith’s hand rested at the small of Thomasin’s back.
“If I could persuade Lu to like me half as well as she likes you,” Peter told Selina as they followed a handful of footmen to the banks of the Serpentine, “I’d have the children living with me by next week.”
Selina’s lips quirked. “Give her time. She’s twelve, yes?”
Peter assented.
“It’s a difficult age. I never was more angry at my brothers than I was at twelve.”
“What did they do?”
She smiled at him, and she was tall enough that she barely had to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. The afternoon sun made her a study in monochrome shades of gold: gilded ivory skin, the rich honey of her hair, her amber eyes clear and luminous like… whiskey, perhaps? Rum. Something bright and intoxicating.
“They were men,” she said. “They did whatever they pleased, while I had no control over anything in my life, I thought. Will had gone to Eton, while I was stuck at home with my governess. My fencing master wouldn’t come back after Will left. I was too big for my pony, but Nicholas thought me too small for the bay gelding I really wanted.” She gave a little self-conscious laugh. “Petty things, I know. But I wanted to be in charge of my own life, and instead it seemed as though I had charge of nothing at all.”
“Do you still feel that way?” He liked listening to her. He liked how carefully she thought things through.
“Sometimes,” she said. “But, no, not really. I’ve taken my life in my own hands these last years.”
“Sounds dangerous,” he said, and he meant it as a jest, but her eyes sharpened a bit as she looked at him.
“Perhaps,” she said. “Perhaps it is.”
They’d reached the picnic area that the footmen had arranged, and Freddie and Thomasin were unloading wrapped foods and corked wine bottles and lemonades. They set out crystal and silver and small porcelain plates—dukes and their relations, it seemed, did not eat cold chicken with their hands.
Actually, as he surveyed the children, it seemed perhaps thatthey did. Lu’s busy fingers were separating chicken from bone, and Freddie held a joint of the cold meat to his mouth.
