Nicholas grinned. “Well, that should make being friendly all the easier, Cousin.”
“Enough about me,” Kevin said, eager to change the subject now. “I’ve been wondering something, Nicholas. As an unmarried duke not anywhere near your dotage, you should be a much-pursued fox among the husband hunters this Season. Being in mourning spared you the worst of it last year, but this is a new day. How do you plan to get through the next few months without some girl’s mama nailing your tail to her wall?”
* * *
Rosamund checked the long list of errands she had made for herself. She had chosen the most pressing for today’s outing. She needed to find her own place to live and had a meeting with a man in the afternoon for that purpose. She could not impose indefinitely on her hosts’ generosity.
First, however, she would browse the best shopping streets. She checked her bonnet in the looking glass, smoothed the bodice of her crimson pelisse, and picked up her gloves and reticule. Accepting that her appearance was the best she could muster, she descended to the reception hall.
The servant on duty bowed. “Would you like me to call for a carriage? I was instructed to have a groom drive you in the cabriolet if you should desire to go out.”
“I think I will walk, thank you.”
“But I was instructed . . .”
The poor young man worried about disobeying a command, one that she had not requested be given. She did not want a groom beside her in a cabriolet, waiting impatiently when she left the carriage to do what she needed to do. Her errand was better accomplished on foot anyway.
“If you have the cabriolet brought around, I will drive the lady.”
She turned toward the voice. “Oh. It is you.”
Kevin Radnor made a faint bow.
“What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you to come down.”
“I be thinking we have spent enough time in each other’s company this week, do you not agree?”
“I agree that I was not gracious or friendly, if that is what you mean.”
His admission made her pause. Men usually did not admit to being wrong. That he did so disarmed her.
“You will not find me errands of any interest to you. Most will be better done on foot.”
“Then I will drive you to where you must walk.”
The butler had already sent for the carriage. She could think of no way to get rid of Mr. Radnor without being ungracious and unfriendly herself. She did not object when he accompanied her outside.
“That is a very attractive bonnet,” he said.
He was only flattering her, but she touched its brim and could not stop a small smile.
“Is it one of yours?”
“I always wear me own creations.”
“The colors suit your ensemble, and you. Do you design like that with your patrons as well?”
“I do.” She launched into an explanation of how different faces required different shaped brims, and some women looked lovely with thin ties under the chin while others were flattered by broad ones. He seemed to be paying attention, but as the carriage pulled up in front of them she wondered if he was truly listening.
“I have it in me mind to go to Oxford Street,” she said. “To see if there be shops to let.”
He got the horse moving. “You intend to open a shop in London?”
“Possibly.”
“What about your shop in Richmond?”
