And then she saw him, approaching from the designated place he had tried to predict they ought to run into one another.
Right by the maple tree that overlooks the bridge over the west-side pond along the main thoroughfare.
Elinor’s stomach tied into knots.
“Be the perfect actress,” she murmured to herself. “Act well, lie, pretend, as you always do.”
“What was that?” Joanna asked, falling back to her side.
“Nothing!” Elinor said quickly.
“Oh, I see him!” Belinda cut in excitedly, coming to Elinor’s side. She smugly smiled at her, linking her arm through hers. “I shall introduce you to my new, good acquaintance, the Duke of Fairmont. I admit I am a little embarrassed to present you to him, but most proud to introduce him toyou.”
“I shall do the introductions, darling,” Elinor’s stepmother said calmly, already moving forward.
She waved the duke over. For a minute, the duke frowned and the confusion was palpable. Elinor gave him an apologetic, panicked look, hoping he knew she’d had no choice.
“Your Grace!” her stepmother called out smoothly. “You must come over here to meet my daughters again. And my … other one.”
The duke made quick work of striding over, his confusion smoothed over impeccably, replaced by a polite, greeting smile.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said, bowing as they all curtsied. “It is a lovely day for a promenade, no?”
“Indeed, it is,” her stepmother said. “We are ever so fortunate to run into you, Your Grace.”
The duke’s eyes flitted over Elinor, and she felt that strange twist in her stomach again. “Most fortunate.”
“This is Lady Elinor Caverleigh, my stepdaughter.”
The duke paused and raised a brow. “That is all?”
Elinor’s heart withered, trying to swallow back the insult, until he added, “It is just that you made another comment when introducing your girls two nights ago.”
“Ah!” Lady Morland laughed too loudly, too falsely. “Yes, well, you know, mothers and daughters.”
Elinor’s face burned, and the duke kept his expression fixed on that charming grin.
“Well, then, Lady Belinda, Lady Joanna, it is pleasant to see you both again,” he said, but then he turned to Elinor and bowed towards her hand. Without her offering it, he took it between his fingers. “And it is lovely to meet you, Lady Elinor. I have heard several things about you.”
With his face ducked out of view of the other women, he gave her a secretive smile as he kissed her knuckles. She could not help but think of the last time he had done that, the implication she had thought he meant bysealed with a kiss.
His teasing question whether she hoped for more.
Her chest fluttered, her heart racing.
“You have?” Belinda asked, sounding slightly defeated. “She can be a little strange at times, so do forgive whatever she says.”
“Belinda,” her stepmother said through her clenched smile. “Do not speak in such ways of your stepsister.”
“Of course, Mother,” she conceded, looking thoroughly berated and sour.
The duke straightened up, that knowing smile gone. “Oh, and who isthis?”
“This is Newton,” Elinor told him. “I know walking him like this is a little … odd, but?—”
“Newton,” the duke echoed, raising a brow. And then Elinor recalled that Toby had mentioned Newton the other night, but nobody had gotten the chance to elaborate. “I see. Well, a cat must have exercise as much as dogs, no?”
Around Elinor, she could see the shocked faces of her stepmother and Belinda, and she fought back a smile at their surprise. The duke was playing his role excellently; she just hoped she was, too.
