Page 35 of Courting Scandal With The Duke
‘I am aware it is all the rage in Paris, since I was therenot long ago. But might you not have asked whether it was considered acceptable in London?’
‘Why would I do that?’
‘To save yourself some embarrassment.’
She looked unconvinced. ‘I do not care a fig for what others think.’
He was both shocked and in awe of her unusual spirit. And therein lay the danger. He feared that he had inherited his father’s lack of judgement when it came to lovely wilful women.
‘You should care.’ He sounded stiff and disapproving when he had wanted to sound wise.
‘Why?’
‘Because being considered beyond the pale is a lonely place when it costs so little to conform to accepted mores.’
‘Do you always conform?’ she asked, and there was an irritating hint of derision in her voice.
‘I adhere to sensible rules, but I do not follow fashion, Society follows me in that regard.’
She glanced around. People were watching them and smiling at them benignly.
Her expression changed. She looked quite put out. ‘Do you mean that now my choice to paint my toenails is considered acceptable simply because you asked me to dance?’
‘I also mentioned to someone that it was a Parisienne fashion that I found quite charming when I was there.’
She showed not the slightest pleasurein his words. ‘I see.’
What an infuriating, paradoxical woman to be sure.
Somehow, he had to make her understand that London Society was quite different than that of Paris or other European courts. It was his duty as a gentleman, if nothing else.
The music ended and he walked her back to her aunt, where there was more than one gentleman waiting to ask her to dance.
There would be no chance to say more, and neither was this the place to have a serious discussion.
‘I will take you driving in the park tomorrow afternoon,’ he said. It was the perfect solution.
‘I beg your pardon.’
‘No need,’ he said. ‘I will call for you at four.’
‘Oh, but—’
He bowed. ‘Thank you for the dance, Countess.’ He walked away before she could argue.
Not even the wayward Countess would refuse an invitation to drive with him during the fashionable hour. Not only would it be the perfect opportunity for her to be fully accepted by Society, but it would give him the privacy he needed to explain just why acceptance was important.
And then, having done his duty, he would not need to have any more to do with her.
Which was exactly what he wanted.
Barbara had thought about sending round a note to the Duke’s residence to cancel their drive.
An invitation she had not actually accepted but that he, autocratically, had decided she would not refuse.
Upon reflection, she had decided that it might be the ideal opportunity to ask him to…mind his own business…to stay out of her affairs…to stop interfering and let her make her own mistakes.
However she phrased it in her mind, it sounded churlish.
