Page 9 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
To risk a cut direct. Unthinkable.
‘I doubt it. Pretend not to see her.’
Having caused her aunt enough grief for one evening, Barbara did as she was bid and smiled into her aunt’s worried face. ‘Do not fear. I shall deal with Papa. He had no business…’
‘Miss Lowell.’
Aunt Lenore looked ready to faint. ‘Lady Cowper.’
Astonished, Barbara turned to meet not the gaze ofLady Cowper, but the arctic blue eyes of the tall disapproving gentleman.
Her heart missed a beat. Her stomach fluttered.
‘And here is the niece you told me all about,’ Lady Cowper was saying.
‘Yes,’ Aunt Lenore said breathlessly. ‘Indeed. May I introduce the Countess of Lipsweiger and Upsal?’
‘Dowager Countess,’ Barbara said with a smile which she made sure encompassed the gentleman at Lady Cowper’s side.
His expression did not so much as flicker.
‘I am pleased to meet you, Lady Cowper,’ Barbara continued. ‘My aunt informs me you are one of the leaders of this venerated institution.’
‘I am one of the patronesses, yes,’ Lady Cowper said stiffly. ‘Miss Lowell, Countess, it is my pleasure to introduce you to His Grace the Duke of Derbridge.’ She didn’t sound pleased in the slightest.
Aunt Lenore’s fingers twitched.
Amazingly, she kept them where they were.
Barbara sank into a curtsey. Aunt Lenore followed suit.
‘Your Grace,’ they said in unison.
‘Miss Lowell,’ the Duke said. ‘I believe we met last year at Lady Crome’s picnic.’
‘How good of you to remember, Duke.’
He turned his gaze on Barbara. ‘You are new to town. How are you finding it so far?’
Barbara gave him a bright smile. ‘A little chilly.’
Did he take her meaning? Or would he see it as a comment on the weather?
‘Those unused to London’s rarified climate can find it so.’
No dolt then. But arrogant.
‘Yes, the climate on the Continent is far more welcoming.’
‘My niece was recently in Paris,’ Aunt Lenore said brightly. ‘Her father, the Ambassador, is expected back in London any day now.’
‘Ambassador March,’ he said.
‘Indeed,’ Barbara answered.
‘I do not know him personally, though I have heard of him of course. He was of great assistance to Castlereah in Venice, I am given to understand.’
Barbara was a little surprised. Most of her father’s activities remained in the background. Much to his personal disappointment. ‘Your Grace has a finger on the pulse of diplomacy, then?’
