Page 29 of If the Slipper Fits
“Afteris hardly a word I’d use. I simply wished to express my gratitude.”
“Right. Because she didn’t catch your thanks the first several go-rounds.”
Caden scowled but didn’t voice a rebuttal.
“Jones is a looker, I’ll grant you that. But braving Lady Wentworth”—He scratched the side of his nose in apparent befuddlement—“It would take more than a pretty face to induce me.”
“Is that not your grandmother’s sister’s sister-in-law you besmirch?”
Harrison looked pleased. “You were listening. Quite right, my great Auntie’s husband’s sister, she is. So, you know my intel on her is beyond accurate.”
Caden glanced over his shoulder. Lady Wentworth’s stare, punctuated by an imperially arched brow, strongly discouraged further delay.
He turned back to Harrison, mouth open to issue a hasty farewell.
Harrison plunged on undeterred. “What my Auntie told my grandmother about Lady Wentworth, who told my father—”
“The Marquis? The paragon himself, gossips about the dowager?”
“It's not gossip when it's family history. Do you want to hear thetale or not?"
Not right now, he bloody didn’t.
Evidently, he didn’t have a choice. Harrison lowered his voice to a conspiratorial murmur. “As my father tells it, Lady Wentworth—then Lady Greyson prior to her marriage to the duke—once had all of society eating out of the palm of her hand. Dad says she got invited to all the best parties and held court everywhere she went. How do you think she snagged Lord Wentworth? He could have had his pick. The bluest of blood ran through his veins. Ladies far and wide vied for his hand, they say.”
“Indeed. Listen, Harrison—”
Caught up in his account, Harrison continued unabated. “In the early years of her marriage she didn’t hole up in Northumberland as she does now. Indeed, for years she and her daughter accompanied the duke to London, staying the duration of the season. Post season, they did the summer circuit, hopping from house party to house party.”
A glance over Harrison’s shoulder revealed the imminent arrival of the misses Applegate and Egerton, the two cutting a swath through the crowd like eels through water.
Harrison’s voice lowered to a whisper. “Until one summer—”
“Sorry, old chap, your family history will have to wait.”
Harrison looked aggrieved. “But I’m just reaching the climactic point.”
“Later.”
He approached his quarry, glancing about to assure himself Harrison’s group hadn’t trailed after him. They hadn’t, but damn it all if Lord Hardasher wasn’t skulking about, mere feet away. He eyed Anna with a single-minded intensity that stirred Caden’s hackles. He knew a lascivious glint in a man’s eyes when he saw it.
And what ofyourintent?
What of it, he silently retorted. He had a history with Anna. At least he thought he did.
Lady Wentworth shifted, giving Anna a clear view of him.
She graced him with a polite smile, but he caught a flash of wariness in her eyes. Not exactly the warm welcome he hoped for.
“Good afternoon, ladies. What a pleasant surprise. For some reason, Lady Wentworth, I was under the misapprehension you meant to eschew today’s event.” He slid Anna a brief, speaking look.
The dowager gave an unladylike snort. “On the contrary, Mr. Thurgood. Evidently, yoursourceunderestimates my sense of familial duty.”
Anna gave the woman an arch look which she cheerfully ignored.
“Your duty is my good fortune,” Caden said.
“Good fortune all around, m’boy. Nothing like a handsome man to help pass the time, especially at affairs like these.” Her gaze flicked over the crowd, her expression pinched as if she smelled something foul.
