One of the consequences of being a duke was that dukes were always placed in positions of honor beside their hosts. This meant he would not be seated anywhere near Adela or ever have the chance to speak to her until supper was over and card tables set out for the guests who wished to engage in card games.
As Lord and Lady Granville’s guests began to saunter into the dining room, Ambrose held Adela back a moment. “Do you play cards?”
She nodded. “Yes. In fact, I am quite good.”
“Partner me. For the entire night. Refuse anyone else who attempts to claim you.”
She laughed lightly. “All right. I shall fight off all of my ardent suitors with mace and sword. Honestly, no one else is going to ask me. But I look forward to being your partner.”
He cast her a soft smile. “So do I.”
“Have we made up now? Are we friends once more?”
“Yes, Adela. However, we never stopped being friends.”
She accepted his remark with a gentle breath of relief. “I’m glad.”
His thoughts about her were anything but gentle.
He could not finish his meal fast enough. It was odd how much he looked forward to being with Adela again, how much he yearned to be alone with her. But that would not happen tonight while all eyes remained on them amidst this party.
He wished they could have been seated closer, for he missed having her by his side throughout the meal.
Well, how did one miss something one never had before?
He hardly knew the girl and should not have been so caught up in thoughts of her.
But she had the ability to hold intelligent conversations, unlike the peahens who were seated beside him. When they weren’t passing snide comments about others within their social circle, they chattered incessantly about the dullest topics. The parties they were to attend, the frightful lack of a good modiste these days, or the latest debutante ruined by scandal.
While polishing off dessert, an excellentblancmange, he endured listening to the intricacies of curling one’s hair. The frustrations of engaging the best dance instructors. And was it not shocking that Lady Cartwright ran off to Italy with one of her husband’s footmen?
“Why did she have to run away?” his dining companion, Lady Felicity Rose, thetondiamond who had earlier accosted him, muttered between bites. “It isn’t as though he ever cared what she did with her time since he now spends all of his in London with his latest mistress. I believe she is an actress and was formerly Lord Hough’s mistress.”
“There was no need for her to run off,” the young lady seated across the table from him agreed. “They could have led their separate lives without fuss. Now, he will cut her off and possibly divorce her.”
“I would not have made a fuss,” Lady Felicity Rose said, as though speaking directly to him. “If I had the title, a fine London home, and a suitable allowance, why would I care what my husband chose to do?”
She stared at him, awaiting his response.
Ambrose chose to give none.
Did these women truly believe this is all he wanted? A wife who was a showpiece and would not shed a tear when he died?
When the meal ended, the ladies sauntered into the parlor while the men remained behind to have their drinks and smokes. The talk turned to politics and horses, topics he found slightly less tedious than those the women had raised.
Perhaps he was being too harsh on everyone, for he did enjoy horses and had several scheduled to race at Newmarket. Politics was also an important matter and he had been working hard to introduce bills to address the vital issues of the day.
But it irked him that not a soul had asked about the newly opened Huntsford Academy, a project into which he had poured his heart and soul. He had not done it to gain their approval, but for himself and his brothers to honor their father’s memory.
Still, it genuinely surprised him that not a soul other than Adela had passed a remark. Her excitement over his labor of love was the greatest compliment she could have paid him, and she had no idea how much it had touched his heart.
He had created a serious center for learning and stocked its library with the finest scientific resource materials. Scholars from around the world had already written to him in the hope of visiting this new exhibition hall and the forensic laboratory he intended to build next to it. The exhibits were of top quality, and only Adela was interested in hearing about those.
Indeed, Adela’s eyes lit up whenever they spoke of his labor of love.
As for the others, the marriage mart was all they cared about. The social whirl of dinner parties, balls, picnics, and musicales were battles to be won by young ladies as determined as Felicity Rose.
Every dance and every conversation was a tactic to be used in snaring a spouse.
