At this impertinent question, her glance lifted and locked with his. “Do you wish to discuss chocolate or the personal details of my life? If the former, you may stay. If the latter, then I must ask you to leave.”
He grinned at her properly affronted tone.
“Very well. Chocolate, it is. Although, if you ask me, your Mr. Cole is a muttonhead for waiting.”
***
AMITY SIGHED. “IT ISN’This fault. He wanted—” She snapped her mouth closed. “Oh, you almost tricked me.”
“I did no such thing,” the duke said innocently, but she could see by his expression he had tried to get her to speak more about Jeremy. They had known each other for nearly about a year and a half, but she had been in no hurry to marry him. She’d gone with her father to Lincoln’s Inn one day when he was speaking with his solicitor and had met the attractive Mr. Cole. He had since passed the bar and set up his practice. She thought he was hinting at a Christmas engagement, which would be ... nice.
“Mr. Cole has nothing to do with you and your chocolate. And he is not a muttonhead.”
“You are speaking far more comfortably to me here than you did last night.”
Amity sighed. “What a fright that was!” she began.
When he looked surprised, she added, “I mean, we were there simply to drop off the tins. What if my sister and I hadn’t been dressed appropriately?”
“Why were you properly dressed for the party?” he asked, idly plucking another gin sweet from the tray.
She would definitely charge him extra for all the sampling. After spending an evening in the world he inhabited, she knew he wouldn’t even notice if she doubled the price.
“My mother has her pride,” Amity said, watching him swallow. “She didn’t want her daughters showing up in work clothes.”
The duke nodded. His next words surprised her. “You looked beautiful.”
Their gazes caught, and she could not look away as warmth spread through her entire body.The Duke of Pelham thought she had looked beautiful. She could hardly credit it, especially when Lady Madeleine had been beside him.
“Both you and your sister,” he amended slowly, but the way his intense gaze was fixed upon hers, she felt like the only woman in the world.
“Thank you.” Her voice came out in a croak. She cleared her throat.
Before she could steer the discussion back to chocolate, however, he said, “I apologize on behalf of your dinner partners. You certainly got stuck with a couple of churls.”
She couldn’t help smiling. “They would not have been my first choice of companions.” The man standing in front of her would have been.No! Jeremy would have been. Of course!
“Their conversational skills were practically absent, and Lord Ridley...,” she trailed off, realizing she was about to criticize one of the duke’s peers. That could get her into rapid trouble.
“Ridley what?” he persisted. “I thought your main complaint would be with Greenley’s roving eyes.”
Amity couldn’t help blushing, even though it was on Charlotte’s behalf.
“I was lucky enough not to be under his scrutiny.”Lucky? Not to have a full enough bosom even for a lecherous lord?She felt her cheeks grow even hotter. “I mean, at least I was nearly able to converse with him. Lord Ridley didn’t even try, but merely gave me the shoulder.”
“Lord Ridley is a fool who cannot see past the large silver spoon sticking out of his thin lips.”
Amity couldn’t help the chuckle. “I take it he is not one of your favorite people.”
“Hardly. I have one sister, Penelope, and she thought herself smitten with that idiot until she overheard his mercenary reason for courting her.”
“That’s terrible.” She was glad she and Jeremy were on identical footing class-wise and financially, for she knew his affection was genuine. “I hope your sister has recovered from being so ill-treated.”
“Yes. It was a mild bump in her romantic vision of the world, and she has since happily married. I would like you to meet her. I shall bring her in another time. I think she would like you.”
“And how does she like Lady Madeleine?” Amity asked before she could stop herself. After all, that was far more important than the duke’s sister meeting her.
He looked surprised. “I ... I don’t know to tell you the truth.” He frowned. “Have they even met?”
