Page 33 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
“Lady Annie?”
“Do you know her?”
“No, not at all,” Juliet replied. “Not until today, that is. She just came over and introduced herself.”
“Oh.”
“What’s the problem?”
“Who says there’s a problem?”
She sighed. “I’m not a fool, Henry. I’ve been able to see it on your face from the moment you saw me talking to her. Does it bother you when I talk to other people or something?”
“That doesn’t bother me,” he said. “No, it’s just… that one.”
“What’s wrong with Lady Annie? She seemed friendly enough.”
“Yes, very friendly,” he agreed dryly. “She’s one of the ladies I told you about. You know, the ones who follow me around trying to get my attention?”
“Oh,” Juliet said. “Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. She did tell me that she knew who you were. I just took it to mean that she knew because everyone knows who the Duke of Burghley is.”
“Well, I suppose my face is fairly well known,” he conceded. “But she pays more attention than most. I’d wager the reason she came over to you at all was to try to find out what you were doing with me. I would be willing to bet that she suspected our courtship.”
“Well, she knows about it for certain now,” Juliet said. “I told her.”
“You did?”
“I was supposed to, wasn’t I? That was the point. We want to be seen. We want people to know.”
“Yes, we do,” Harry agreed. “I’ll just be interested to see how she takes that, and how quickly it spreads to the other young ladies.”
“Do you think Lady Annie will tell people, then?”
“Oh, yes, she’s the type. She’s a gossip. They all are. I think we could probably go home right now and forget the rest of our day out altogether and everyone would still find out about what’s going on between the two of us in no time.”
“Do you want to go home?”
“No,” he replied. “I’m having a good time. I want to go into town and buy you a present.”
She laughed. “You want to buy me a present?”
“A gentleman ought to buy a present for the lady he’s courting.” He looked at her appraisingly. “You could use a new hat.”
“A new hat!” Her hands flew to her own hat in surprise and mild indignation. “Just what’s so wrong with my hat?”
“Nothing’s wrong with it, silly, but wouldn’t you like a new one?”
She grinned at the thought. “Well, yes, a new one might be nice.”
“If we’re going to do this, this pretend courtship, we might as well do it properly,” he reasoned. “We might as well enjoy all the perks.”
“And what might those be?”
“You should let me buy you things. Spoil you. We should have a good time. We may not be getting married, but we can make a spectacle of ourselves and enjoy doing it. Imagine what everyone will say when they see you downtown in your new hat! You’ll be the talk of London Society, and after that, everyone will know that you and I are involved with one another. No one will question it.”
“Because of a hat,” she said skeptically.
“That’s right. The hat will convince them. You mark my words.”
