Page 62 of Ruthless with a Rogue
Livy’s cheeks grew warm as she gave a small nod.Was it obvious she was hoping to improve herself by association with the dowager?
“I have been told it is your first season.Have any gentlemen caught your eye?”
Livy waved her fan at her burning cheeks.She wasn’t sure what the etiquette was when talking about love interests with a dowager duchess.
The duchess chuckled low, a glimmer sparkling in her eye, softening her autocratic nature.“Do not worry, my dear.While I may have claws, you are safe from them.I meant what I said.I would like to become better acquainted with you.From what I’ve heard, you made quite the impression at the dinner party.Mr.Hodge couldn’t stop speaking of your insightfulness.”A small smile spread across her face.“Beauty and brains.The gentleman you marry will be extremely fortunate, and most likely completely unaware of it.”
“Why, th-thank you, Your Grace,” Livy stammered, failing miserably at covering her shock.The way the dowager spoke, it was as though she believed it was a positive thing that Livy enjoyed academic pursuits.“I cannot begin to express my gratitude—”
The dowager waved her hand in the air, cutting Livy off.“Yes, yes.But we are friends now, so there’s no need to be so formal.Let us discuss gentlemen.”A grin spread across the dowager’s face, a gleam glinting in her eye that gave Livy pause.But one didn’t deny a duchess, nor a dowager duchess.
“There is one gentleman.Mr.Warren Thorton,” she said hesitantly.
“Hmm.”The dowager studied Livy but said nothing.The dowager spun toward the crush and raised her opera glasses again.“We will just have to invite him to the box, won’t we?If I am right—and I always am—I know exactly where he will be.”She scanned the boxes directly across from theirs and one section lower.“Ah yes, there he is.Quite the striking young lady on his arm.”
Livy lifted her opera glasses and searched in the area that had garnered the dowager’s attention until she came across a familiar head of short blond waves.The dowager was right.There was a beautiful brunette on his arm.
She waited for her heart to constrict, for her stomach to tighten.She waited for something uncomfortable and ugly to slither its way through her.Instead, she felt…a sorrowful longing.The longings of the young woman Livy used to be.One she didn’t think she was any longer.
Lowering her glasses, she glanced at the dowager.The woman was watching her.
“I’ll be honest with you, Miss Forester.I don’t believe he is the right match for you.But I understand.Occasionally, it is necessary to adorn oneself with yet another necklace, for only then can the rightness of the prior piece be discovered.”She gave Livy a knowing look.A look Livy couldn’t even begin to understand.“I will have word sent for him to visit during intermission.”
The dowager looked back out at the crush, opera glasses back in place as she scanned the theater.“Now where is that grandson of mine?”she muttered.
“The Duke is here?”Livy had assumed if he was here, he would have been in his own box.
“Oh, no, the Duke is away at Ironcrest.”The dowager spat the last word with such vehemence that Livy leaned away slightly.“I was referring to Roderick.”
Roderick… “I was not aware the Duke had a brother,” Livy said slowly.
“Not in the literal sense.Lord Dunmore is as much my grandson as the Duke is.He should be here.He promised me, and that man does not break his promises.”
Livy thought back to the night she’d stolen into Dunmore House.How she’d uttered a similar sentiment to the man.That sentiment being the entire reason for her nighttime undertaking.And she’d been correct.The only reason he hadn’t kept his word was because he hadn’t been well.
“That he doesn’t,” she murmured.
The dowager snapped her head in Livy’s direction, opera glasses still suspended in mid-air in front of her.“How did you come to know Lord Dunmore?”
Livy froze, unsure of how to explain her association with the man.She didn’t think for a moment the dowager would believe the tale they’d fabricated about him having a distant association with her aunt, given the dowager’s close relationship with him, given the woman thought of him as kin.
“We met at a ball and, much to my delight and surprise, he graciously agreed to show me around the ton.”Livy winced.That wasn’t nearly sufficient.
The gold of the dowager’s opera glasses flashed in the candlelight as the dowager leaned forward on the banister, homing in on something in the lowest section of boxes.“The idiotic man!”she chastised in a hushed voice.
“Pardon, Your Grace?”Livy blinked several times.What in the name of trifle?
The dowager straightened, lowering her opera glasses, and studied Livy.“An odd task for a miscreant like him, escorting an unmarried lady about.”
Livy’s mind turned over, frantically searching for something even remotely credible.Beauty and brains.“He happened to discover my interest in mathematics,” she rushed out.“And knew of others who had similar interests.”
The dowager gave another thoughtful hum just as the curtain rose, signaling the start of the play.
“Let us deliver you back to your aunt.Since this is your first time to the theater, I am sure you actually want to watch the play.”She sent a mischievous smile Livy’s way.“And I need to get word sent to that gentleman of yours.”
“Thank you, Your Grace.”Livy dipped into another curtsy.The dowager strode off as Livy went to find a seat with her aunt.
“Such a dreary play,Macbeth.”Franny fanned herself vigorously between sips of chilled champagne.
