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They walked a few steps in complete silence before she said, “Is there some way by which I might help you, Lord Lilford? Or did you simply wish to stroll?” She allowed disbelief to leak into her voice.

“She’s gone,” Giles said, staring straight ahead and speaking so quietly that no one could catch his words.

Yasmin drew in a sharp breath. “Your sister? Where did she go?”

“I’m not sure. I didn’t accompany her to supper.”

“You were seated with Miss Boodle,” she said, revealing that she knew where he sat before she could stop herself.

“My sister’s closest friend,” Giles said. “When I realized that my sister was nowhere to be seen, I excused myself. But I have been unable to find Lydia. She’s not in the drawing room or the ballroom. I have to ask you to go into the ladies’ retiring room. I didn’t . . . I didn’t want anyone else to know my concern.”

“I am certain that Lydia did not elope, if that’s what you’re worrying about,” Yasmin promised him. “She is still in the house.”

The Duke of Trent’s dining room opened into a grand foyer draped with strings of roses and ferns. They strolled out as if they were merely admiring the Shakespearean embellishments.

“We had an argument in the carriage so it occurred to me that Lydia may have run away.”

“It would have to have been a ferocious argument for your sister to flee the house. She is not a foolish young girl.”

“Did you run away when you were a girl?” Giles asked, frowning at her.

“Yes,” Yasmin said baldly. “But that doesn’t explain why you think that such a well-brought-up lady as your sister would do the same.”

“I fear she didn’t run away alone,” he said, a harsh note in his voice. “I believe I owe you an apology, Lady Yasmin. You were right when you suspected my sister of unladylike behavior.”

Yasmin’s heartbeat thudded in her chest at the expression in Giles’s eyes. It wasn’t disapproving. She wasn’t sure what it was, but he didn’t look as if he despised her. She reminded herself that she wanted nothing further to do with him, but she could feel herself growing hot in the cheeks anyway.

All because he was looking at her.

As if he actually saw her.

She hurried into speech. “I’m sorry that I shared such distressing information about your sister. I promise that I hadn’t heard it from gossips. I’d merely noticed that Lady Lydia occasionally absented herself from the dance floor.”

“Once I knew you were right about her behavior, I realized that I had been unfair. I apologize.”

“I do love a good story,” Yasmin admitted. “But not about improprieties of that nature,” she added, allowing him a tiny glimpse of herself in hopes that he would see beyond her reputation.

He didn’t look remotely interested.

“I don’t believe for a moment that your sister eloped,” Yasmin said, to bridge the silence between them. In her opinion, Lydia was far too hardheaded to elope, an action that would put her standing in society in serious jeopardy. Kissing was one thing; eloping was another.

“She might have done so out of anger. I told her she was not allowed to have anything more to do with Lord Pepper.”

“A wise decision.”

He grimaced. “I hadn’t thought about how akin Lydia is to my mother. Once thwarted, the late countess became quickly enraged, illogical, and revengeful.”

“Did you forbid your sister to see the man without explaining why?” Yasmin couldn’t help looking at him pityingly.

Giles’s jaw tightened. “Everyone, including Lydia, is aware that Pepper’s estate is impoverished.”

“At least she is not making mercenary decisions.”

“She deliberately made Pepper think that he had a chance of marrying her in order to gain revenge on his sister, who was rude to her when they were schoolgirls,” Giles said bluntly.

Yasmin bit her lip.

“Lydia’s anger stems from unkind talk at school,” he continued. “About my father’s death.”