Page 61 of Fit for a Duke
‘Let’s get something to eat before a queue forms,’ Adele suggested.
Clio had no appetite, but agreed readily enough. If they were surrounded by other people, it would prevent Adele from asking the questions that Clio knew she must be burning to voice.
‘More to the point, once the irksome business of eating is out of the way, it will give you more time to spend with Lord Fryer,’ Clio teased, squeezing her cousin’s arm as they took the plates handed to them by footmen and worked their way along the table, helping themselves to modest servings of their favourite delicacies.
Others joined them at the long tables, but Ezra wasn’t amongst their number. In fact, she couldn’t see him or Merlin anywhere, but Mr Godfrey was lurking on the periphery and Clio had to believe that he would not let his master out of his sight.
Once the meal was out of the way, everyone got up and wandered about, the bolder young ladies taking the opportunity to stroll away from their chaperones, most of whom appeared to be fighting postprandial somnolence. Adele had excused herself and disappeared on Lord Fryer’s arm. In spite of her graver concerns, Clio took a moment to celebrate the fact that the attractive viscount’s interest in her cousin didn’t appear to be waning. At least something had gone right for one of them.
No one appeared to pay Clio any particular attention, presumably because the duke hadn’t come anywhere near her. They would be congratulating themselves upon having surmised that such a sophisticated gentleman couldn’t possibly have an abiding interest in someone of such lowly stature. One or two of the young ladies sent her supercilious looks as she passed them, taking pleasure from the fact that she had been put firmly back in her place. She actually overheard someone suggest that the duchess had deliberately taken her up in her carriage so that she could warn her off the duke.
Shaking her head at the ridiculousness of society’s petty jealousies, she wandered off alone wondering whether she really wanted to put herself through a season if this was the type of treatment she had to look forward to. There was no substance to this party, the conversation amongst the ladies appeared to focus almost exclusively upon matrimony and gossip, and she was bored. Or she would have been but for the fact that she had an ungrateful duke to keep alive, she reminded herself.
About to seek him out, she almost literally bumped straight into him. He put out a hand to steady her and when she looked up into his face she blanched at the ferocity of his expression.
‘You should not have left the main party,’ he scolded. ‘It isn’t safe.’
‘I was looking for you. I wanted to make sure you were not being used for target practice—precious little thanks I get for it.’
His expression softened. ‘I am sorry my mother took you up,’ he said.
‘It gave the wrong impression, I am well aware of that, and I dare say you are cross about it, but I couldn’t refuse her.’ Clio tossed her head, thinking it vital that he understood her predicament. ‘It would have been impolite.’
‘Indeed.’ Ezra raised one brow in evident surprise. ‘She did not discourage you?’ he asked.
She sent him an innocent smile from beneath the brim of her hat. ‘Discourage me from what?’ She bent to make a fuss of Merlin, who had come running up to them, his tail spiralling.
‘Minx!’ The anger left his eyes. ‘You know very well.’
‘I know that tongues are wagging for no good reason, which is tiresome. It is not as if I can tell anyone the truth about the reason for our collaboration.’
‘Our collaboration?’ He looked amused as he turned a laugh into a cough.
‘Your lady mother has the wrong idea too. I like her very much, by the way, which I will confess comes as a surprise. Your father, she tells me, was not an easy man and he showed little or no affection.’
‘She actually admitted that to you?’ Ezra ground his jaw, not waiting for a response. ‘It’s the truth but not the sort of thing that one would ordinarily tell a stranger.’ Speculation filtered across his features, culminating in a smile. ‘I am surprised she cared about the pater’s behaviour, or took any notice of it, come to that. She always seemed to be too busy with her own affairs and totally self-sufficient. Too busy for her own children.’
Clio wanted to explain why she had cut herself off from them but decided it wasn’t her place to do so. Ezra and the duchess must work things out between themselves.
‘Any sign of the assassin?’ she asked. ‘Not that you would know, of course. I dare say he either hides himself away or, if he is one of our party then he blends in. I noticed Merlin checking out likely hiding places earlier.’ She chuckled. ‘I hope he ruined the assassin’s boots.’
‘I have several men posted and keeping their eyes open as well as this lazy mutt.’ Ezra tugged at one of Merlin’s ears, sending the dog into a state of near delirium. ‘Even so, I shouldn’t stay with you.’
‘Oh, don’t worry.’ Clio gave her head another lofty toss. ‘The gossips will soon tire of their sport when they realise that I have not developed ideas above my station.’
‘Foolish child! I hadn’t given the tattle a second thought and no more should you.’
‘Yourreputation will not suffer. In fact, the gossip will likely enhance it, whereas mine will soon be beyond redemption.’ She glanced at a growing number of people who had found reasons to stroll close to them, too close, and linger. ‘Really, it is most unfair!’
Ezra laughed. ‘Go and join in the games. They are bobbing for apples by the looks of things. A ridiculous game but at least you’ll be unlikely to suffer any fate worse than a ducking.’
‘Do you always tell people what to do?’
‘Almost always.’ He flashed a self-deprecating smile. ‘I can’t seem to help myself.’
‘I know that you think of me as an adolescent, but it does not necessarily follow that I enjoy adolescent pursuits and I don’t have the least intention of ruining my new bonnet by risking the ducking you seem to think I deserve.’
His eyes flashed with an unholy light. ‘Let me put you right on that point. I think of you a great deal but never as an adolescent, and therein lies my difficulty.’
