Page 35 of The Truth About Love and Dukes

Irene stared, astonished that her quiet sister had come out with such a lengthy question around people she barely knew, but before she could recover from the shock of that, Torquil was speaking to her.

“I can see, Miss Deverill,” he murmured, leaning closer to her, “that Carlotta’s tail isn’t the only one you intend to twist this evening.”

She turned, pasting on an innocent expression. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I think you do. As for steering my ship,” he added, leaning back and adopting a more conversational tone, “I doubt you’d want to.”

“And why is that?”

“It would mean you’d be part of my crew, and if that were the case, you’d be required to obey my orders.” He paused, his gaze lowering to her mouth. “Without question.”

Her heart gave a sudden, hard thud in her chest. She felt pinned by that look as if by an arrow, and she was unable to move even after he lifted his gaze again to hers. His words ought to have inspired any suffragist worth her salt with the desire to bash a candlestick over his head, and yet, Irene could not have summoned the proper outrage for such a course. Her lips tingled with heat and her heart raced, not with anger, but with . . . excitement. It was a sensation so unexpected that it took her several moments to recover her wits enough to reply. “A deck chair for me, then,” she said at last, “if having you order me about is the alternative.”

“Very wise of you, Miss Deverill,” Angela told her, laughing. “My brother is a hard taskmaster.”

“Very,” Torquil agreed, his gaze still fixed on Irene as he spoke, his grave expression and well-bred drawl a sharp contrast to the tumult inside of her. The strangest thing about it all was that she had no idea what had spurred this rush of feeling. She hated being dictated to under any circumstances, and she already knew that from him it was especially aggravating. But just now, aggravation was not at all what she felt. Instead, she felt exhilarated.

After a moment, he diverted his attention, enabling Irene to regain her composure. “And if Angela keeps complaining about what is required of her,” he said, leaning around Irene to look at his sister, “she won’t be having a deck chair and a champagne cup. Instead, I shall tell Andrew and Fitz and the rest of the crew to take a holiday, and she’ll find herself swabbing the decks.”

“Oh,” Clara breathed on an ecstatic sigh, “it all sounds so lovely. Not the swabbing decks, part,” she added at once, making everyone laugh. “But the rest would be heavenly.”

“Shall we take up Jamie’s plan tomorrow, then?” Angela asked as the footmen began clearing away the soup and serving the fish course.

“We can’t,” Lady David said. “Even though we cancelled all our social engagements for tomorrow, if we are seen gallivanting out on the water, it would create a most unfavorable impression.”

“Oh, but our plans tomorrow were so informal anyway,” Angela replied. “Only luncheon at the Savoy with Lady Billingsley and tea with Lady Stokesbury. Those two ladies are like family. Surely they would understand if we—”

“Carlotta is right,” Torquil cut in. “These things must be handled in the proper way, regardless of how close the tie. You agree, Mama, I trust?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I do. I wish our social rules were not so punctilious, but Henry and Carlotta have been right to remind us of our duty there. We shall make arrangements to go sailing another day. In the meantime, girls, you must honor your social commitments. I shall write to Lady Billingsley and Lady Stokesbury first thing tomorrow, explain that my illness was merely a headache, and make apologies for our cancelled plans.”

She paused as the footman presented her with a tray of sole in sauce. After she had taken a fillet from the tray, the footman moved on and she continued, “I believe I will also happen to mention that Lord Ellesmere’s granddaughters are our guests for the next two weeks, and enclose my card to indicate our intent to call on them in the afternoon. We shall then take the Miss Deverills out for luncheon and some shopping on Bond Street so they might be seen with us in public. Then we shall pay calls on any who might have been inconvenienced by my absence.”

Irene knew she had to make her own obligations clear before any further plans were made on her behalf. “It all sounds delightful, Duchess,” she said, feeling a hint of regret as she spoke, “but some of these arrangements won’t be possible for me, I’m afraid.”

Everyone stopped eating, and suddenly, Torquil wasn’t the only one subjecting her to full attention.

“I have my duties at the newspaper to attend to,” she explained, glancing around with an apologetic smile. “Duties which make me unavailable for any engagements before one o’clock in the afternoon.”

There was another silence, this one so lengthy that even Irene began to feel uncomfortable. It was, she was well aware, a most unconventional thing for a woman to have a career, but it couldn’t be helped. She did have a career, one that she couldn’t simply take up and put down whenever she felt like it.

Carlotta, of course, was the first to speak. “My dear Miss Deverill,” she said, setting down her knife and fork with a delicate clink, “you do understand the purpose of the plans the duchess has outlined is to introduce you and your sister into our circle of acquaintance?”

“Of course.” Irene smiled, blinking her eyes innocently at the woman across the table, pretending she was unaware of the sudden tension in the room. “But I must also think of my readers. I have a duty to them, and to my newspaper.”

“But what will our friends think?” Sarah asked. “They surely would not approve—” She broke off as she looked at her eldest brother, and he must have given her a warning glance, for she bit her lip and returned her attention to her plate.

Carlotta, however, was not so reticent. “Sarah is right. This won’t go over well. Heaven knows Ellesmere won’t like it.”

That was too much for Irene. “Lady David, I have had the same grandfather and the same profession for quite some time now, and I find it odd that despite his disapproval, Lord Ellesmere has never chosen to express to me or my family any concern about how we spend our time. Nor has he shown any concern about how we support ourselves, and he has certainly never offered us a viable alternative to working for our living. So forgive me if I do not deem his opinion of my profession to be of any great importance.”

Lady David stared at her, obviously at a loss what to say in the wake of this outburst. “Of course,” she murmured after a moment. “Quite.”

“Well, I think it very wrong of Ellesmere,” Angela said. “Perhaps when Torquil calls upon him, he can impress upon the viscount that he needs do his duty by his granddaughters.”

“Of course,” the duke said. “That was my intent.”

Irene stiffened in her chair, her pride stinging. “We don’t need his assistance, nor—” She broke off when Clara’s toe nudged hers beneath the table, warning her that she was about to go too far. “That is,” she amended, “we don’t wish to be any trouble. The duke need not concern himself with our little family squabble.”

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