He stepped a little closer and words he hadn’t meant to say fell from his lips. “Idofind myself pleased you are no longer engaged, Miss Fitzgilbert.”
She flinched a second time at the use of her name. “Won’t you call me Celia, at least in private? I do despise the other name.”
He drew back in surprise. He’d spent the past two months brushing up on every bit of propriety in interaction he could learn. This request of hers was certainly not proper. And yet it was very real, very straightforward. He had never expected such a thing from a woman of her rank.
“If you would like,” he said, just barely containing the urge to take her hand. “And you should call me—”
He didn’t get to finish that sentence before they were interrupted by the arrival of Danford and his wife.
“Clairemont,” Danford said as he entered the parlor and crossed the room in a few long, confident strides. He extended a hand, which Clairemont took even though he found himself incredibly irritated at being interrupted in his private conversation with Celia.
“Mr. Danford,” he said, his voice sounding tight to his own ears. “Thank you again for the invitation.”
“I was pleased to make it,” Danford said, and motioned to the lady at his side. “This is my wife, Rosalinde. May I present the Duke of Clairemont?”
“Mrs. Danford,” Clairemont said, bowing toward her.
She smiled, and Clairemont took her in with a sweep of his gaze. She and Celia had similar coloring and features, but Mrs. Danford did nothing for him. She didn’t seem to have the same spark as her younger sister.
“And of course you’ve met Miss Fitzgilbert,” Danford continued, smiling at her.
Celia returned the expression, though there was a shaky quality to her expression that Clairemont couldn’t help but take triumph in. He affected her.
Helikedaffecting her. He also liked reading her. She was complicated and it fascinated him. Intelligent but a little guarded. Sad but also direct. And lovely. So lovely that when he looked at her, it hurt. She surprised him, both with her direct question about his behavior on the terrace, but also with her request that he call her by her given name if they were alone. She hated her grandfather’s name and he wondered why.
“It’s good to see you,” Danford said, pulling Clairemont’s attention away from his musings on the charms of Celia and back to the matter at hand.
“And you,” Clairemont said carefully.
Mrs. Danford smiled. “You and Gray went to school together, did you not?”
“Indeed, we did,” Clairemont said, once again accessing the details of a past that was not his. “I was a little ahead of him and slightly behind Stenfax, so we were friendly. But when I inherited my title, I’m afraid the majority of my friendships went by the wayside.”
Danford nodded. “Youdidfall off the map a bit. I kept waiting for you to show up in London, at least to perform your House of Lords obligations.”
Clairemont forced a smile. “I’ve never been much interested in that duty.”
He held Danford’s stare, trying to see if that remark would inspire some kind of response. While reading Celia had been an interesting exercise, reading her brother-in-law was much harder. On the surface all Clairemont could see was intelligence, a great love for his wife and an affection for Celia. Protectiveness, perhaps, judging from the occasional look toward his wife. Nothing that would lead him to believe Danford was a mastermind, or even a co-conspirator.
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t. And if his wife and her sister were in the dark about his true nature, it might take a private meeting to determine the full truth of this man.
“Speaking of duty,” Mrs. Danford said. “It is mine to tell you that Greene has just given me the signal that supper is ready. Shall we continue this conversation there?”
Clairemont inclined his head in the positive and watched as Danford offered an arm to his wife. She smiled up at him, and there was an intimacy that flowed between them, a connection that was difficult to ignore. Whatever Danford was, he and his bride truly adored each other.
Clairemont had never been so close to such a connection before. He found himself wanting to turn away from it. When he did, he came face to face with Celia. She smiled at him, but her lips trembled. Her gaze flitted to her sister and brother-in-law.
“Shall we follow?” she asked, her expression one of anticipation.
He shook away his reaction and recalled his manners. He offered her an arm and she hesitated just a fraction before she took it. Her delicate hand folded around his bicep and he stiffened. This was the first time she’d touched him, and it triggered awareness in every part of his body. Especially his cock, which began to remind him exactly what he would like to do with the lady at his side.
He ignored it as best he could, hoping it wouldn’t take on a life of its own, and stepped out to lead her behind Mr. and Mrs. Danford.
“I see why you gave up your future as a countess for them,” he said softly.
She jerked her face toward his. “Do you? Oh, you mean their connection. Yes, it’s quite something isn’t it?”
He nodded. “Indeed. You rarely see that in Society.”
