And then, he inevitably took his leave of her. She scarcely saw him until the next night. Occasionally, he joined them fordinner. But mostly, he left, drifting through the town house like a ghost. Leaving her lonely and longing for him.
She only had herself to blame, she supposed. She had known better than to allow him back into her heart. To lower her defenses. To feel things for him. But her heart and her mind had different ideas, and as for the rest of her…well, that, too, had been wooed and won by her husband’s traveling hands, lips, and tongue.
“Your Grace, you are the loveliest woman in the room.”
The sudden drawl at her side took her by surprise. Sybil had been far too caught up in her own troubled musings to see the Duke of Kingham approach. He towered over her now, tall, handsome, and unfailingly fashionable in his evening attire.
A genuine smile curved her lips at the sight of him. “Why, thank you for the compliment. But I dare say there are many ladies who are lovelier gracing the ballroom this evening. You are a true gentleman to suggest otherwise on my behalf.”
He pressed a hand to his heart. “I can assure you, Duchess, that there is nothing gentlemanly about me in the slightest. I pride myself upon it.”
She chuckled. “Then perhaps you are just a silver-tongued devil.”
He grinned. “Or merely a speaker of undeniable truths. For I see no lady within these walls who can hold a candle to you.”
“It is good to see you again,” she said, “despite your propensity for shameless flattery that I don’t believe one whit.”
“You do believe it. Confess.”
“I confess to nothing.”
“And what should you be confessing, madam?” asked yet another familiar voice at her back.
With a start, she whirled to find the husband she had so recently been ruminating over had soundlessly joined them,apparently having no qualms about eavesdropping on their conversation.
She studied his angular jaw and sharp cheekbones, thinking he looked as if he had been carved from marble. In his elegant black suit and brilliant white necktie, he was even more debonair than he ordinarily was. So handsome he stole her breath.
It was only when she saw the haughty displeasure in the depths of his light eyes that she realized he disapproved of her speaking with Kingham. Too bad. It wasn’t as if he had been talking to her first.
Or at all, she thought grimly.
“Riverdale,” Kingham greeted her husband affably, answering on her behalf with a smooth ease for which she was endlessly grateful. “You are looking slightly less unfashionable than you usually do this evening. Although I must question your choice of waistcoat yet again. Stripes aren’t becoming on a man of your build. I cannot say the same for your wife, however. Her Grace and I were talking about how she is the loveliest woman in attendance this evening. I was pressing her to confess that she agrees when you approached.”
Kingham should have been a statesman. If only she possessed a modicum of his talent for smoothly steering the conversation in a less dire direction. It would have served her well over the last month. It would seem that when she wasn’t in bed with Everett, she was somehow saying the wrong thing or otherwise vexing him.
He couldn’t be pleased.
His eyes narrowed on his friend now, and she was relieved not to be the bearer of his scrutiny. “Why are you at my wife’s side this evening? Haven’t you a widow to seduce?”
Kingham raised a brow. “Unhappy wives are equally rewarding. I haven’t made up my mind which I shall pursue just yet this evening.”
Sybil’s eyes went wide at the subtle intimation that Kingham intended to seduce her. She knew it wasn’t true. He had no interest in her. But she couldn’t help but to wonder what he was about. It wasn’t wise to poke at the lion in his cage. Surely Kingham knew that.
But the duke seemed unperturbed by the prospect that he was running the risk of infuriating his friend.
“If you don’t want a blackened eye, then I highly recommend relegating yourself to the seduction of widows, old chum,” Everett said lightly, but his words held an undercurrent of icy warning that Sybil didn’t miss.
“I was just telling His Grace how honored we are by his presence,” she intervened brightly, hoping to distract the two men, who were eyeing each other rather in the manner of two opponents about to fight a duel. “It has been lovely to have so many of your dear friends in attendance this evening.”
“Some of them dearer than others,” her husband drawled pointedly.
Kingham seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
He laughed. “Don’t worry, I shan’t tell Whitby that you like me more than you like him.”
“Quite the opposite, and more by the moment,” Everett said nonchalantly.
“I was just about to inquire with Her Grace concerning the next dance,” Kingham returned. “A woman so lovely is meant to be whirling across the parquet floor, not standing alone with the dowagers and the potted palms.”
