He opened his eyes. His heart sank at the sight of the familiar face—it was Miss Catherine. And she wasn’t alone.
“Everyone,” she said, “this is my acquaintance, the Duke of Harbeck. Your Grace, these are Miss Georgina and Miss Olivia. They asked me to introduce them to you.” There was pride in her voice, and Allan could see that she liked being the person who could introduce her friends to a duke. She was proud of the fact that they were already acquainted.
He tried to indulge her. “It’s a pleasure to meet the both of you,” he said. Then, because he knew he ought to, he added, “Won’t you join me?”
They giggled and pulled up chairs. As they settled in, Allan’s grandmother looked at him, her eyebrows raised.
He thought he probably knew what she was thinking—and if so, she was correct. He hadn’t thought much of Miss Catherine when he’d met her, but Miss Georgina and Miss Olivia seemed to be a cut above. They settled gracefully into their chairs, lowered their gazes, and then looked back at him demurely. They sat straight-backed with their hands folded in their laps. They were lovely, both with dark hair and pale skin. And though he hadn’t gotten to know them yet, it occurred to him that barring some disqualifying factor, either lady might make a suitable candidate in his search for a duchess.
He was hardly ready to offer a proposal, of course, but he could understand that this assessment might merit getting to know them a little better. If nothing else, he should be pleased that they were sitting at his table.
And yet, he didn’t feel that way. He felt nothing at all. He had no desire to talk to either lady, and he wouldn’t have minded a bit if they had simply gotten up and left. As a matter of fact, he thought he might have preferred it.
How could he take them seriously? Neither of these ladies was going to be his duchess. You might as well have put a bird before him and asked that he consider the bird as a possible duchess—that was how certain he felt that it would never happen. It was through no fault of their own. They simply weren’t what he was looking for.
As he pondered this, nodding along with their chatter and pretending to listen, he saw her.
Lady Edwina.
She emerged from the house in a gown of pale gold and hurried down the steps and out onto the lawn. At once, Allan found that he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. It wouldn’t have mattered how beautiful the ladies in front of him were, how witty or charming or well-spoken. To look away from her at all felt like a crime against his very nature, and he knew he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
“Your Grace?”
Miss Georgina was speaking to him. He managed a quick glance in her direction. “I’m so sorry, Miss Georgina. You were saying?”
“I was asking you whether you were enjoying the party,” she said.
“Oh, yes, very much. The weather is lovely.” A foolish turn of conversation, but he felt himself incapable of keeping to any other topic. It was disappointing, but he thought this was likely the best he could do.
And his grandmother had noticed, he realized. She was watching him carefully, the shrewd expression that he liked least of all on her face. He wished he could do something about it, but what was there to do?
He was surrounded by beautiful young ladies—but he only had eyes for one, and she wouldn’t look his way. Especially after what had happened yesterday, there was no chance of his drawing her attention. He needed to find himself a way to let Lady Edwina go—to truly let her go and to stop thinking about her once and for all.
Unfortunately—as he was well aware—that would be far easier said than done. He had no idea how he was going to get Lady Edwina out of his mind—especially now that she was more powerfully fixed there than ever.
CHAPTER 29
“Edwina, we must speak.”
Edwina looked up at her elder brother, surprised by the serious tone of his voice. “Have I done something wrong?”
“No, certainly not. Nothing at all,” he assured her. “But we do need to have a conversation, and I’m afraid it is rather serious. Will you join me in the Duke’s study?”
That seemed to Edwina a strange request, but she put down the book she had been reading and followed her brother into the study.
He closed the door behind him. “Perhaps you ought to sit,” he suggested.
“Matthew, you’re beginning to alarm me with all this.”
“No, there isn’t anything to be alarmed about,” he assured her. “In fact…I hope you will think this is happy news. But we do need to discuss it.”
“Tell me what it is.”
“It has to do with Lord Kentrow.”
“Lord Kentrow? What about him?”
“He came to me the other day and asked me for my permission to propose marriage. He’s going to ask you to marry him, Edwina.”
