Page 83 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
And Xavier felt an odd twinge of envy.
The curtain went down and the liveried staff of the theatre entered to turn up the lights in the box.
Xavier rose and moved among his guests, offering refreshment. ‘How did you enjoy the farce?’ he asked Miss Graves, after she had indicated her wishes to the footman.
The young woman smiled brightly. ‘It made me laugh. I especially liked the horse. He was funny.’
There had been a horse?
Oh, right. Two men in a horse costume. He’d seen it, but it simply had not registered.
‘Indeed. Very amusing.’
From the corner of his eye he noticed Barbara slipping out of her chair and making for the exit.
He caught her before she opened the door. ‘May I be of assistance?’
Her eyes widened and he found himself being drawn into their velvety depths.
He blinked.
She had said… Oh, yes. The withdrawing room.
‘Miss Lowell should accompany you,’ he said, looking around for the older woman.
‘Oh,’ Miss Redhill said, ‘I need to freshen up. May I accompany you, Countess?’
Xavier stepped back and watched the two ladies join the throng in the hallway outside the box. They seemed to know wherethey were going.
‘What game are you playing?’ Julian said, joining him at the door.
He glanced down at his friend. ‘What do you mean?’
‘First, you cannot take your eyes off the Countess, and second, you look as if someone took a log to your head. I have never seen you so bruised. What did you do? Forget to duck?’
In truth, he’d been horribly distracted thinking about Barbara when he should have been focussing on his opponent. He wasn’t going to say that to Julian.
He touched his lip. ‘It’s nothing. A lucky shot.’
‘More than one, by the look of it.’
He certainly wasn’t going to tell his friend about the fine set of bruises on his ribs. ‘So?’
Julian shook his head. ‘And the Countess?’
‘You know very well I do not favour one woman over another. All the ladies here are my guests this evening.’
‘And you haven’t given the other two more than a perfunctory glance.’
‘You are imagining things.’
His friend shrugged. ‘As you wish.’
Xavier forced himself to leave the door and return with Julian to the rest of his guests, who were sipping champagne and discussing the play. He took a glass from the tray the footman offered him and joined Miss Lowell. The older woman gave him what he could only describe as a predatory smile.
‘So kind of you to invite us, Your Grace. Such an honour.’ She twitched at her shawl and patted her grey curls.
‘It is my pleasure,’ he said, wishing her and the rest of them to the devil.
