Joanna lifted the cream to him, and he shook his head. After taking his cup from her, he waited to drink, too eager for her answer to be distracted.
After taking a sip, she set down her cup. “I wonder where Teddy, Lady Elsbeth, and Lady Astor have gone off to? They have been gone quite some time. It’s growing quite dark.”
Disappointed that she changed the subject, he shrugged. “I have no doubt my aunt has herded them into one of the other rooms off the garden and is even now having tea served.”
She took a sip from her cup. “What would you do?”
He recognized the rhetorical trick as one he’d used when a debate wasn’t going well. He raised his brows. “Me? I’m hardly qualified to do anything. I’m a gentleman.”
Her hopeful countenance fell and her shoulders slumped. “There isn’t much I can do alone.”
Just like at the mechanical museum, her sudden capitulation bothered him. “Now, that I don’t believe. If you could wear me down and bring me round to your view point, there is much you could do.” He contemplated her, trying to guess what she thought. “If there were no impediments in your way, what would you do?”
She squinched up her face as if he’d just asked her to eat snake. “That’s very difficult to imagine.”
“Try.”
He expected her to get up and start pacing again, but she surprised him. Instead, she closed her eyes. He couldn’t resist the opportunity to gaze at her while her bright hazel eyes weren’t actively watching him. She always gave him the impression of endless energy, but now, there was a softness about her face and a peaceful sense about her. Her lips were neither pursed nor open, but simply closed as if in sweet repose. As for whether Aristotle would approve, he much doubted it. One cheek bone was slightly higher, one eyebrow slightly longer, and her left ear was slightly smaller than her right one. Yet, he found her visage very appealing. That she could make him question Aristotle was something he wouldn’t let her know.
Even as he admired the dark curl that rested on her collarbone, he noticed the pulse at her throat increasing. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open practically glittering with excitement. “I could start a school for ladies of the peerage.”
Taken aback, he widened his eyes. It was bold, but brilliant. He let a slow smile spread his lips as he gazed at her in admiration. “That is a worthy goal.”
“It is!” Her excitement faded as quickly as it rose. “Creating a school would be a dream, but we do not live in dreams.” Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t see how I could make it happen.”
He dropped his leg and leaned forward. “Is that what Lord Davy thought when he discovered miners were dying with the coal lamps they were using?”
“That’s not fair. He’s a man. Can you give me one good example when a woman was able to do something innovative and succeed?”
He opened his mouth then closed it. He searched his memory of the women who had made it into his books on scientific topics. “What about Caroline Herschel?”
“The astronomer?” She looked away as she thought then returned her gaze to him. “Granted she identified new comets, but that’s hardly innovative. If that’s all we can think of, I’m doomed to failure.”
He didn’t want her to give up so easily. He stood then walked to the open doors of the ballroom and back, his hands clasped behind his back. There had to be a woman who had been innovative in a way that helped mankind progress. He discarded one name after another. Twice more he made his path when it came to him. He stopped and met her hopeful gaze. “Eleanor Coade. She invented the new stone composite that is in almost every new statute and column in London.” He preened at having found the perfect example.
Unfortunately, she didn’t share his enthusiasm. “Thatisinnovative, I will admit that. But it hardly challenges old societal beliefs and values. Unless the fact that she is a woman in a building trade is unique, which it might be, but her stone doesn’t shake the foundations on which the trade is based.” She sighed, obviously giving up before they’d exhausted all possibilities.
He put one hand on his hip. “You did not indicate that as part of the parameters. With this new information I must think again.”
She shook her head. “It’s a waste of time. There are none. It was a hopeful request, nothing more.”
He came to stand next to the chair he’d been sitting in and laid his hand on its back. “There always has to be someone who is first. Did not your favorite author, Mrs. Wollstonecraft, set up a school for women who needed skills. It may not have been for ladies, but it was new and innovative and went against social norms.”
“That’s true, and it did challenge societal beliefs about women and what they needed to know.” She cocked her head and raised her gaze to his. “That is actually a very good example.”
He raised his chin. “I know.”
She rolled her eyes. “Cockiness does not become you.”
“I’m not being cocky. I’m being truthful.” He kept his pose, determined to look triumphant.
She laughed.
His lip quirked but he kept his face serious. “And don’t forget Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who convinced Princess Caroline to inoculate her children for small pox.”
She raised her hand. “Stop.” She tried to get a hold of her laughter by not looking at him, but she still chuckled. “I agree with your points. There have been women who have innovated against societal norms.”
Happy to see her smiling again, he relaxed his ridiculous pose. “Good. So there is no reason why you can’t open a school for ladies of the peerage that is far more than simply the subjects regulated currently to women.” The idea had merit and he found himself thinking about all it could entail.
