“No, Your Grace,” she said swiftly, and tried once more not to think of Callum.“I’m just surprised.”
“Well, I’m not tellingyouto take a lover,” the duchess said.“Not until you are at least in half-black.Otherwise it could be seen as uncouth.Discretion is the better part of valor in these situations.Shakespeare was right on that account.”She turned her attention back to Flora as Bernadette gave her a cup and then retook her place on the settee.“Now, you always have excellent gossip, Sidmouth, do share!”
Flora laughed and then launched into a few stories about ladies and gentlemen of the Upper Ten Thousand.Since the Duchess of Amberleigh did not seem to think that Valaria had much to add, she was not pushed to participate.But she listened, and to her surprise she found she rather liked the sharp, observant dowager.One always knew where they stood with her, at the very least.
On the other hand, she wouldn’t want to do anything to put herself on the bad side of this woman either.The Duchess of Amberleigh had power to elevate or destroy and she knew it.Sheinhabitedit.Which meant if Valariadiddecide to take up with Callum, she’d need to be extra careful about how she managed it.Oh yes, widows had more leeway, but they could easily be eaten up by Society if they weren’t discreet.
Only Callum didn’t make her feel discreet.He made her feel like opening her legs in a parlor.
“You have the strangest expression on your face, Gooding,” the Duchess of Amberleigh said, and yanked Valaria back to the present.
She felt the heat of a blush in her cheeks and shook her head.“I apologize, Your Grace.My mind wandered.”
“To what topic, one can only speculate,” the duchess said with an arched brow in her direction.“But I suppose that is as good a place for us to part today as any.”She pushed to her feet and it forced the rest of them to rise.
“Thank you for having us today, Your Grace,” Valaria said.“I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“My dear, if you offend me, you will know it,” the duchess said.“Now let me escort you all.”She turned and exited the parlor in a perfumed cloud.The rest followed and they stepped out onto the front step and the bright sunshine together.
“It has turned out to be a fine day,” the duchess said.“I shall have to take a turn about the park, I think.”Her brow wrinkled as she looked down the Row toward Valaria’s home.“And who is that arriving in your drive, Gooding?”
Valaria jerked her head toward her own home and gulped in a breath.“I…I believe that is the Duke of Blackvale, Your Grace.He was to call on me today at three.But it is two, so we must have had a misunderstanding on the time.”
“Blackvale,” the duchess mused.“I knew his father years ago.The son is far more handsome.”
Once again, Valaria looked toward Flora and Bernadette for help in how to respond, but her friends looked as flummoxed as she felt.“He is…he is a handsome gentleman, yes, Your Grace.He was a very good friend to my late husband and I think he feels some…some obligation to take care of me now.”
The duchess held her gaze a moment and then made a soft snort.“I see.Well, you ought not keep him.Good day, Your Graces.”
Without another word, she pivoted on her heel and returned inside.When she was gone, the three of them looked at each other and then all began to giggle as they moved up the street toward their individual homes.
“Well, she is something,” Valaria said as she kept glancing up the way toward her house.Callum was exiting his carriage now, his lean, tall figure unmistakable even from a distance.“Something, indeed.”
They reached Bernadette’s home first and there they stopped.Bernadette took her hand and squeezed gently.“Whatever you are about to do, Valaria…just be happy.Be free.Be careful.”
Valaria looked at the two women, who both appeared anxious and pleased on her behalf.She nodded.“If I figure out what to do at all, I will be certain to be all those things.Good day, my friends.”
She left them there together, watching her as she closed the last of the distance between her and Callum.The last distance between her and whatever would happen next.
* * *
Callum watched from the drive as Valaria came up Kent’s Row, her gaze locked on his.She had called him to join her that afternoon and he had been pacing the floors of his home ever since, trying to glean her intentions from a few scrawled lines in a missive.
“Good day, Your Grace,” she said breathlessly as she reached him.“I did not expect you for another hour.I apologize that I was not home and you had to wait for my approach.”
He wrinkled his brow.“Another hour.Your letter told me to meet you at two.”He removed the missive from his pocket and held it out.
She stared at it a moment, then back to him.“You—you have it with you?”
He nodded.“I have been carrying it since it arrived this morning.I suppose I forgot to remove it from my jacket.”
She took it and read the lines she’d written, then shook her head.“I must have been distracted when I wrote the note.I apologize, it was my error.But do come in.”
He followed her into the foyer and handed over his gloves to her waiting butler.She said a few soft words to him and then motioned for Callum to join her in the parlor.
“Tea will be here shortly,” she said as she paced across the room and then looked at him evenly, her hands clenched before her.She worried one in the other.
“Where were you and your friends this afternoon?”he asked.
