Page 9 of The Love Potion
“Perhaps. But everyone else won’t. And if I’ve destroyed Lady Zoe’s chances this season, then what did she just do to yours?”
He had a point. If she’d ever harbored the secret dream of marrying well, then she’d started off on a very bad foot this night. So she said what she always said when trying to console herself for a life turned hard. “There is no sense in hoping for something that will never happen. I have no prospects, and therefore will make the best life I can now.”
“And how will you do that?”
“By helping my charge with her ambitions.” She took a step forward. “If I do well here, then perhaps I will find other positions as I chaperone other young ladies.”
“Not if you throw water on dukes.”
“Exactly!” she said with a great deal more enthusiasm than she felt. “That’s why it was better to have tripped than sneezed.”
He shook his head. “Do you actually believe your own nonsense?”
“Absolutely,” she said, a sense of total defeat coming over her. “It makes it easier to convince everyone else.”
“Not me.”
Yes, she could see that. She sighed. They needed to head back inside. The tongues were already going to wag. “My lord, I amnot angry with Zoe for tripping me. What gives you the right to punish her so harshly?”
His mouth thinned and his chin came up. It was the look of a man who had become a duke at age eleven. He was not used to being questioned or having his face drenched with herb water. She could not fault him for that, but neither could she allow him to end Zoe’s chances this Season.
Finally, he spoke. “She violates my sense of fair-play. Tripping people and love potions, indeed. She does not have the character to make anyone a good wife.”
“She is sixteen!”
“And on the marriage mart.”
He was right. Of course, he was right! But sixteen-year-old girls were routinely married, and neither she nor he could change that. She huffed out a breath. “So don’t marry her, Your Grace. But don’t ruin her chances with someone else. It’s notfairto damn her future based on a childish game.”
She could tell her emphasis on the word “fair” was having its effect. He was a duke, and therefore his opinion carried enormous weight in thehaut ton. A debutante was the weakest among all theton. It wasn’t fair for him to wield his power without careful thought. Thankfully, the man heard her. Or perhaps he wearied of the scene they were making in front of… Oh heavens. The windows of Almack’s revealed at least a dozen faces pressed up against the glass.
“What would you have me do?” he asked wearily.
Success. She felt her shoulders sink in relief. “Invite her to ride with you in the morning. It will be an enjoyable outing, I promise you. She is an accomplished rider and, in truth, it’s your stables that attracts you to her.”
“Did you just say that she prefers my horses to me?”
Well, yes, she had. “Haven’t you said you’d prefer to ride than attend a society event?”
“Not the point.”
She chuckled. He really did have a dry way of speaking. Why it tickled her sense of fancy, she had no idea, but he did make her smile. “Given that marriage is a business enterprise, you could do worse than having her expertise. She’s an excellent equestrienne, but more important, she understands their husbandry like no one else. It is thanks to her that their family’s stable has managed well these last ten years.”
“Ten years!” he scoffed. “That would have her managing things when she was six.”
Kynthea grinned. “You should ask her about that. It’s quite the tale of her squaring off with their stablemaster.”
He stared at her hard, clearly wondering if she were joking. She wasn’t. And in time, his expression softened. “Miss Petrelli,” he said with a voice that carried. “Would you do me the honor of riding with me in the morning?”
Oh, excellent—wait, what? “No, no,” she whispered in surprise. “You’re supposed to ask Zoe!”
His brows rose. “Was I? My apologies.” He didn’t seem the least bit apologetic. “Are you able to sit a horse?”
“Of course, I am. It was Zoe’s primary requirement in a companion.”
“Then I should like you to enjoy the sweetest mare in my stable. She is docile when needed, but has a mischievous quirk to her spirit I find endearing.”
She stared at the man. He spoke with such a flat tone that one might miss the humor beneath the words. “Did you just compare me to a horse?”
