Page 6 of Enslaved
Diana’s dance card was filling rapidly. Young Earl Cowper, rich as Croesus and owner of a Gothic castle in Hertford, made no bones about fancying Diana, but her common sense told her his parents would aspire to marriage with the daughter of a duke.Heaven be praised,she thought thankfully.
Caro Ponsonby joined them and Diana decided the young woman always hovered on the brink of hysteria. Her laugh was too loud and she had an intensity about her that was unnatural. “Whoever is that dashing fellow in the Foot Guard uniform?” Caro asked Diana.
“Some young dog with a pedigree, I’ll be bound. There are three hundred Foot Guards but only half a dozen have been honored with vouchers.” Diana didn’t bother to even turn around as she uttered her disparaging assessment, so she missed the pair of striking, dark eyes as they searched the room and then widened ever so slightly as they looked her way.
Peter Hardwick was trying to decide which of the young ladies in the group was Lady Diana Davenport. His experience had taught him the larger the fortune, the plainer the heiress. So the gorgeous creature with the sensual body was obviously not in the running. His gaze wandered about until it settled on a creature with a face like a lump of dough with figure to match. He’d lay odds of ten-to-one she was his target. His courage almost failed him. No wonder his elder brother, the earl, had always joked that Peter would have to be the one to take a bride and beget the heir. But then his dear brother could afford to be cynical about women and marriage. Peter Hardwick could not!
With resolution, he walked a straight path toward the suet pudding, made a leg, and inquired, “Lady Diana?”
A female voice came from behind him. “Yes?”
Peter turned and gazed into violet eyes. He held his breath lest the vision vanish. Nonchalance was an art with Peter Hardwick. “May I have this dance?” he asked smoothly.
“I’m afraid not, sir. I have a partner,” Diana informed him.
“Then the next one,” Peter pressed.
“My dance card is filled, I’m afraid.” Diana’s eyes sparkled with amusement and a little regret.
“I don’t believe you; let me see,” Peter insisted.
Diana did not take offense. She laughed up into his attractive face and presented him with her card.
He immediately wrote his name over the top of two of her partners and gave it back to her.
Diana’s lips twitched as she readHardwickwritten in a bold hand. “Hard cheese,” she punned, refusing him.
“Hardwick, darling. Peter Hardwick,” he murmured, narrowing his eyes in appreciation.
“Hardface!” Diana replied, reprimanding him for the endearment.
“Among other things,” he murmured outrageously. When Diana was at a loss for his meaning, he realized what he should have known all along. Lady Diana Davenport was a virgin. His blood thickened at the thought. Here was unlooked-for sport!
She spied William Lamb coming to collect her. “Here’s my partner now.”
Peter grinned cruelly. “You cannot prefer that chinless wonder to myself.”
Diana examined him frankly for a moment. “Actually, I do.” She took William’s arm and left Peter Hardwick standing alone.In a pig’s eye!a voice inside her head protested.
Chapter 3
Over chocolate the next morning Prudence quizzed Diana endlessly for all the minutiae of her evening. “Let me see your dance card.”
“Er … I didn’t keep it,” Diana prevaricated.
“Didn’t keep the memento of your debut at Almack’s?” Prudence was scandalized.
“It was quite full. I danced with William Lamb, Lord Ashley, Lord Granville … oh yes, and Peter.”
“Peter Hardwick?” Prudence asked avidly.
“No, Peter Cowper.”
Prudence was alarmed. Not one dance with Hardwick! And after she and Richard had him eating out of their hands. She must say something disparaging to put Diana off Cowper. “A rather heavy young man.”
Diana thought that was the pot calling the kettle black. “You mentioned Peter Hardwick? Do you know him?” she asked her aunt casually.
“Er … Richard is handling some estate business for him.”
