At the sound of Selina’s squeak, the couple jumped apart.
Peter, still lust-drunk, felt his legs nearly give way.
“Lord Eldon,” gasped Selina. “Lady Eldon. Good evening.”
Lord Eldon’s thick white brows lowered sternly over his eyes. Lady Eldon dimpled at them, looking far less shocked than Peter felt.
“Your Graces,” Lady Eldon said, entwining her gloved fingers with her husband’s. “We cannot keep meeting this way.”
“Ibegyour pardon!” Selina’s voice cracked. “We were just—on the point of leaving—”
“Don’t rush off on our account,” said Lady Eldon graciously.
Selina backed hastily toward their waiting carriage, tugging Peter with her.
“Actually,” said Lord Eldon, “please do.”
Peter wasn’t sure what to do with his face. He handed Selina up into the carriage and tried very hard not to look in any particular direction.
When he climbed into the carriage after her, Selina shut the door with a thunk. And then, quite firmly, she lowered the curtain over the window as well.
Through the thin barrier, Peter was almost certain he heard the muffled sound of Lady Eldon’s laugh.
Chapter 29
… I will meet you at your house at nine of the clock tomorrow. Look ducal! Ask your wife for assistance if you need to.
—from Mohan Tagore, barrister, to Peter Kent, the Duke of Stanhope
The morning of the hearing, Peter thought rather grimly that they had done all they could do. It had been four days since the confrontation with Lord Alverthorpe at Belvoir’s, and the countess and Georgiana were safely ensconced at the Ravenscroft estate in Gloucestershire. He and Selina had made their social rounds. Lydia and her maid had identified any potential sources of opposition and then Lady Judith and Mrs. Khan had moved to quash them. The Dugglebys had thrown quite possibly theleastexclusive ball of the Season, so that everyone might see the general support for the Duke and Duchess of Stanhope.
Her family, all their friends—everyone had done their best to utilize their positions and associations.
Everyone knew about Selina’s connection to Belvoir’s, including the Eldons, who werenot, as it turned out, members of the library. Their daughter, however, was.
Peter hoped it would be enough.
Selina sat in the Court of Chancery beside him, looking calm and formal, a duchess to her satin-slippered toes. While he, the so-called duke, sat with his hands digging into his knees, his heart in his throat.
Tagore had taken the carriage from their house up to Westminster with them, waited beside them all morning before their hearing was to begin. He was robed and bewigged, looking like the Bengali version of one of the portraits in the Stanhope gallery.
Freddie and Lu had stayed at the house, attended by their tutor and several Ravenscrofts. Children weren’t allowed at court and—God help him—even if they had been permitted to attend, Peter didn’t want them to be there in case it went wrong.
It could not go wrong. Hell, if the force of his determination could will the guardianship into being, it would have happened already.
Selina reached out with her pinkie finger to touch his own, which was locked in a painful grip on his leg. Her gloved finger stroked his, and he felt the steady strength of her there beside him. Perhaps she was only pretending it, that calm, that patience, but it soothed him anyway.
At Lord Eldon’s brusque command, Tagore rose to his feet.
He looked every inch the estimable barrister in the great wood-paneled space. He spoke at some length of Peter and Selina’s commitment to the children. He managed to highlight Selina’s connection to the Duke of Rowland without ever alluding to the Belvoir’s scandal, and Peter almost wanted to laugh. Tagore explained in tedious legal detail why juridical precedent for denyingguardianship to elder brothers based on inheritance claims did not apply to Freddie and Lu.
“Enough,” Lord Eldon cut in. His white brows dove sternly over his eyes as he considered Tagore, Peter, and Selina.
“My lord?” Tagore’s tone was cautious.
“I’ve heard enough of the law. As though I don’t know it.”
“Yes, of course,” said Tagore weakly. “My lord.”
