Page 41 of Rules for Heiresses
“Was it thus?” her mother asked. “Lady Holding did not seem to think so.”
Ravenna scowled. The one woman who had sworn to uphold her promise had wasted no time in seeking out the Dowager Duchess of Embry to spread gossip. “Lady Holding is a poisonous busybody.”
“Lady Holding is an old friend, looking out for your best interests.”
“And yours, too, I wager.”
The dowager sipped her tea, regarding Ravenna over the rim with an unruffled expression. Her mother hadn’t changed. She’d just been baiting her lure, making it seem like she was composed before erupting. This was merely the calm before the storm. “So tell me, this hasty marriage of yours that I only learned of as an afterthought from you, was that a lark as well?”
“No, that’s real enough.” Ravenna attempted to square her drooping shoulders, though for some reason the craven things refused under her mother’s stare. She hoped her voice would not crack. “I am a grown woman, Mama, and now a duchess. You should be happy. It is what you’ve always wanted for me.”
Her mother’s mouth tightened, and Ravenna realized it was the entirely wrong thing to say, insinuating that her mother only cared about social position…whichwastrue, but there was no need to declare it so baldly. “How did you get to Antigua, pray tell?”
Ravenna’s bravado melted like ice on fire. Sheknew. Oh yes, she knew. How she’d found out was anyone’s guess. Rhystan wouldn’t have told her, and Courtland had sacrificed his freedom to save her reputation. Words failed her. “I…”
“She was a passenger on my ocean liner.”
The voice of rescue came from the hallway where the immaculately put-together Duke of Ashvale stood, followed by an impassive Fuller who seemed to be hiding his mirth. He hadn’t announced the duke on purpose, the old rotter. But Ravenna couldn’t focus on that. She could only focus on the tall and elegant man who suddenly dominated the space, who made every single nerve in her body hum to instant attention. The man who had justliedto the Dowager Duchess of Embry to protect her. The pressure inside her chest increased.
Goodness,whycouldn’t she control her reaction around him?
He’d been an ass earlier…and yet, here he was, coming to her rescue like a knight in the rustiest armor imaginable.
Fuller cleared his throat. “The Duke of Ashvale, Your Graces.”
The dowager scowled at the butler. “I can see that, you daft man. Rather unnecessary to announce him at this point, don’t you think?”
Ravenna’s heart leaped, but for an entirely different reason this time. Only a few years ago, her own mother had been dead set against Rhystan’s fiancée. Of course, she’d changed her tune since then and since the arrival of her precious granddaughter, but that didn’t mean her new soft disposition would apply to her daughter’s choice in husband.
Her mother waved an imperious hand. “Come forward then, Ashvale, unless you intend to dawdle in the doorway like a statue for the rest of the afternoon.”
* * *
Lips twitching at the dowager duchess’s dry tone, Courtland found himself standing taller. Lady Embry had been a frightening terror of a woman when he’d been a boy, though he was far from that now, but muscle memory was a strange thing. As diminutive as she was, she quite terrified him. If he hadn’t witnessed grown gentlemen quail in front of her, he would have been mystified by his own reaction.
“Your Grace,” he said with a bow, his gaze touching on the bemused expression of his wife, who seemed grateful to see him but remained somewhat guarded at his arrival.
“You’ve grown up, Ashvale.” The dowager’s stare grew thoughtful. “Your late grandfather was close friends with my parents. I am sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I did not know him that well.”
“Sit, please.” She nodded to a waiting footman, and a tumbler of brandy was brought to him. Courtland was surprised that she was aware of his preference of drink, but he accepted it with a smile before sitting beside his wife and lifting her knuckles to his lips in greeting.
“You left without me,” he murmured.
“You were otherwise occupied, remember?” A shuttered copper stare met his, her voice cool, not giving away the barest flash of injury in her eyes. “Moreover, I did not think you would want to come.”
“Then you were mistaken.”
He did not release her hand but kept it gripped loosely in his. Courtland felt the dowager’s eagle-eyed stare on them, but he did not let it bother him. Lady Embry would undoubtedly be their harshest critic…and their greatest champion in the days to come.
Regardless of how she felt about him as her daughter’s husband, she was fiercely protective of her children. He was counting on that if things got worse with Stinson, which he fully expected them to. His brother’s sense of entitlement had only grown, and Courtland’s presence in London threatened everything he’d become.
“I suppose we should toast to your nuptials,” the dowager said in a somewhat brittle voice. “I was sad to miss them, but you know, my health is not suited to such a capricious climate.”
“It’s not so bad once you get used to it,” he said.
“I shall have to take your word for it. Do you plan to remain in London?”
