“Ooh, how did you know, dear?” Aunt Mary asked, sitting on the edge of her seat as if the duke’s comings and goings were of the utmost importance to her.
Lucy took a sip of her tea. “He told us himself.”
Aunt Mary nearly toppled from her seat. “You spoke to the duke?”
“Yes,” Lucy replied. “He’s been attempting to court Cass.”
Aunt Mary looked as if she was tempted to throw her teacup in the air. Her eyes were as wide as the saucer. She clutched at her chest. “TheDuke of Claringdonis courting our Cassandra?”
Cass shook her head fervently. “Oh, not really. Not—”
“He’sattemptingto,” Lucy repeated. “Cass, however, is not interested.”
If Aunt Mary were the type to have an apoplectic fit, surely it would be well under way by now. She’d somehow managed to retrieve a fan from a wrinkle in her skirts and was fanning herself at a pace that made Lucy worry for her wrist; indeed, her entire arm. “What? Not interested in the Duke of Claringdon? How is that possible?” She stared at Cass as if she were a mythological creature who’d just flown through the window out of the pages of a storybook.
Cass’s face flushed pink. “He’s only paid a call or two.”
“Don’t forget you went riding in the park,” Jane chimed in, stuffing her second tea biscuit in her mouth.
Cass nodded. “Yes. We also went riding in the park.”
“We’ve been trying to rid ourselves of him, actually,” Lucy added, unsuccessfully attempting to keep the pique from her voice. “But he insisted on following us to Bath.”
“He’s come here for you!” That was it. Aunt Mary might very well have an apoplectic fit after all. Lucy wondered if Cass traveled with smelling salts. A fainting spell seemed imminent.
“No. No. He wanted to see the town. He’s never been,” Cass assured her, squirming in her seat.
“Cassandra, you’re being modest.” Garrett’s voice was quiet and calm. “The duke appears to be quite taken with you.”
Cass plucked at the folds in her butter-colored gown. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“You know what I think?” Jane piped up. She’d just finished her last tea biscuit and dabbed at her lips with the edge of her napkin.
“No, what?” Garrett asked, a smirk on his face.
Jane completely ignored him. “I thinkLucyis better suited for the duke than Cass.”
For the first time since they’d begun speaking of the duke, Cass had a happy look on her face. “Oh, I quite agree.”
“Furthermore, I think shemayactually be a bit interested in him,” Jane added, a small smile on her lips.
Lucy went hot and cold. She snapped up her head and blinked at her friends. “The duke? Me? Interested in the duke? I most certainly am not.”
Jane pursed her lips as if she were about to whistle and took a small sip of tea. “Are you quite certain?”
Cass nodded. “I have to admit, I’ve had the same thought a time or two.”
Garrett crossed his arms over his chest and sat back in his chair. A bark of laughter followed. “Lucy and the duke. Now, there’s a thought. How do you like that, Your Grace?”
Lucy set her teacup down with a clatter. She didn’t know what to do with her hands. She settled for folding them in her lap. “You are all being absolutely ridiculous. There is no one I admire less than the Duke of Claringdon.”
“Oh, yes, he’s only a handsome, wealthy, war-hero duke,” Jane said, fluttering a hand in the air. “What’s to admire?”
Lucy narrowed her eyes at her friend. “If he’s so magnificent, why don’t you pursue him?”
Jane laughed at that. “An overbearing controlling soldier? Not my sort. He is, however,yoursort.”
Lucy’s mouth dropped open. “Preposterous. I don’t have a sort.”
