Page 20 of Unmask Me My Love

“Good afternoon, Hal.” Celinda bounced into the room, her smile stretching from ear to ear. “What brings you here to call on me?”

“You do, cuz.” He bowed low to her. “After you berated me for taking you away from your amour at the last entertainment, I dared not repeat that means to speak to you. You instructed me to call upon you, ‘like normal people do.’ And voila,” he spread his arms out wide, “I am here.”

“Well, it’s good to know some old dogs can learn new tricks.” She giggled and gestured to a pair of chairs drawn up before the fireplace. “Will you sit down, Hal?” She perched on one, and he sank into the other. “So what really brings you here?”

“I have some rather startling news about Mademoiselle d’Aventure.”

Celinda inclined her head toward him, a sudden gleam of interest in her eyes. “Will this astound me, Hal?”

“Oh, I believe it will.”

As he related Gabriella’s tale, Celinda alternately leaned forward and reared back, gasped, and clutched his arm.

“I told you she had another reason for wanting to meet His Grace,” she said, gathering her shawl around her once more when he had finished. “‘Childhood dream’ indeed.” She tapped her fingers on the arm of the chair. “Do you think it’s true?”

“It’s certainly possible. The part about him being impatient and donning a disguise smacks very much of Rother, although I confess I’ve never heard anything like this tale from him. Then again, we do not belong to the same clubs.” Hal sighed. “Do you know of anyone who might be able to verify it? Would he have told no one?”

“I will say the timing seems correct.” Celinda settled herself, a pensive frown on her face. “According to my mother, the duke, then Marquess of Poole, spent the years 1798 through 1800 on his Grand Tour.” She shook her head. “My mother said his wildness made a March hare seem tame when he was a young man.”

“How does your mother know all this?” He’d no idea Lady Ivor would be such a fount of knowledge.

“She keeps a journal with information on all the eligible gentlemen on her special ‘marriage list’ for me and my sisters.”

“And Rother is on that list? But he’s your godfather.” Were such things done? It sounded scandalous.

She raised one gracefully arched eyebrow. “He’s less blood relation than you and I, and you proposed to me.”

“That was a spur of the moment decision. Do you know if I am on that list?”

Celinda merely laughed and continued. “Where was I? Oh, yes, he married Lady Jane Fallow, daughter of the Marquess of Buckland, in the spring of 1801. They’d had no children when she died of smallpox in 1810. He remarried two years later and now has two sons, however, his second wife died shortly after the second was born, so he’s searching for another wife this Season.” She paused, tapping her fan once more. “I wonder if Mamma has heard a rumor about an affair with a French girl. I shall have to use my best wheedling in the next day or so.”

“I have every confidence in your talents, my dear.” If her mother knew anything, Celinda would find it out. “Have you heard from Rother?” Hal was more and more concerned about this meeting now the stakes were so incredibly high.

“Yes.” Celinda sighed and shook her head. “Unfortunately, he can only meet me here on Thursday afternoon.”

“Thursday? Why the dickens can’t he meet you on Sunday?” Hal’s nerves had stretched tight at her words.

“I have no idea, Hal. And I didn’t think it proper or wise to try to dictate to a duke, even if he is my godfather.” Celinda slumped in her chair. “What can we do to make this work?”

Hal sat lost in thought. How could he get Gabriella out of the house in the middle of the week? “Lady Chalgrove’s at home day is Thursday, isn’t it?”

Celinda nodded. “That’s when I spoke to her last week.”

“Did she summon Gabriella at any point during that time?”

“No. She was too busy talking, sipping tea, and eating cakes.”

“Excellent. Did the duke give you a time to meet?”

“He said he would be here at half past one.” Celinda cocked her head. “What are you thinking, Hal?”

“That Gabriella will not be missed between one and two o’clock. That is when you must act.”

Celinda’s eyes widened until the blue circles swam in a sea of white. “What do you want me to do?”

Hal looked at her sheepishly. “You will have to do double duty, I’m afraid. First, you will need to enlist your mother and some of your friends to create a subterfuge to mask the meeting.”

Her eyebrows swooped up alarmingly. “I am to do double duty for you?” She poked her lips out in a pout. “Then it is only fair that you assist me in my pursuit of Lord Finley. Quid pro quo, and all that.” Celinda straightened her shoulders and looked at him innocently, all big blue eyes and cherubic smile.