Page 8 of The Love Potion
She took it. How could she not after she’d made such a scene? And now her cheeks were burning with embarrassment. What a fine companion she was turning out to be. When news of this debacle reached Zoe’s parents, she’d be sacked for sure. But in the meantime, all she could do was gather what dignity she had left and accompany His Grace out the door.
Almack’s was on the second floor, so they had to go all the way down and out the front door before the cooler air hit her overheated body. Sadly, one glance at the upstairs windows showed an excessive number of people leaning out to eavesdrop on their conversation. She wasn’t surprised by their presence,just dismayed at the blatant lack of decorum in the women. Especially since they claimed to be the leading ladies of society.
His Grace saw the crowd as well. She saw his grimace before he hid it beneath a bland expression. He didn’t attempt a conversation. She wouldn’t either, if she were in his position. After all, she’d been the one who’d chastised him upstairs.
She took a deep breath and attempted to explain. “We haven’t much time,” she said quietly, “so I’ll get straight to the point. Lady Zoe commissioned a love potion to attract your attention.”
The man blinked twice before frowning. “I beg your pardon—”
“You heard me correctly. She’s sixteen years old and a romantic. She’s been told all her life that she must make a brilliant match this season. Six weeks to catch an exalted husband. You have no idea what kind of pressure that puts on a girl.”
“A love potion, you say?”
“Yes. She’s actually quite clever and would make a good match—”
“A sixteen-year-old girl?” He sounded horrified.
“You and I know that you won’t marry her. But you shouldn’t ruin her just because she threw a little water in your face.”
They had been standing facing one another at the base of the steps leading into Almack’s. Now, he crossed his arms and leaned back against the column outside the door. “Shedidn’t throw it. She tripped you such that you would spill it, and then she blamed you for your clumsiness.”
Ah. The duke had a sense of fair play. That was good. “The potion had to go on your skin, you see. I was going to pretend to sneeze and splash you with my fingers, but she rightly pointed out that that was repulsive.”
“I should say so,” he commented dryly.
“It wasn’t going to be a real sneeze!” she returned hotly. “Just, you know, a flick of my fingers.” She demonstrated for his benefit. He seemed unmoved. “It’s some herbs in rose water. You wouldn’t have sustained any damage.”
“Why not refuse to participate in the entire charade?”
Kynthea lifted her hands in disgust. “Because she’s sixteen and under enormous pressure to settle the rest of her life in six short weeks!” She glared at the duke, but he obviously had no compassion for the strain society’s rules put on girls. “The second plan was to convince you to drink it—”
“A love potion.”
“Yes! But she realized you wouldn’t be so obliging.”
“She was correct.”
“And so she tripped me,” Kynthea huffed. “She was desperate, and…” She blew out a breath. “And she and I have discussed it. I have forgiven her. And now you must publicly apologize to her.”
“Me?” he scoffed. “Because she’s trying to poison me?”
“Because she needed an outlet for her fears and as ridiculous as it seems, a love potion was a harmless way to distract her.”
“Harmless if you forget the damage to your reputation. You are neither clumsy nor on the shelf. Do you forget that you, as well, need to find a husband?”
Of course she hadn’t. But she was the daughter of a vicar. She knew from helping her father that marriage to a cruel man was much worse than life as a spinster. And even the most well-matched couples grew bitter when there wasn’t any love between them.
“My prospects are already doomed. I have nothing to recommend me on the marriage mart and well you know it.” No title, no income, and no expectation that anyone in the peerage would look beyond that.
Not that she didn’t hope, of course. There was always hope. And his next words reinforced that.
“I know nothing of the sort. As for Lady Zoe, she will find a match because she is young, beautiful, and well dowered. You have the same six weeks as her companion to attract a husband, and she declared to one and all that you are clumsy and slightly daft.”
“She said it was an accident—”
“She said it was all your fault.”
Kynthea winced. Yes, she had. “But I know she didn’t mean it.”
