Page 15

To his right, Miss Valentine was making her curtsies. Surely that wasn’t despair in her eyes? She might be intimidated by Regina. His fiancée was at the very top of society, and the daughter of a country banker may well be overawed.

“Miss Valentine and I have been discussing the gold standard,” he said, after they all sat down. Somewhat to his surprise, Miss Valentine didn’t chime in; she was staring at her lap.

“I certainly hope that is an exaggeration,” Regina said with a titter. “No true lady knows anything about coinage, and certainly not enough to discuss it! One can only describe such behavior as vulgar.” She looked across the table. “Surely my dear Lord Peregrine was wrong, Miss Valentine. It’s so greedy to discuss profits and investments. So unladylike.”

“Look here—” Fiennes said.

But he was interrupted by the Duke of Lennox. “I don’t see why ladies should pretend to ignorance of money, Regina. You were very interested in the details of your dowry. You and I went over the investments closely.”

Regina’s cheeks turned red, and she tossed her head like a recalcitrant horse. “That is scarcely the same thing! It is extraordinarily ill-bred to discuss the gold standard—whatever that is—whereas a dowry is a gift that accompanies the vow of sacred matrimony.”

“Money is money,” Fiennes pointed out.

“A lady never discusses mercantile commerce,” Regina said, throwing Miss Valentine a spiteful look.

Luckily, the lady missed it, as she was still staring at her gloved hands.

The two women definitely weren’t friends, which begged the question why Regina had directed him to bring Miss Valentine to supper. Presumably, she did so to poke fun at her. This was precisely why Fiennes disliked going about in society, and why he had nothing to do with ladies.

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand, Lord Peregrine,” Regina said, a sharp edge in her voice. “I certainly hope that you won’t take up an avid pursuit of money. That wouldn’t do.”

Only one person in the world, his father, was allowed to command Fiennes. Even in that case, Fiennes only obeyed out of love and genuine respect. “Perhaps I misunderstand you, Lady Regina.”

His fiancée gave him a narrow-eyed look. “I doubt that. I was straight-forward.”

Miss Valentine cleared her throat. “I believe I shall make a visit to … if you’ll excuse me.” She began to rise.

The Duke of Lennox sprang to his feet. “I will escort you.”

He left without so much as a backward look at his sister, taking Fiennes’s supper partner with him. Fiennes waited until they were well away from the table before he sat down beside Regina once more.

“We’d better get one thing straight,” he said. “I will never take orders from you as regards my daily activities, which certainly include an avid pursuit of money—an occupation that any sensible woman would encourage, by the way.”

Regina’s lower jaw fell open, which was not an attractive look. “How dare you!” she hissed.

Fiennes picked up one of the sandwiches and bit into it. The bread resisted his teeth, and the ham was so thinly sliced that he couldn’t taste it. He swallowed and said, “I have no intention of emulating your father. Of spending lavishly and never making money.”

“Gentlemen do not make money,” Regina cried. “The very meaning of ‘esquire’ says as much. My father lived on the profits from the ducal estate, which are extensive.”

“Those lands were ill-managed, depleted by careless replanting of wheat. I don’t envy Lennox the task of bringing his fields back from insolvency. I’d be surprised if he harvests more than a few bushels.”

The duke clearly had not shared that news with his sister. A pulse began to throb in Regina’s forehead. “That is not my concern!” she snapped. “I am a lady, and as such, I should be safeguarded from such unpleasantries.”

Fiennes picked up his lemonade, considered it, and placed the glass back onto the table. “I hope that we won’t have to maintain an exhausting fiction about your delicate sensibilities once we’re married, Regina.”

She was a pretty girl, but he didn’t like the hardness in her eyes and couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before.

“What could you possibly mean?” she inquired, a dangerous note in her voice.

Fiennes didn’t give a damn about her temper.

“You can pretend to ladylike sensitivity in public, if you wish. You may not have noticed, but our dinner companions have deserted us as a direct result of your peevish response to a thought-provoking topic. I should hope we can discuss more than trivialities for the rest of our lives. I was interested to hear Miss Valentine’s views on American investments.”

“I don’t even know where America is! You can’t want me to be anything like Beatrice Valentine. You know why she talks about banking matters, don’t you?”

“Because she has a sound intellect?”

“Because that’s all she’s got to offer,” Regina snapped. “She’s as swollen as a beet, so of course she brings up money whenever she can. She’ll have to buy a husband using her father’s coin as a lure.”