Donald made an odd sound in his throat.“Your niece and my brother?”he asked in disbelief.Although he hadn’t been a witness to whatever Vittoria claimed had occurred the night before, her assessment of David had convinced Donald the girl wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.The fact that David was even sporting enough to escort her on this day had him realizing his younger brother was more mature than he had been when they departed on their trip from England only two years prior.
He remembered a time when he had been on his own Grand Tour—it hadn’t even been ten years ago!—and he had wanted nothing more than to seek out female companionship.A chance to sow his wild oats.Then he had met Nicoletta in Catania, and all thoughts of other possible liaisons had dissipated.
Given David’s age and the fact that he had already been betrothed had Donald believing his brother would prefer to explore Rome on his own with an entirely different agenda than the one they were pursuing on this day.
One that included young ladies, and not of the aristocratic sort.
Nicoletta glanced over at Barbara, who was pretending not to overhear their exchange.“What, pray tell, do you think of Vittoria?”she asked.
Barbara arched a brow, her attention briefly darting to her husband to discover his attention was directed at the building they were passing.“She is a lovely young lady who will no doubt cause my David a good deal of trouble,” she replied, her lip quirked.“I saw how he watched her last night.”
“I fear I might have overheard words suggesting they were…annoyedwith one another,” Donald murmured, glancing back to see the two in question had fallen behind their group.From the way their heads were bent, it was apparent they were speaking to one another, and not in a pleasant manner.
“Annoyed?”Nicoletta repeated.“Do you suppose he missed his dance with her?”
“No.I saw them dancing,” he said.
The marchesa inhaled softly.“Are you quite sure?”
He nodded.“A surprise, I know, since our niece’s dance card was quite full.I believe their words were exchanged well before she took her first dance partner.Mayhap before we even made our appearance at the ball.”
Nicoletta paused at a stone bench and lifted a dainty foot to rest it on the edge.Donald was quick to check the fastenings of her half-boot to see they were fine.He couldn’t help but notice her attention was on her niece, though.
“Are we pretending something?”he asked in a hoarse whisper, his gaze following hers to see that David and Vittoria had fallen even further behind their party.From the way the young woman’s hands waved about—she wasn’t even hanging onto David’s arm—he knew they were engaged in an argument of some sort.
Nicoletta lowered her foot to the bricks making up the street and lifted her other foot to the edge of the bench.“Sì, and you’re performing your part perfectly,” she murmured.
“Grazie,” Donald replied, grinning when Diana and Helen mimicked what his wife was doing, their husbands quick to check their footwear for embedded stones.He angled his head in the youngest couple’s direction.“We’d best let them have their disagreement,” he murmured.
“I’m not sure whom I should be more worried about,” Diana whispered.“Although I know David can hold his own in an argument, I don’t believe that’s quite what’s happening.”
“Lady Vittoria truly believes David is a rogue,” Helen remarked.
“And she’s being a shrew about it,” Donald said on a huff.He turned to see a look of shock on his wife’s face.“Apologies, my sweet.but I’ve never seen her behave like this.”
Nicoletta sighed her disappointment.“No need to apologize, darling.I am well aware something must have happened last night to have them behaving so.”She allowed another sigh.“I was so hoping they might make a match.”
Donald blinked in alarm but didn’t reply.
