Page 36 of The Duke of Seduction
The way she described it moved him, and he suddenly wanted to write down her words for a song. He worked to commit them to memory. “You speak with a poet’s tongue,” he said softly.
“I hardly think so, but thank you for the compliment.” She stared at him a moment. “On second thought, you’re the expert. If you say I am capable of poetry, who am I to quarrel with you?”
“A saucy vixen with a sharp tongue, that’s who.” He was teasing her, but also maybe flirting. As he’d done the night he’d met her. Only this time, she didn’t seem offended. No, she appeared—maybe—to be flattered.
“First I have a poet’s tongue, then I have a sharp tongue? Which is it?” She sent him a playfully demanding stare, but all he could think about was her tongue.Damn it all.
He cleared his throat. “We should focus on what we need to discuss. I received a letter from my friend at Oxford, Horace Jeffries. He’s coming to town, and I’ll arrange for you to meet him.”
“How will you do that?” she asked.
“I haven’t quite worked that out yet. I suppose I could bring him to the park?”
She nodded. “That would suffice. Might he be invited anywhere? Or perhaps he could obtain a voucher for Almack’s.”
Beck shuddered. “I never set foot in there. Not that they’d have me.”
“Too rakish?”
“Quite.”
“Well, you needn’t come. We’re not trying to determine if you and I will suit.”
No, they weren’t.
“I’ll work something out,” he said. “In the meantime, we need a way to communicate. We can’t keep meeting in the park. It won’t matter if we aren’t trying to see if we suit because everyone else will be. If they aren’t already.”
Lavinia nodded, her lips pressed together in a pensive line. “Yes, I know. My mother was thrilled when she saw you enter the park, and she expected that you would come over. I think it’s important we avoid each other for the next several days. And yet, how will we communicate about our objectives?”
“I actually have a plan for that,” he said. “There’s a hollow in the trunk of the tree in the southwesternmost corner of Grosvenor Square. If you want to tell me something, leave a note in the hollow. I’ll check it every day.”
She looked at him in admiration. “Well done. And if you need to tell me something?”
“I can do the same, but I’ll understand if you can’t get there to check every day.”
“I’m sure I can come up with something. It’s not unusual for me to take walks with my maid or a groom. I’ll just have to come up with a reason to visit that same tree.” She cracked a smile.
He had a sudden thought. “What if I signal outside your house that there’s a message?”
“What sort of signal? Perhaps a sign that reads, ‘There’s a letter for you in Grosvenor Square’?” She laughed. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Of course not that.”
He laughed with her. “No, not that. Something more…subtle.” He considered a moment as they sobered. “I’ll tie something to the iron fencing in front of the house across the street.”
“Oh, that’s a brilliant idea! Far better than my suggestion.” She smirked, and he chuckled again. Droll was perhaps not an adequate description of Lady Lavinia’s humor. “And I’ll see it easily since my bedroom faces the street—second floor in the corner.”
“Now that we have that settled, we should turn back and on the way, you can tell me if you’ve identified a young woman for me to help.”
They pivoted on the path, and he sensed a slight change in her body—she tightened up again, though not as much as when they’d departed. “What’s wrong?” he asked, worried that she’d changed her mind about helping him.
“I’m not entirely certain I have a candidate yet.” She worried her bottom lip, which he’d never seen her do before.
“All right, well let me know when you do. The editor of theMorning Chronicleis pestering me for a poem. You mentioned Miss Pemberton may not appreciate the attention. Should I not write another poem for her?”
“No, you should not. Actually, I do have an idea.” Her voice trailed off along with her gaze. Then she took a deep breath, and he had the sense she was summoning courage. “My friend Sarah Colton.”
He blinked at her in surprise. While he’d thought of writing about Miss Colton next, he’d abandoned that idea after learning how much Lady Lavinia disliked it. “She doesn’t share your views on my interference?”
“On the contrary, she’s a bit jealous.” Lady Lavinia winced. “If only you’d written to her in the first place.”
