“Why?”
“Don’t be foolish, you know very well that companions don’t participate in such things. They sit quietly in the corner doing something like….” She looked around her.
“Reading or knitting, perchance?”
“The Duchess of Raven and Lady Levermarch,” Chibbers said in a carrying tone.
The duchess sailed in first, dressed in the palest lemon. Dark-haired and exquisite, she was, so Dimity had heard, as staff talked, one of society’s most beautiful women. Only eclipsed by the lady at her side.
“So much beauty cannot be good for a man’s heart.” Alexander Hetherington clutched his chest dramatically. “It was my fear when you two became friends that people would be intimidated seeing you together. It seems my fears are founded.”
“Idiot.” Lady Levermarch dismissed his words with an elegant flick of her wrists. “We saw you and Ben entering and gathered something was afoot.”
She wore cream with a soft rose stripe. Her pelisse was matching, and Dimity had to admit that they were possibly the most beautiful women she’d ever seen.
Chapter Fourteen
“Alexander can read first. His voice doesn’t grate like others,” the duchess said, scowling. “We shall read book four ofCaptain Broadbent and Lady Nauticus.”
“Really?” Alexander brightened. “I was sure you were dragging out that tattered copy ofLucan.”
“No!” Her scowl darkened. “Now read.”
“Didn’t Captain Broadbent sever a limb in book three?” the Duchess of Raven asked anyone who would answer.
“Nearly,” Gabe said. “It was caught in the window as he leapt from the third floor when the fire started. Lady Nauticus saved him by tying him with a length of rope to the bed post. She then used her knife to unscrew the window and release him.”
“That’s right,” Lady Levermarch said. “And they lowered themselves to the ground using the rope, thus evading the fire. Terribly brave, I thought.”
“That was where the story ended,” Gabe added.
“Well, begin then.” The duchess scowled.
Gabe knew better. She was extremely happy about the fact she had some of society’s most powerful people in her front parlor. This impromptu literary salon would be gossip fodder within hours.
“My wife thinks my voice quite soothing,” Benjamin said from his position beside the tea tray, which he was slowly eating his way thorough. “Chibbers, I think we need the refreshments refreshed.”
“Your wife is still blind with love, Benjamin. Give her time, she will see you as the rest of us do,” his brother said, looking through the pages of Gabe’s book.
“Tall and handsome? The opposite of you, do you mean, Alex?”
“They sound exactly as we do,” Michael said to Gabe. He seemed to be enjoying the experience.
“I’m not entirely sure what I’ve strayed into,” Gabe said to Dimity, who like him was now standing to one side. “But I’m entirely sure I wish I had not strayed into it.”
“You seem to know a great deal about the book.”
“I enjoy the escapism,” he said honestly. “It’s so unbelievable, it’s funny.”
“I will have to make sure to read it then.”
“I have the books should you wish to borrow them.”
“Thank you.”
“I could have them delivered here?” Gabe said.
“Ssssh, now.” The duchess interrupted them. “Everyone take your seats, and Alexander will read to us.”
