The duke looked up and smiled the moment he saw Lucy. Ooh, he was handsome, with close-cropped blond hair and bright blue eyes. Not to mention the absolutely adorable dimple that appeared in his cheek when he smiled. His teeth were good too. That was promising.
“Your Grace,” he replied in kind to Lucy, executing a perfect bow. Very well. In addition to being handsome, the man was also charming. It was obvious why he’d gathered such a crowd. Of course, the fact that he was adukepurportedly looking for a wife didn’t diminish his appeal. Now that she’d seen him up close, Delilah honestly couldn’t understand why his crowd wasn’ttwiceas large.
Lucy wasted no time. She pulled Delilah out from behind her with a solid jerk. “There’s someone I would like you to meet.”
Delilah gulped and did what she could to still the pounding of her heart as Lucy pushed her toward the duke. “This is Lady Delilah Montebank, the late Earl of Montford’s daughter.”
“Lady Delilah,” the duke said smoothly, bowing over her hand. She sniffed at his head when he did so. He smelled good and his cravat was not askew in the least. No doubt he had a perfectly trained valet. She shook her head. She needed to concentrate on impressing the man, not worrying about the state of his valet’s training.
“Enchanté,” she said, curtsying, before immediately regretting two things. First, she realized thatenchantéwas somethingheshould have said toher. Second, her curtsy had been far too enthusiastic. She’d lowered herself farther than she’d intended to, which resulted in her getting stuck in the curtsying position. She couldnotpull her left foot from behind her and right herself. Adding to her misery, she was in imminent danger of tipping over.
She remained crouched in that awkward position, her face heating, until Lucy glanced over. The duchess must have recognized her distress because she casually moved to Delilah’s side, grasped her around the waist, and hoisted her up as elegantly as she possibly could, which wasn’t elegant at all. It worked, however, and Delilah sprang back into place, hoping Branville hadn’t noticed the awkwardness… much.
Never one to allow much silence, she said far too loudly, “J’adorea ball, Your Grace.Ne pas vous?”
The hint of a smile passed over the duke’s fine features. “Yes, I, um, too, enjoy such parties.”
Delilah twirled her hand in the air. “J’adore les fêtes, les boissons, et les écureuils.” She tended to rattle off poor French when she was nervous.
The other ladies surrounding the duke tittered with laughter.
Lucy grabbed Delilah’s elbow, which thankfully served to stop her stream of French. The duchess leaned over and quickly whispered, “You just said you love parties, drinks, and squirrels, dear.”
Delilah’s heart thundered. “I know,” she whispered back, through tightly clenched teeth, doing her best to keep the smile on her face for the duke’s sake. “I was trying to impress him, but I’m so nervous I could vomit. Please say something more nonsensical to make what I just said less so.”
Lucy waded into the silence. She began by clearing her throat. “Lady Delilah and I, along with a set of our friends, are performing a play for charity. We hoped you might like to join us, Your Grace.”
Branville’s bright eyes widened slightly. “For charity, you say?”
Lucy nodded. “Yes, it’sA Midsummer Night’s Dream, and all the profits will go to the Royal Society for the Humane Treatment of Animals.”
“Ah, a charity near my own heart,” Branville replied, inclining his head to both of them. “I do love animals.”
“J’adore aussi les animaux,” Delilah continued before Lucy pinched her on the back of the arm. She squelched herouch.
“Yes,” the duke replied. “You mentioned that. Squirrels in particular, correct?”
The other ladies laughed again. Delilah’s face heated. Why had she mentioned squirrels? Why squirrels? She could have easily mentioned dogs or cats or even parrots without sounding too mad. Squirrels, however, introduced an undeniable element of madness.
Soon the other ladies in the flock began murmuring about how much they also adored animals, and Delilah nearly swooned with relief. No one mentioned squirrels, of course, but the talk served to distract the duke until Lucy cleared her throat again.
“Our next rehearsal is tomorrow night at my husband’s town house,” she said to the duke. “I hope you’ll join us. Eight o’clock?”
“I’d love to,” Branville said, inclining his head and smiling. There was that diverting dimple again.
The next thing Delilah knew, she was nearly bowled over as the flock swarmed Lucy in their attempts to gain entrée to the rehearsal as well. Clearly they were all willing to do anything to spend more time with the duke. Lucy spent the better part of the next quarter hour patiently turning down offers to play any remaining female role inA Midsummer Night’s Dream. One young lady even went so far as to offer her services as a reserve fairy, which apparently was a fairy who learns all of the lines in case one of the other fairies couldn’t perform for some reason.
“You’re all more than welcome to purchase tickets to the event to see the duke perform in the play,” Lucy, ever the diligent saleswoman, informed them all with a huge smile. “Go see Lady Rothwell at the Royal Society. She has all the details. I understand nearly all the tickets have been sold, however, so don’t linger.”
Delilah feared the crowd of women would turn en masse and rush out of the ballroom and down to the offices of the Royal Society to break in the doors.
“You’d do well to warn Lady Rothwell of the flood that is certain to come her way,” she whispered with a laugh, just after Lucy had made their excuses and pulled Delilah away from Branville’s crowd.
“I will,” Lucy said with a smile and a wink. “I’ll also suggest that she ask them all to make a donation even if they cannot purchase a ticket. Inviting Branville to join the cast has got to be the best idea we’ve had all Season. Thomas is brilliant. Not only will it serve to allow Branville to have more time with you, we’re certain to sell the remainder of the tickets in a matter of hours.”
Delilah shook her head. Lucy was nothing if not one to take advantage of an opportunity. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it. All I could do was worry about how much competition I obviously have.”
“Pish posh,” Lucy said, as the two of them made their way back to the middle of the ballroom. “Competition never hurt anyone. I’m convinced it makes me perform at my best. Now, how did you find the duke?”
