Page 42 of The Lady Who Said No to the Duke
‘What just happened?’he asked as they took their places and waited for the rest of the set to form.‘I mean besides my being as foolish as a green girl and wandering into the conservatory, thus laying myself open to as neat a littleambush as I can imagine.I should have learned my lesson about conservatories by now.Was someone really bothering you?In which case, I will most happily deal with him.’
‘I saw you enter and I saw the…er…other two parties watching and then one of them entered by the other door.’Best not to mention names out loud here.
Thea bowed politely to the couples joining them and there was no opportunity to speak for a few minutes as the dance started.At last they found themselves standing together at the end of a row, waiting while those at the top of the group set to the opposite dancers.
‘I thought it was tended to entrap you,’ she said, low-voiced under cover of the music.‘But obviously, nobody would imagine that you had lured two young women in there to have your wicked way with them simultaneously, so I knew all I had to do was appear and their plan was foiled.We chaperoned each other, in effect.’
‘You did that for me?Why should you?’Hal asked.He sounded incredulous.
Thea stared at him.
You have to ask?Because I’m a nice person, that’s why.
It wasn’t all the truth, of course.
* * *
He had put himself into a very dangerous position, simply by not thinking, and the reason he had not been thinking about basic self-preservation was because his head had been full of thoughts about Thea.
And she had rescued him.Why should she do such a thing?It could have had unpleasant consequences for her, and she had certainly made enemies of the Lintons.
‘You did that for me?Why should you?’he asked.
Thea looked at him as though he had broken into a jig.‘Because I dislike Helena Linton,’ she said frigidly.Thenshe curtseyed to the man opposite her and he realised it was their turn to dance again.
Her expression as she watched him from the other side of the circle was superficially pleasant, but her eyes were cold and, somehow, hurt.He had wounded her by asking about her reason for saving him, he realised.She had done it out of decency, possibly the last flickers of their friendship, and he had questioned her as though he expected nothing good from her.
The lady next to him coughed pointedly and he hurried into the steps he was supposed to perform.Eventually, after an interminable string of bows, twirls, advances and retreats, he found himself back next to Thea.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said out of the corner of his mouth.‘I should have had no need to ask.Thank you, Thea.’
He looked down to his side and met her gaze as she looked up.Ruefully, she smiled.‘It was true, I do not like her.But I don’t think you deserve her, either.’
‘A lesser woman would have thought it a very fair revenge,’ Hal observed.
‘I don’t think revenge does anyone any good,’ Thea said.
‘I can only hope that young lady thinks the same way as you do.I should watch your back for a while, if I were you,’ he warned.
Ten minutes later the dance swirled to its end.Thea curtseyed, Hal bowed, and he took her hand to walk her from the floor.
‘There is my next partner, come to claim me,’ she said when he showed no sign of releasing her.
‘Then allow me to deliver you to him.And thank you, Thea.That is twice recently you have come to my rescue.’
‘Twice?’
‘You saved me from a sobbing infant and an hystericalnursemaid,’ he said.‘I am very much in your debt.As though I was not already,’ he added under his breath as another man stepped forward.‘Hardcastle.I reluctantly surrender Lady Thea to you.Do not tread on her toes or you will answer to me.’
They all laughed and Thea was led away, leaving him standing looking after her.
‘Am I to see you as a rival, Duke?’a deep, slightly amused voice at his shoulder enquired.‘Because you are going to plunge me into deep gloom if you say yes.’
‘Porchester.’Hal tried for a light tone.‘Any right-thinking man would be a rival for Lady Thea’s hand, don’t you think?A lady of beauty, charm and intelligence.’
‘I shall have to find an excuse to call you out and dispose of you,’ the Earl said.‘But then I would find myself having to flee the country, so that is no answer.And a duke trumps an earl under all circumstances.Perhaps I should simply shoot myself now,’ he added in mock despair.
‘I think you will find that the lady in question is not much interested in degrees of nobility,’ Hal said drily.
