Lance just looked at him.
“Here is the thing. I have some reason to think she is in danger of abduction by agents of the Home Office. It was best to get her out of town.”
“So this woman had drawn the attention of the Home Office, and you concluded she should leave London. You then decided to bring this troublesome baggage with you to this house, so the Home Office could wonder even more what our involvement with her might be. Do I have that at least half-right?”
“At least half.”
“Did it not occur to you that there are already too many clouds gathering here?” Lance speared him with a very direct glare. “You surprise me. You are supposed to be the sensible brother. The lawyer, by God. And you take up with a schoolteacher who is undersuspicion by the Home Office, and decide to hide your paramour here.”
Was Lance scolding him? That took some gall. “I have not taken up with her.”
“Haven’t you now? That is good news, I suppose. You are supposed to be sensible in that regard too. Not for you the bored wives, as with Gareth. Not for you the whoever catches one’s eye, as with me. I trust you ensured that she brought a woman with her, if it isnot like that.”
Ives sipped some brandy.
Lance threw up his hands. “Not like that, hell. Well, I forbid it. While this schoolteacher is in this house you are not to seduce her. I won’t have it.”
Ives laughed. “Are you the vicar now?”
“Someone has to serve as this poor schoolteacher’s chaperone, since you brought her here all alone. The poor woman is probably terrified, having guessed your bad intentions.”
“As you presume to know them, you mean?”
Lance stood and set down his glass. “I knowyou. That is all I need to know, because your intentions are in your eyes when you speak of her. Normally it is some actress who inspires those fires. I will meet her at dinner, and give her what reassurance I can with my ducal presence.”
Ives laughed hard this time. “You have never reassured women that their virtue was safe, Lance. Duke or not, your presence does not inspire that confidence in them.”
“Then I will be explicit, that as an innocent she is under my protection in my house.” He walked to the door. “Now, since we have a guest, I should dress.”
Ives threw back the rest of his brandy. What an inconvenient time for his undisciplined brother to decide to become a stickler on society’s rules.
***
Padua had intended to take her dinner in her chamber. Her very luxurious chamber. It made the one in London pale in comparison. This was more an apartment than a chamber, since it had its own big dressing room. In particular she loved the tall windows that looked out on the rolling estate of Merrywood Manor. Pale green and rose colored the drapery.
The note from Ives, brought by a footman, dashed her plans. The Duke of Aylesbury expected her attendance at dinner, so he could welcome her.
Aided by a servant, she dressed as best she could, which was not well at all. Even in her best dress, a simple affair made of yellow muslin, and the blue wool wrap she inherited from her mother, she cut a poor figure. Hopefully the duke would conclude she added little to his table and not demand her presence again.
Ives arrived at her door while she tried to settle her nerves. “I thought you might like an escort.”
“Thank you. That would help.”
He tucked her hand around his arm and guided her to the stairs. “He is only mildly eccentric. Should hestart waxing eloquent, let him talk his fill. Do not worry that you are expected to contribute, or even agree.”
“I do not know why he insisted I join him.”
“He is curious. He is your host.”
She rather wished he were an absent host, as he had been in London.
What a rude thought.
As soon as she entered the dining room, she decided perhaps this would not be too much an ordeal. The duke had already arrived, it being an informal night. He subtly examined her during their greeting.
She examined him in turn. Although handsome like his brother, the duke’s deep brown eyes and black hair increased the darkness of his appearance. A scar marred his cheek, forming a fine, pale, irregular line that lent harsh drama to his person. The intensity she at times saw in Ives seemed a permanent state for the duke. She had no trouble picturing him at dawn, stripped to his shirtsleeves, facing another man to duel with sword or pistol.
The places had been set for intimate conversation, with Ives and her facing each other and the duke at the table’s head.
