Page 71 of How to Seduce a Duke this Autumn
Maddie looked her squarely in the eye. “I think you’d be foolish not to, even though he’s a Cross.”
Charlene stared down at the orchid, brushing a petal with her fingertip.
Then perhaps… just perhaps… she could be brave enough to find out what more might look like.
*
Adam rolled hiseyes. Inwardly, of course, but for what must be the hundredth time. Can a man not enjoy his luncheon without being badgered, for saint’s sake? Neither his mother nor Miss Martin had given him any space to breathe since he returned from the ball last night. In fact, there were only two places in this whole damn house safe, and that was his study and bedchamber. The former being questionable and the latter being the safest. But he couldn’t stay in his chamber every minute of every day, could he?
And his mother refused to send Miss Martin away.
The woman had a nest of bees in her bonnet when it came to this matter.
What made matters even more flinch-worthy was that he couldn’t get Charlene and her kiss from his mind, which wasn’t the flinch-worthy part. That was Miss Martin popping into view whenever he stepped from his study or chamber, ruining his thoughts with her coy smile and seemingly innocent gaze. There was nothing innocent about it. The woman was as calculating as his mother.
And they were most certainly in cahoots.
“You seem to be good friends with the lady of last night,” Miss Martin said. “Lady Charlene, was it?”
More than good. “Yes.”
“Still, Adam,” his mother said. “That was rather rude to leave Miss Martin to fend for herself at her first ball in London.”
“But I didn’t leave her alone, now did I, Mother? I left her with you.”
Both women huffed but said nothing further on the matter. But he wasn’t fool enough to think this was the end of it.
“Adam,” his mother began.
He was right.
He set his fork down, losing his appetite, and bracing himself for what was to come next.
“I do love Lady Charlene, you know this, but she was engaged to your brother. You must know how inappropriate it is to spend time with her.”
He knew nothing of the sort. “They didn’t marry.”
“It’s still not the point. She’s your brother’s ex-fiancée. How do you think he would feel if he returned to find you cavorting with her?”
Adam leveled a steely gaze at the duchess. “Take care with your choice of words, Mother.”
And to hell with David.
His mother didn’t know the damn truth. A decision he’d made not to tell her that might not have been the wisest, but he couldn’t do anything about it now. She might not believe him, or she might, but she’d be hurt, and he didn’t want to hurt his mother, no matter her antics with Miss Martin.
“Well,” the chit piped up. “Let us not speak of that which will sour the mood, shall we?”
Adam cursed. Inwardly. His relationship with Charlene was not souring, and he wanted to point it out, but one look at the two women and he decided against it. Defending their relationship might only move them to more drastic calculations.
He’d rather avoid that.
At all cost.
But that didn’t help with the matter of them now shadowing his every damn step.
“I hear there is a balloon ascension in a few days,” Miss Martin added. “It’s said to be a promising event.”
Balloon ascension? Adam said nothing.
