Other ladies. Of course there would be some. She had not thought about that, however. Now she wondered how many and who they would be.
Beth pinched her cheeks. “You need a bit of color, that’s all. Get your wits about you now. You are the ladies’ equal too. More than their equal. I doubt a one of them will have done as much as you have in life, or enjoy the freedom you do every day. Who knows, maybe if they learn of your inquiries, we will get clients we can charge very high fees to.”
“Beth, you know just what to say. I will find a way to make sure they do learn of my inquiries. This is a wonderful opportunity, and I intend to do more than eat an incredibly fine meal.”
“Don’t be slighting the eating part. It will probably be the best food you swallow in your entire life. I’ll be wanting all the particulars tomorrow. Every sauce, every savory, every joint—” She sighed. “I can taste it now.”
Minerva went below to wait for the carriage. It would not do to keep a duke waiting. When she heard it in front of her door, she collected herself and stepped out.
Jeremy waited to play footman. So did Elise, to gawk. Her arrival interrupted their conversation and laughter. Jeremy snapped to attention to perform his duties. Elise watched with wide eyes.
She was so distracted by them that she was at the carriage door before she realized how nice a conveyance it was. Not as large as a typical hired coach, it sported green paint and polished brass and the coachman wore a very neat coat and hat. Inside plump cushions in deep red waited.
Jeremy closed the door and peered inside. “You will roll up Park Lane in style.”
Chase had done this. It touched her that he wanted her to feel “equal to those ladies” when she arrived at his cousin’s home. She opened the curtains and peered out at the way the town glowed from streetlamps and windows while they rolled along.
Formality greeted her arrival. Two liveried footmen tended the door and carriages. One handed her down and escorted her inside, delivering her to the butler. He in turn handed her to another footman who brought her up to the drawing room.
At least a dozen people moved within, chatting. The duke came over to greet her. A bow and curtsy and off they went, winding through the little group that included some very fine ladies indeed.
She spied Chase across the chamber, chatting with a lovely woman in red who flirted with him boldly. He didn’t seem to be minding. That cleared the dazed befuddlement out of her head at once. She turned her full attention to the introductions, memorizing every name she heard.
“That is the Countess von Kirchen. She is visiting from Vienna,” the duke said, noticing where her attention kept returning.
“She is very . . . lovely.” She almost said voluptuous. Due to her ample endowments, the countess’s bodice revealed more bosom than it covered. Minerva glanced down at her own décolleté. Upon donning the dress she had thought it daring. Suddenly it appeared sedate enough for a church.
Eventually the duke brought her to Chase, and pointedly eased the lady in red away. The chance to flirt with a duke proved an effective lure. Minerva watched the red stroll into the group.
“She is beautiful,” she said.
“I suppose so.”
“Of course she is. You have eyes.”
“My, you are snappish. Are you jealous?”
“Of course not.”
He tipped his head closer. “Not at all? I am wounded. As for my eyes, I saw only you once you appeared. It was all I could do not to be rude, and to these eyes no woman here is as beautiful as you are.”
Now she felt foolish. Shehadbeen snappish. “Perhaps I wasa littlejealous. I suppose lovely women flirt with you shamelessly all the time. I should not make too much of it.”
“Still snapping a bit, I see.” He stepped back and looked at her from head to toe. “The dress makes you look seductive.”
It was not a word she would have used. Certainly no one else ever had. Yet his calling her that made herfeelseductive. “Perhaps I should flirt shamelessly too.”
“Only with me, darling. Now we will walk over and join Kevin and that woman who has been pursuing him for months. She is a viscount’s wife—the viscount is that man over there—and apparently she finds Kevin’s preoccupation with his invention attractive.”
“Perhaps she only finds him attractive. He is a very handsome man in a somewhat dramatic way. All the Radnor cousins were blessed by nature. Even that one whose wife talks for him.”
They made their way toward Kevin and the eager viscountess. “Thank you for the carriage. It was a treat. I felt like a queen.”
“I’m glad. I bought it yesterday.”
She fingered the raw silk of her skirt. “Thank you for this too. I assume you were my mystery benefactor.”
“I make no claims or denials.”
