His grandmother opened the door then, unable to hide her amusement under an expression of false horror. “The scandalgets worse and worse!” she said in a melodramatic tone. She smiled and patted Lady Selina’s hand. “Don’t worry, my dear. He will not get away with this.”
“Lady Selina, I suggest you hurry to join the festivities downstairs before you are missed,” Dominic said. “I need a moment alone with my grandmother.”
Lady Selina didn’t need to be told twice. She rushed down the hall and away from him as quickly as she could. Dominic glared at his grandmother. “Have you gone mad?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” she said. “You were the one found on top of a half-dressed lady, and yet you refuse to do the right thing and marry her.”
“You ought to get hold of your maid before every servant in this house, and then all of London knows exactly what you orchestrated,” he said. “You know perfectly well that nothing happened between me and Lady Selina. The last thing I need is to be married to an unwilling woman, and the last thing Percy needs is another mother resenting him.”
“Selina will not resent him! Besides, I have no idea how she got into your room, and it hardly matters. It is your duty to marry her and protect her reputation. I asked her if she thought it was possible to love a child not of her own flesh and blood as much as one born from her, and she said yes.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. His grandmother sometimes had the subtlety of a stampeding herd of painted horses.
“It does not matter how she answered a hypothetical question, Grandmother. She clearly does not want to be married to me, and she will quickly grow to resent everything about me, even my son. Now give up this foolish scheme, apologize to her for the trouble, and tell her that no one will know about this.”
“I cannot do that,” she said. “Percy needs a mother, and Lady Selina would be perfect for him. She’s compassionate and gentle, despite the troubles life has given her. She can help him find his voice again.”
He gritted his teeth. “This is unacceptable.”
“All of this could have been avoided if you were mingling with the guests, like you were supposed to do, instead of hiding in your room,” she said. “If you were not going to find yourself a wife, then I needed to take matters into my own hands.”
“I don’t give a damn about the guests you brought into my house, Grandmother,” he said.
The dowager opened her mouth, but he cut her off with a look. “This conversation is over.”
Something in his tone, or perhaps his eyes, must have warned her, because she said nothing more. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and for once, the dowager held her tongue.
As she headed to the door, she turned back to Dominic one last time. Her eyes were sincere, a contrast to the usual mischief he had come to expect from her.
“My dear grandson,” she said quietly, “even if Jane and I hadn’t been there to witness it… You still did. You saw Lady Selina in the most intimate way. That was never part of the plan.”
She closed the door softly behind her.
He had to admit to himself that he had also thought that marrying her was the responsible thing to do. Whether or not he intended it, he had seen her exposed. They had lain in the same bed together, and he had fallen on top of her. The right thing to do was to marry her.
Who is this Lady Selina?
Five
By the time Selina left the duke’s bedroom, the party had moved inside to the sun room. Some of the guests had departed to freshen up before the dance that night, while others still chatted with each other. A few of the gentlemen had started playing a game of cards in the corner, while a young lady played the pianoforte in one corner of the room.
Selina saw her sister sitting alone on one of the sofas. She joined her, feeling relieved to catch her alone.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Christine said, looking her sister up and down.
I would have preferred seeing a ghost. Ghosts can’t ruin your reputation the way a man can.“I met the duke,” she said instead.
“Which one?” Christine asked. “Lady Elizabeth told me there would be two dukes at this event—the Stone Duke and the Velvet Duke.”
Selina scoffed. “Is that truly what they are called? Those names are absurd.”
“Perhaps,” Christine said, smiling. “But which one did you meet?”
“Well, I cannot say for sure, but I doubt I met the velvet one.” She said. “I happened to meet the Duke of Greystone.”
Perhaps Stone is a fitting name for him. His chest felt like it had been carved from marble.
Her cheeks heated up at the thought.
