Page 10 of The Duke's Indecent Match
“Red would be very pretty,” she agreed, smiling at Miss Belle.The young lady smiled back at Kalina and shot another glare at Montagu before turning back to her conversation with the Duke of Clarence.Montagu frowned at her, his own gaze now narrowed almost in imitation of hers when she’d been studying him so closely.
“Red is Christian’s favorite color.”The Duke of Hereford’s deep voice, suddenly joining the conversation, made Kalina jump in her seat.She felt her cheeks burn with emotion and was grateful for constant practice in composure that allowed her to appear unbothered—other than her initial start of surprise.
“Oh?”She smiled at the Duke of Montagu before turning back to the Duke of Hereford.“What is your favorite color?”
His gaze flicked down to the rose diamonds around her throat and then down to her dress of complementary pink hues with cream trim.“I am sure I can guess at yours.”
Kalina laughed lightly.
“It is true, I’ve always loved the color pink.”She smiled.“It feels such a warm, happy color.Like a hug.”Realizing who she was speaking with, the heat filled Kalina’s cheeks again.
Thankfully, she did not have to worry about the heat showing.Though she loved the color pink, the way the English actually turned pink when they were embarrassed was something she was grateful not to have to endure.
Quickly, she looked away from him, unsure of how he would take the comment.She had not meant to say something so personal, not after how he’d pulled away from their conversation earlier, clearly reluctant to be her dinner companion.
“It is a very flattering color on you,” the Duke of Montagu interjected, breaking the tension of the moment.“As I think you know.”He winked at her, and she felt Hereford bristle at her side.
She smiled back at Montagu, relieved to have him to distract her from the man at her side.Why she found the Adonis of thetonless attractive, yet easier on her nerves than the Duke of Hereford, she could not say, but it was true.Though she had been less nervous when they’d been speaking of books.
Before he’d pulled back.
Before she’d felt the coldness of his retreat.
“I’ve always been partial to pink myself,” Hereford said, drawing her attention back to him.His fingers reached up to brush over the handkerchief peeking out of his coat pocket, a rather lovely shade of puce.It matched the puce and cream striped waistcoat he was wearing.“My mother grew nothing but pink roses in our garden.”
“Oh, I should like to see that,” Kalina said without thinking.There was something about Hereford that made her far too comfortable, blurting out her thoughts too easily, before remembering herself.
“Ah, well.”It was like seeing shutters drawn across the duke’s eyes.“We do not entertain much these days.Eventually, perhaps.”
Blast.She had accidentally reminded him of his dire financial straits.The entiretonknew.Just as he had to know that she had a genuine fortune for a dowry.What hung around her neck and from her ears was the least of it.Her father had been determined to see her properly settled into English Society.That they had not been fully accepted, regardless…
She wondered what it was about herself that the Duke of Hereford objected to since she had the one thing he needed in a wife.
“We do not entertain at all,” Kalina replied, smiling at him.Perhaps he kept drawing back because he did not want her to think him a fortune hunter?Even though everyone knew he required a wife with a substantial dowry.“I am grateful to be included in invitations when we are, especially to such surrounds as this.It is my first house party.”
Indeed, being invited to Lady Astrid’s house party had such cachet, the family had immediately received three other invitations for when they returned to London.All from hostesses who had not deigned to acknowledge her or her parents before.
“You will enjoy it,” Hereford said, slanting a glance down the table to where Lady Astrid was seated.“Lady Astrid insists on being entertained at her own house parties, which means they are never dull.”
“Have you attended many?”
“Not until recently, but she does have a reputation.”He chuckled, still watching the lady at the end of the table as she turned her nose up at something the Duke of Ormonde said to her.“Next time, I hope to be able to bring my sister Juliette.After she debuts next Season.”
“Ah, I always wanted a sister.”Kalina smiled back at him as he turned his head to look at her again.“I love Ashwin, of course, but there were times when it would have been nice to have a sister.”
“I have three, and I would have happily traded one for a brother.”
Comparing notes on siblings, their conversation passed so easily, she barely noticed the various courses being served.From siblings, they went on to talking about their childhoods.Strangely, it sounded as though Hereford had been as lonely as she in some ways—he talked around it a bit, but it was clear he felt responsible for his sisters in the same way she felt responsible for her family.
Perhaps it came from both of them being the eldest.Though Kalina’s father had never shown her anything but love, while Hereford’s father… he talked around the subject, but she’d heard the gossip.The former duke had been a gambler, a wastrel, and not very pleasant as a person to boot.
That he had left his family in such dire straits demonstrated his lack of responsibility toward his family, something Kalina would never understand.Rather than following in his father’s footsteps, Nathanial had clearly taken the opposite tack and was doing everything he could to be the antithesis of his father.Kalina did not need to read very far between the lines to understand that.
She thought it rather admirable.
In fact, the more she talked to him, the more she liked talking to him.The more she felt at ease with him.
To the point where she felt rather sorry when the last course was served, and only then realized that they had monopolized each other’s time completely.Once they had begun conversing, she’d completely ignored the Duke of Montagu.Rather horrified at her ill manners, she quickly turned to see how he was faring…
