The color drained from her face. “The title cannot afford another death. You have been a good friend to Matthew, my lord. Please don’t abandon him.”
“If I can be of service, I will, Your Grace. However, I cannot save him from himself.”
“He’d be wiser to pay attention to Miss Reverly and her thousands of pounds in funds, as would you. Aligning yourself with Holwell is folly.” She shivered her distaste for MP Holwell.
“Miss Holwell will someday inherit land that abuts mine. Furthermore, she receives the Bingham fortune when she marries. The pearls around her neck alone would wipe away my debts and secure Pentreath.”
“Yes, yes.” She gave his arm a motherly pat. “And MP Holwell is an absolute troll of a man. Let me remind you, when you marry, you take on not only a wife, but her family as well.”
Soren’s gaze went once again to Cass’s shining halo of hair. Was he being overly stubborn? Cass had rebuffed his every attempt to court her.
And yet, he reminded himself, they had been friends at one time—until she’d abruptly refused to speak to him.
The sudden recollection startled him.
He’d forgotten that incident, he realized. Memory was a funny thing. However, now he could recall her abrupt change toward him. They had been at a house party and she’d gone cold. Before he could learn what had created the rift between them, his father had informed him he would not be returning to school and had shipped him off to an uncle in Upper Canada.
Could whatever had set her against him years ago be behind her distance now?
He refused to believe so. He could not remember anything he’d done to upset her. Besides, Cass was a reasonable woman. She wouldn’t carry a grudge for years... would she?
Either way, he would win her. Because otherwise, he’d lose Pentreath, and he was not going to give up his birthright easily. Not with his son’s future in play.
“I’m willing to take MP Holwell on,” he told the dowager.
“You and my grandson, both fools in love.”
“I’m not in love. Lust, perhaps, but not love.”
Her answer was a world-weary sigh. “Give me your arm, Dewsberry, and lead me in to properly welcome the guests, something Matthew is not doing. Unless everyone is tucked into Letty Bainhurst’s bodice. If being in my company as a favored guest does not impress your Miss Holwell, then she isn’t worth your attention.”
Soren knew better than to argue with a duchess.
Chapter 2
“He’shere. I know he is,” Cassandra whispered in the ear of her friend Willa, lest she be overheard by either Lady Bainhurst sitting on the settee with them or the very handsome, highly desirable Duke of Camberly. He stood by Lady Bainhurst but Cassandra felt he gave her and Willa most of his attention.
“Who? Dewsberry?” Willa managed around the smile spread across her face for the duke’s benefit. She was far more interested in him than in Cassandra’s sudden premonition that Soren York was close at hand.
Willa was as petite as Cassandra was tall and perfectly formed in every way. Her hair was raven black, and the two were dear friends—well, except when it came to their competition to earn the attention of the Duke of Camberly.
They’d even made a flirting game of it, attaching points for different actions of courtship—a point for an introduction, three points for each dance, five points if he called upon them. When a woman had been on the Marriage Mart as long as they had, she needed a bit of competition to sharpen her skills... not that either of them required the edge of a game when it came to Camberly.
He was young and amazingly handsome. He had broad shoulders, a lean jaw, and dark hair that emphasized the jewel blue of his eyes. What woman wouldn’t want to become his duchess?
Cassandra was actually ahead in the game by one point. She’d been wondering how many points being invited to this weekend would earn her when Willa had made her appearance in the reception room. They had not known the other was coming.
And now here was Camberly, ignoring his other guests and spending his time focusing onbothof them.
Everyone knew he needed to marry money. She and Willa were the only two marriageable women invited to the dowager’s house party as far as Cassandra could see. Did this mean the duke intended to decide between the two of them? Perhaps even this very week?
The thought made her giddy. She wanted Camberly. He was “the one.” The very embodiment of all her romantic dreams. No other could match him. And she wasnotgoing to let Soren York ruin this country party and her one chance for marital happiness with his presence.
Willa proved what a good friend she was by momentarily turning her attention from hanging on to the duke’s every word to murmur, “I don’t see Dewsberry.”
“He’s here,” Cassandra insisted. She sat up straighter so that she could unobtrusively gain a better look around the room.
There had been someone lurking in the hall leading to the dining room. That was when she’d first experienced the suspicion that things weren’t completely right. However, she’d been so distracted with Willa’s presence and what it meant to her chances with the duke, she’d not been interested in concentrating on her inner sense.
