Page 80

She took a careful sip. "Perhaps I am."

James looked almost amused again, which irritated her further. "You will become accustomed to them," he said.

Olivia glanced across the room at another cluster of whispering women. "Will I?" she asked softly. "Because they appear to be discussing me as though I were a new horse delivered to the stables."

I wish Louiza were here.

Louiza would have known exactly what to say, probably something gentle and amusing that would have made Olivia laugh instead of bristle. More importantly, Olivia would not have felt quite so exposed with her twin at her side. They had faced their mother's cruelty together, endured Aunt Jane's household together, and survived being separated as children by finding ways to sneak back to each other.

Olivia could withstand the stares and gossip if Louiza were standing beside her. Without her, every whisper seemed louder. She swallowed the ache in her throat and reminded herself.

Louiza has not abandoned me, she is merely in London waiting for the proper wedding. Still, the ballroom seems enormous without her.

"Greetings." The warm greeting interrupted her thoughts, and Olivia turned to find Lord Percy Nichols approaching with an easy smile.

He bowed politely before looking toward James. "Your Grace," he repeated, then gave Olivia another respectful inclination of his head. "Your Grace."

Olivia smiled, relieved to see a familiar face. "Lord Nichols," she replied, offering her hand.

Percy took it and bowed over her fingers before turning toward James. "I see the room is already filling with the usual suspects," he remarked, glancing across the ballroom. "Sidton is here, Phillips is speaking with Lord Harcourt, and I believe the Amwells have arrived."

James gave a quiet hum of acknowledgement. "Who is doing business with Harcourt these days?" he asked, his attention sharpening.

Percy leaned slightly closer, lowering his voice as though discussing military strategy rather than a ballroom gathering. "The Wellingtons, I believe. Though Harcourt has been trying to secure that shipping contract for months."

James's expression became thoughtful. "Then challenge him to billiards and find out more."

Percy grinned. "I was thinking precisely the same."

Olivia half listened as the two men discussed which gentlemen were present, which business connections might prove useful, and who could be challenged to a game of billiards without making the arrangement seem too obvious. She watched James while they spoke, noticing how naturally he moved through this world that still felt foreign to her.

Perhaps that was what frightened her most.

James belongs here. I do not.

Yet when he glanced down and caught her watching him, his expression softened by the smallest degree.

"Are you all right?" he asked quietly, his hand settling briefly over hers.

Olivia looked around the glittering ballroom, then back at him. "I am fine," she assured him, though she was not entirely certain that was true.

She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. She was the Duchess of Glenmore, whether the local gentry liked it or not. And if anyone intended to make her regret marrying James Delves, they would have to discover that Olivia Shirley Delves had survived considerably worse than a ballroom full of whispering debutantes.

Chapter Twenty-Five

James stood with Percy near the refreshment table, discussing matters that were scarcely worth discussing while Olivia shifted at his side.

She is nervous. I know that much to be true.

Percy recounted, "Then there was some minor disagreement between two neighboring landowners."

"Indeed?" James made the appropriate sounds of interest while his attention remained divided.

He noticed every time Olivia glanced across the room, every time her fingers tightened around her glass, every time her shoulders stiffened when another whisper reached her.

She is trying very hard to appear composed, and I know her well enough now to recognize the effort beneath it.

He almost wished she would simply say she was uncomfortable and allow him to take her home, because the thought of spending another hour among these people held very little appeal.