How to Dazzle a Duke (32 page)

sort of looks that a woman would want to possess, although per

haps Iroquois women were different in that.

She considered it thoroughly for a few seconds and made

her decision. No, it was highly unlikely that any woman, no

matter her race or nation, would want to look either savage or

dangerous.

228 CLAUDIA DAIN

“How nice for her,” she said crisply.

Iveston chuckled, and then he coughed into his hand. Most

peculiar, even for him.

“Pen,” George said, shaking his head at her.

Oh, bother, what had she said now?

“I’m cold and damp, George. Do you suppose we could go in

now? My hair curls in the wet. I have won two pounds off the

ever-obliging Lord Iveston, and now I should like to enjoy this

soiree beyond the padding of my purse.”

Let it be noted that she was not asking anyone’s permission.

The question, and it had been a stupid question to begin with as

George should know that she was well able to protect her good

name better than anyone else as she had the most to lose by los

ing it, had been answered satisfactorily. She was done with kiss

ing Lord Iveston, done with pretending she had not been kissing

Lord Iveston, and done with answering questions about her ac

tivities. Let George fi nd her when she was being seduced by the

Duke of Edenham, that would be something worth his time and

trouble. In fact, she was counting on him doing just that.

“Well spoken,” Iveston said. “Now, Mr. Grey, tell me about

your sister. Why didn’t she come to England with you? What is

her name? Is she affi anced?”

Penelope was walking from the damp darkness into the light

of Lanreath House when she pulled up short at Iveston’s words

and turned to face Iveston, who did not even have the grace to

look abashed. “I suppose you’ll be asking next if her hair curls in

the rain?”

Iveston, blue eyes shining like a summer day, replied, “Not

until I meet her, no, Miss Prestwick, though it is not a question I

have ever asked before now.”

“And if you ever meet my sister, which I don’t think you ever

will,” George Grey said, “I don’t think you’ll ask it of her.”

How to Daz zle a Duke

229

Mr. George Grey did not look at all offended. In fact, he looked

amused.

“Why ever not?” Iveston asked.

“Because Elizabeth’s hair curls wet or dry,” Mr. Grey an

swered.

“I should like to meet her, I think,” George said. Her own

brother! If this wasn’t turning into the worst evening of her Sea

son, but then again, the Season had just begun.

Penelope swallowed a curt retort, which she was certain

would be turned back upon her somehow, and walked with all

her dignity intact into the noise and light of Lanreath House. No

more dark gardens for her. Unless Edenham had a fascination

for dark gardens, then all would be reassessed to suit his urges.

And she did so hope he had urges.

6

IVESTON resisted every urge he had, and they were considerable,

to pull Penelope into his arms and kiss her into limp-kneed

submission. Although, even limp-kneed, she was hardly submis

sive. No, the girl had the most unique talent for standing and

delivering, even when flushed with desire and roiling passion.

At least, he assumed it was roiling passion. That she was so

silent about her feelings and so loud about her intentions did

make her something of a puzzle. A delightful puzzle.

He’d never known a woman like her.

He wanted to know her better, in every sense of the word.

What sort of woman arranged to be kissed by a groom? For

he did now believe her. Penelope was too forthright and too lack

ing in the normal levels of tact to lie about it. She clearly saw

nothing wrong with arranging for her own needs to be met.

There was something scandalous about that, and he liked it.

There was also something very frustrating about her fl at

230 CLAUDIA DAIN

refusal to pursue him. She was interested in him. He knew she

was, but she was too fixated on Edenham to notice it. Well then,

the obvious course was to force her attention onto him.

He didn’t anticipate much trouble there. Look how jealous she

was even now at the mere mention of Elizabeth Grey. He would

have her exactly where he wanted her, Penelope, not Elizabeth,

in a matter of hours. He wasn’t at all certain how he was going

to accomplish this, but he knew one thing absolutely: he was

going to enjoy himself immensely.

Eighteen

“DARLING, I thought you’d never arrive,” Sophia said to the Duke

of Edenham. “Lady Richard, you are looking quite as beautiful

as ever. I do think London agrees with you completely. You must

get up to Town more often.”

The Duke of Edenham and Lady Richard were perhaps the

two most beautiful people England had ever produced. Their

features were elegantly cut, their eyes expressive, their forms

exquisitely shaped. They were each intensely lovely and intensely

miserable, marriage having not met their expectations in the

slightest.

Darling Edenham had been scarred by death, each of his

three wives very nearly literally dying beneath him, and Kath

erine had been scarred by betrayal. She had married for love, and

disreputable, though charming, Lord Richard had strayed. More

than once and never with discretion. That he had strayed into

Lady Paignton’s bed made this evening a very important one

for Lady Richard. It was time to put old ghosts to rest, not at all

literally speaking as Sophia had no real desire to see Lady Paign

ton murdered, and certainly not by the delightful Lady Richard.

232 CLAUDIA DAIN

That would be a very poor end to what should have been a very

remarkable life.

“I think it is the children who agree with me, Lady Dalby,”

Katherine, Lady Richard, answered, giving Sophia a breathy

kiss on the cheek in greeting.

“I can quite understand that,” Sophia said, studying Kather

ine. “You might have children populating your nursery one day.

If you married again.”

“I am content with the children in my brother’s nursery, So

phia,” Katherine said softly. “Very well content.”

“Are you?” Sophia said, and with a smile, she added, “How

wonderful for you. No one in London is ever content. You may

begin a new fashion. I do hope so. There is nothing more stimu

lating than a new fashion taking hold.”

“I do feel hugely insulted and I shan’t stand here and listen

for another moment,” Edenham said, grinning. “I was under

the firm impression that I was the most stimulating man in

Town, and it was you who gave me that impression, Sophia.

You seem quite mercurial of a sudden. I can’t think what to do

about it.”

Edenham was positively joyous. He was clearly delighted

to see his sister out in Society, and well he should be. It did

Katherine no good at all to hibernate. It only led to all sorts of

unflattering speculation, which was the worst kind of all.

“But darling, you must stand and listen for there is so much I

must tell you,” Sophia said, drawing the two of them to a spot

along the back wall of the reception room, a wall simply dripping

with large mirrors, to have a private chat. Private? With mirrors?

Oh, she knew precisely what she was about. “You know of the

wager, naturally.”

“Wager? I’m afraid I do not,” Edenham said.

“Does it concern Edenham?” Katherine asked in a worried

undertone, casting a glance about the room. The occupants of

How to Daz zle a Duke

233

the room glanced back at her. Many, if not most of them had not

seen her since her husband’s very timely death.

Katherine was wearing white muslin of the most pristine lines

with flawlessly cut white kid gloves. As was her practice, and

which she was becoming quite famous for, which would likely

annoy her completely, Katherine was wearing no jewelry what

soever. As a consequence, and in direct conflict with every other

woman in the room, she looked as classically beautiful and pure

as a vestal virgin of old. Her dark chestnut hair was done up in

a loose pile and her hazel brown eyes looked enormous in her

delicately structured face. She was, as far as it was possible to be,

the direct physical and emotional opposite of Bernadette, Lady

Paignton, and it was a mystery to half the population of London,

the female half, how Lord Richard could possibly have fallen

from his wife’s bed into Bernadette’s. The male half understood

it completely.

Sophia, because of her unique experience of the world, un

derstood it as well, though she thought Lord Richard a complete

fool and didn’t shed a tear when he’d been killed in that duel.

She’d wager Katherine hadn’t cried either. She did hope not.

“But of course it does, darling, which is why the room is full

to bursting,” Sophia answered. “Now Edenham, I do want you

to prepare yourself, but it seems that not only has a wager been

placed on White’s book that you shall marry Miss Prestwick, but

someone, I leave you to guess it, has made a wager that Lord

Iveston will be the man for Penelope. Darling, you have compe

tition. And everyone in Town is here to see who shall win the

delightful Miss Prestwick. Are you quite prepared for that?”

Edenham, to his immense credit, which did so much to dem

onstrate why she found him so attractive, did not so much as

blink.

“It’s not to be lances on horseback, I presume? Then I am

hardly alarmed. A wager. What is that? Wagers are made every

234 CLAUDIA DAIN

day. I do not fear being on White’s book. Is not Miss Prestwick

alarmed that this episode will tarnish her good name?”

“I can see you have not spent much time in conversation with

Miss Prestwick,” Sophia said blandly.

“Is she a ribald sort?” Katherine asked.

“No, not at all,” Sophia said. “Miss Prestwick is . . . practical.”

“Practical. That doesn’t sound terribly amiss,” Katherine said.

“Hugh, are you planning to marry again?”

“Not exactly planning,” Edenham answered.

“But if you stumbled into it, you wouldn’t cry for help?” So

phia said, chuckling.

“That’s about it,” Edenham said.

“Oh, Hugh,” Katherine said on a sigh. It was perfectly

obvious she felt that her brother had enjoyed as many wives

as he ought.

“As you have arrived far later than Lord Iveston,” Sophia

said, ignoring Katherine for the moment, “he has far outpaced

you in his courtship of Miss Prestwick. You shall have much to

do to catch him up, darling. I suggest you start as soon as you are

able to fi nd her.”

“To fi nd her? Where is she?”

“Lord Iveston dragged her out of the room a half hour ago,

which did change the odds in his favor, which I’m certain you

will see the logic of. Why, he may have won the wager, and the

girl, already. I do, do wish you had arrived earlier, Edenham. I

can’t possibly help you if you’re not here to be helped.”

“You’ve wagered on me, I take it?” Edenham said.

“Ten pounds,” Sophia said, and then added, “but I’m desperate

to get fi fteen on Iveston. He does look good for it, doesn’t he?”

It was at that moment that Penelope and her brother entered

the reception room, Iveston and George bringing up the rear.

Penelope looked utterly disheveled.

How to Daz zle a Duke

235

“Oh, dear,” Sophia said. “I do think I should make it twenty on

Iveston. I can’t see how I could lose, do you, darling Edenham?”

He didn’t answer. She had hardly expected him to.

6

LORD George Blakesley, just back from placing his wager on

White’s book and looking forward to a bite to eat at Lady Lan

reath’s famously well-laid table, was accosted by two things al

most immediately; one was the sight of Iveston looking a bit

bedraggled about the cravat trailing behind a very bedraggled

Penelope Prestwick, and the other was Lord Penrith grabbing

him by the arm and pulling him off into a corner, far away from

the food, it should be added.

“What are the odds now?” Penrith asked.

“They were in Edenham’s favor,” Lord George answered.

“What’s happened?”

“No one knows. But something. Edenham’s just here. And

he’s talking to Sophia. Things should perk up quite a bit now. I

can’t see that Iveston has much chance, truthfully. If Sophia is

aiding him in acquiring Miss Prestwick, the matter is as good as

settled.”

George, as he was Iveston’s brother, did not care for that state

ment in the least. What to do but rally to Iveston’s standard?

“I don’t believe you know Iveston well at all, Penrith. My

money is on my brother. He is more determined and more

charming than is generally credited.”

“I don’t mean to insult you and yours, Lord George, but it is

not so much that Edenham is the better man here but that Sophia

Dalby is clearly backing him. I wonder if you understand how

fully that changes things.”

They were both standing quite stiffly now, their chins tucked