Page 10 of The Duke's Inconvenient Bride
Emma smiled at Viscount Tredwell. “Are you well, Lord Tredwell?”
He nodded distractedly. “Quite.”
She tried again. “I’ve heard your stables are strong this year.”
Viscount Tredwell bred racehorses.
“They are.” Apparently, even broaching one of his favorite topics could not tear his attention from Violet, who had sat opposite them and was arranging her skirts just so.
Emma bit her lip. All right, so Viscount Tredwell was unlikely to transfer his affections from Violet to her. Perhaps one of the others would.
An hour later, her spirits were lower than the floorboards. Plenty of suitors had visited Violet, and only one of them had responded to Emma’s attempts to engage him in conversation—and promptly began questioning her about her sister.
She gritted her teeth and glanced at the clock, wondering when she could escape with a book. Her pride could only takeso much rejection. Surely one gentleman in all of London might look past Violet’s bright light to see the subtler glow of Emma’s.
Samuels stepped into the room. Everyone quietened, waiting to see who their latest caller was.
“The Duke of Ashford.”
Six suitors.Plus him.
Vaughan had known he wouldn’t be the only man calling on Lady Violet Carlisle this morning, but he hadn’t anticipated such an audience. He opened his mouth, then promptly closed it. There was no way he could be smooth and flirtatious in front of this many people.
He stepped into the drawing room, surveying the assembled guests—noting a girl behind the piano who must be a younger sister of the Carlisle twins and his future bride on a chaise beside her mother.
Across from them, Lady Emma appeared to be trying to vanish into the furniture while a man a few years older than Vaughan sat beside her, staring intently at Violet.
Jolting into action, Vaughan forced his feet to cross the distance between himself and the chaise, where he presented Lady Violet with his bouquet. He had no idea what the flowers were, but they were pink and the most expensive ones the florist had on offer.
“They’re beautiful,” she exclaimed. “Thank you, Your Grace.”
He inclined his head in acknowledgement and tried to find his voice. “May I have the honor of accompanying you for a walk in Hyde Park?”
It was a spur-of-the-moment idea, but quite a good one. With no one else to worry about, he’d be better able to woo her.
Lady Violet bit her lower lip. She glanced at her mother, who was visibly torn. It was only then that Vaughan realized he’d probably committed a faux pas in issuing the invitation. If she accepted, it would mean asking her other callers to leave.Blast. This was why he liked to have Longley around to smooth things over. He was too apt to mess it up on his own.
Still, he didn’t rescind the invitation, and he saw the moment when Lady Carlisle decided that the opportunity to snare a duke as a son-in-law outweighed the risk of offending everyone else.
“What do you think, Violet?” she asked her daughter. “The weather is amenable, is it not?”
“It is.” Violet bestowed a smile upon him, and several of the other men glared daggers. “Perhaps we could receive guests tomorrow as well, for anyone whose visit today has been cut short?”
Lady Carlisle’s face softened with relief. “Wonderful suggestion, my dear.”
A man standing near Lady Violet’s shoulder protested his dismissal.“This is hardly the done thing.”
“I’m sorry, gentlemen,” Lady Carlisle said. “You’re more than welcome to return tomorrow.” Her intense blue gaze, more faded than her daughter’s, landed on Vaughan. “Lady Emma will accompany you as a chaperone.”
On the chaise, Lady Emma blanched. She grabbed a handful of her skirt, and her gaze darted sideways. He could have sworn it lingered briefly on the refreshments table.
The butler ushered the men out, and the girl at the piano stopped playing. She watched Vaughan out of the corner of her eye as she joined the other women and exchanged a few words with Lady Emma. When the girl left the room, only Vaughan, Emma, Violet, and Lady Carlisle remained.
“I must get my pelisse,” Violet said, rising to her feet. “I will be down momentarily.”
“As will I.” Lady Emma’s voice was a pleasingly soft timbre.
While the twins were gone, Vaughan made awkward small talk about the weather with Lady Carlisle. Relief bloomed in his gut when they returned.
