Meanwhile, Lady Kimberly, pitched her voice a bit louder. “My lord, you have not introduced me to your guest.”
He winced. He should not need to be reminded. He’d been drilled in proper behavior since he was a child, just as she had. It had been repeated ad nauseum for exactly this kind of moment when one was so confused as to become lost in the weeds. Proper etiquette was a godsend, and she was reminding him of it as any future duchess ought.
It was still immensely aggravating.
He straightened, then strode forward. Taking her hand, he bowed before her. “Lady Kimberly. I’m so pleased to see you.”
A lie, of course, but a polite one and therefore forgiven. She smiled as she dipped into a shallow curtsy. Then he turned to gesture to the mandarin.
“Pray allow me to introduce the Wong Mandarin. He has been charged with the care of a lady who is resting upstairs. Prinny himself asked me to see to her comfort.”
Thanks to the captain’s hurried communication in Chinese, the mandarin slammed his fist into his palm and bowed before her. Obviously, this was a Chinese greeting, and Kimberly curtsied in response.
“I am pleased to make your acquaintance, sir,” she said. Then everyone waited as the captain translated.
The mandarin responded in Chinese with a bold look in Kimberly’s direction. He even held out his hand as if he were the king himself asking her to walk with him.
And that raised Max’s hackles.
“What, exactly, did he just say?” he demanded.
The captain blushed. “Er, well, he asks if the lady is to accompany him to his chamber. B-begging your pardon, my lady,” the man stammered. “It’s common in his country to, um, reward service and, um, please guests in very specific ways. Not every family, of course, but the Wongs have become renown for such…um, things. It’s what he expects. He assumes it’s you or at least you’re the one who will acquire—”
Max held up his hand, the gesture nearly violent. “Please remind him that he is in England now, and suchassumptionsare impertinent.” He glanced at Kimberly. “I think the library would be the perfect place for our conversation.” He glanced at the nearest footman. “See that tea is brought there directly.”
Then he held out his arm and escorted her there. Recalled to his duty, Chiverton managed to rush ahead to open the library door. And then, as was appropriate, he left the door ajar. They weren’t officially engaged, so propriety demanded a chaperone or at least an open door. Her maid followed at a respectful distance and took a seat in the hall chair set for exactly this situation.
Then he watched as Kimberly took a deep breath and settled herself on the settee. He noted the stains on her skirt and the faint whiff of dog that surrounded her. Her greatest love was for the canines in her life. Indeed, her fascination had brought her a medical understanding far superior to many veterinarians.
“Whose animal is ill?” he asked. The aristocracy often sought out her advice with their sick dogs.
“My cousin’s. Oscar is at the end of his life, and Mary Ann is beside herself.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry. It’s always hard to see a beloved pet pass.”
She took his sympathy with a grateful nod but then went straight to the point. “Out with it, Max. Quickly, please. Before half thetonfinds an excuse to visit.”
“I think they’re already outside,” he groused. In their short moments in the hall, he’d glimpsed no less than a dozen people “strolling” by.
She nodded but didn’t comment. She would not be put off the mark with a delaying tactic. And neither could he soften the coming blow.
“Prinny has commanded me to marry a Chinese bribe. Some diplomatic thing that I mean to ferret out.” He quirked a brow at her. “He said you’d understand.”
Predictably, she did not.
“Damn it all, Max, I told you this would happen.”
He threw up his hands, and his voice was heavy with sarcasm. “You told me that I would be forced to marry a Chinese bribe?”
She pushed to her feet, her fury making her twitch as she paced tight circles about the room. “I told you that carousing with the prince would land you in trouble. When Prinny drinks, he does all manner of erratic things.”
“He wasn’t drinking yet!”
“Then he had the blue devils, just as you do now.” She stomped forward until she met him nose to chin. “I told you, Max. Itoldyou that you could not embroil me in scandal again. You made me into a loose, fat girl before—”
“That was years ago! I was thirteen and an idiot.”
“And yet the taint remains years later. I cannot weather another scandal.”
