“No!” Portia said. “No, you will not break any news to anyone! There is no way he should be allowed to do such a thing. That boorish swine. Wait until I have the chance—”
Luckily, Portia wrenched the door to the drawing room open before she could finish, shutting them inside. Mrs. Norris, Hermione, and Bea were also in the room, waiting patiently to be introduced to the duke and the solicitor, who were likely close behind.
Mrs. Norris’s eyebrows were raised as she stood from a nearby settee. “What on earth…” she began.
Portia leaned against the frame, her hand on the knob.
“Portia!” Cordelia admonished, “Someone might hear you!”
“I knew that man was trouble when I met him. I knew he’d try to do something like this!”
Cordelia knew that Portia was trying to whisper, but unfortunately, she’d lost the ability to manage her volume with her hearing. The more distressed she became, the louder her pitch.
“That man is the mostuncivilized—”
“Please!” Cordelia tried, flailing her arms. She thought she heard approaching footsteps.
“Uncultured!”
“Portia!” Mrs. Norris jumped in, though of course, Portia did not hear.
“Unfeeling!”
Cordelia rubbed her temples.
“Uncouth human I have ever had the misfortune to meet!” she finished.
Hermione and Bea’s faces were white as the doorknob began to turn under Portia’s palm. She leapt away from the door like it was a cursed thing. Swallowing, Cordelia stepped back, resigning to their fate.
“Justin Wright has never been uncivilized, uncultured, unfeeling, or uncouth in his entire life, I can assure you that,” a man said, striding through the open door. The duke and a shorter man with gray hair followed in behind him. “I, on the other hand…” the stranger finished, doffing his hat with a neat bow.
If looks could kill, the duke and his handsome companion would have been burned to a crisp. Instead, the duke raised his eyebrows, surprised at the first words out of Portia’s mouth in his presence, and the other man smiled widely. Cordelia dipped in a curtsy, praying that her sisters had followed suit, while knowing that it was highly unlikely.
“And who are you?” Portia asked pointedly.
“Peverill. Henry Peverill,” the man replied, a sly smile playing on generous lips.
Bea sighed heartily and Cordelia snapped her gaze to her youngest sister, eyes wide, shaking her head. But who could have blamed Bea for such a reaction? The man was so handsome that it was almost difficult to look at him. With close-cropped black hair, dark-olive skin, and opal-green eyes he must have been making ladies sigh for a long time now. He glanced over at Bea, winking, and the chit had the audacity to giggle.
“Bea,” Cordelia whispered through a clenched jaw.
Cordelia glanced over at the duke, who met her gaze, his blue eyes unreadable. Cordelia looked away.
“Well, I couldn’t care—” Portia began.
“Gentlemen!” Mrs. Norris, mercifully, screeched from behind the Nichols sisters. She strode to the front of the drawing room, strategically placing herself in between the two parties.“May I have the pleasure of introducing the four remaining daughters of the Duke of Rothesay—” she spluttered as she realized her mistake. “Apologies, the daughters of the late Duke of Rothesay… of course.”
“Indeed,” Peverill said, looking directly at Portia. Cordelia could practically feel her sister seething.
Hermione kept her head down and Bea locked her hands behind her back, still smiling at the handsome stranger. Portia simply turned on her heel to take a seat near the window. Peverill made his way to the opposite corner of the room.
Cordelia turned to her two younger sisters. “This will not be a pleasant thing to hear. I would prefer it if you were waiting for us in the solarium, or in your bedrooms.”
“But I want to see what will happen!” Bea whined.
“Your sister is right,” the duke said, coming beside her. “This will be all technicalities and unpleasantness.”
“But how will I know what’s going to happen?” Bea asked, directly to the duke. Cordelia filled her lungs, ready to scold her youngest sister for boldness, but to her surprise, the duke did not hesitate with an answer.
