She was surprised when he took her hand and raised it to his lips. “Until tonight.”
Botheration.
What was this duke doing?
She wanted as little attention as possible foisted on herself. “Oh. Yes…um, Your Grace. I am agog with anticipation.”
He might have believed her if she had put a scintilla of enthusiasm behind that obvious lie.
Fear.
Dread.
But never anticipation.
He cast her yet another of his heart-melting smiles. “It was a pleasurebumpinginto you.”
She shook her head and laughed. “All right, I give up. It was a pleasure to meet you, too. I shall try to leave you standing next time we meet.”
With him gone, she and Lady Dayne breathed a sigh.
But what was Lady Dayne sighing about?
“I cannot believe it,” the kindly dowager said, ringing for Watling to bring her cape and reticule. “Have my carriage brought around immediately.”
“At once, my lady.”
Adela stared at her. “Where are you going?”
“I must tell Phoebe all that has happened. This cannot wait.”
Adela regarded her with marked surprise. “Do you think she will care that my research papers were stolen? I cannot believe it happened to me, either. The brazenness of that despicable lizard, and he a Fellow in the Royal Society. I hope he is driven out in shame.”
“Adela, what are you going on about? I am talking about Huntsford bringing you home. Do you have any idea how significant that is?”
“No, not a clue. Oh, please do not make more of it than it is. Eloise, you know I adore you both, but Phoebe is a notorious gossip. The duke and I are not an item and never will be. Dear heaven, he is the most magnificent man I have ever met. I am nothing but a clumsy bluestocking. I do not need the entiretonlaughing at me if rumors were ever to spread. They already consider me a halfwit.”
“Adela, why do you refuse to see the obvious?”
“Because it is not obvious at all. I knocked him over. He brought me home. He is convinced I am a clumsy clot. We all had tea together.”
Eloise sighed again. “For a smart girl, you can be awfully dim sometimes. You have just received a visit from your first suitor.”
“My…” She burst out laughing. “Him? That Greek god? I cannot tell you how irritating it was to see his perfection even amid the gusts of wind that made a mess of everyone else. Nothing diminished his exquisite looks. And who is born with silver eyes like his? Or a strong, patrician nose? Or those muscles straining beneath those impeccably tailored clothes? And you think that paragon is interested in me?”
Still laughing, she excused herself and went upstairs to ready herself for tonight’s party. Eloise, obviously unmoved by her comments, took off for the home of her partner in crime, Lady Phoebe Withnall.
Once alone in her bedchamber, Adela stared at herself in the mirror. “You had better shape up,” she told herself.
If the duke meant what he said, then she would have to be ready for him. It wasn’t for herself, for she really did not care if she showed up looking as though she had been lost in a library for a week. But her two dowager sponsors cared, and she would not disappoint them for the world. “Betsy, I will need your help preparing for tonight’s party,” she said when the young maid assigned to assist her walked in.
“Of course, Miss Adela. Lady Dayne sent me to you for just this purpose. Let’s see what we can do to have you steal the Duke of Huntsford’s heart.”
Did the entire household know he had brought her home?
And now believe he was interested in her?
Utter nonsense.
