Page 69 of Wedded to the Scottish Duke

“Yes, you must pay attention now.”

“Ow!”

This time, Grace poked her so hard that Celia could not possibly ignore it. She turned, rubbing a sore spot on her back as she looked at Grace with questioning eyes.

“Look.” Grace thrust a finger across the park.

Two ladies had just entered the parkland, and they were both moving forward with great purpose. The elder lady was trying to hold the younger lady back a little, though the younger lady could not possibly be stopped. She was marching forward, her blonde hair falling out of its updo as she waved a strip of paper madly in her hands.

“No, Mama, I must speak to her. I must,” Lady Alicia declared. She shrugged off her mother’s hand as she halted in front of Celia. “Why did you do it? Why?”

Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears as she spoke so loudly that it wasn’t just the group of ladies listening to them.

Many across the green halted to listen, and even the violinists paused their music so that Lady Alicia’s voice carried further.

“Do what?” Celia asked with impatience. “What on earth is going on?”

“Do not feign ignorance. Do you think it makes you look innocent?” Lady Alicia demanded, her breath hitching.

“She’s far from an innocent woman, is she?” Lady Teresa whispered to her friends.

Celia glowered at her, but it did nothing to wipe the amused smirk off her face.

“What is it you think I have done, Lady Alicia?” Celia tried to stay calm as she turned back to face the woman who now had tears streaming down her cheeks.

“This.” Lady Alicia thrust the strip of paper forward, enabling Celia to see at once that it was a scandal sheet. “Why would you match me with a man only to steal him from me?”

CHAPTER 19

“How could you?” Lady Alicia practically screeched as Celia scrambled to catch the scandal sheet.

By the time she was unfurling it, trying to read it, Lady Alicia had flounced off with her mother hot on her heels. The other women around them were now all whispering among themselves.

Celia was so concerned with trying to read the scandal sheet that it took her a few seconds to realize Grace had taken her arm and was dragging her away from the others.

They ended up far from the green, secreted in a copse of trees, just as Celia read the headline.

“Lady Celia,” she whispered as she read it aloud. “The extraordinary matchmaker beds her own client.” It took a beat for her to realize exactly what she had read. “Oh my God!”

“Let me see that.” Grace peered around her shoulder, reading the scandal sheet at the same time as Celia.

‘It seems that there are many who now go to Lady Celia for her matchmaking skills. The new Duke of Hardbridge, a somewhat unorthodox duke on his first visit to London, is her latest client. After matching him with Lady Alicia Newton at a house gathering, however, it seems that Lady Celia was reluctant to let go of her client just yet.

Perhaps Lady Celia needs to know allof her client’s needs before she hands him to a serious lady. This reader has learned that Lady Celia has been seen twice as of late entertaining the Duke of Hardbridge’s company in private, without a chaperone.

One can only wonder what is happening behind those closed doors, but one thing is for certain—Lady Celia is not just a matchmaker. One must fear whether she is making conquests of all her clients.’

“Oh, Grace!” Celia suddenly snapped, throwing the scandal sheet on the ground. Grace hurried to catch it. “Tell me it’s not true. Tell me I have not just read that the Duke of Hardbridge and I… that we…” She broke off, bending double and resting her hands on her knees. “Oh dear, the whole of the ton will be reading it this morning. Mymotherwill be reading this.”

The Duke of Hardbridge will be reading this too.

“Tell me I’m imagining it,” Celia begged, looking up at Grace, who was dumbstruck, now standing perfectly still as she re-read the article. “Tell me that does not suggest I am a… slattern.”

Grace flinched at the word, but she looked up, her face pinkening. “I… I…”

“Oh, Lord!” Celia needed no more confirmation. She stood straight, walking in a quick circle as she covered her face with both hands. “This is too awful.”

“It may not be as bad as you think,” Grace pleaded, though she still looked desperate as she read the article for what had to be the third time. “Everyone has always been a little suspicious of your experience, but in an excited sort of way. You were never condemned by the ton, only seen as fascinating.”

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