But she was focusing her attention on Cassie and Portia. ‘It is so good to see the two of them, back together,’ she said to Portia. To Cassie, she said, ‘They duelled, you know.’ She cupped a hand around her mouth, so her whisper would carry. ‘Over a woman.’
‘Over me, actually,’ Portia said with narrowed eyes and a satisfied smile.
Julian took her hand and raised it to his lips. ‘To the victor, the spoils.’
‘But it was not always thus,’ the Duchess said. ‘At one time, you were both obsessed with me.’ Her grin turned catlike. ‘You, particularly, Westbridge.’
His expression changed, turning hard in a way she’d not seen before. ‘I am sure Miss Fisk is not interested in tales of your many conquests, Francesca.’
She ignored him and went on. ‘It may be hard for you to believe, but Sebastian was the most innocent of boys, back in the day. Still at Oxford, and so studious. He had eyes for nothing but books, back then.’
‘That is hardly a surprise,’ Cassie said, thinking of the book in his nightstand. ‘I understand he still enjoys reading very much.’
Three sets of eyes turned to her, surprised.
Only the Duchess was unmoved and continued with her story. ‘I met him on his first trip to London,’ she said. ‘How old were you then, Sebastian? Twenty?’
‘Nineteen,’ he snapped. ‘My father had just died.’
‘As green as fresh-cut grass,’ she said, stifling a bored yawn. ‘Positively virginal. But that did not last long, did it, darling?’
‘But that was quite some time ago,’ Portia said, with an equally catlike smile. ‘You must have been barely past forty when it happened, Francesca.’
‘Thirty-two,’ the Duchess replied, her smile disappearing as she looked at Portia.
‘I wouldn’t know. I was still in the schoolroom at the time,’ Portia said, still smiling.
‘And on that, I think we’ll take our leave,’ Julian said, taking his wife by the arm. ‘Good evening to you as well, Westbridge.’
‘I’ll follow you out,’ the other man replied, turning to go with them. He walked at their side until they were lost in the crowd, then disappeared.
When he was gone, Julian leaned towards Portia and said, ‘You were the one who wanted to come here.’
‘Because I do not want it spread around that I am afraid of your old lovers,’ she said.
‘That was very long ago,’ he replied. ‘And I thought you enjoyed this party.’
‘I said I liked her rout cakes. I did not say I liked her,’ Portia replied. Then, she waved her reticule and opened it to show them it contained cake and a folded sheet of paper. ‘I have taken several for the ride home and bribed a footman to run to the kitchen and copy out the recipe for me. We do not have to come back next year at all.’
But that meant that Cassie might never hear the end of the story that the Duchess was so eager to tell. They had made their way to the door and Julian had gone to see if he could find their carriage. Cassie used the opportunity to question her sister-in-law.
‘The Duchess was very strange,’ she began. ‘And Westbridge did not seem to like her very much.’
Portia gave her a prim look, and said, ‘It is not polite to spread gossip.’ Then, she smiled. ‘But when it comes toher? I am only telling you what everyone knows. And no, Sebastian does not like her very much. She led him a merry chase and he has not forgiven her for it.’
Cassie leaned forward to whisper, ‘She said that he was naive when she met him. After all the warnings you have given me about him, I find that hard to believe.’
‘We all start life innocent,’ Portia reminded her. ‘It is not as if he was a rake in the womb. From what I understand, his father died while he was at university, and he came down to London to take up the family seat in Parliament.’
‘How sad,’ she said.
Portia nodded. ‘His mother died when he was born, and he was quite close to his father. The loss hit him hard.’
‘And then, he met Francesca?’ Cassie said.
‘Her husband had died several years before. She was young and beautiful, and paid no mind to the strictures Society placed on her, even before he was gone.’
‘How is she still accepted?’ Cassie asked, shocked.
