“I lied,” she said, lowering her voice. “I have bushels of words. But first—I’m sorry you’re so bored. I know this isn’t the group you chose. But for some reason Papa seemed to think your list was a joke.”
“The Earl of Mount Edgcumbe,” he said. “That’s what did it, probably. An agreeable fellow—but his eldest daughter is three years older than you. I know what you’re thinking.”
She was thinking he was a man, and possessive. About her. She knew this signified nothing. It was merely competition with other men. But her body, which noticed no other men, was aroused by this one, a snake drawn to the heat.
“You were trying to protect me,” she said. “You thought I’d be safer with more mature gentlemen.”
“Is that what you’re thinking?”
“I’m thinking, too, of how grateful I am,” she said. “Your friends Lord Adderwood and Lord Alvanley are amusing. And your cousin Miss Sinclair is very clever.”
Miss Emma Sinclair had proved to be not only clever but informative. She thought the world of her cousin Marchmont and didn’t hesitate to say so. Tonight Zoe had learned that the duke supported this lady, along with numerous other relatives. Though a woman of high rank, Miss Sinclair, like too many other spinsters, had no income; and, like them, she had no respectable means of earning a living or even any idea or training in how to go about earning one.
Marchmont, who made such a show of caring about nothing and nobody, obviously cared about Miss Sinclair. He supported her. Generously. And that was only part of the story. Miss Sinclair had told Zoe that he not only supported his mad aunt Sophronia but let her live in grand style in a magnificent old house he owned, a few miles from London. These, Zoe had learned, were by no means the only relatives to whom he was generous.
She knew it was a gentleman’s obligation to look after his dependents. She knew a duke had a great many dependents. All the same, the discovery had made her heart ache. In so many ways he’d changed, and not for the better. But in other ways he was Lucien still, impossibly annoying at times—as he’d always been—yet kind, deep down, in the heart he kept so well hidden.
“I’m glad they amuse and entertain you,” he said. “You needn’t worry about my being bored. I am not so dangerous as you are when that happens.”
He was a great deal more dangerous than she. His mood hung over the drawing room like a storm cloud. She wasn’t sure others felt it—or recognized what it was if they did feel it—but she did, and it was wearing on her nerves.
She smiled up at him. “But I’m not dangerous tonight. I can be proper when it’s absolutely necessary.”
“You’ve done well,” he said. “Everyone’s in love with you.”
But not she with them.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned the harem,” she said. “You seemed displeased.”
He waved this away, the slightest gesture of his hand. “It didn’t signify.”
“And you shouldn’t worry when men stare at my breasts,” she said.
She caught the flicker of surprise before he hid his eyes again. “There they were—are,” he said, and she felt, rather than saw, his green gaze drift downward. “Unavoidable.”
“But that’s the purpose of evening dress,” she said. “To display.”
“You have undoubtedly achieved the purpose,” he said.
“You’re very protective,” she said.
“Yes, like abrother.”
Oh, she was trying to be patient and understanding. She reminded herself of how much he’d had to drink. She reminded herself that men could be the most irrational of creatures. She told herself a great many sensible things, yet she felt her temper slipping.
“I’m sorry if I hurt your manly pride,” she said, “but it would be best for everyone to think of us in that way. One must change the way people view us—I had in mind our public quarrels. It’s the same as letting Mr. Beardsley believe I was the slave of Karim’s first wife. In people’s minds I stopped being a concubine and turned into a Jarvis.”
“There’s nothing to explain,” he said. “No need to. I was…amused.”
She very much doubted he’d been amused, but before she could respond, Lord Adderwood approached.
And in the nick of time, too, because she was strongly tempted to pick up the nearest heavy object and apply it to the duke’s skull.
“Monopolizing the lady again, I see,” said Adderwood.
“Not at all,” Marchmont said. “I was about to take my leave. I thank you for a most entertaining evening, Miss Lexham.” He bowed and walked away.
Zoe did not pick up a porcelain figurine from the pier table nearby and throw it at him. He continued walking away, unmolested, and not long thereafter, he was gone.
