Lady Bridget’s victorious smile faltered. “I see.”
“I imagine you are quite grateful,” Lewis said.
The young lady set her book aside and clasped her hands in her lap. “Should I be? It seems as though you have behaved rather foolishly to me.”
His temper flared, but Lewis kept his expression neutral, the very picture of control in response to the infuriating young miss. This was nothing more than a desperate attempt for her to try and wrest control away from him.
“And how is that?” he asked.
“You could have hosted the ball yourself,” Lady Bridget countered. “Or asked the Dowager Duchess to do it for you.”
If Lady Bridget had known the truth about his grandmother, she would never have posed the idea of the Dowager Duchess planning the ball. It was curious that she knew anything at all about the woman. Lewis narrowed his eyes, searching her face. He knew about the rumors, of course, but didshe?
“Either option would be better than becoming indebted to someone,” Lady Bridget continued, “which is what you have done.”
“On the contrary, my lady,” he said. “I cannot become indebted to a man who already owes me a great deal. I would have to receive an invitation to every ball and soiree Lord Ashdown hosted for the rest of his life to make us even.”
The young lady stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. “What could you have possibly done to make another man so indebted to you?”
Lewis shrugged easily. “That is no concern of yours. The point is that you have been invited along with me, and you will make yourself suitably presentable.”
“Maybe I do not wish to attend a ball.”
“You do,” he said. “You will.”
Color rose to her cheeks, and her nostrils flared. “I have no doubt that the Dowager Duchess would have enjoyed planning the ball. She has not been allowed to attend any formal occasion in years, and she is most certainly dying from the lack of stimulation.”
So, shehadheard. Lewis clenched his jaw at her presumption. “And I suppose you are trying to force some answers from me about her condition? How perfectly selfish of you.”
“It is not selfish to know about the relatives of a man who wishes to be my husband,” she countered. “I would think that is to be expected. After all, you know all about my family, do you not? It is only reasonable that I should also know everything of yours.”
“Well, if you must know…”
He crossed the room, eyes darting to the parlor maid, but her back was to them, as she arranged the tea and biscuits kept on a neat tray by the fireplace. Lewis halted near Lady Bridget, bending over her and drawing closer than was proper. The lady inhaled deeply and gazed at him with wide eyes.
“Yes?” she asked, the word wavering on her tongue.
Lewis leaned nearer to her, so his breath brushed against her cheek. Lady Bridget did not draw away. Instead, her back arched just a little, and she drew closer to him. Lewis’s heart hammered against his ribs. She was a woman whom he would need to treat with a very firm hand, indeed.
“I want to marry you,” he said lowly, “so you can take over the duties that would be expected of the Dowager Duchess. Once we are married, you will host the balls and tend to all the frivolous parts of being in polite society.”
“But why?” she asked.
He laughed and drew back, delighted to see a flicker of disappointment mingling with the anger in her eyes. “Because you will be my wife, and those duties will be yours.”
“And do you find that the Dowager Duchess is unable to perform those duties?” Lady Bridget asked. “Is that why you have locked her away?”
“Locked her away? What a fanciful imagination you have,” he said. “I suppose that is what happens to young ladies who read too many novels. They lose all sense of what the world really is.”
“Do not condescend to me.”
He smiled and returned to his chair, eyes darting to the tea and biscuits. “I do have concerns, of course,” Lewis said. “You have not yet seen fit to offer me tea, though you should have.”
“Invited guests receive tea,” Lady Bridget replied. “You are not welcome here, and I find that you are growing increasingly less tolerable with each passing minute.”
“A wife should not speak thusly to her husband.”
“And a husband should not lie,” she shot back.
