Page 60 of Fit for a Duke
He glanced at the gardens below him and saw her wandering about, hatless of course, and apparently muttering to herself. The temptation to join her was compelling but he knew that dozens of pairs of eyes behind other windows in this large house would observe them and draw inappropriate conclusions.
Or perhaps appropriate ones.
Ezra couldn’t afford to dwell upon his complex feelings for the chit when he had a more pressing need to ensure his own safety. Besides, if he continued to show Clio any partiality, she might become a target for the assassin too. In retrospect, perhaps waltzing with her had been an error of judgement. It had certainly got tongues wagging, according to Godfrey, but by all that was holy, he couldn’t regret an interlude that had been so sublimely sensual!
‘Damn it all to hell!’ he cried in exasperation. ‘I shall walk with her if I want to. What’s the point of being a duke if I cannot sometimes please myself?’
Merlin roused himself from his slumbers and barked in agreement.
On the point of leaving his chamber with the intention of accidentally intercepting Clio, he paused when he noticed that she was no longer alone.
‘Damn!’ he muttered, thinking it was probably just as well that one of the other ladies had joined her before he could give in to temptation and do so himself.
About to return to his neglected correspondence, Clio and her companion turned back on the path they had just traversed and Ezra got a view of the other lady’s face.
‘Mother?’ He scratched his head. ‘It cannot possibly be. Why would she…Damn it, Merlin, she’s probably heard the rumours following that waltz—even though she was off enjoying herself and didn’t witness it first hand—and she’s now warning Clio off. How dare she!’
Angry enough to explode, Ezra wanted to thump something to rid himself of his growing frustration. He had always treated his mother with the respect due to a lady of her station, but they had never been on intimate terms, nor had they discussed his choice of a wife. Ezra supposed that attending this party was her way of giving tacit approval to Lady Beth. Perhaps Clio wasn’t well born enough to satisfy his mother’s exacting standards, but if she thought he would tolerate her interference then Ezra would be obliged to put her straight.
‘It’s a little late to show maternal interest in my affairs and I shall tell her so in no uncertain terms,’ he informed his dog.
‘Lady Walder ain’t done anything suspicious,’ Godfrey remarked, entering the room. ‘If you discount the fact that Salford snuck into her room after the party broke up last night.’
Ezra sent his man a sharp look. He hadn’t known that Godfrey had intended to keep watch over her inside this house. He hoped Lady Walder’s room was in a different corridor to Clio’s and that he had not been seen visiting her. For his own part, he couldn’t have cared less. He would do as he damned well pleased and answer to no one, but he would not have Clio’s reputation tarnished.
‘They are welcome to each other,’ Ezra said shortly.
Godfrey sent him a curious sideways glance as he prepared Ezra’s clothing for the outing, probably wondering why he was in such a foul temper.
A short time later, impeccably attired, Ezra went to the stables to collect Pharoah himself. He assumed that Clio would travel with her cousin in her aunt’s carriage and wanted to ensure that she arrived at their destination unmolested. He should, he knew, have been considering his own safe passage, which was far less certain, but his priorities appeared to have changed.
Henry Fryer joined him, as did their respective servants, and the small party of mounted men rode to the front of the house, where six open carriages awaited the ladies, his mother’s cream landau driven by Barnes prominent amongst them. They watched the ladies emerge from the house like a flight of colourful butterflies, chattering among themselves.
Ezra’s mother climbed into her conveyance, followed by Adele Fletcher and…and Clio? Ezra almost tumbled from his saddle when he realised that his eyes had not deceived him.
‘What the devil?’ he muttered.
‘Seems the mater has taken matters into her own hands,’ Henry remarked, chuckling at Ezra’s dismayed expression.
Ezra caught his mother’s gaze and narrowed his eyes at her. It seemed that she approved of Clio after all, but was now inadvertently in danger of getting the chit killed. The duchess tilted her parasol over one shoulder, waggled her fingers at Ezra and instructed Barnes to drive on.
Barnes whipped up his team, and with a sigh Ezra knew he had no option but to ride alongside.
Chapter Sixteen
Clio felt as though the eyes of every member of the party were fixed upon her and cursed her inability to hold back the blushes, even though no one other than Adele and the duchess were close enough to observe them. Adele had been full of questions when Clio told her they had been invited to travel with the duchess, and had jumped to the same erroneous conclusions as everyone else appeared to have done. The desire to hide her face behind her parasol was compelling, but Clio would not have the world judge her as a simpering nincompoop and so instead tilted it over her shoulder at a jaunty angle and pretended not to have a care in the world.
Ezra and Lord Fryer rode close beside their conveyance, adding fuel to the raging fires of speculation. Fortunately, Adele was unable to question Clio in front of the duchess—and anyway, with Lord Fryer in such close attendance she had other priorities. The duke’s expression was dark and forbidding. Clio suspected that he wasn’t happy about her sudden association with his lady mother. God forbid that he thought she had instigated it, using the rumours the waltz had created to feather her own nest. She felt hot and cold all over as a thought that more than justified his dour mood took a firm hold. Surely he knew her better than to assume she would take such shameful advantage. He would hardly have come to her room if he believed that she would attempt to manipulate him and felt her own annoyance surfacing at his narrow-minded assumption.
She had intended to avoid him during the course of the luncheon and instead keep a weather eye out for assassins. Instead, she would now be obliged to actively seek him out and put him straight on the matter, further adding to the general speculation if they were seen together.
Clio smiled when they reached their destination, momentarily distracted from her concerns. Lady Fletcher’s idea of an al fresco luncheon, a glorified picnic, involved an arrangement of long trestle tables that must have been brought up from her estate at first light. They were set with crisp white linen and a small army of uniformed footmen were busy laying out china and crystal glasses. The only concession to the picnic theme that Clio could see was a table groaning beneath the weight of the food that had been laid out on it, from which the guests must make the effort to help themselves.
There was a whole pig roasting on a spit, Clio noticed, and a bewildering array of cold meats and tempting puddings already on display. Various games had been set up around the clearing that could have been arranged with far less effort on the part of Lady Fletcher’s servants in the gardens of Windgates. The only advantage to this location, Clio decided, was the magnificent view of the surrounding countryside and the nearby village from their vantage point on high ground. That view was impeded today by low clouds and only spasmodic sunshine, but if rain was in the offing no one seemed to mind. There was a carnival atmosphere which allowed the guests to feel they were being granted a temporary respite that they fully intended to exploit.
Which was what concerned Clio. Even though she was annoyed with Ezra for jumping to conclusions, she was still worried that the assassin would seize his opportunity in such a situation. She glanced around, seeing a dozen different places at a glance where a man could hide and wait for that opportunity to present itself. She noticed Merlin, nose pressed to the ground, scouting out some of the trees in question and using them as watering posts. She felt a little less concerned now that she had seen the dog doing his patrols. With great good fortune, his presence would prevent any intruder getting too close.
‘Some picnic,’ she muttered, walking with Adele towards some vacant seats and watching the rest of the guests mingling. The duchess had gone in another direction and Clio noticed her in heated conversation with Ezra.
