Sir Randolph threw his shoulders back and puffed out his chest. “If you were using all the Jack names, why did you leave out Jackass? Don’t tell me you were trying to spare my feelings?”
“All right, I won’t.”
Susannah marveled at how easily the two men sparred words with each other yet she neither heard nor sensed true anger in either man.
“I know something that will work,” Susannah said, stepping in between the two sparring friends. “How about Gib the Gray Wolf or Gib the Growling Bear? Those are stronger.”
Sir Randolph gave her a placating smile. “Something close to that is what I’m looking for. You keep working on it, Duchess.” He turned to Race and grinned. “The fight is on.”
Susannah sighed as the gray-haired man walked away. “I don’t think he liked my suggestions any better than he liked yours.”
Race chuckled. “Too bad. I thought Gib the Pipit sounded just like Gibby.” He paused. “Is that music I hear?”
She handed him her glass. “Indeed it is.”
Race placed the glasses on the table and said, “Let’s head for the dance floor.”
They turned to leave, and Susannah saw the Duke of Blakewell coming toward them with a beautiful blonde lady walking beside him.
“I think the dance will have to wait a little longer,” Race muttered under his breath. “You are about to meet Blake’s wife, Henrietta.”
“Good,” she said. “I’ve wanted to meet her. This will be my opportunity to make amends.”
With the ease that comes only from the peerage, the introductions of a duchess meeting a duchess were dispensed with quickly, and Susannah found herself looking into the friendly eyes of a young lady perhaps ten years younger than she. Unlike the wariness she saw in Race’s two cousins’ eyes, the Duchess of Blakewell’s demeanor was friendly and sincere. Susannah liked her immediately.
“Before we go further, Your Grace,” she told the younger lady, “I must apologize again for being unable to have tea with you. It was gracious of you to ask.”
The duchess smiled at her. “My heavens, no need to apologize again. I understood perfectly that the timing wasn’t good for you. I know I was rushing you, but I was so happy to hear that another duchess was in Town, and one more my age, that I let my eagerness to meet you overshadow my good judgment. I’m the one who must apologize for not giving you more time to get settled before contacting you.”
“Perhaps we can arrange another afternoon soon,” Susannah offered.
“I would like that. I was about to go to the retiring room. Would you like to join me?”
Susannah turned toward Race. He gave her a slight nod of approval. Their hope for a dance had been thwarted once again.
“All right,” Susannah said to the lovely duchess. “Lead the way, and I will follow.”
As the two ladies walked away, the Duchess of Blakewell said, “Your outing in the park with Race is the talk of London’s drawing rooms right now. I think perhaps I should give a dinner party in your honor and invite a few people over so they can get to know you better.”
Susannah’s stomach tightened. “Please don’t do that, Your Grace. I don’t think that would be a wise idea right now. I don’t know how long I will be here.”
Her Grace stopped and looked into Susannah’s eyes. “What does it matter how long you will be in London? If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my short time, it is if you are a duchess everyone wants to meet you and get to know you.”
Susannah stared at her charming face and knew this woman would be a wonderful friend, but the first thing she had to do was be truthful with her. “Your Grace, perhaps your husband hasn’t told you, but I’m in Town to lay claim to something his cousin, Lord Raceworth, has in his possession and believes to be his. I don’t think His Grace would want you to have a dinner party in my honor.”
The duchess turned back to look at her husband. He and Race were deep in conversation. Giving her attention back to Susannah, she said, “But you and Race seem so…so…”
Susannah smiled gratefully. “We are on excellent terms, but I fear his cousins think I have bewitched him.”
The Duchess of Blakewell laughed lightly. “Well, Your Grace, it just so happens that I have had some experience with being bewitched and it doesn’t bother me at all. I always seem to be in a hurry to get things done, but I will wait a little longer before I suggest a dinner party.” Her eyes softened. “How does that sound?”
“Perfect,” Susannah answered, and the two ladies walked away laughing.
Ten
My Dearest Grandson Alexander,
No doubt you will agree with this sage quote from Lord Chesterfield: “We must not suppose that, because a man is a rational animal, he will therefore always act rationally; or because he has such a predominant passion, that he will act invariably and consequentially in the pursuit of it. No, we are complicated machines, and though we have one mainspring that gives motion to the whole, we have an infinity of little wheels, which, in their turns, retard, precipitate, and sometimes stop that motion.”
