His sour mood began to improve. This might be the beginning of a wonderful association. The only impediment at this point was his future wife. If they married, she would have to learn a few tips about kissing—among other things.
And he supposed the duty fell to him to teach her.
Genevieve had thought of the perfect plan to sneak out of the house, but not exactly how she might return. Not only had she considered the fact she might make it back earlier than dawn, where she could enter the house with no one the wiser, but when it came to breaking into her grandfather’s house, she found the task a bit more complicated.
“Blasted lock.” She didn’t know how thieves managed this so effortlessly, when it was anything but quick or easy when she attempted the task. At least she knew that if marriage wasn’t in the cards for her, she couldn’t make a living as a common burglar. Probably not a pickpocket either.
She prayed that Etta hadn’t had the same trouble when she’d dropped her off, but then, she’d likely had the foresight to take an extra key with her. Her friend was resourceful when she put her mind to it.
When the mechanism inside the lock finally turned with the assistance of her hair pin, Genevieve breathed a sigh of relief. “Finally.” She opened the door that led into the kitchens and quietly shut it behind her, then firmly turned the lock with a sigh of relief. But she still had to make her ways to her rooms.
Tiptoeing up the back stairs, she was careful to avoid the ones that creaked the loudest. She didn’t fully release her breath until she had entered her chamber and shut the door behind her. Genevieve quickly stripped off her clothes and climbed into bed.
She wasn’t sure how she might ever sleep with her mind whirling as it was, but somehow she must have managed it, because she was awoken by the sound of her grandmother’s exuberant voice what seemed to be only a short time later. “Time to rise, dear. There is a special guest downstairs waiting to speak with you.” She shook her head with a tsk as Genevieve’s ladies’ maid threw open the drapes to let in the early morning light.
Genevieve groaned and put a hand over her grainy eyes. “Must I entertain now?”
“It’s nearly eleven o’clock. Much too late to be lazing in bed all day.”
Cracking open an eyelid, Genevieve saw the Duchess of Cranbrook moving to Genevieve’s wardrobe. She couldn’t hear the entire conversation between her and the maid, but she caught snippets. It was enough that Genevieve abruptly awakened. “No, no. We don’t have enough time for a bath…. She will have to spritz some perfume… We must ensure she looks resplendent…. Argyle is not known as a patient man…”
It was the last that caused Genevieve to sit up straight in alarm. Surely the Duke of Argyle wasn’t downstairs! She knew that he was friendly acquaintances with her grandsire, but the fact that she was getting made ready in such haste made her blood rush through her veins.
She must have uttered something about the duke, because Eleanor’s head turned sharply back to her. “I have your attention now, don’t I?” she snapped. “You don’t want to keep a potential suitor like that waiting overlong. He might lose interest and leave. He is your first prospect in some time, after you declined the attentions of the Earl of Somerhaven.”
“He was nearly fifty,” Genevieve pointed out offhandedly. Her attention was rather fixated on the fact that her grandmother was calling Argyle a suitor. Surely she was mistaken.
Or, could it be, that she’d made more of an impression on him than she’d thought last night?
With a slight squeal of excitement, any weariness quickly dissipating, Genevieve got up and dressed in record time. She sailed down the stairs, but paused before she entered the parlor, because she didn’t want to appear that eager to see him again.
Smoothing down her dress and patting her coiffure, to make sure it was still firmly in place, she walked forward in a demure fashion. Once she entered, her grandsire and the duke rose, although her grandmother merely smiled in approval.
Genevieve dipped into a deep curtsy. “Your Grace. What a lovely surprise.”
When she rose, he looked at her as if annoyed. She had to be mistaken, of course. If he was enamored with her, as she thought, then it was likely just a look of pure delight. But he didn’t want to be too obvious, so he had to appear circumspect in the opposite manner. She smiled at him and offered a wink meant to be conspiratorial, but he merely scowled further. He remained standing, while her grandfather resumed his seat.
“Lady Genevieve, I have come by this morning with a proposal of marriage, which your grandfather has kindly granted.”
She froze. She certainly hadn’t been expecting that. Had it been love at first sight when he’d finally noticed her? Either way, she wasn’t quite ready to skip down the aisle just yet. In order for her to feel secure in their union, she needed some sort of affirmation of his affection. “You honor me, Your Grace, but might I have some time to consider—”
“Nonsense,” her grandfather said gruffly. “This is a good match, Vivy. You should not hold any reservations about accepting Argyle.”
And yet, she did. She cleared her throat delicately. “Might the duke and I converse in private for a moment?”
Her grandfather narrowed his eyes, but his wife rose elegantly from her seat. “Of course, dear. But only for a few minutes. We don’t need to combat a scandal before the vows are spoken.”
As they left the room, enclosing Genevieve inside with her future betrothed, she clasped her hands before her and regarded the man still glaring at her. “I would like to think that you are here under some sort of emotional attachment, Your Grace, but something tells me that’s not entirely true.”
“You would be correct,” he concurred evenly. He leaned on the mantel but set one hand on his hip. “You interrupted a particularly riveting gala last evening, and since I can’t promise that no one might have been sober long enough to recognize you, I decided to lessen the damage by marrying you.”
Genevieve tried to picture how any of that sounded like some sort of declaration, but since she couldn’t fit any of his staid speech into that category, she lifted her chin slightly. “So you were in no way… struck by our encounter?”
He snorted. “Only in the most aggravating sense, I assure you. After you and your friend departed, I was not in the right state of mind to engage in various activities.”
Genevieve’s ire was starting to spark. She crossed her arms. “Yes, I can imagine it was quite a shame to fully appreciate your Erotic-o-rama after that.” She rolled her eyes. “Really, Your Grace, couldn’t you have come up with something a bit less childish?”
He lifted a brow, her barb appearing to miss its mark. “What do you even know about it, as innocent as you are?”
