Page 48 of The Curious Life of the Unfortunate Duchess
“I can see that is a matter for Frances and Herbert to work out amongst themselves. I can see that your sister and my barrister are happy together and I will not be the one to disrupt their happiness with my concerns.”
Elizabeth momentarily lost the ability to speak and for an uneasy moment, Leonard thought she might storm away, leaving him alone on the picnic blanket.
“May I be frank?” she finally said, the words escaping in a rush of air.
“Please do,” Leonard replied although he was not certain he wished to hear what she might unleash upon him.
“You are correct. Everything you said is true. Frances is happy, truly ecstatic for the first time in her life. Herbert makes her happy. He understands her and he is a good man. Why would I ever interfere with that?”
A wry smile formed on Leonard’s lips and he squeezed her hands warmly.
“Say it again,” he murmured, leaning his face toward her, their noses touching. Her eyes widened in surprise but she did not move away.
“Say what?” she asked quietly, her breath touching his face like kisses of honey. He had long fought the overwhelming desire to kiss her, to taste her lips and know the texture of her mouth. Leonard’s eyes closed. He could no longer resist and slowly he pressed his lips to hers. A small gasp escaped her throat and when he opened his eyes to study her face, her own amber eyes were still opened fully.
He drew back slowly, exhaling a long breath. His heart still beat rapidly in his chest but he grinned lazily at her.
“Well?” he challenged. “Will you say it again?”
“What is it?” she breathed, her voice flowing forth in short rasps. “What would you like me to say?”
“That I am correct and that all that I say is true.”
Elizabeth fell back, giggling at his teasing and stared straight into the sky. Leonard stared at her lovingly, his pulse still racing.
“No,” she called back sweetly. “You will never hear those words from my lips again.”
Chapter 16
“Ido wish you would choose another night to attend such an event,” Leonard grumbled. “If I did not need the coach to go to London you could see yourselves there in more luxury.”
“You could leave Frances here with Mother,” Leonard suggested and Elizabeth immediately refused.
“Her Grace would not know how to manage Frances if she had a fit in our absence. I could not inflict such a thing upon her. No, my sister will attend with us. I cannot very well tell her that she is uninvited to the party now. I dare not envision the backlash to such an announcement.”
Leonard agreed it was a poor idea.
“You must not worry about Frances. Even I know how she adores a party. Your only concern will be ensuring another does not sweep her away from Herbert.”
Elizabeth gave him a wary look. The conversation of her sister marrying the barrister the previous week had not been entirely settled in her mind. She understood Leonard’s position, even conceded his points but that did not mean she felt entirely comfortable with the concept. Yet that was a matter for another moment.
“We shall be fine, brother,” Catherine assured him, detecting an uneasy undertone. “Only the highest class of people will be in attendance.”
“The people in attendance are not my concern. I, too, have been to one of the Smitherson’s galas. I know how rambunctious they can become.”
“You exaggerate,” Catherine told him in a singsong voice. “You have not attended a gala in years! The Smitherson affair is highly honored. Nothing untoward occurs.”
“Keep your wits about you,” Leonard relented, although Elizabeth knew that he had never intended to keep her from going. The invitation to the party had come in only two days earlier and her initial response had been to refuse, knowing that Leonard and her father intended to visit London on business matters. Catherine had been insistent.
“Have you not attended these events?” the Duke’s sister demanded. “I cannot believe such a thing is true!”
“Perhaps there have been invitations,” Elizabeth confessed. “But we do not often attend galas.”
She did not add that she often felt stared at whenever she had attended balls in the past, although she had no sense if it was in her mind, or as a result of the ancient rumor which had plagued her since her youth.
“We must go together,” Catherine insisted. “It will be lovely, for once, to have a companion who is not completely witless.”
A scowl on Catherine’s face told Elizabeth that she was recalling a time when the Smitherson event had been ruined by some witless person. It had been settled and the ladies arranged to attend the gala in the next duchy the following evening.
